Any Gamers Out There?

Submitted by Edward Latham on Wed, 01/20/2016 - 20:39
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I know most of us are so busy that the idea of playing games is right up there with soaking up sun in the Bahamas ...it happens to other people and I will never have time for it. For a few of us, we do find/make time for gaming and may have some great experiences we can pool together to create incredible learning opportunities for our adult learners. 

I have had the pleasure of working with some teachers nationally in their efforts to integrate learning into existing popular online game environments. Two of the older projects include Second Life and World of Warcraft. In both of these games, teachers collaborate to set up tasks, activities and events all within the game that become learning experiences that be very powerful! In full disclosure, I play TONS of games and passionately feel that much of the content, social interaction, soft skills, communication skills and math skills we wish our learners to have can all be effectively gained within a variety of game environments, game studies and game creation activities. 

Here is a link to offer a bit of info for those that were unaware such explorations have been going on for years. 

Anyone out there game to play a bit? It would be helpful if teachers were able to play as a team in some of these environments to experience first of all what exist there and secondly to collaborate on how students might learn within a given game environment. I realize that this might be a really out of the box idea for many, but I offer the invitation for any of us that are crazy and find time to enjoy today's online virtual worlds. If people wish a list of games that they may try, please comment on this thread and I can whip out many suggestions with ideas for each game. For those of you who have not experienced today's online games, please be forewarned that these games are not what we might have thought of as games in the past. They are much more involved and interaction with others as a key focus very often. There are free games and there are subscription games. I would propose a focus on games that were free as many of our adult learners already struggle with finances. 

So, who's game?

Comments

Edward,  I am a huge World of Warcraft fan/player.  I make time to play every day.  I agree that integrating game play is a wonderful way to enhance learning for adults.  I would be willing to participate in group activities with adult learners, in fact, would probably enjoy it immensely!  Keep me posted!

 

Lisa White, Literacy Coordinator

Read to Succeed, Amarillo Public Library

Lisa, thank you for replying and sharing your love of gaming! Do you play any games that cost nothing for players to participate? It would be nice if we could find games people know about, have played and cost nothing to play but still allow for the opportunities for learning within their system. 

I think it would be nice to focus on two types of game categories to explore: ( I include links to videos that introduce each game if you wish to explore and have some fun!)

1. Games that are free to play: preferably without harsh conditions for those that don't kick in money. The best model out there that is like this would be Marvel Heroes Online. This free to play model is the best I have seen out there and everything in the game is accessible just through free play. What others might fall into this category.

Other games in this category that come to mind:

  • Marvel Heroes Online: As stated above, this is the BEST free to play model I have seen out there! The game is designed like the Diablo games (in fact two of the lead designers were creators of Diablo II). Players start off with a large collection of Marvel's superheroes they can play to level 10 and they get to pick one hero they can level to max of 60 at the start. As players play, they get many forms of currency that can be used for many different purchases. One type called shards allow players to unlock other characters they wish to bring up to level 60. I feel the potential for comparing and contrasting as well as data collection and reporting are very strong elements of the academic work learners could engage in with this game. Plus, it is so cool to hop around as the Hulk smashing things!
  • Facebook games: although not as immersive as the MMORPGs out there, these are easily accessible and offer tons of learning opportunities
  • Path of Exile; This free to play game is very much in line with the Diablo style games. Players explore and face challenges in instances that are all chained in a set sequence, but within each stage the maps are randomly generated instances. The skill tress in Path of Exile rivals ANY skill tree (may take a minute for the tree to load) of any game out there! So much potential here for expression, learning, reflection, comparisons, data processing, story and more. 
  • League of Legends (LoL): THE most popular game in the world in it's class. LoL is so popular there are international high stakes leagues and colleges even offer full tuition to top players to join their e-league teams in LoL. Players can always access a limited selection of free players that rotate in availablity very often. As players play games, they generate in game funds to "buy" characters they like to play. No money needed. Since every game starts off with a base character and builds as new gear is purchased in game play, every game can be different even if you play the same character every game. Teamwork is essential to success at higher levels and there are many academic tie ins if we look at the game data, game play results, the market, the powers and levels of each of the hundreds of characters available and more.
  • War Thunder or World of Tanks: both of these games are free to play and no money is needed until one reaches the very top tiers of the games in which those players with money really change the competitive level of the game. Still, hundreds of hours of team play is available and tons of game feedback and data are provided to work with. Of course you have an easy tie into any studies of World War 1 or 2. Games take only 20-40 minutes which is less than what some of the other games might take up in a "single play".
  • Many free to play World of Warcraft "clones": Of course these games are far more limited than WoW but they are also free and have quest and party systems that are similar enough. There are many flavors of these types of games available and it would be mostly a matter of which flavor we feel might have the most appeal and most usefulness in what we might have learners learning. Every one of these games involves stories both at the game wide level and the personal player level. Additionally, tons of data and feedback abound for number crunching explorations. 
  • Roguelike games: This category of game offer some wonderful learning opportunities but they are not really team oriented play. Still, if you take some time to look into how vast an experience these example provide, I think you will see there is so much potential learning we can include in game play in these titles:
    • Dwarf Fortress (30 min video was the shortest I can find...the game is that huge)- Of course this game needs to be played with one of the available graphic packs because it was designed to be run just with ASCII characters. Dwarf Fortress has been globally acknowledged as the most fun anyone can have in failure. Everyone feels this is the most challenging game available. There is no other game available that offers such depth of play as this game but there is a very steep learning curve that is not for the weak of heart. 
    • ToME - This roguelike game allows for a huge diversity of character selection and development. Even the quests are altered to adapt to character selection and choices characters make in the development. 

2. Pay once then free to play: A great example in this category would be games like Guild Wars 2 in which there is a one time purchase of the game and then the players can play as much as they wish without any limitations. Games in this category, may be attractive if we wanted to find grants to help cover the one time pay in fee learners would need to pay. Heck, one 5k grant could fund 100 learners playing Guild Wars 2 as part of a national learning network. 

  • Guild Wars 2 mentioned above is probably one of the most popular games in this category. After World of Warcraft in education efforts started gaining some momentum, many educators realized how much more affordable GW2 was and how there may even be more opportunities for learning within GW2. Incredibly large worlds to explore, character development options, crafting that is deep and useful, many different game modes and many other positives that can offer learning options. 
  • Civilization 5: This classic game allows students to each start at the beginning of time as one of many cultures. Each culture has benefits and challenges and the world is generated randomly each game. This game teaches all players about the many factors that go into how a culture works, thrives and the challenges all cultures face. You can win the game in 7 different ways as you compete with other cultures (players) trying to do the same thing. Maybe you make alliances, maybe you aim for trade supremacy, perhaps you wish to dominate with science or military, and maybe political manipulation is your focus? Teachers may appreciate that you can set the game up on one computer and have it turn based so each player has a set amount of time to get their civilization's turn done.

I am finding I am running out of time tonight to throw in all the other goodies... feast on the above and if anything tickles some fancies, let me know and we can start a focus group on that game, get in there and get playing then start working on what learning we can offer our learners within that game.

 

Please share with any gamer friends.

The League of Legends (LoL) game designer, Riot Games, is giving away a Starter Pack Instant Access to new and existing LoL players. This link will bring you to Amazon, where you just need to click on the yellow "Link and Run Free" button on the top right of the screen. If you have a LoL account already the next screen allows you to just link this package to your account. Otherwise you will need to make a LoL account (it's free). 

This starter pack gives you permanent access to 8 of the basic characters that all LoL players end up using as they learn the game. Even after they understand the game well, these 8 characters still pop up in tournament play. In addition to these 8 players, you always have access to the free players that are available in every rotation. Every month Riot Games changes up which characters are free for all to play so people can try new things and see if they might want to work towards buying one of the free rotations as a permanent character. To help you in gaining in-game currency faster, this free starter pack comes with boosts (one time temporary increases to the rewards you get at the end of every match) that will help you get resources to buy other characters you play and like. 

Whether you play the game and just want to add on free characters you have not gathered yet (and get the free boosts) or you are a new player that has heard wonderful things about this game, this free offer is a great deal and worth checking out. You can't fault FREE. 

Link to free offer from Amazon that is valid until Feb 4th: 

Please share in your networks for any learners or teachers or friends that might be interested in gaming. 

You can learn more about LoL here in this video

or

You can get to the LoL website to read more up on the game. 

Of course you can always message me and I will do my best to offer clarification and answers as well. 

Happy gaming everyone!

Hello,

I am a long time gamer and was a beta tester for World of Warcraft. I introduced my daughter to games when she was 5 years old. She is now in college working on her Biological Sciences degree. Math was very difficult for my daughter, but I was able to teach her it through gaming. I was also able to teach her  how to type; design, manage and grow a business; manage a household including raising children;  problem solve; be a team leader and strategic thinker.  My daughter speaks Spanish and Japanese. I believe she chose to learn those languages in high school and in college because she needed to communicate with people in her games in order to lead them.  My daughter now Twitch and has earned herself an income through gaming.

Monique

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monique, thank you for sharing the success stories you had with your daughter and gaming. There certainly is power there as you know. When you think about what you did, the things you tried and what challenges came up, do you have suggestions or ideas of how we might best support teachers who have an interest in gaming, but really are unsure where to start? I know that in my case, it seems just a natural thing to think up a curriculum need and then find ways to have learners either demonstrate, learn, or experience what I was hoping she might. The fun thing as always in games is that if something does not work, you laugh about how epic you failed and try again with a different approach. 

What do you think we could create that would help teachers out?

Perhaps a publication that offers guiding questions or challenges might be helpful? We could even have one of these for each academic goal a teacher might wish? 

Would we offer just more of a general guide to general learning that may occur in gaming (EX: highlighting leadership opportunities within a game) or would teachers want more directed and specific information (EX: To help build fractions, have students ....)

What do you think Monique and the other gamers out there?

This past December, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program at the Department of Education sponsored ED Games Day.  U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Megan Smith, talked about Grace Hopper, who broke the mold in the 1940s as a pioneer for inventing programming languages and her career as a computer scientist. Smith noted the national need to repair the representation gap among girls, women, and minorities following in the path of Hopper.

SBIR has been identified as one initiative promising to catalyze the growing movement of women developers. In the next few months, SBIR Pulse will release a series of Q&A interviews with many of the women developers who attended ED Games Day.  These interviews will share the stories of why and how these trailblazers got started, and what they see as keys to girls in STEM and women in the gaming development business.

Mike Cruse

Disabilities in Adult Education and Career Pathways Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com