Happy New Year from London, where I’ve just seen the new King Tut exhibit. It’s every bit as enjoyable and impressive as the exhibit that toured the world 30 years ago. One addition (if memory serves) are the games that were found in Tut’s tomb. Apparently, 12 “board” games were placed in the tomb’s innermost chamber with the body so that Tut could have some amusements in the afterlife. As with just about everything shown in the exhibit, these games told stories that were both instructive and served to assist Tut in his dealings with the gods he would encounter. Each game tells a different story. Each has its own board layout with pieces that represent various of the story’s characters. Some of the games are single-player, some are multi-player (hmmmm, that would be Tut and ???????).
As with so many of the great civilizations, difficult concepts were understood through stories in ancient Egypt. Metaphors were most helpful in explaining life’s mysteries. For serious game designers, there are interesting take-aways from this awareness.
Once a serious game designer has completed the analysis work (who is the audience and why are they coming to the game? what is the nature of the content? what is the environment in which the audience will apply the content?), s/he is ready to take on the conceptual and detailed design work. And the very first design question s/he asks is whether the learners will be best served by a game motif that relies on metaphor and story-telling, or is a straight-forward simulation, or mirror, of the real world more likely to yield the desired outcomes?
This is not an easy, if-then question. However, general guidelines may prove useful.
Where desired performance is critical and exact, particularly when unerring group performance is the goal, mirror worlds are called for - with the “mirror” as finely tuned as possible. I would not be satisfied knowing my surgeon learned anatomy and surgical technique playing Milton Bradley’s “Operation”.
By turn, the right metaphor can help elucidate content better than a straight-forward explanation. Metaphors can cement deep-learning, can help break “bad habits” in favor of “good performance”, and can erode stereotypes. Role-playing games such as World of Warcraft have been cited numerous times for their contribution to team-building, for example. Picking the right metaphor can be tricky business; pre-alpha user testing is essential to ensure you are on the right track. Accounting for learning transference is also a must.
Whether your game is a mirror or a metaphor, I send you best wishes for 2008 here in the real world!
I'm serious,
Anne
