{"id":18,"date":"2007-06-16T13:08:51","date_gmt":"2007-06-16T19:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.minkhollow.ca\/KB\/Blog\/?p=15"},"modified":"2010-05-08T11:33:54","modified_gmt":"2010-05-08T17:33:54","slug":"on-game-length","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2007\/06\/16\/on-game-length\/","title":{"rendered":"On Game Length"},"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\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><p class=\"MsoNormal\">On Game Length<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">[started Dec. 4 2006] <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/features\/20061201\/qotw_01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/features\/20061201\/qotw_01.shtml<\/a> Talks about the length of games.<\/p>\n<p>This is of value to me because [I say] long games are ill-suited to school environments.<br \/>\nSchool learning comes in bite-sized chunks, single lessons; units that last a few weeks. Unless we begin to require dozens of hours in homework, there is no way for games to fit into formal school environments. It may be part of the reason why puzzle games predominate when it comes to school games. Their length is better suited to the environment than a game like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elderscrolls.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Oblivion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I think that many modern games are *not* suited for use in schools because of the time commitment required to play them vs. what we can get out of them in terms of meeting outcomes. That also means that the model provided by such games may not be especially useful for ed-games. A game that takes 100 hours to complete is just not going to work in school, whereas a 10-hour game might. Even if the 100-hour game were to match perfectly with a whole pile of general outcomes, it is still a huge time commitment. The amount of flexibility around the time commitment for any game is going to depend (at least in part) on what level of organization the &#8216;schedule&#8217; is set at. In other words, if the province sets the amount of time available for something we have almost no hope of affecting that; if it is done at the board level the chances are better but the case still has to be made that this change will be good for all schools in the district. However, if the decision is school-based we have the greatest chance of influence.<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-18'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(18);\" title='' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>Be the first to like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(18);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(18);\">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\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span>On Game Length [started Dec. 4 2006] http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/features\/20061201\/qotw_01.shtml Talks about the length of games. This is of value to me because [I say] long games are ill-suited to school environments. School learning comes in bite-sized chunks, single lessons; units that &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2007\/06\/16\/on-game-length\/\">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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[14],"tags":[31,393],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-game-studies","tag-teaching-learning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6754,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2018\/02\/04\/whats-the-difference-between-serious-games-educational-games-and-game-based-learning-episode-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":0},"title":"What\u2019s the difference between serious games, educational games, and game-based learning? Episode 2","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"February 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently posted a table explaining the differences between games, serious games, educational, games, GBL, etc. \u00a0 I thought a concrete example might help to understand the distinctions. Say we are using\u00a0The Parable of the Polygons\u00a0to help a high school class learn about diversity. This is a wonderful little game\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/game-gbl-gamification-2.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5291,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/08\/11\/is-fun-really-necessary-for-serious-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":1},"title":"Is Fun Really Necessary for Serious Games?","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many people in Education seem to believe that fun and education are at odds with each other. Some years ago I did a survey with public school teachers to see if they were using games in school, and if not, why not. Some of the obvious and significant barriers were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The \"Serious Games Continuum\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/ed-fun-contunuum-300x166.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2814,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/09\/21\/theories-of-games-and-interaction-for-design-3-3-queries\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":2},"title":"Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (3: 3 Queries)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"September 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University. Each week, we are also required to post three questions for the rest of the class. These are mine. Please note: these posts are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4801,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/06\/19\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":3},"title":"Games vs Game-based Learning vs Gamification","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"June 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So many people are confused about the differences between these terms. Unfortunately, this article just muddies the waters further. Games vs Game-based Learning vs Gamification | The Upside Learning Blog. It's a great effort, but I'm afraid none of these are quite right.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/book\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.upsidelearning.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification-key-differences.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.upsidelearning.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification-key-differences.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.upsidelearning.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification-key-differences.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2147,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/04\/28\/where-ive-been-this-week-weekly-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":4},"title":"Where I&#8217;ve Been This Week (weekly)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"April 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"~ A record of places on the web I want to remember ~ \u00a0 Why \u201cClear and Easy to Understand\u201d can be bad | Usable Learning So, as an instructional designer, part of my job is to make things clear and easy to understand, right? Well, it turns out that\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2997,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/10\/14\/theories-of-games-and-interaction-for-design-6-3-responses\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":5},"title":"Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (6: 3 Responses)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"October 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University. Each week, we are required to post three responses\/reactions to queries posted by other members of the class in the previous week. These are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/2\/21\/Metroidprime3_1.png","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}