Behind the Message: A CaseStudy of an Educational Mod

1
Behind the MessageA Case-Study of an
Educational Mod

• Leveraging COTS Gaming Technologies to Build a
  Bridge to the Next Generation of Learning Games
• Where learning is the point, not the by-product

2
The Team

• Matt Taylor Team Lead. Programming, Design.
• Nora Paul Director, New Media Studies
  Department, University of Minnesota. Content
  Expert.
• Kathleen Hansen (PhD) Professor of Journalism,
  University of Minnesota. Content Expert.
• Jeff Metzler Student, University of Minnesota.
  Research and design.
• Jordan Stalker Student, University of
  Minnesota. Research and design.
• The interaction of content experts with the
  technical experts is what makes this a true
  educational game

3
Project Status

• 1 Year Ago COTF 2004
• Inspired by The Education Arcades Revolution
  mod (MIT)
• Update there is now a forum on using NWN in
  education mods at E3 2005precedent!
• Started work late in the summer, break for
  marriage, most work done in 2005
• Published, International Digital and Media Arts
  Journal, Spring 2005
• Presenting, DIGRA, Vancouver, June 2005
• Classroom deployment Fall 2005
• Jour 3004W, Information for Mass Communication

4
Disclaimer

• NOT trained as an educator self-trained
  (multi-purpose computer geek and trainer)
• NOT trained as a game designer self-trained
  (programming background and I get bored easily)
• My opinions are not necessarily those of my
  partners.
• Take it all with a grain of salt the size of a
  Buick ?.
• And I apologize in advance for how much Im
  going to talk.
• And for my terrible use of ppt.

5
The Philosophy

• Video games are a form of media (dont snicker)
• Video games are the new television/Hollywood
• Internet as metaphor
• 1993 thousands of pages, dominated by technical
  experts
• 2005 billions of pages, widely diverse subject
  matter
• What changed WYSIWYGs
• The gap between knowing and know-how narrowed
• The medium became increasingly accessible to
  content experts vs technical experts
• Delineation of content from the Geeks to the
  Masses

6
The Philosophy

• Games, 1993 A small number of genres, dominated
  by technical expertise
• Games, 2005 A small number of genres, dominated
  by technical expertise
• You can count the number of gaming genres on one
  hand
• GameBridge Philosophy making it easier for
  content experts to express their ideas in the
  emerging dominant form of media
• Knowing and Knowhow in concert

7
Simplifying the Pipeline

• The tools
• 10 years ago you had to be an expert to do web
  design
• Today I can update a page in 10 seconds, and
  train a person in design basics in a day.
• The FrontPage factor
• Games are still very difficult
• Constant re-invention of the wheel
• At least 25 of development is tool creation
• Tools can and will be simplified but will not be
  simple for some time.
• Need middleware operators to bridge the worlds
  of game design and non-traditional applications
  of those games.
• Or, in the meantime, leveraging an existing
  toolset (Aurora, UnrealEd, Quake II, etc)

8
The Industry - how big is it?How high can you
count?

• 41 of all Americans and 63 of parents plan to
  purchase at least one game in 04 (IGDA report,
  2003)
• 80 of software industry sales are in gaming in
  2003 (vs 65 5 years ago) (forbes)
• Currently employs 35,000 in US. (cnn)
• Expected growth of 67.9 between 2002 and 2012
• 20 annual growth rate in the US 2002-2003
• The fastest growing industry across all sectors
  Bureau of Labor
• Global an estimated 24 billion dollar industry
  (27 billion by 2007)
• US 10.3 B in game sales in 2002 vs 9.4 B in
  2001
• Box Office receipts in 2003 8.1 billion (ADL
  MMOG study, March 2005)
• 60 of Americans play 75 of teenage boys in
  American play (ADL MMOG study, March 2005)

9
A subset MMOGs and MMORPGs

• The 79th Richest Nation in the World Doesnt
  Exist Dibble
• GDP of Ultima Online is GDC of Bulgaria
• 1 Billion real-world dollars last year for
  virtual goods (vs. basketball shoe sales of 800
  million dollars) Castranova
• Virtual Economy growing at 30/year (vs
  real-world economy)
• New Sonys Station Exchange (the Wal-Mart of the
  virtual marketplace?)

10
The Side-Effect Factor

• Hand-Eye Coordination
• Playing GTA helps surgeons in the OR
• Like saying the benefit of reading a book is an
  increase in fine-motor skills from turning the
  pages MEDIUM vs MESSAGE
• Education value of entertainment games
• Learning about history in Civ3
• What is the motivation for Sid Mier to be
  authentic?
• Example recent backlash against historical
  inaccuracy of Age of Empires 2
• Do we really WANT Microsoft teaching history?
  Wouldnt you rather have a history professor
  doing it?
• In the classroom tools are used to specifically
  to educateAOE is NOT designed to educate. Why
  do we expect it to?
• We need education to stop being a side-effect of
  games, and to start being the POINT of games.

11
Educational Gaming 2.0 (forgive the tackiness of
the above slide title, Im open to other ideas)

• Evolution
• From improved hand-eye coordination (tertiary
  benefits, physical layer)
• To accidental learning (secondary benefits,
  medium layer)
• To pedagogy, educators messages through a new
  medium (primary benefits, content / message
  layer)
• Education being the purpose and intent of the
  gameeducation as part of the design process.
• Speaking of accidental benefits

12
1974 Pong

• Advantage Hand-Eye Coordination

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2004 GTAVC
Advantage Hand-Eye Coordination http//www.ama-as
sn.org/amednews/2004/05/03/prsc0503.htm We can do
better
14
Modern Gaming entertainment
15
Modern Gaming education
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The Oregon Trail Effect

• THIS MUST END
• This is the template of an education game to most
  peopleand its 20 years old.
• Many students today dont even know itso they
  have no real conception of an educational game
  (or You Dont Know Jack trivia games).
• Pac Man as the defining modern
  entertainment-based game.

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Why Educational Gaming Now?

• Shifting Media Preferences
• We know kids are reading lessbut they are also
  watching less TV.
• 7 less 18-35 male TV viewership, 20 less 18-24
  male viewership (2003 Nielsen ratings).
• An 8-10 increase in video game use over each of
  the last 2 years. (IGDA report, 2004)
• 10 years ago, games paid corporations for product
  names. Now its the other way around.

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McDonalds in the Sims (also Intel)
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THERE Try and Buy Levis and Nike products
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Why Educational Gaming Now?

• Legitimization
• Scholarly Work
• Gee What Video Games Have to Teach Us
• DIGRA, Serious Games, etc.
• Cognitive Research
• More open attitude than 10 years ago
• U partners showed tremendous support
• We are running this like any development project
  (finances, timeline, etc). Were making a game
  but its serious work.
• U of M Anti-gaming stigma? WHAT anti-gaming
  stigma?

21
Why Educational Gaming Now?

• Non-Gamers using Games
• Hard-core gamers are already sold, we need the
  Phds!
• Gee, What Video Games have to Teach us
• A 60 year old learning theorist and
  instructional designer
• Behind the Message I am the only team member out
  of 5 that plays games
• University-level studies and research
• People are coming to the medium because of its
  potential as a fantastic learning tool
• ANDthe first generation of gamers is becoming
  the next generation of educators ?

22
Shifting Preferences What Does it Mean for
Education?

• Does reading less necessarily mean learning less?
  Or less eager to learn? Or
• Does it signal a shift in preferred ways of
  learning?
• New technologies Books-on-iPods for library
  checkoutone example.
• Cognitive Research
• Cognitive multitasking watching TV, surfing
  Internet, playing games, etc, all at onceand
  they can differentiate between them.
• Its not that they CANT pay attention to just
  one thingits that they dont WANT to
• Evidence that todays students parallel-process
• Entering school as a fighter pilot, etcthen
  sitting still and listening to one person for
  hours at a time.
• Students WANT to learn in new ways and we are not
  accommodating them.

23
Cognitive Theory ? Gaming

• Examples from Gee
• Just-in-Time Learning - Learn something and
  immediately apply it
• Games vs Classroom
• Empowering Learners Learners need to take on a
  new identity to learn well
• The Sandbox - Abstraction, a safe playspace
• We can have photorealism nowplayers want a
  level of abstraction (High Voltage Software)
• Problem-Solving Creating a cycle of expertise
  and creating a pleasantly frustrating
• Ninja Gaiden start with 1 enemy, then 2, then a
  circle of them, etc

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Cognitive Theory ? Gaming

• More examples from Gee
• Epistemophelic Learning A drive for learning
  that exists on a basic level, like lust.
• The true love of learning is possible with
  games
• Zero-Level/Instinctual Learning
• Reading the instruction manual failure vs.
• Me putting in a Pergo floor (instructions, video,
  website, phone calls, prayer, etc)
• And 31 other points based on 30 years of studying
  how people learn (cognitive science).

25
Cognitive Theory ? Gaming

• Games do by accident what we often fail to do by
  design - Gee
• But, hes still mostly talking about by-product
  learning situations
• The next step If games that arent trying to
  educate do this much for us, isnt it worth
  looking at the potential for games that ARE
  trying to educate?

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Why Educational Gaming Now?

• Bottom Line Its not just the geeks
  anymorepeople smarter than me (Paul, Hansen)
  though this was a good idea.
• They gave time and energy to it.
• They put their reputation as scholars on the
  line.
• They are non-gamers who believe in the power of
  gaming
• Infectious Watching a U of M department head
  spend 90 minutes placing objects in a city,
  having to drag her out of the office for the
  weekend
• Pete Border (phd), U of M Everyone should be
  teaching physics this way
• 1.2 millions hits for educational games thesis
  paper on Google
• A way of learning that inspires passion (and
  instances of massive academic overkill) Tapping
  Passion
• Try it, you might get hooked, too

27
Why Educational Gaming Now?

• Broader thoughts Is gaming more conducive to the
  different things we should be learning now?
• How important or practical is fact retention in a
  world with Google?
• Isnt it more important to know which questions
  to ask then to memorize the answers?
• Isnt it more important to have the ability to
  synthesize knowledge quickly and solve new
  problems?
• I dont know but someone should find out.

28
Bottom Line

• Changing learning styles, and a new emergent
  media form that can accommodate them.
• We dont KNOW if modern games will be effective
  learning toolsbut since theyre on their way to
  becoming more popular than TV and the Internet,
  maybe we should find out, and soon.
• But to do it, we need to get commercial-level
  games into the classroom (graphics, gameplay,
  etc.)

29
Why hasnt it happened yet?

• A two-front war Academics and Designers
• Reasonable, solid arguments on both sides
• The challenge bringing both to the middle, so
  neither has to go all the way.

30
Game Developers

• Because its a BUSINESS.
• Because its a LARGE business.
• Only 3-4 of game sales in educational gamesits
  not economically viable for them.
• Heavily invested in current products and
  expertise
• Games movies. Years of development, millions
  of dollars.
• Incredibly competitive a single miss can easily
  kill a company.
• Games are millions of dollars, years of time,
  obligations to shareholders and employees, etc.
• Cant afford a misslike Hollywood 7-8 of top 10
  games every year are franchises, sequels, based
  on movies, etc.
• We are going to keep doing what we do, and do it
  better VP of High Voltage (NOT we are going
  to start doing something radically different)
• We are prisoners of our own success John
  Carmack, Father of the FPS.

31
The AcademicsMedium vs Message the attack

• All video games are bad all movies are bad
  all books are bad etc.
• OR
• All games are violent / unhealthy
• All MP3s are illegal (medium vs message).
• Grand Theft Auto Mario Cart is the same as
  Texas Chainsaw Massacre ET

32
No Games in the Classroom(theyre already
there)

• Games are a form of media (Ill keep saying it)
• Different games for different people for
  different purposeswe need to break the stigma
  down.
• We must mature and legitimize the industry to
  overcome this viewpoint.
• Games like Manhunt dont helpbut violence
  doesnt sell by itself.
• The only reason anyone knows about Manhunt are
  the lawsuits against itthe market regulates
  itself surprisingly well.

33
Chicken vs. Egg (no one wins)

• Academics wont invest the money in developers
  for creating commercial-level educational-games,
  because they dont know if they will work in the
  classroom.
• Developers wont invest in horizontal growth into
  the academic world because of financial risk
  they have no reason at present to think there
  would be a return on their investment.
• Have to show that the games workbefore we can
  justify the resources we need to build the games
  in the first placewhich we cant justify without
  having those games in placeetc, etc

34
Parallel tracks, no intersection

• ACADEMIC to (primarily) study what has been
  done, resulting in the problem of stopping at the
  tangential educational benefits of games.
• DEVELOPER to keep doing what doing, and to
  keep doing it better
• Neither side is wrong they are approaching the
  medium from their respective worldviews.
  Middleware operators are needed to bridge the
  worlds and get the momentum rolling.

35
Why not from scratch?

• Its hard and it takes a long time
• Pong (Flash)
• Pac-Man (Flash)
• Even just drawing a blank window in c !
• The River City Project at Harvard
• Estimated cost of 1 million (predicts could now
  be done for several hundred thousand)
• Similar projects (full text Video Games and
  the Emerging Instructional Revolution)
• And, why re-invent the wheel?
• The Open-Source philosophy a HUGE help to this
  project and any like it.

36
Enter the Leveraged Toolsets a Middleware
Solution

• Advantages
• Like picking up a set of crafted tools and
  templates rather than starting from scratch.
• Huge savings in time and cost
• Disadvantage
• You are constrained by those toolssometime you
  must extend, sometimes you must work around them
• NWN a RPG game never designed for what we are
  using it for (no gold, no monsters, etc)

37
What academics get

• A chance to prove if it works
• Commercial-quality educational games in the
  classroom, for the first time (competes with what
  they play at home)
• Significantly reduced development time / more
  relevant game content in classroom.
• Rapid Development Topical Deployment (see
  something in a journal during the Summer, able to
  have it in a classroom sim for Fall)
• Embracing the emergent dominant medium of the
  upcoming generation of learnerseducation
  conducive to the way many learn best

38
What developers get

• New revenue streams for down-slopping products
• Students buying games like they buy textbooks
  (30 for NWN vs 100 for many flat texts).
• Less if we can talk publishers into site
  licenses
• Legitimization of their industry / horizontal
  expansion
• Growth potential graphics may plateau, but
  divergent applications can step in.

39
Academic Rigor

• Apply the same rigor to evaluating the learning
  power of games that you would to any other
  instructional tooland the games that are done
  right will stand up to it.
• Why else would an increasing number of
  classically-trained instructional designers be
  drawn to it?

40
Broader application Overhauling conventional
e-learning (my white whale)

• Heres where I make even more enemies
• My sound-bite for the day
• Contemporary e-learning is using the Internet to
  its fullest potential in the way that drawing
  stick figures on a HDTV with a Sharpieis like
  using an HDTV to its fullest potential.
• PDFs of textbooks and chat as an enhanced
  feature.
• No value added What can the student get out of
  an e-learning course that they cant get from
  just reading a book (or a webpage, for that
  matter?)

41
Broader application Overhauling conventional
e-learning (my white whale)

• Instructors spend as much time on tech support as
  instruction
• Often there is no instruction anyway read the
  chapter and send me the assignment by the end of
  the week
• Instructor becomes a factory worker, processing
  as many students as possible
• Expectation of increased course loads on
  instructors. Less overhead and infrastructure
  for institutions.

42
Hes a little cynical, isnt he?

• But people like it. Of course they do
• Students often have to do very little for course
  credit, never have to leave home (but are they
  actually learning anything? Getting any added
  benefit for the money they are paying? Why not
  just hand out degrees as soon as their checks
  clear?)
• Schools profit, hand over fistwhich is fine,
  but again, what are they actually GIVING the
  student in terms of enhanced learning?
• I cant imagine why the US ranked 17th in the ACM
  International Collegiate Programming Contest

43
So?

• So, have realistic expectations. DONT try and
  replace the classroomyou cant, ever. But
  student cant always be in the classroom these
  days. Dont tell me that the best 2nd place
  option is to have them read flat Word documents,
  especially in cases where hands-on learning is
  preferred.

44
And?

• The ah-ha factor.
• Once it was enough to be able to flynow we want
  to be able to make phone calls and have our
  landing time predicted within 5 minutes
• Once, just being on the Internet was coolbut
  eventually we wanted it to do something, and
  e-commerce was born.
• Once it was enough to be able to say that you
  could take a course in your PJsbut then

45
But why is gaming any better?

• Example Auto Mechanic Student
• Ideal learning environment in the classroom,
  physically working on an engine.
• 2nd best option (conventional e-learning)
  reading a manual on how to repair an engine
• OR
• 2nd best option (simulation-based e-learning) a
  digitized pic of an engine block and a
  drag-and-drop interface that the student can use
  to connect the right components to the right
  areas. A tighter association with the physcial,
  tactile aspect of their work.
• Also holds true in non-physical disciplines the
  majority learn best by DOING, not reading.
• Reading fewer classic forms (newspapers, books,
  etc) doesnt mean you are less intelligent anymore

46
But why is gaming any better?

• Simulation is a POWERFUL learning tool (military,
  medicine, flight, etc, etc).
• The Internet offers technologies that allow for
  simulation and interaction FAR beyond that of
  clicking to open a Word documentand we arent
  using them in education

47
But why is gaming any better?

• Need to embrace the medium
• Focused on the limitations (no immediate
  feedback, less interaction, etc) instead of its
  benefits
• Metaphor converting books into movies.
• Original Hamlet vs. play at Guthrie vs
  Branaghs movie version. All play to the
  strengths of their medium
• The question to ask is what can you do in a game
  that you cant do in a classroom? Work to those
  strengths and work away from the weaknesses.

48
And the strengths are?

• Complete control of game world
• Change laws of physics, etc.
• Can fly into center of sun
• Lack of real-space consequences
• Can practice surgery, etc.
• Can track information about world/players more
  completely
• Leads to

49
Real-Time Testing

• Conventional Testing lecture, read, test.
• Real-world EVERYTHING is a test.
• Driving to work
• Interacting with co-workers
• Doing your job well
• etc, etc, etc
• Testing is always-on in the real world.
• Physical space cannot do this effectively
• Game Space able to track every move,
  interaction, behavior of avatar and use for more
  complete evaluation.

50
RTT (cont.)

• From did she get the answer right
• To what steps were involved in getting to that
  answer?.
• Like show your work on Trig tests, but vastly
  more complete.

51
Goals

• Funding from a wide range of sources
• Depth Appealing to an increasingly broad range
  of academics
• Rigor - Let academics test games by the same
  standards as other instructional methods are
  tested.
• Dont wait for EA to start an educational gaming
  branch
• Sell games like textbooks
• Overthrow conventional e-learning. No more
  PDFs of book pages as a lesson plan. No more
  calling a chat window an advanced feature Use
  the digital medium to its fullest. Simulations
  more effective learning in MANY situations.
• Be business-like. Be professional. Compensate
  people for their time and effort. We have to
  take it seriously before everyone else will.
• Midwest has ability to become an educational
  gaming powerhouse.
• Game Research from Madison strong educational
  tradition of Minnesota 2-year gaming degrees
  from Minnesota schools (with no real market for
  those skills) no real competition from
  coastal developers opportunity

52
Project BTM The Story(he FINALLY got to the
game)

• You are a new journalist who is starting their
  first job in the city of Harperville.
• This morning, a train derailed in the SE quadrant
  of town.
• 2 people were killed.
• The train was transporting anhydrous ammonia. It
  spilled and the area had to be evacuated.
• Modeled after an actual incident.

53
Project BTM The Mission

• Two seasoned reporters are handling the main
  story. Your job is to select an angle piece
  (from 4 possible) and come up with 5 core
  questions (from 10 possible).
• Gather and evaluate information from different
  sources (books, Internet, people).
• Make relevant notes.
• File your report by 5 pm game-time (the filing
  deadline)

54
Project BTM The Evaluation

• Players will file their report, which will
  dump the appropriate information into a text file
  or Word document outside of the game.
• The student will then use that file as a
  collection of notes to write up their final
  project (outside of the game).
• Game is meant to supplement the class, not
  replace it.
• The final project is the same with or without the
  game. Professor will evaluate themselves.
• Game serves as supplement, not replacement

55
BTM Project Status

• 140 hours development time
• 100 customized scripts
• 10 interactive buildings in the city of
  Harperville
• 27 interactive characters (several benched)
• Information sources (interactive texts, books,
  phone booth, web-browser, overheard
  conversations, etc.)
• 4 different story angles / pathsdifferent
  gameplay for different users
• Save and Load games and Journal data (game can
  run all quarter)
• Externalization of data for instructor evaluation
• NEW Modernization of clothing, buildings, etc
  (thank you d20 project, wherever you are)

56
Dialog is the key

• Complexity of information is crucial to a
  simulation like this (shooting for 150)
• Aurora has a dialog (conversation) system that
  works great for this purpose.
• Tree structure (screenshot)
• Conversations with inanimate objects to create
  the sense of interaction.
• Conditional conversations new information and
  actions leads to new possible dialog options
• Its good to talk to inanimate objects

57
Aurora Toolset Conversation Editor
58
Conversation with a phone booth?Why not
59
classic Harperville
60
(mostly) modern Harperville
61
The Newsroom Library (NOT The Morgue)
62
Some of NPCs (in stylish new outfits)
63
The Cast
64
Curtain Call
65
Interesting Challenges

• You are given tools that are great, but are also
  constrained by the nature of those tools.
• 2 seconds of game time 1 minute? (conversion)
• Exporting data, managing through external PHP
  script(s)
• Game was designed to kill monsters, get gold, get
  better weapons to kill more monsters, etc.
• The tear-down making a game about adventuring,
  killing monsters, and getting gold, be about none
  of these things.
• Initial violent tendencies of townspeople (why is
  everyone trying to kill me?)
• Removing character classes, weapons, magic,
  items, etc. (forcing PC to dress up for their
  new job

66
SHOW IT ALREADY!zzzz.

• Quick Demo Toolset and Game and Data Export

67
Etc

• Twin Cities Game Developers Association Chapter
• Google group twin cities igda