IEEE-GEM, Day 2

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Day Two at IEEE-GEM: 2015 IEEE Games, Entertainment, and Media (GEM) Conference

The first full day of presentations (yesterday were the workshops).

Highlights:

  • There were many interesting conversations and presentations.
  • I did mt two talks (I’ll post the slides in a week or two):
    • Gamifying an M.Ed. Course: A Post-Mortem
    • 4PEG: A Structured Rating System for Games for Learning.
  • Another interesting keynote by Dan Scherlis. This tal emphasized the importance of having the marketing team on board right at the start along with the designers. I’ve long thought that having all the key players on board at the start is really important…too often in educational games this doesn’t happen.
    • Dan offered a definition which, though offered in a slightly cynical way, turns out to be quite useful:
      Genre: A hit game and its imitators.
      Thanks to the popularity of bejeweled (and its imitators) we now have a genre called ‘Match-3 Games’ Q.E.D.
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IEEE-GEM, Day 1

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Day One at IEEE-GEM: 2015 IEEE Games, Entertainment, and Media (GEM) Conference

Highlights:

  • Nice people
  • Very eclectic bunch – many countries and disciplines
  • Did my tutorial on Gamification, which was well received, and
  • Interesting keynote by Steve Mann. Still not sure how much of what we saw was theoretical and how much has actually been implemented, but I like the idea of distinguishing augmented reality and mediated reality. Mediated reality involves ways to enhance reality (increased resolution, showing paths to destinations, etc.) whereas augmented reality involves adding things that aren’t actually yhere. most marketing crap falls into this category. By this definition I definitely prefer the former.

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Worth Sharing: Educational Research Methodology Framework | Dr. Patrick Blessinger

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It may be helpful for any of your students taking a research methods course or working on a research based thesis or dissertation. It is particularly useful for those in education or the social sciences but may also have some applicability to those in the humanities or professional disciplines like business or health sciences.

This framework will be also discussed (alongside chapters from educational scholars from around the world) in the forthcoming HETL book titled, Emerging Directions in Doctoral Education, to be published by Emerald Publishing in January 2016.

Click to View PDF of ERM Framework See http://www.patrickblessinger.com/ermf for DOI, citation, and sources.

Source: Educational Research Methodology Framework | Dr. Patrick Blessinger

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Worth Sharing: LucidLearning’s The Ultimate Alternate Reality Gamified Transmedia Classroom Toolkit

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Here’s a great resource for anyone interested in using games and gamification in the classroom.

Source: The Ultimate Alternate Reality Gamified Transmedia Classroom Toolkit

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Does Greater Complexity in a Game Equal More Fun?

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angry_obs--screenshot_largeNope.

Certainly not always; I would even go so far as to say that there is a point of diminishing return. At some point a game can become so complex that it becomes too much.

Looking at complexity with respect to ‘realism’, it is fairly well known in the design of simulators for training that novices have trouble attending to the task if the simulated environment is too complex. Too many distractions interfere with learning, so they start off with a fairly simple environment which becomes more complex as they become more experienced. If we look at it in terms of fun, people tend not to have fun when things are too hard.

In entertainment games, especially RPGs, complexity of environment can definitely make a game more fun – Skyrim is an excellent example. Visual complexity can also add to the fun – it is one of the things I like about both Machinarium and Tiny Bang Story, but I don’t think visual complexity can compensate for poor functionality or gameplay.

However, the opposite can also be true. Games can be fun precisely because of their simplicity. One of the games I like to play is Flow Free and part of the appeal is the simplicity of the mechanic and play as well as its visual simplicity.

If we are talking about educational games, I think we have to be very careful about adding anything that does not directly support our instructional goals. That’s not to say we should avoid it, but we should always ask how this adds to our objectives. Sometimes, making it more fun by adding extra options can be a good thing, but I think it all depends on how it is designed. Adding complexity per se does not, in and of itself, make anything more fun.

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Worth Sharing: Something to be thankful for: Real turkeys make a comeback | Grist

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2015-04-08_08-43-45Something to be thankful for: Real turkeys make a comeback | Grist.

In 1997, The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) took a turkey census. For about half a century, nearly every turkey farm in the U.S. had been raising a breed known as the Broad Breasted White. (This cost-efficient, big-breasted bird has a lifespan of only 18 weeks and can neither fly, nor reproduce without artificial insemination). So when the ALBC went looking for other, older breeds of turkey, what they found was startling: They counted only 1,300 turkeys not bred for industrial purposes. In the whole country.

…

When it comes to turkeys, or any kind of food, the existence of multiple, diverse varieties (i.e. biodiversity) is crucial to food security. “The analogy we like to use is a stock portfolio,” says Alis2015-04-07_14-12-02_wmon Martin, also of the ALBC. You wouldn’t want to put all your savings behind one stock, but “essentially that’s what commercial agriculture has done. In a time of global climate change and economic stress, doesn’t it make sense to have options for other production methods?”

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Worth Repeating: Deterding’s 9.5 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Gamification

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There seems to be continued confusion about the distinctions between games, gamification, and game based learning. This talk by Sebastian Deterding is now several years old, but it’s as relevant now as it was then. This talk focuses on gamification; what it is, what it isn’t and what is needed for meaningful gamification.

The embedded video below is only part of it. Go to the original site here to see both the talk and the slides simultaneously.

gamificationIf you are interested in following my course journal, watch for the “Gamification 101” heading.

Also, for more information on gamification, check out my website here.

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Worth Sharing: Predator Friendly Ranching …: Puppy talk and how it relates to LGD

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2015-09-29_16-26-45This is a very well-written post. The advice applies to other breeds besides livestock guardians too!

Source: Predator Friendly Ranching …: Puppy talk and how it relates to LGD

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