Discoveries in Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations: New Interdisciplinary Applications

Discoveries in Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations: New Interdisciplinary Applications

Richard E. Ferdig

Copyright: © 2011 |Pages: 436

ISBN13: 9781609605650|ISBN10: 1609605659|EISBN13: 9781609605667

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-565-0

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Ferdig, Richard E., editor. Discoveries in Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations: New Interdisciplinary Applications. IGI Global, 2011. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60960-565-0

APA

Ferdig, R. E. (Ed.). (2011). Discoveries in Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations: New Interdisciplinary Applications. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60960-565-0

Chicago

Ferdig, Richard E., ed. Discoveries in Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations: New Interdisciplinary Applications. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2011. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60960-565-0

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Recent advancements have put Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations at the forefront of technology and learning. A closer look at these topic areas opens the door for development and innovation and the implications that go with it.

Discoveries in Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations: New Interdisciplinary Applications explores and promotes a deep conceptual and empirical understanding of the roles of electronic games and computer-mediated simulations across multiple disciplines. This book helps build a significant bridge between research and practice on electronic gaming and simulations, supporting the work of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Drawing on history allows this publication to help move this field forward.

Table of Contents

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Front Materials

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Preface

Chapters

Design of Games and Simulations

Chapter 1

Lessons Learned about Designing Augmented Realities (pages 1-15)

Patrick O’Shea, Rebecca Mitchell, Catherine Johnston, Chris Dede

Utilizing GPS-enabled handheld computing units, we have developed and studied Augmented Reality (AR) curricula to help middle-school students learn literacy and math. In AR, students move around an outdoor physical environment...

Chapter 2

Design Factors for Effective Science Simulations: Representation of Information (pages 16-35)

Jan L. Plass, Bruce D. Homer, Catherine Milne, Trace Jordan, Slava Kalyuga, Minchi Kim, Hyunjeong Lee

We argue that the effectiveness of simulations for science education depends on design features such as the type of representation chosen to depict key concepts. We hypothesize that the addition of iconic representations to...

Chapter 3

Beyond Choices: A Typology of Ethical Computer Game Designs (pages 36-48)

This paper presents a typology for classifying computer games designed to create ethical gameplay. Ethical gameplay is the outcome of playing a (computer) game in which the players’ moral values are of relevance for the game...

Chapter 4

Game Design and the Challenge-Avoiding, Self-Validator Player Type (pages 49-63)

Carrie Heeter, Brian Magerko, Ben Medler, Joe Fitzgerald

Achiever and Explorer player types are well known in MMOs and educational games. Players who enjoy being a winner, but dislike hard challenges (“Self-Validators”) are a heretofore ignored but commonly occurring player type....

Chapter 5

Using Recommendation Systems to Adapt Gameplay (pages 64-77)

Ben Medler

Recommendation systems are key components in many Web applications (Amazon, Netflix, eHarmony). Each system gathers user input, such as the products they buy, and searches for patterns in order to determine user preferences and...

Chapter 6

Leveraging Open Source Technology in 3D Game Engine Development (pages 78-109)

Tim Stowell, Jon Scoresby, K. Chad Coats, Michael R. Capell, Brett E. Shelton

Market 3D engines have all the capabilities needed for developing full-featured 3D simulation and game environments. However, for those in education and small-business, it remains a formidable task to acquire the resources needed to...

Learning Outcomes of Games and Simulations

Chapter 7

Promoting Civic Thinking through Epistemic Game Play (pages 111-127)

Elizabeth A. S. Bagley, David Williamson Shaffer

A growing body of research suggests that computer games can help players learn to integrate knowledge and skills with values in complex domains of real-world problem solving (P. C. Adams, 1998; Barab et al., 2001; Gee, 2003; Shaffer...

Chapter 8

Learning as Becoming: Values, Identity, and Performance in the Enaction of Citizenship Education through Game Play (pages 128-146)

Yam San Chee, Swee Kin Loke, Ek Ming Tan

In this chapter, we share a model of game-based learning for use in the context of classroom learning in school. The model is based on the dialectic interaction between game play and dialogic engagement with peers and teacher on one...

Chapter 9

Rule of Engagement: The Presence of a Co-Player Does Not Hinder Gamers’ Focus (pages 147-162)

B. J. Gajadhar, Y. A. W. deKort, W. A. IJsselsteijn

This chapter presents an empirical study of social setting as a determinant of player involvement in competitive play. We conceptualize player experience as roughly comprising of components of involvement and enjoyment. Involvement...

Chapter 10

Game- Based Representations as Cues for Collaboration and Learning (pages 163-188)

Matthew J. Sharritt, Daniel D. Suthers

Literature suggests that games can support learning in schools by enabling creative problem solving, allowing dynamic resource allocation, providing a motivating, immersive activity, and supporting explorations of identity. A...

Chapter 11

Designing Learning Activities for Sustained Engagement: Four Social Learning Theories Coded and Folded into Principals for Instructional Design through Phenomenological Interview and Discourse Analysis. (pages 189-216)

Brock Dubbels

The experience of a successful adolescent learner will be described from the student’s perspective about learning the video game Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) through selected passages from a phenomenological interview. The question...

New Theoretical Considerations of Games and Simulations

Chapter 12

Computational Literacy in Online Games: The Social Life of Mods (pages 218-231)

Constance Steinkuehler, Barbara Z. Johnson

Modding communities are particularly ripe environments for rethinking what it means to be IT literate in the contemporary world. Mods are, as we argue, computational literacy artifacts, exemplifying not merely computer literacy but...

Chapter 13

What Players Like About Video Games: Prediction of Video Game Playing through Quality Perceptions and Player Types (pages 232-254)

René Weber, Patrick Shaw

Video game developers make multimillion dollar decisions based on hunches, personal experience, and iteration. A theoretical model of video game player behavior – how one chooses, plays, and evaluate games – can provide an important...

Chapter 14

The Play of Persuasion Why “Serious” Isn’t the Opposite of Fun by Nicholas Fortugno Keynote Speech delivered at Meaningful Play, East Lansing, October 2008. (pages 255-262)

Nicholas Fortugno

Game designer Nick Fortungno’s keynote speech at the Meaningful Play conference talked about the conundrum of whether serious games can or even should be fun. Fortugno looks back at historical works of popular culture that exerted...

Chapter 15

Researching and Developing Serious Games as Interactive Learning Instructions (pages 263-282)

Christian Sebastian Loh

As serious games gain momentum in the academic arena, no doubt more educators and instructional technologists will begin considering the possibility of making their own games for instruction. As developers of instructional resources...

Creating and Living in Virtual Worlds

Chapter 16

Visual Analyses of the Creation of Avatars (pages 284-300)

Erik W. Black, Richard E. Ferdig, Joseph C. DiPietro, Feng Liu, Baird Whalen

Video games are becoming more popular; there has been a particular rise in interest and use of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs). These games utilize avatar creation; avatars can be seen as the technological...

Chapter 17

A Test of the Law of Demand in a Virtual World: Exploring the Petri Dish Approach to Social Science (pages 301-314)

Edward Castronova, Travis L. Ross, Mark W. Bell, James J. Cummings, Matthew Falk

We report results of an experiment on prices and demand in a fantasy-based virtual world. A virtual world is a persistent, synthetic, online environment that can be accessed by many users at the same time. Because most virtual worlds...

Chapter 18

Virtual Worlds for Teaching: A Comparison of Traditional Methods and Virtual Worlds for Science Instruction (pages 315-328)

Catherine Norton-Barker, Margaret Corbit, Richard Bernstein

Immersive virtual worlds structured for education have the potential to engage students who do not respond well to traditional classroom activities. To test the appeal and usability of virtual environments in the classroom, four...

Chapter 19

Playing Myself or Playing to Win?: Gamers’ Strategies of Avatar Creation in Terms of Gender and Sex (pages 329-352)

Sabine Trepte, Leonard Reinecke, Katharina-Maria Behr

Who do people want to be in virtual worlds? Video game players can create their avatars with characteristics similar to themselves, create a superhero that is predominantly designed to win, or chose an in-between strategy. In a...

Chapter 20

Investigating Perceptions of Avatar Creation for Use in Educational MUVEs (pages 353-365)

Joseph C. DiPietro

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry is to extend the investigation of perceptions and experiences of users creating avatars for interactions in online learning environments. Using Linden Lab’s Second Life, volunteers created...

Back Materials

Compilation of References

About the Contributors

Index

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