THE ‘NET GENERATION’ SEEKS FUN WAYS TO LEARN THEIR
LESSONS.
A woman sits at her work desk, shooting lasers and
jumping over hurdles in an action-packed onboarding
game.
A young man practices his aviation skills through a
realistic flight simulator.
With the rise of serious games, it would not be
uncommon to see these scenes in work environments.
Serious games, or games developed to be educational
as well as entertaining, take many forms, including
puzzles, game shows and simulations.
Despite the rise of game-based learning, many
businesses are still skeptical that games can
actually teach, and learners are skeptical that
learning can ever be fun or engaging. Poorly
designed serious games can reinforce companies’ and
students’ fears about this tool. However, when done
right, serious games can save companies time and
money, and efficiently and intuitively teach
learners new skills in a fun and motivating manner.
Moreover, serious games particularly appeal to the
learning styles of the Net Generation — people born
in or after the 1980s — who grew up with computers.
THE APPEAL
Serious games are especially appealing and effective
to members of the Net Generation, who are now
entering the workforce.
The appeal lies in the way this generation views
knowledge acquisition. They grew up using computers
at a young age and are used to acquiring information
at the click of a button. Since they have so much
independent access to information (with Google,
Wikipedia, etc.), they take an active approach to
learning instead of passively absorbing information.
A study published in the
International Journal of Social Sciences
this year by Robert Kenny and Glenda Gunter found
that the Net Generation generally does not think
learning has to occur at a certain place (like a
lecture hall), but that learning can occur anywhere
at anytime.
Many serious games can be accessed through the
Internet at the learner’s leisure. These learners
look up directions on Google Maps, find movie
reviews on Rottentomatoes.com, and ask their
classmates about assignments on Facebook. For them,
the flexible, learn-er-centered approach of serious
games is simply an extension of the types of
behaviors in which they already engage daily.
Serious games can be useful even when the Net
Generation is not the target audience. Many topics
are expensive and unfeasible to train using
instructor-led programs. The simulation
A Force More Powerful,
for example, lets learners simulate peaceful
protests of dictatorships. Putting on a “practice
protest” in the flesh would be a logistical
nightmare.
Serious games also tend to work well when workers
need flexibility to learn on their own time because
of busy, conflicting schedules.
A CASE STUDY
In 2007, Sun Microsystems commissioned Enspire
Learning to create an onboarding game. Sun wanted to
appeal to a younger demographic of potential
employees, to teach them about the company, and to
generate enthusiasm about joining the company.
However, they also wanted to appeal to current
employees (mean age 42), many of whom work remotely
and rarely see the office; the company wanted them
to feel integrated into it.
After testing several iterations, Enspire created
two games for Sun. One,
Rise of the Shadow Specters,
was a puzzle-based action game in which learners
dodged lasers, jumped from platform to platform, and
evaded the villainous shadow specters. The other,
Dawn of the Shadow Specters,
was a “choose-your-own-adventure” game that appealed
to employees who did not like video games. The
project was a success, but only because of careful
attention to detail.
The Sun project shows that some serious business
needs, like increasing enthusiasm for the company,
can be achieved using a fun game. Not all serious
games will be as fantasy- oriented and action-packed
as
Rise of the Shadow Specters,
but this game is an example of the diverse needs
that serious games can meet for a company. The Sun
game worked because both the company and the game
developers attended to details such as these;
:
>>
Know Your Audience.
Different audiences want different types of games.
Some people are frustrated by video games, while
others are bored by textbased adventure games.
Would employees enjoy learning through twitch-based
games? Do they want the freedom to enter any level
at any time and explore the game without a directed
path? Do they want the opportunity to continue a
previous game?
Because learners’ preferences vary by company and
department, it is imperative to consider not only
how they learn, but also how they would react to
different types of games. Since different
demographics are divided on how they view games and
which games they think are “serious,” it is very
important to have a conversation about audience and
to test the game on the target audience.
>>
Assess Business Goals.
Know what the game must achieve. Game-based learning
is an extremely broad field. Games can be used for
anything from advertising and onboarding to highly
technical training. Even though “games” as a general
category can be used for very diverse goals,
different
types
of games appeal to different business goals.
If your game is an optional onboarding exercise, it
should be stress-free and fun, making employees
want
to play. However, if the game is training doctors to
use a difficult piece of equipment, you would want
to set a grave tone and consequences for performing
the wrong actions. Business goals set the tone of
the game, as well as guide the game’s format.
>>
Mechanics Mirror Content.
A serious game is not a superficial learning
experience; it must immerse the learner in the
content. This can often be done through an engaging
narrative that heightens the learner’s interest. But
engagement alone does not make learners retain
information, which brings us to the question of
integrating content.
Kenny and Gunter divulge that engaging narratives
work best in serious games when the learning content
is integrated into the fantasy, instead of staying
removed from it. For example,
Rise of the Shadow Specters
allowed players to use “special powers,”
representing the powers of different departments at
Sun, to defeat the Shadow Specters. If developers
had instead taught players about Sun departments
only at the
end
of each action level, the same information would
have seemed disconnected and a nuisance.
Games should stay intuitive instead of patronizing
the learner. Games are not textbooks, and shouldn’t
look like textbooks. Tutorials should be kept to a
minimum and be integrated into early levels of the
game.
>>
Testing.
Ben Katz, an Enspire Learning game developer who
worked on the Sun project, said that one of the
greatest successes of the project was that the team
quickly generated a prototype, which allowed the
game developers to test out the game and receive
informal feedback from players. Testing numerous
iterations of a game design is essential to a
successful game and should be integrated into the
budget and time used for development.
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