Multiplayer Disciplinarily-Integrated Agent-Based Games: SURGE Gameblox

Early work on disciplinary-integrated games (DIGs) focused on Cartesian time-series analyses as the formal representations through which the game communicates challenges and opportunities to the players as well as the formal representations through which the players control the game. In our earlier work, we explored the potential generalizability of the DIG genre in terms of hypothetical examples in physics, biology, chemistry, and the social sciences as well as in terms of multiple model types including constraint-system analyses, system dynamics models, situation-action models, and agent-based models. In particular, Sengupta and Clark and Krinks, Sengupta, and Clark explored the integration of computational modeling, physical models, and Cartesian models. Building on that work, we began outlining theoretical frameworks and arguments highlighting the affordances of moving DIG design more deeply into agent-based modeling. In the current paper, we present the actual design process and rationale through which we developed prototypes of two multiplayer DIG prototypes with agent-based models as the mode of control wherein players create, trade, and elaborate on one another’s code as part of gameplay. We close with a discussion of implications for the design of disciplinary-integrated games leveraging agent-based modeling as the focal formal representation for communication and control

DESAIN PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA DENGAN KONTEKS PERMAINAN KULI BIA PADA MATERI FAKTOR PERSEKUTUAN TERBESAR DAN KELIPATAN PERSEKUTUAN TERKECIL

The learning process of the concept of greatest and Least which are the prerequisites of the greatest common divisor and the least common multiple in class IV SD Inpres 2 Waipo is carried out with the teaching paradigm that is, using T tables, multiples, and not using student thought conjectors in find concepts or material. This underlies researchers to design learning designs using Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) with the context of the kuli bia game as a starting point. The purpose of this study is to produce a learning trajectory and determine the impact of the use of learning designs on the mathematical knowledge construction process. Design research was chosen to achieve this goal which consists of three stages: preliminary design, teaching experiment, retrospective analysis. The results of the study found that the kuli bia game provides an important role in supporting learning and increases learning motivation, able to understand the material based on the learning trajectories generated, provides a variety of strategies in solving problems both at the situational stage, models of, models for and formal stages, the implementation of RME with the context of the kuli bia game on the material is running optimally, the response of students and teachers is positive and effective management of learning in the classroom

Extending the Activity Theory Based Model for Serious Games Design in Engineering to Integrate Analytics

Serious Games (SG) have been shown to have instructional potential and a number of formal models, frameworks and methodologies have emerged to support their design and analysis. The Activity Theory-based Model of Serious Games (ATMSG) facilitates a systematic and detailed representation of educational SG describing how game elements are connected together to contribute to pedagogical goals. This paper proposes and presents an extension to the ATMSG framework to facilitate the identification, selection and integration of analytics into serious games. A practical example of the approach in use in the analysis and design phase of a SG for engineering is demonstrated

Formal Approach Based on Petri Nets for Modeling and Verification of Video Games

Video games are complex systems that combine technical and artistic processes. The specification of this type of system is not a trivial task, making it necessary to use diagrams and charts to visually specify sets of requirements. Therefore, the underlying proposal of this work is to present an approach based on the formalism of Petri nets for aiding in the design process of video games. The activities of the game are represented by a specific type of Petri net called WorkFlow net. The definition of a topological map can be represented by state graphs. Using Colored Petri nets, it is possible to define formal communication mechanisms between the model of activity and the model of the map. The simulation of the timed models allows then to produce an estimated time that corresponds to the effective duration a player will need to complete a level of a game. Furthermore, a kind of Soundness property related to gameplay in a game Quest can be verified through state space analysis. For a better understanding of the approach, the video game Silent Hill II is used

Video Game Pedagogy: Good Games = Good Pedagogy

We have always appropriated whatever technologies are available to us for use as technologies for instruction. This practice may well date back as far as human communication itself. The practice of “studying the masters” is also an old and respected one, and using this perspective we can take advantage of the opportunities afforded us in studying outstanding examples of commercial digital games as “educational” objects, even if they weren’t produced by professional educators. By examining successful games through this lens we can progress towards an understanding of the essential elements of ‘good’ games and begin to discuss the implications this holds for the deliberate design of educational games. There is, however, a caveat: knowing why a game is good is not the same as knowing how to make a game good. It is nonetheless an essential step in that process. This chapter examines some ways in which a few “good” games implement some well-known learning and instructional theories. “Good” games in this context are defined as those that have experienced both substantial commercial success and broad critical acclaim: the deliberate implementation of one or another learning or instructional design theory is not a prerequisite. In fact most will not have been consciously influenced by formal educational theory at all. The implications of this study include the notion that learning and instructional design are compatible with good game design and vice versa. Finally, this chapter will present some key distinctions between digital games and other learning technologies and what this might mean for the development of design models and methodologies

Hybrid Moments: Using Ludonarrative Dissonance for Political Critique

Game criticism, from a historic perspective, traditionally follows an objectively oriented approach. But in recent years a new tide of personally oriented writing has been emerging in online spaces alongside more traditional publishing models. Game scholars, motivated by the large audiences that online pieces can attract, are not only participating in this scene, but also promoting it as the primary source for progressive criticism. While such pronouncements are correct in many cases, the video game blogosphere is also not immune from the cultural privileging of “gamers,” a problem that has been identified by feminist and critical theoretical approaches to the study of gaming culture (Kubic, 2012; Shaw, 2012, 2013; Consalvo, 2012; Vanderhoef, 2013). To better illustrate the aforementioned point, this article will both examine and comment on the recent online debate that arose over use of the term “ludonarrative dissonance” (Hawking, 2007), a critical concept referring to formal, thematic, and ideological disconnects between ludic and narrative meaning. It will begin by contextualizing the ludonarrative dissonance debate within a brief history of methodological approaches to game criticism. The focus will then shift to discussion of the term itself, and how it provides a useful critical framing by treating simulation and representation as interacting components with the capacity to coincide and contradict. Ludonarrative dissonance, understood as a formal problem, has entered the vocabulary of many critics, but the term is also dismissed for a variety of reasons, including the insistence that experienced gamers learn to ignore inconsistencies between story and design (Yang, 2013). Rejecting this argument, this article concludes by drawing upon assemblage approaches to play (Taylor, 2009; Pearce & Artemesia, 2009; Parikka, 2010) to argue that ludonarrative dissonance does exist and that the concept provides a useful starting point for examining the political tensions implicit in many games—tensions that are often acknowledged but frequently downplayed in existing formal and political approaches to criticism. The analysis of ludonarrative dissonance, from this perspective, not only pushes criticism beyond the aesthetic appraisals gamers, it can also provide insight into the nuances of games that reinforce problematic political discourses while simultaneously simulating potential systematic alternatives to neoliberal corporate capitalism

How can exploratory learning with games and simulations within the curriculum be most effectively evaluated?

There have been few attempts to introduce frameworks that can help support tutors evaluate educational games and simulations that can be most effective in their particular learning context and subject area. The lack of a dedicated framework has produced a significant impediment for uptake of games and simulations particularly in formal learning contexts. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by introducing a four-dimensional framework for helping tutors to evaluate the potential of using games- and simulation- based learning in their practice, and to support more critical approaches to this form of games and simulations. The four-dimensional framework is applied to two examples from practice to test its efficacy and structure critical reflection upon practice