Evan Leitch- Entry 2 - Grade: A PDF

Preview

Summary

Krista-Lee Malone...

Description

Evan Leitch Curric 277: Videogames & Learning Week 4 Entry 2 Brewville – Entry 2 Now that we understand what Brewville is all about from Entry 1, there are more details to the game which will make it more attractive, exciting, and actually a game! In an article titled “Learning by Design: good video games as learning machines” by James Paul Gee, numerous principles and ideas he shares would be perfect to include in my game. Two of Gee’s Learning Principles that will be developed into Brewville are “Manipulation and Distributive Knowledge” and “Cycles of Expertise” (Gee, 2005). These two learning principles will build nicely on the contingency and unpredictability which was mentioned in the “Beyond Play: A New Approach to Games” article. It’s important to have this unpredictability factor in the game as a player makes different choices in the game. The results will be partially determined by their choices, but also partially unpredictable and random (Malaby, 2007). That will be the fun of the game and keep a player addicted to playing. The “Manipulation and Distributive Knowledge” will easily be recognized and incorporated in Brewville as the user has many decisions to make which will impact the success of his play (Gee, 2005). From deciding the combination of ingredients in the beer, where to sell, and which distributors to work with, there will be numerous decisions for the player to make and ways for the player to manipulate the game. The player’s choices in the game will influence the failure or success of his brewery. The brewing process will be where most of the manipulation occurs as the proportions of which ingredients to include in the beer will be chosen by the player. This customizability, influence, and control the player has in Brewville will make the game fun

and addicting as it will exemplify the “Manipulation and Distributive Knowledge” learning principle. Another Gee Learning Principle I will incorporate into Brewville will be “Cycles of Expertise” (Gee, 2005). By having levels and new recipes for beer to unlock, it will provide grounds for a repeating style of having a new skill, mastering the skill, and then unlocking a new skill over and over again. With a level and “experience” style in the game, it will start off easy and get more complex and sophisticated as the player levels up. For example, in the game the player will start off with a recipe of only a pilsner, but as they progress through the game, the player will unlock new recipes to master such as an IPA, Belgian style, Porter, etc. This progression of unlocking new recipes for beers will follow the style of “Cycles of Expertise” by gaining a new skill, mastering it, then learning a brand-new skill again. By adopting Gee’s Learning Principles into Brewville, it will help make it an addicting and fun game for the player. First, with the randomness and contingency of the overall play, a player will have input into the game, but the output will be random with some contingency on the input. The player will also experience “Manipulation and Distributive Knowledge” with the game play due to being in-control (to an extent) of the output. The players actions and role in the game will lead to a sense of accomplishment from their successful inputs. Lastly, “Cycles of Expertise” will be present with the level-by-level game play. The player will unlock new recipes for different beers, master them, level-up, and unlock new recipes. This continuous cycle will lead to learning how different beers are made and keep the game addicting to play (Gee, 2005).

Sources: Gee, J. P. (2005). Learning by Design: Good video games as learning machines. E-Learning, Volume 2, Number 1, 2(1), 5-16. Malaby, T. M. (2007). Beyond Play: A New Approach to Games. Games and Culture, 2, 95-113. doi:10.1177/1555412007299434...