The document discusses serious games and their use for learning about social issues. Serious games are defined as games that prompt experiential learning through play in a way that fosters critical thinking and participation. Examples discussed include simulations that allow players to experience different lives, games that address issues like climate change and human rights, and alternate reality games that motivate players to take action in the real world. The document argues that serious games can effectively teach complex systems and motivate learning through identity and challenge-based gameplay.

1. Serious Games, Social
Issues & Learning
Jason Rosenblum, Jennifer Dornan-Fish & Bob Strong,
St. Edward’s University
2011 New Media Center Conference, UW Madison
h"p://slidesha.re/kIQ1YL
jasonr@stedwards.edu
Friday, June 17, 2011 1

2. What’s a serious game?
• games famously resist definition (Wittgenstein)
• Therefore here’s one perspective:
Serious games are games that prompt
experiential learning through play, in ways that
foster critical evaluation and participation.
Friday, June 17, 2011 2

3. What’s a serious game?
• games famously resist definition (Wittgenstein)
• Therefore here’s one perspective:
Serious games are games that prompt
experiential learning through play, in ways that
foster critical evaluation and participation.
Friday, June 17, 2011 3

4. Why are they relevant?
• Theoretical models & Research Perspectives
provided by:
Ian Bogost, James Gee, David Shaffer, Constance
Steinkuehler, Sasha Barab, Kurt Squire & Jane
McGonigal
Friday, June 17, 2011 4

5. Real Lives
From : http://www.educationalsimulations.com/
Friday, June 17, 2011 5

6. Simulations : Real Lives
• Relevance: Real play by immersion. Experiential
learning through role play.
• Example of Gee's notion of empowering learner through
identity (see: What Videogames Have to Teach Us about
Learning and Literacy)(Gee, 2007).
• Build the life of a character and live that life making
decisions and reaping the results of those decisions.
Outcomes for individual choices are based on statistics
on which the game is based.
• http://www.educationalsimulations.com/
Gee, J. (2007). What Video Games Have to Teach Us
About Learning and Literacy (2nd ed.): Palgrave
Macmillan.
Friday, June 17, 2011 6

7. Simulations : Real Lives
• Taken from:
http://www.educationalsimulations.com/Real
%20Lives%20Background.doc
• Database contains 200 indicators in over 4000
locations in 192 countries across the globe
• Information from multiple databases, including the
World Health Organization, Index Mundi, and
census data with job information by region.
Friday, June 17, 2011 7

8. http://www.gamesforchange.org
Friday, June 17, 2011 8

9. Games 4 Change
From:
http://vimeo.com/17001067
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seVuReHqPSI&feature=related
http://ayiti.globalkids.org/game/
Friday, June 17, 2011 9

10. • G4C Lab - services
to support social
impact game design
& creation
• G4C Arcade - links
to games
• Inspiring Digital
Kids through Game
Design with AMD
http://www.gamesforchange.org/ourwork
Friday, June 17, 2011 10

11. From their Human Rights Channel
http://gamesforchange.org/channels/human
Friday, June 17, 2011 11

12. http://www.kvue.com/news/MORGAN-CHESKY-Sandra-Day-OConnor-gives-
modern-civics-lesson-119806714.html
http://www.icivics.org/
Friday, June 17, 2011 12

13. Games 4 Change
• Relevance: Play to learn.
• Many Games can be seen through Ian Bogost’s lens
on Persuasive Games (Bogost, 2007)
‣ Games reflect complex procedural systems that drive social,
political & economic issues
‣ Many reflect Bogost’s idea of procedural rhetoric to help bridge
the gap between what they know and processes the game
presents
• See: http://www.bogost.com/
• http://www.persuasivegames.com/
Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive Games - The Expressive Power of Videogames: The MIT
Press
Friday, June 17, 2011 13

14. Fate of the World
From: http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 14

15. Fate of the World
• By Red Redemption, makers of Climate Change.
• Designed to heighten awareness of systemic effects of
environmental, political, and cultural choices on climate
change.
• Helps players confront the rhetorical gap between what they
know and what the systems embodied in the game
represent.
• Relevance: Example of game that provides experiential
learning through a series of progressively harder problems.
FOTW’s design embodies Bogost’s notion of procedural
rhetoric (see: Persuasive Games,The Expressive Power of Video
Games).
• http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 15

16. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

17. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

18. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

19. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

20. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

21. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

22. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

23. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

24. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

25. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

26. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

27. http://fateoftheworld.net/
Friday, June 17, 2011 16

28. Superhero Gaming
• Jane McGonigal - Real play to take action to address
large scale probs. See: Reality is Broken - Why Games Make
Us Better and How They Can Change the World
• Produced World Without Oil (an Alternate Reality Game) and
more recently, Evoke (Alternate Reality/Superhero Gaming)
• See: http://janemcgonigal.com/
• Look for her Ted Talk: “Gaming can make a better world”
• McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make
Us Better and How They Can Change the World: Penguin
Press HC.
Friday, June 17, 2011 17

29. Superhero Gaming
From : http://www.urgentevoke.com
Friday, June 17, 2011 18

30. Learner as “Superhero”
Clever use of technology + game design
strategies to motivate players in ways that are
Challenge-Based.
http://www.urgentevoke.com
Friday, June 17, 2011 19

31. From: http://www.urgentevoke.com
Mission 1, Objective: Learn
Friday, June 17, 2011 20

32. From: http://www.urgentevoke.com
Mission 1, Objective: Act
Friday, June 17, 2011 21

33. From: http://www.urgentevoke.com
Mission 1, Objective: Imagine
Friday, June 17, 2011 22

34. From: http://www.urgentevoke.com
Blog post: Log your Evidence
Friday, June 17, 2011 23

35. From: http://www.urgentevoke.com
Blog post: http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/
blogs/saving-the-knowledge-about
Friday, June 17, 2011 24

36. From: http://www.urgentevoke.com
Origin Story: http://www.urgentevoke.com/page/
quest-list
Friday, June 17, 2011 25

37. From: http://www.urgentevoke.com
Agent Profile: Khayalethu Kuphu
Friday, June 17, 2011 26

38. Learning is Experiential
Perfect example of Gee's empowerment through identity
(i.e. your life) and through learner-defined play : origin story
+ quest + outcome.
Friday, June 17, 2011 27

39. From Superhero Gaming to Epistemic
Games...
Friday, June 17, 2011 28

40. David Shaffer
http://epistemicgames.org/
Shaffer, D., Gee, J. (2008). How Computer Games Help Children Learn: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Friday, June 17, 2011 29

41. With Participation From
University of Wisconsin
University of Maryland
University of Memphis
Danish School of Education
Open Universitet Nederland
Friday, June 17, 2011 30

42. According to David Shaffer...
An epistemic game is a game that deliberately creates the
epistemic frame of a socially valued community by re-creating
the process by which individuals develop the skills, knowledge,
identities, values, and epistemology of that community (Shaffer
& Gee, 2008, p. 164)
Shaffer, D., Gee, J. (2008). How Computer Games Help Children
Learn: Palgrave Macmillan.
Friday, June 17, 2011 31

43. Peacemaker as Epistemic Game
Presents players with the challenge of playing the
role of a peacemaker
...and more importantly challenges players to
*think* like a peacemaker to solve a difficult
problem--peace in the Mideast.
Friday, June 17, 2011 32

44. Peacemaker
From:
http://www.peacemakergame.com
http://vimeo.com/17001067
Friday, June 17, 2011 33

45. Peacemaker Pilot
• Spring 2011 - Undergrad International
Security & Conflict Resolution Course
• Students worked in teams of 2-4, appx 5-6
teams, for appx 25 minutes.
• asked to consciously role-play a leader
from a particular political position
Friday, June 17, 2011 34

46. Peacemaker Pilot
• Student teams did well--with some teams
able to achieve positive ratings from both
countries.
• Students studied material prior to class, and
were prompted to write reflections on
their experience
• Feedback was positive--wanted more time
for play outside of class.
Friday, June 17, 2011 35

47. Global Social Problems
• Local Action & Social Networks for Change
• Undergrad Cultural Foundations course
• Uses superhero gaming strategies &
challenge-based learning approach.
• Inspired by McGonigal’s idea of gameful
action and her ARG, Evoke.
Friday, June 17, 2011 36

48. Global Social Problems
http://vimeo.com/23934250
Friday, June 17, 2011 37

49. Three Missions
• Research an issue @ Global & Local Levels
• Participate online as well as at local levels
to address the problem
• Imagine a possible way to address the
issue, incorporating perspectives learned
through research and participation.
Friday, June 17, 2011 38

50. Three Missions
Students awarded “Experience Points” by peers on
how well they demonstrate heroic “Character Traits”
Understanding Tenacity Excellence
Communication Collaboration Empathy
Vision Precision Wisdom
Mission Progress gauged by leveling system
Friday, June 17, 2011 39

51. fin.
jasonr@stedwards.edu
http://www.edtechresources.info
h"p://slidesha.re/kIQ1YL
Friday, June 17, 2011 40