{KS} Games thus far...can I be done yet?

There is some pressure to play games when you are playing for a purpose and that purpose is your Master's degree in Learning Technologies.

I play "video" games in real life.
Solitare, Poker Pals (with my cousin Luke. We are going on 5 years now of phone poker),7 Words and Whirly Word when I can't sleep at night.
I even will play games when I'm watching my friends kids. I am after working to forever be the "cool aunt."

That is pretty much it.

Until I discovered Peggle. And, as I wrote about earlier, I became an addict and basically forgot about real life for a full 2 days.

Until Peggle comes out with another challenge, I should be in the clear.

For CogTools, I've played Halo 4, Monaco, ThirdEyeCrime, another one that I forget because I didn't like it much and deleted it from my phone.

I'd rather read. I'd rather watch a movie.

I know it sounds a little crazy, but I'm ready to be done with the game playing. I absolutely feel like I have learned from the game playing. And I am confident that it has and will make me a better teacher. I have enjoyed learning about game and learning theory but I'm ready to be done playing games.

I keep trying to analyze why this is but I am not quite sure.

Why don't I connect?

I can recognize why people love gaming and the various aspects of applying gaming to learning and education.

So I will take what I have and am learning and seek to apply to my classroom and teaching.

But, I'll probably come home and watch some TV instead of picking up the controller or opening my computer up to World of Warcraft.

Who needs a manual...?

Have you ever seriously thought about the way video games are set up? How they manage to walk the gamer step by step without needing a users manual? How they build on prior knowledge? How video games seem to teach without the gamer really realizing that they are being taught?

Me neither.

Until recently. 

As part of this MALT process (yep, that word again), I have been given the following assignment:

• Choose a minimum of one game from each category (Single Player, Multi Player, Potty Game), and play it as a way of observing the learning methods and theories that the game uses to teach you how to play.  Each game should be one that is new to you.
• As you play the game, keep a journal of the reflections and experiences you have.  Publish a written journal of your observations...

Playing Halo provided me with plenty of opportunities to be frustrated and entertained. After all, who doesn't love a good shoot out? However, as I am in the midst of the process, I observed. I thought about those learning methods and theories. I reached into the recesses of my brain, back to my education and credentialing classes. I tried to step back from just being a player and think about what I was actually doing. How I was learning to play a game that was completely new to me. How did I know how to shoot, how to break the necks of weird alien creatures, and where to go?

Keep in mind that while I play plenty of "potty games" on my iPhone, I can't remember the last time I sat down in front of a game console to play a video game. I have had some fairly spectacular moments with friends playing Rock Band and Wii Tennis, but I am fairly certain the original Nintendo system is the last console I sat in front of, on my own, controller in hand.

My observations in the first 2 levels of the game?

1. The narrative aspect of Halo, and I am assuming most games now, magically explains the game, who the players and characters are and what the objective is. No lecture involved. A story plays out before my eyes and I am sucked in, ready for my mission.
2. If not part of the story, directions appear on the screen in one sentence.
3. Prior knowledge is built upon at each level and skills demands are increased as the game progresses.

The learning is progressive. A video game is set up in the same way our lessons in the classroom should be. Building on skill and increasing challenge. In the book Gamify, by Brian Burke, points out that to gamify is to start with "small steps first and build those skills over time." Isn't this exactly what teachers need to be doing?

Why is this important? Because, as it turns out, gaming is an excellent example of learning and instruction.  Inquiry based, skill building, complex growth wherein the gamer is guided, helping the gamer find a path to success.

We can learn a lot as educators about learning and education.

No instruction manual needed.

Go play a game.