Key terms:
Play–the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem solving.
Performance–the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery.
Simulation–the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes.
Appropriation–the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content.
Engagement–being actively involved and interested in an activity. With regard to play, individual parts of an activity, like a grind or a homework assignment, may not be fun in themselves, but a player is still motivated by a fun goal (like new skills or knowledge) and so continues the activity despite this.
Projective identity–the fusion between game players and their in-game avatars. This is a play on the word “project,” as it refers both to projecting one’s identity onto the avatar, and to thinking of the avatar as a project to be developed.
Procedural literacy–the “capacity to restructure and reconfigure knowledge to look at problems through multiple vantage points” (27). This develops a greater understanding of the rules and procedures that shape our experience.
Brief(ish) Summary:
SimCity is a game that helps players learn to read maps and graphs while they play.
Play: Games help learning by allowing people to engage with material directly and with related subjects by extension. An interest in baseball cards, for example, can help a student engage with math, reading, and conversational skills among other things. Play makes it fun to develop different sets of skills, even if it doesn’t appear fun to an outsider or if developing the skills outside the context of play would not be fun. It also lowers the risk of learning through trial and error, allowing players to take more risks as they learn. Play can be integrated in a classroom setting through free-form experimentation (unstructured problem solving) and open-ended speculation (historical “what-if” scenarios).
Performance: Projecting one’s own identity onto a character creates immersion into different scenarios. Easy-to-use digital media like blogs make it easy for young people to explore social interaction and create their identities. With anonymous blogs, one person can create and explore multiple personas. In an academic context, taking on a role can demonstrate one’s understanding of that role—it is difficult to perform a role well without understanding the character and their situation. Because performance of this kind is a form of play, it can motivate students to learn more about something in a fun and interesting way. In a simulation game, it can encourage students to form a projective identity around real-world circumstances.
Simulation:Close approximation of real-world processes. Simulations require an understanding of different variables to create, and can assist students in developing that understanding by allowing them to see a process at work. They allow easy manipulation of variables given what is already known, which aids in understanding each variable’s significance. Simulations can be a form of play and often take the form of games, such as SimCity. This makes them easy to engage with. They encourage mentally modeling processes intuitively because a simulation is experienced rather than simply read. They can also require learning other skills, such as reading graphs. All of this involves procedural literacy, made easy through play. It is important to note, however, that simulations cannot be taken at face value; there are limitations and assumptions underlying the construction of simulations that must be taken into account.
Appropriation: Taking samples from old works and using them to create something new. New work almost universally builds on work that has come before it, but our culture emphasizes the idea of independent creation and has an aversion to borrowing ideas. Appropriation involves analysis and commentary on old works simply in choosing what to appropriate. It also helps identify parallels between different works, allowing students to recognize a common theme. Furthermore, remaking something in a different context but keeping the pieces recognizable creates a deeper understanding of the original work, through analysis of characters and cultures, for example.
Discussion Question:
Most of these concepts involve discussions of video games. Are different kinds of video games more or less conducive to learning than others? How?
It depends on the sort of skills one seeks to teach; a fighting game, for example, will not help a student learn about economics, while a role-playing game with a trade system can. Virtually every game teaches some sort of skill. The trick is to find those games that require skills that also apply outside the game. Simulation games or games with simulation elements are the best likely candidates for this, as they tend to model the real world.
Other resources:
Embrace the Remix: Kirby Ferguson argues that all creative work builds on previous work, and that our patent system which treats ideas as property hinders creative production.
Works cited: