{"id":2125,"date":"2012-04-16T09:15:17","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T15:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:46:49","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T17:46:49","slug":"question-of-the-day-what-do-you-think-what-is-the-most-important-ingredient-to-create-and-sell-a-successful-educative-video-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/04\/16\/question-of-the-day-what-do-you-think-what-is-the-most-important-ingredient-to-create-and-sell-a-successful-educative-video-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Question of the Day: What is the most important &#8221; ingredient&#8221; to create and sell a successful educative video game????"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p>This is a discussion that recently started on one of the LinkedIn lists I&#8217;m on. It&#8217;s a really good question, but one without a simple answer.<br \/>\nSuggested answers have included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There isn&#8217;t one thing &#8211; games are complex.<\/li>\n<li>Must be fit for purpose.<\/li>\n<li>Must be engaging.<\/li>\n<li>Appropriate interface design.<\/li>\n<li>Must be addictive (this one I don&#8217;t agree with AT ALL &#8211; it implies an approach to design that misses the point. Besides, I suspect that &#8216;addiction&#8217; is rather a dirty word in education and is best avoided))<\/li>\n<li>Immediate feedback.<\/li>\n<li>Comprehensive integrated instruction (although this is about as fuzzy a term as &#8220;good&#8221; &#8211; and nearly as hard to measure).<\/li>\n<li>Cover a complete lesson (at least). I don&#8217;t think all games need this. Actually, I KNOW that not all games need this. There remains a place for short-form, single concept games. Short-form, single concept (and even, yes&#8230; drill and practise games) are a great way to soften people up to the idea of using games in class.<\/li>\n<li>Must address different learning styles (again, I&#8217;m not sure I really agree with the whole &#8220;learning styles&#8221; movement &#8211; at least not in the way it is usually embodied.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here&#8217;s my response:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2126\" title=\"Rover 01\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Rover-01-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"ViPER\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Rover-01-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Rover-01.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\nWhen dealing with a game intended for use in formal settings (schools, etc.) there are a few external things that are crucial:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>explicit ties to the curriculum<\/li>\n<li>assessments (ingame or otherwise) that align with accepted practices<\/li>\n<li>teacher support (about the game, how to use it, lesson plans, etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>As much as it pains me to say, I would even go so far as to say these things are more important to the &#8220;success&#8221; of a game (i.e. selling it) than whether or not the game itself is any good.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It is really (REALLY) important to remember that edugames are targeted at two, often very different audiences:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The people who will be playing the game (and hopefully learning from it.<\/li>\n<li>The people who make the decisions about whether or not to buy \/ use this game.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The first group care more about whether or not it&#8217;s a good game. The second, about whether it will fit into the curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s an old adage (about spacecraft design) that goes &#8220;A bad design with a good presentation is doomed eventually, but a good design with a bad presentation is doomed immediately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This applies to games too. If a game is to be taken up in formal settings it has to have the elements that will make it possible to &#8216;drop&#8217; it into an existing (albeit largely broken) system.<\/p>\n<p>This applies to games too. If a game is to be taken up in formal settings it has to have the elements that will make it possible to &#8216;drop&#8217; it into an existing (albeit largely broken) system. Whether we like it or not, most schools need to justify time spent in class by highlighting an activity&#8217;s relevance to the official standards. Teachers need to be able to get information out of the game that they can easily translate into assessments for reports and administrators. Finally, most teachers have neither the time nor the experience to develop lesson plans using games. They do not have time to play the game and figure out how best to use it. They need &#8216;canned lessons&#8217;, at least in the beginning.<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s not to say the the game must contain all these things; I am saying that these things must be included as part of the materials that come with the game.<\/p>\n<p>Without this, even most good edugames (take note &#8211; there are precious few of those) won&#8217;t get a second look.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Changing the educational system is going to be accomplished in small steps, not landslides.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-2125'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(2125);\" title='Like' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>1 person likes this post.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(2125);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(2125);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>This is a discussion that recently started on one of the LinkedIn lists I&#8217;m on. It&#8217;s a really good question, but one without a simple answer. Suggested answers have included: There isn&#8217;t one thing &#8211; games are complex. Must be &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/04\/16\/question-of-the-day-what-do-you-think-what-is-the-most-important-ingredient-to-create-and-sell-a-successful-educative-video-game\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,12,14],"tags":[41,389,159,127,342],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational-technology","category-games","category-general","tag-education","tag-educational-technology","tag-edugames","tag-game-design","tag-games-gaming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-yh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":959,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/07\/22\/in-depth-game-reviews-mathblaster\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":0},"title":"In-Depth Game Reviews: Mathblaster","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was working on my PhD (2003-2008), I found it very hard to find any decent reviews of educational games. There are plenty of reasons for this, including: Teachers aren't, for the most part, gamers and so really have no idea what makes a good game. The culture of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6994,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2018\/08\/13\/just-in-time-for-the-start-of-term-the-guide-to-simulations-and-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":1},"title":"Just in time for the start of term&#8230;The Guide to Simulations and Games","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Available for a limited time for $9.99(US) with this coupon.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":817,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/06\/21\/why-educators-need-to-learn-about-simulations-and-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":2},"title":"Why Educators Need to Learn About Simulations (and Games)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"June 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Simulations (and games) are once again 'hot' in education - remember the \"Edutainment Era\" of the 80's? Everyone seemed to think that the way to make \"learning fun\" was to wrap it up in some lame game. Educational Technologists and other educational designers leapt on this bandwagon with great glee.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6944,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2018\/07\/16\/the-guide-to-computer-simulations-and-games-now-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":3},"title":"The Guide to Computer Simulations and Games NOW AVAILABLE!","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"We have regained the rights to our 2011 book, The Guide to Computer Simulations and Games, originally published by Wiley. We are in the process of updating it for a new edition, but in the meantime we are releasing the first edition on LeanPub (e-versions only; no print versions). This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/cover3.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/cover3.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/cover3.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/cover3.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6501,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2017\/08\/05\/5-mistaken-differences-between-education-games-and-the-gamification-of-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":4},"title":"5 mistaken differences between education games and the gamification of education","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"And 12 ways in which these ideas are problematic. Gamification is generally defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. Fair enough. But this is pretty much where the article goes off the rails. (She's not alone). Source: 5 differences between education games and the gamification of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pearsoned.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Education-games-or-gamification-of-education.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pearsoned.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Education-games-or-gamification-of-education.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pearsoned.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Education-games-or-gamification-of-education.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2007\/08\/02\/clark-is-at-it-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":5},"title":"R.E.Clark is at it again&#8230;.","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Clark, R. E. (2007). Learning from Serious Games? Arguments, Evidence, and Research Suggestions. EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, May-June 2007, 56-59. Richard E. Clark says, \"My goal in this column is to offer a brief view of the current state of the evidence for the educational benefit of games, discuss a few problems\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4351,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions\/4351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}