Well, not really. But after my previous post was made, I received a link to a group which is developing an educational MMO game based on Math! This game apparently will use a lot of the same ideas I was talking about. I’m impressed, I can hardly wait for its release!

http://www.frozennorth.net/games/

I love it when great minds think alike. Using math is a great idea, it is a more constrained domain than “The 5 excellences”, probably has a larger audience, and it lends itself to linear progressions (pun intended) .

Back when I wrote the article on “Why can’t I learn Chinese in a computer game“, I posted it to a list of professional game developers to get their response. I guess it was naive of me, but I was thinking of “game” in terms of a role playing game, or perhaps an MMO. The unexpected, but obvious (in retrospect) responses I got were:

1. It would be easy to add Chinese to existing puzzle/parlor games.
2. There is a whole subculture of game developers specialized in “serious games”.
3. Several computerized language tutoring programs already exist which have game like elements.

This left me speechless, but I have been thinking about it for a while and I am working on expanding my vision to include the spirit of these responses.

What I am looking for is a way to get a return on my investment of the many hours I’ve spent playing addictive games like World of Warcraft. I didn’t want Chinese language instruction to be the primary purpose of the game, but one of several educational side effects of playing it.

What I envision is a game which educates in a variety of areas, letting the player follow their interest and naturally learn as they do what they find interesting.

For instance, being a student of things Taoist, my ideal game would be a title which focused on the 5 excellences: poetry, painting, calligraphy, tai chi and medicine.

In the ancient days, the path of wisdom was to become an ascetic and wander from village to village meeting new people, experiencing new things, learning skills, and perhaps to finding a guide for the next phase of the journey.

Why can’t our game give the same experience? Instead of a linear set of areas to traverse, there may be a range of different people / objects to interact with, each with their own entertaining challenge or training. As you learn new things, new possibilities open up, and perhaps after succeeding in a challenge, some key information will be passed on which opens up a new area of exploration. The design of Oblivion is very much like this.

The use of puzzles with educational content would be a core mechanic of the game. Puzzles allow the user to drill new concepts while still being entertained. For a game with a similar (less educational) integration of puzzles and RPG, take a look at puzzle quest

I also think that puzzle games make excellent candidates for download to a portable device. The material in your portable device puzzle collection would evolve and become more complex dependent on what you have achieved in the primary game. Given enough practice perhaps you can learn enough to pass a challenge which will let you enter a new path in the primary game. Keeping old material in occasional rotation will allow an occasional refresher, and help cement what you have learned in long term memory. I believe that a small set of puzzle games can be reused, but can be kept fresh by updating their content regularly.

We have a lot to learn from the serious games people too, to avoid repetition and linear game play we will need to greatly improve our character simulations, and provide a lot of alternative dialog and intelligent behavior in our NPCs. Advanced Natural Language Processing techniques would be absolutely necessary in a game this language centric. The serious games community has also researched the educational patterns which work in games.

I would like some attention paid to the basics of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and hypnosis as I mentioned in my previous post. I think leveraging some of their ideas could greatly enhance the quality and entertainment value of the game.

Many linguists tell us that immersion is the best way to learn a new language. The primary game should expose the user to the target language gradually, requiring the player to gain in their understanding of it to converse with new characters, and to advance their goals. Although current generation game will probably not have adequate voice recognition, users could still communicate with NPCs using dialog trees or icons and learn to understand both written and spoken forms of the language in response. The more we are required to use the language, the more painlessly we learn.

In any case, we must not forget the primary purpose of the game, to entertain. Getting buy-in from educators and parents would be a big bonus, but ultimately, what will make the game work is its inner addictiveness, high quality game play and variety.

I think all the technology, research and game design elements needed already exist. Isn’t it time we produced a blockbuster or two which actually had some redeeming value?

Lets build some AAA titles that educate. You know it is in our power…

I listened recently to an Adam Up Live podcast (#48) where Adam gave a summary of how to amplify the learning process by doing what he called “Total Immersion”. Adams podcast used research from NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and child development to enumerate a list of what was needed to encourage rapid learning. I was struck by how close this list seemed to many of the features we provide in our gaming environments.

I have summarized his list of points below, adding my commentary about how I think they could be applied within virtual environments.

• The participant must want to learn. This is usually done by providing some tactical incentives to encourage goal setting and defining a strategic pathway to a higher level goal, in other words, we need to make progress tasty.
• The participant must be engaged in the moment. Not in the past or the future, but right now. I think this could be facilitated by using a first person point of view and immersing the participant in an interactive environment. (i.e. FPS technology)
• The participant must be immersed in the learning experience. The setting, preparation, game state, environmental cues, and timing must all work together to enhance the ability for the participant to “tune in” to the activity. This is a standard game design goal, nothing in the environment should distract the participant from what he/she is doing.
• The participant should use all senses. This comes from the NLP concept of modalities. Learning is best when done in multiple senses, such as Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. So the environment needs to provide non-exclusive clues in a variety of senses. Visual and Auditory are pretty well covered in modern computer games, but perhaps kinesthetic could benefit from creative leverage of Wii controller manipulation, or at least rumble feedback.
• The participant should get frequent praise and rewards. We’re talking about positive feedback baby! Perhaps the game could come with a hot companion who knows just what to say when you show perseverance and try alternate solutions .
• The participant should be liberated from the concepts of success or failure. Young children while learning rapidly are not daunted by a few failures, or complacent just because they accomplished something. Have you noticed how they keep going? over and over and over, (sometimes making adults crazy!) until they are happy with the pattern? Our environment must reward them for their continued participation, rather than categorize what they do as success or failure.
• The participant must pace herself. When the participant gets tired, it needs to be possible to take a break. Forcing someone to “grind” the same puzzle over and over can be very tiring. We need to provide a way to save the game state, or to context switch to a different goal when the participant gets tired. It may even be possible to detect this state and provide some alternate activities at this point.
• The participant needs time to digest and process their experiences. Usually this involves sleeping for a while. The brain spends the time we are sleeping categorizing our experiences and associating them with other portions of our mind. Trying to do too much without digesting the result (with some good solid sleep) is not good for the ultimate retention of the material.

So how would we develop a game to be educational and fun without being pedantic? What if I wanted to play a game where I could learn to read, write and understand spoken Chinese?

I don’t believe the game design would need to be that different from existing patterns of computer game design, so what is the blockage? Do we have a problem generating content? or do we need to overcome the competitive nature of existing computer games? Or would such a product fail to make enough money?

Just some food for thought!

(A post continuing this thread is here)