- what learning games have you played? can you categorize them by the theory of learning types: behaviorism, constructivism, constructivism or social nature? if you played more than one which was the most effective?
I have played a lot of learning games – they might be my favorite type of games actually, especially when it comes to language learning these days – Duolingo, Mango, Busuu, Mavis Beacon (in middle school), kahoot, fact-matching/quizlet sort of things, I also played a lot that I can no longer remember the names of pretty much from pre-school throughout high school- I would say most games were behaviorist in nature; learning through a game-like atmosphere but still focused around the actual learning of material but a little more fun (like what Amy Bruckman was talking about – a few were social nature too I would say – I think behaviorism is the most effective in actually learning material for me at least - is gamification bullshit, what is ian bogost’s argument and do you agree? where have you encountered it outside of class and what was your experience?
Ian argues that companies often use “games”, but really just superficial game elements to different products/sights, as marketing strategies and they are really not effective, meaningful , and motivating as games can be. I think I do agree with this logic – I don’t think that every single games has to be this whole thought-out experiential and designed masterpiece, but really stupid or badly designed games shouldn’t be slapped together to gain viewership/sales, etc. I have definitely experienced these sort of “bullshit” games that really aren’t effective and make you more annoyed than engaged. In school, we used to play free games online that were often sponsored or education based and they were mostly super dumb, we played them anyways because of boredom but really they were not really effective or that fun. - What is a serious game and why aren’t they chocolate covered broccoli?
Serious games are more than serious topics disguised as fun games (or “chocolate covered broccoli”), they are generally for education, training, or raising awareness rather than simply fun and entertainment. Good serious games integrate the education into the gameplay – if the serious part is disguised users can generally tell, so incorporating it fully makes it more intentional and meaningful and if done well, it won’t taste like chocolate covered broccoli.
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