7-1 There is a game for everyone

The different types of gamers and what they enjoy about a game

One of the most important reasons for learning with games is the motivation of the players. We already stated that games can be very motivating as they are played on a daily basis, players define themselves as gamers and it is an integral part of their identity. Also for others, who are not active participants in this culture, playing a game together can turn a challenging task into a fun activity and provide extra motivation for learning.

But when we talk about motivation for playing games, there is another relevant aspect that we would like to present to you because it might influence the choice of game for your project and you can understand the players better in what they like doing. Nick Yee is an academic who has worked on player motivations in games. Starting from Richard Bartle’s relatively old and simple model of player types in games he released several articles that elaborated on that idea. A few years ago, he started a consulting company called Quantic Foundry who developed a tool for checking why certain players prefer different genres or tasks in games. They did a mass survey with more than 400,000 gamers to develop a model that can put the different motivations of playing a game in context to each other. We will look at the model in more depth in the guidebook.

The model presents six different paradigms to group all kinds of players. They are called Action, Social, Mastery, Achievement, Immersion and Creativity and all players of all games can be located somewhere in this model. So, some of your students might prefer to be social in games, others like achievement or mastery and some might just like to be creative. This is relevant when it comes to choosing the right game as well as when defining the different parts students might play when you bring your project to the classroom. We guess it is hard to find a game that fulfils all desires of all students in your groups (maybe Minecraft might achieve this with its potential openness), but you might consider including students in your project in different ways. Besides or instead of the gameplay, they might be the perfect fit for the creative part in the project, creating new challenges, designing levels or creating media products from texts to video footage. If you catch players with their personal preference for playing games, you might hit the sweet spot for them and their motivation for the project might be raised tremendously, maybe even beyond the specific game based learning project.

Fun is just another word for learning

Fun is just another word for learning is a quote taken from a book by Raph Koster, lead game designer of Ultima Online, one of the first popular MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). In the book called A Theory of Fun, Koster explains what fun actually means and what kinds of fun exist in the context of games. He also demonstrates that having fun, enjoying yourselves and being motivated to stick through challenges and to still go on in the face of failure, is what makes games successful and what lacks education in its traditional sense.

Having fun (with a game) can be the motor for learning hard and challenging topics and reaching a deeper level of understanding of complex and hard problems. We already mentioned that intrinsic motivation is what you want to see in your students. If you are motivated like this, you will be able to learn a lot and overcome challenges. Intrinsic motivation is hard to achieve, but games potentially offer all the ingredients necessary to turn the acquisition of hard and dry knowledge into a journey and an exciting experience.

This potential of games can be applied for teaching. But by now, you have probably realized that working with games in the classroom might not have the same effect for everyone. It might only work for a few students, or the motivation might be potentially there, but somehow it does not really click, they do not really appreciate the game the way they would, if they played it outside of a learning context. You are not to blame for that. There can be a number of reasons for it and the use of games in a classroom context is something that also needs to be learned and reflected and assessed by you and your colleagues. Do not shy away too early because you have the impression that games demand so much preparation and understanding the medium and then delivering a mildly disappointing result in your first project. When we are talking about game based learning, we are actually talking about a profound change in education, if you are really able to unleash the full potential of learning with games. We gave a lot of examples and insights into the academic literature behind game based learning. Games will change education, if you have the infrastructure, the experience and the support to develop your teaching in the best way possible and towards the best possible result for all learners.

At the beginning of your journey into the world of game based learning, you have to settle for less, of course. A pragmatic approach is recommended, do small steps in the beginning and start out with smaller games and projects. Even there, you can already see the impact games can have, especially if your group of learners has an affinity to games and playing. In the following, we will present two examples of game based learning projects that follow this approach.

7-2 Small steps into a new world

Start simple with the use of games in class

As games are so different to traditional learning and teaching, they ask for a new skill set for the teacher bringing them to class. In a more traditional setup, games can be considered interactive (sometimes non-linear) exercises. Your journey to become a game based learning specialist moves from the latter to the former. You will apply games as an extension of your teaching in the beginning, slowly focussing more and more on the learning happening in the games. Of course, it makes sense, also in more advanced game based learning projects, to not only work with the game, but add extra activities to your project happening around the game. This is also recommended for your first projects to start out. How you can do this is described in the project outlines for two game based learning projects below.

For a simple and streamlined game like Geoguessr, Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey, or Hidden Folks, creating a learning design for a project is something that seems within reach already. We suggested one project outline with Geoguessr in the guidebook and will present it to you here as well to show how a game can be integrated relatively easy into a language learning classroom:

Game Based Learning in the classroom example 1: Geoguessr

Our first game is Geoguessr. Already mentioned before, it is a game about finding out where you are located using a street view application and a map. It is a game well suited for classroom use because of a number of reasons. The project is going to happen in English as a second language classroom and the focus is on getting better in English and learning and practising vocabulary for orientation and geography.

To start out, we will go through the checklist and assume we have a group of young adults mixed with some older adults. The group consists of let’s say 20 people and you are able to use 10 computers in class. The game runs on PC in a browser and is available on iOS tablets as well. The project aims to create digital material in the project and the computers will be used for that, too. The extra material is designed by the students and they are asked to present one specific country (maybe the one they come from) to be able to play Geoguessr more effectively in this country. This presentation could be about language or the alphabet or specific information about vegetation or certain aspects of settlements in this country. The extra material is going to be a short presentation for every group. You should try to create the groups who play together as heterogeneously as possible, mixing more experienced gamers with beginners. This will level the strength of the teams and will create an extra learning dynamic in the groups, helping each other to become proficient at using the game.

There are no specific hardware requirements for browser games, they run on every system that can run a browser. You need permanent internet connection for the game, but it does not use the internet connection heavily, so it runs on a decent wifi. There is no space required on the hard drive, browser games do not need to be installed on the computer. The game can be played in multiplayer, too, but only one player is meant to be playing on a computer. We will put two people in front of the game, as we only have one computer for two people. This is not problematic, instead we will make good use of the setup with two people at one station. Playing the game together makes people talk about what to do and think out loud to come up with a possible solution. So, having 10 computers actually works really well with the group that we have. The price for the game is really cheap. You can buy a pro account as a teacher for 2€ (monthly fee, you have to buy the account for one year, only PC version so far) and invite as many players as you like to your game. You can also play it for free, but then you can only play once every 24 hours. So, we recommend buying a pro account for the game and invite all your students to play the same game you play. We also recommend that you create an account for every single group of 2, so that they can track their progress in the game and compare each other beyond only one game. The game also works without creating accounts, but we still think working with an account for every group has benefits you shouldn’t miss.

The game is played with the mouse and is really easy to use, so you do not need any gaming literacy to be able to join in. The browser game can be bought on the Geoguessr website, the iOS version can be bought in the Apple App Store. The game is for free there, but there are additional in-app purchases and the game presents advertisements on the main screen, if you use the free version. The game does not contain any sensitive or inappropriate content. There is no actual age rating, but the App Store gives an age rating of 4+. So, Geoguessr is open to all ages for teaching and especially for our designated group. As the game does not offer problematic content, is relatively cheap and no software needs to be bought and installed, the communication around preparing the project is relatively limited. You probably do not need a lot of tech support to prepare the project, as the game does not need any installation and it does not need to be bought. Besides that, it is relatively clear and obvious why such a game makes sense for learning and that it can be easily used as a tool for learning.

You do not need any time for setting up the game, you just start the computer and browser or the iPad and the App and are ready to go. This will only take a few minutes every time you play. The game will be played in groups of two and the gameplay sessions will take between 15 and 30 minutes. Overall, the game is going to be played for about 5-6 hours in class in 10 to 15 sessions. You can play the game as much as you want, one game is relatively short. To be good enough at the game to use it well in class, you probably do not need too much time. Depending on your previous knowledge about orientation, maps and in general world knowledge, you will become proficient enough at the game in a relatively short amount of time.

The game is going to be presented by the teacher as an introduction and once in a while within the project to discuss certain aspects and demonstrate how to play the game well and this will be presented on the teacher’s laptop and the projector in the classroom. The students will demonstrate their gameplay, too, also using the teacher’s laptop and the projector in the room. The project is meant to take about 20 lessons overall. At the end of the project, students will create a presentation in their group to help other players understand a specific country better and be ultimately better at the game. The project is going to happen in the English classes and the presentations and the discussions around the game are all going to be in English. The language level of the students ranges from A2 to B2. The main goal for the project is to present different countries and to use language proficiently to talk about places and to be able to understand how you can orientate in a foreign place. There are specific challenges presented by you to the class. The teams are asked to reach a specific score on a specific map, this might be a map for a whole region or continent or this can also be the map for one specific country (maybe the country you live in and that the participants should get to know better as a side effect of the project).

The project is going to be evaluated afterwards by grading the presentations and your colleague doing the same course with a similar group is going to do a similar project afterwards using the material you created in your course before. The students are interviewed afterwards to describe what they like about the project, what they learned and how this project could help them in their preparation for a job.

Game Based Learning in the classroom example 2: Hidden Folks

The second game we are going to present to you is called Hidden Folks. It is a small indie production that can be played on all computers (Windows, Linux, MacOS), on consoles (Nintendo Switch) and on mobile devices (Android and iOS). The game is well suited for classroom use, as it does not have an age rating, the play sessions are short and the game is available on many major platforms.

The situation we use the game in, could be this one. We have a group of students at the age of 12, the class has 24 students and you have tablets for all students, but only every second lesson. The students are a mixed group, but they all have some experience with games. They know how to use the iPads, as you have used them in class before. The project is part of your English lessons and is designated to strengthen the understanding and active use of the vocabulary you can find in this game. There is going to be a translation part of the game and the students will collectively try to translate the hints given in the levels. The students have English in their second year, their language level varies from A1 to A2. The project is going to last for about 10 lessons (only every second lesson) and the lessons afterwards are going to build on the knowledge from the project. The end product is going to be a translation of the game that is going to be compared to the translations in-game. The price for one unit is 5,49€ in the Apple App Store, 4,99€ on Android, 11,99€ on Steam and 11,99€ on Nintendo Switch. The game is already available on the tablets and the students do not need to buy the game. You still invite the parents and the colleagues also teaching the class to a play session of the game and communicate clearly how and why you are using the game in class and what result you are going to expect.

The game is running on all Switch consoles and also on mobile devices. The versions of the operating systems evolve of course, but at the moment it runs on most mobile devices. On PC it runs on most systems, too, as it is not demanding when it comes to graphics or processing power. You will also work with the iPads to create the translation, so no extra hardware is needed. You need the internet to install the game, but besides that no internet connection is required. The game does not take a lot of space on the devices, about 100 Mb on tablets and 300 MB on a PC. The game is meant to be single player and there will be sessions for the students when they play alone, but for some time, especially in the later stages of the project the students will work in groups of two or three. The game is played with mouse on PC and with the touch interface on tablets and phones and it is easy to play, no gaming literacy necessary. Every student can use a device as there are tablets for all students. You do not need a lot of time to set up the game, just start the device and load the small game or the application. In the first sessions and late in the project, gameplay is shown to the students by using a tablet and showing the gameplay on a projector.

The game can be learned pretty easily and within a few minutes as the main game mechanic is a Find Waldo adaptation. You understand how the game works quickly and besides reading the descriptions and looking for the item or the person there is not much to do. In class, the game is going to be played for about 5 hours, using about 30 minutes per lesson for the game. In general, the gameplay sessions can be relatively short as the game can be paused and continued at any time. The students can also play the game in their free time at home, independent of the progression in class. Using the descriptions of the items and the people and their locations in the level (in English), the students learn to understand the descriptions and figure out the meaning of the comparisons, the metaphors, etc. used in the game. After having figured out what they mean by finding the item or the person, they will discuss the use of language in specific examples and try to find similar examples in their mother tongue. Starting from this, they will collectively find translations for these examples in their native language and compare them to the version in their language in the game. They will create a translation of (most of) the sentences for the game and create a presentation of the game and their translation for the end of the project.

The project is going to be evaluated by watching play sessions of the group in higher levels and by assessing the quality of the single contributions of the group to the final presentation and the translation. Your colleagues are interested in the presentation and the content of your project and would like to learn more about the game by playing it after the project is finished.

7-3 Games create a larger context

Digital games are profoundly different to ‘regular’ methods of teaching and teaching material. They are interactive, they ask for digital skills, create a new mindset and invite everyone to actively participate in the culture surrounding a game. In games culture, you are a learner and a teacher at the same time, always reflecting your own knowledge and skill sets and contributing to the development of new or more advanced knowledge around a game.

Games culture shapes popular culture and taking part in the discourse is one of the essentials for gamers, young and older. It is a culture of iteration, it is a back and forth of a specific medium and its users. This exchange created new forms of media (i.e. live streaming and Let’s Plays) and it developed the games, the games industry and the culture around it. It asks for new modes of participation and reaches out beyond the realm of digital entertainment. We have presented possibilities for game based projects reaching far beyond the limitations of a few lessons, a subject or a classroom. Esports and game design are only two options for applying the drive and the potential of games culture for education and participation.

Other ways might be what is called citizen science and citizen participation. Games can help with that. Citizen science means the contribution to science by ‘normal’ citizens. They can help science in a number of different ways to acquire data, etc. Some famous examples might be SETI@Home and the Smart City concept of some cities, but you can also find this in games culture. One of the most prominent examples for this is probably the game Foldit:

Foldit is a computer game that enables you to contribute to important scientific research in protein folding.

Players compete with one another to discover high-scoring protein folds, which represent a protein’s physical structure. Knowing the structure of a protein is key to understanding how it works, what can go wrong (e.g. in disease), and how the protein can be treated with drugs and therapies.

Foldit players can also design new protein drugs themselves. In our Coronavirus Challenge, you can design an anti-viral protein to interfere with the infection pathway of the 2019 coronavirus. The best designs are manufactured and tested by scientists at the UW Institute for Protein Design.

There are many, many possible ways to fold or design a protein—too many to enumerate using a computer. We rely on Foldit players' intuition and “big picture” reasoning to discover new folds and designs.

Foldit was released a few years ago and is available here. Other games have been used in a similar way, like Minecraft in the BlockbyBlock project and Cities: Skylines for city development with citizen participation.

So, games are not just a pastime and an adequate tool for exercises and homework. They invite you to actively participate. If this is applied for citizen participation or citizen science, the results can be remarkable. For Foldit, interesting findings that maybe would not have been found otherwise, have been published thanks to the contribution of gamers. And the contributors to the research through gameplay have also been mentioned in the academic articles published based on these results.

Let’s Play

In this part there will be a description of reactions from the players and feedback. Answers will be given to questions like:

Could you identify different reasons for liking/not liking the game that fit in the gamer motivation model?
Did your group of learners consist of gamers/non-gamers? Were there specific reactions for these groups?

Connect Four – the Article Game

The students had fun playing the game. They said that they did not realize that they are learning while playing the game, because it is so fast. Moreover, they observed that they are talking much more, then in a normal setting, because of the focus upon playing.

The gamer motivation model: The social model with competition (two groups play against each other) and community (teamwork) is part of this game

To some extend all our learners were gamers, because they are in a specific programme, where learning with games is in the centre of interest.

The Reactor Game

In general, the students loved the game. They got into motion, started to communicate without fear and were able to meet each other and perceive themselves in another way then in the classroom. The students liked the new challenge and they had lots of fun. During the feedback process they realized how comprehensive the game was and what they have learned regarding communication, to meet new challenges, organizational skills, etc. The students were really amazed by what they got out for themselves, e.g. how do I work together with a group, what is my role, am I able to find new ideas, am I the initiator or more the person who organizes the group, etc.

Students’ statements:

Student 1: “I liked the game. It was good to work together with my colleagues. Each of us had other ideas.”

Student 2: “I would like to play the game again, because I am sure that we can make it the next time.”

Student 3: “We worked as a team and that was very good.”

Student 4: “In the end it was no problem, that we were not able to save the bucket.”

The gamer motivation model:

Creativity
Mastery
Achievement
Social

As it was played in a group the students were able to take their own role.

To some extend all our learners were gamers, because they are in a specific programme, where learning with games is in the centre of interest.

ACT ESOL

The reasons students gave for liking this approach was that they lost themselves in the play and they became able to play with possibilities within the boundaries of the re-enacted scene. For example, the dissatisfied customer in the café exaggerating her anger (but not to a ridiculous extent); the waitress in the café gave an exaggerating sneeze. This was a liberating feeling for the students, that they could respond in this way in a second language. The game-play aspect meant that these were possibilities of the scene, of the game, rather than acts of irreversible consequence. Students reported how by losing themselves in the roles, they forgot their tiredness after long days at work.

Lateral Thinking Game

Students’ reflections of the game suggested the following were reasons for liking the game and feeling that it contributed to their learning:

Challenging – opening your mind – creating surprise and the unexpected – multi-skilled – repetitive – recycling of solutions – relaxing – creating another reality – collaborative – committed learning to memory

Alicia:

“An excellent way of learning a language is through playing games. … By doing this we engaged in the thinking process of every member of the teams’ brain power. For instance, we figured out that a ‘long eared owl’ was a type of an owl that is very rare. Everyone in our team had an opportunity to work on the text on their own then share their knowledge and thoughts with others. The overall team play environment was light and stimulating. Although the answer we gave was not the correct one, we still had a feeling of satisfaction after the game. One of the reasons for this was that during the game the correct answer came up in the discussion. The other reason was that learning by playing games is more fun than being a solitary learner”

Tamara:

I totally agree that learning a language through playing different games is an extremely successful idea about a way of studying.

Firstly, playing games is an activity, which is associated with an enjoyable situation, in which you are supposed to forget about your problems, stress and anxiety, and your mind is open to access new challenges, in our example it is learning a language. Playing games, enjoying conversation creates a better situation for our brain work, remembering new words, phrases and even rules.

Secondly, playing can improve your skills, help your reading, listening and speaking. When we played the puzzle in the classroom, I started with reading the text, which was written on one side of the card, trying to understand the problem, which needed to be solved. After that my partner, who once had more than one idea, gave me her decision on the problem, which I had to listen to carefully and that was my listening test.

Finally, despite all the positive impact of joy and fun, I think if you want to learn more and have better results you are supposed to write down some of the new words or phrases and repeat them later to revise your vocabulary.

Suela, who played the game online over Zoom:

In general, I think learning a foreign language through playing games can be an enjoyable way in hard work like learning. I do agree that learning a new language is easier when you do it through playing as it is more pleasure, no pressure and less demanding.

I would say that the puzzle that me and my classmates chose was too far for the correct answer but at least we enjoyed it. 

Our puzzle was about a guy and a trip that he had to do with his donkey. We need to find out how he came back on Friday...or this is what we thought that we had to be focused on, to find out how he came back a day earlier. He left on Monday, he travelled for 2 days. He slept two days at the place that he visited and it took him two days to come back. In total 6 days he should be back on Saturday instead of Friday as the puzzle says.

The only answer that we found was that he travelled Monday Tuesday. That is two days after he stayed two nights there, so Tuesday, Wednesday and he travelled back Thursday, Friday. So our conversation was all around the weekdays…. None of us thought that it may be something different and to see it in a different way to think out of box I will say.

When our time was finished we announced the answer to our teacher [Louisa] and then she said that the answer wasn't correct. The correct answer was that Friday was the name of the donkey…. What a surprise...no one of us got so far even close to the correct answer. The author of this puzzle was very smart as he/she found the way to take the attention of the people to the wrong fact.

I think I should do more of these games to improve my English is double benefits, mind gaming and learning English much easier in a funny way.

Student 1

We often regard playing games as the opposite of learning. Playing games is often associated with pleasure time while the other is associated with a more serious and concentrated time of the day. Throughout my learning experience, I often find this notion not to be true. For example, learning languages in a playful way can be more varied and enjoyable. I have come to realise that learning languages requires a persistent process of repeatedly using, trying out and practising the new learned vocabularies and phrases.

In this essence, playful learning can prove very useful, as we are more willing to repeat and practise while having fun.

Recently I have been involved in trying to solve puzzles as a part of a learning experiment during my advanced grammar course. I have found this experience to be very useful and fun at the same time, because we get to share and discuss our thoughts as a group of players. Meaning we get to play together and challenge ourselves in a fun way while we are improving our English at the same time.

One of the recent research in this area seems to prove that things we practise during play have excellent chances of being well interconnected and long term stored in our brain.       

Student 2

We will naturally spend more time on learning a language if it makes us feel joy and excitement. I believe games help to reduce the anxiety which people, especially beginners, feel when they speak in a foreign language. Also, it‘s easier to remember new words and structures of grammar as a consequence of repetition in many games. 

Solving puzzles in English was not an easy task as it challenged us to think outside the box. I read the puzzle several times in order to find hints, some of which helped me to get closer to the answer. The puzzle was about  a the businessman who left an urgent meeting request on his colleague's answering machine, knowing that he checked it frequently.  In his message he asked the man to meet him after 40 minutes as he had to pass some important documents to him. We had to figure out the reason why the colleague, who most likely had heard the message, did not arrive to take the documents as requested. One of the best things about this game was the moment when we realised how simple the answer was. This game can teach players to pay attention to details, which is a useful skill in learning languages. 

Even though there is no doubt that games can be a great tool in teaching and learning a language, it may not have the same effect as it is effective for everyone. I have met some people who don‘t like playing board games due to different reasons, so in that case traditional learning techniques may be more beneficial for them.

Student 3

Some say that learning a language is easier through playing games. I couldn’t agree more. 

At least from my experience, when I started emulating my favourite singers in front of the mirror as when I was a teenager, there has always been a massive ludic component in learning English. It was also a way of creating another reality, where I dared to be and behave the way I was too shy to carry myself in real life. Of course, I was always aware of the difference. But somehow my favourite pastimes involved some kind of role play, in the same way that my classmates and I performed last week in the game with the cards. 

Because in that game, just the same as in the activities I do in my spare time, most of which require a certain level of involvement and empathy, like reading a book, watching a film, following a show... from my point of view, to be ready to wear the shoes of the different characters is paramount.

That’s how you try to figure out the solution of the mystery, or how the story is going to develop in the next chapter, or if the next scene is going to be one whose dialogues are going to stay with you for years…

Last week's game was not only fun, but it also surprised me that although at the beginning we felt a little paralyzed, little by little we were able to make many assumptions and one of them was more or less in the range of the solution.

And last but not least, I can’t finish without mentioning my passion for quiz contests (which are basically a game) since I was very young. I love to fantasize that I am the contestant and I know all the answers. This guilty pleasure of mine is known by my friends, one of whom said once that every time I give a right answer I have an o****m. (Sorry if that was sharing too much).

Student 4

Learning a new language can be stressful, daunting and overwhelming. All these overwhelming feelings, which complicate further acquiring any new skill, can be put at ease by learning through playing games. Games provide an alternative way of learning which not only puts at ease learners, but also helps retain new words and grammar patterns. 

There are a wide range of games aimed at increasing vocabulary and retention, tasks that are certainly boring to do by mere memorisation, such as scrabble, playhouse and crossword puzzles. There are also other games that offer a dynamic learning atmosphere where the players need to interact with others such as by talking, solving puzzles and practicing listening skills. All these interactions put the players at ease, while they remain engaged and learning the new language. 

For instance, in our grammar course last week, we played a game called snapped which involves reading about a puzzling scenario where the players need to find out the solution to the problem posed. The players who I played with had difficulty understanding the puzzle because she did not understand the meaning of key words. So I practised my listening and memorising skills and explained to her the meaning of those words.  My playmate also helped me by constructing grammatically sound sentences to explain potential solutions to the problems posed. The game snapped in addition to facilitating learning a new language and also allowed us to practice lateral thinking -a method used to solve problems via reasoning and flexible thinking- an essential skill for anyone to learn.  

Achievement - Exercises following the topic

1 Do a small informal survey in one of your classes. Ask the students about their experience with games. Are they playing on a regular basis? What are they playing? Why are they playing and what is their favourite aspect about the games they play? Try to identify player types through the survey.

2 Imagine ways to expand your project idea to participation in the production of content in a game’s community. What can you do and where can you and your learners contribute to this culture?

3 Give an overview of your game based learning project similar to the two examples presented above. Try to include everything that is necessary to be described. You can add parts that you already developed before.