The innaugural Twitter chat, on Monday, April 6 at 7:30pm (ET) is moderated by two community members!  

Please join Steve Isaacs, video game design teacher from NJ, and Lucas Gillespie, teacher and gamer from North Carolina.  

 

The topic is: What makes a "good" learning game? 

 

• Intro: Name / Role / Location / Favorite game played when your were in school? 

• Q1: What educational games match core mechanics (actions) with learning? 

• Q2: What ways can lesson be driven with core mechanics? 

• Q3: Differences between core actions & gamification mechanics? Examples?

• Q4: What role does narrative play in your game-based classroom? 

• Outro: Thanks, etc.

 

A game’s core mechanics can be defined as “the essential play activity performed again and again in a game” (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003, p. 316).  Core mechanics is the “repetitive process or action performed throughout a game” (Fullerton, 2008, p. 132).   These may include trading, jumping, arguing, bluffing, or resource management, which combines more simple mechanics, like collecting and sorting.  According to a Pew Internet & American Life Project report, gamification is “interactive online design that plays on people’s competitive instincts and often incorporates the use of rewards to drive action—these include virtual rewards such as points, payments, badges, discounts, and free gifts; and status indicators such as friend counts, re-tweets, leader boards, achievement data, progress bars, and the ability to level up” (Anderson & Rainie, 2012, p. 1). The purpose of the chat is to focus on core mechanics, that is game-like lessons using game actions. Please join us!  Can't make it, or not on Twitter, check out the archived chat below after the event takes place!

 

References

 

Anderson, J., & Rainie, L. (2012, May 18). The future of gamification. Retrieved April 7, 2015, from Pew Research Center website: http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/05/18/the-future-of-gamification/

 

Fullerton, T. (2014). Game design workshop: A playcentric approach to creating innovative games (3rd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.

 

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.