Flow framework for analyzing the quality of educational games

The challenge of educational game design is to develop solutions that appeal to as many players as possible, but are still educationally effective. One foundation for analyzing and designing educational engagement is the flow theory. This article presents a flow framework that describes the dimensions of flow experience that can be used to analyze the quality of educational games. The framework also provides design-support for producing good educational games, because it can be used to reveal ways to optimize learning effects and user experience. However, the framework only works as a link between educational theory and game design, which is useful for game analysis but does not provide the means for a complete game design. To evaluate the elements included in the proposed framework, we analyzed university student’s experiences in participating in a business simulation game. We found that the students’ flow experience in the game was high and the findings indicated that sense of control, clear goals and challenge-skill dimensions of flow scored the highest. Overall, the results indicate that the flow framework is a useful tool to aid the analysis of game-based learning experiences

Gaming Agency Markets

Markets can be modeled or gamed. A taxonomy of markets, based on the extent to which traders delegate transaction-executing decisions to a principal of the market, is set forth that classifies markets into three types: bazaar, auction market, and agency market. A bazaar is a market wherein traders delegate nothing. An auction market is a market wherein traders on one side, which may be either the buying side or the selling side, delegate to auctioneers the task of fetching the best terms for the items the traders wish to trade. An agency market is a market wherein all traders entrust a single agent or group of collaborating agents with the task of executing trades whenever trading is possible. The agency market enables the greatest volume of transactions to be executed. Procedurally, the agency must choose which transaction to execute if several are possible but mutually exclusive, and at what price the transaction is to be executed if a range of prices is acceptable to both buyer and seller. These choices affect the collective welfare of market participants, market productivity, and computational efficiency. They also may depend on the items being traded, the question of balance, and the practical demands of the implementation. A proof-of-principle implementation in a computer-assisted, transaction-based business gaming simulation is discussed. Its incorporation of the agency market enable the gaming simulation to handle a much greater volume of transactions than would otherwise be practical, without increasing the number of decisions required of participants

GEO for Takeovers, Banking, and Finance

This demonstration focuses on advances features GEO, namely, takeovers, banking, and finance. The game allows players to practice making these truly important decisions

Simulating Demand in an Independent-Across-Firms Management Game

This paper proposes that the demand function of business simulations, especially those of independent-across-firms design, should be composed of equations and algorithms simple enough for players to deduce the parameters from observing results. A set of tested equations and algorithms are discussed accounting for eight basic concepts: trend, stages, randomness, limits, seasonality, pricing, transient effects, and cumulative effects. Combining these simple equations and algorithms results in a demand function of apparent complexity, but because simplicity underlies the complexity, players are faced with the scientific challenge of discerning the underlying simplicity from apparent complexity

Simulating Life Cycles: Life Span as the Measure of Performance in Business Gaming Simulations

Life span is proposed as a comprehensive, simple, and flexible measure of individual performance in business simulations. In a testing context, participants’ life spans should increase as other performance targets are met. In a teaching context, they should decrease as other performance targets are met. Data from a business gaming simulation are presented. They suggest that learning took place over the first life cycle of a 4-cycle gaming simulation experience, and that life span is a generally valid measure of performance in the gaming simulation exercise

Determining the Value of a Firm

The value of a firm in computerized business gaming simulations can be determined through five different measures: book value, market value, capitalized value, deductive judgment, and adjusted net worth. The firm’s book value may be an unreasonable measure of its true value because of the idiosyncrasies of accounting. True market value may be unavailable or unreliable. The capitalized value measure requires an arbitrary parameter, the deductive judgment measure requires subjective judgment, and the adjusted net worth measure requires detailed knowledge of the gaming simulation’s model. Developers are in the best position to apply the adjusted net worth measure, so they should code it into their simulation’s computer programs

DEAL & GEO: Progressively Integrating Gaming Simulations For Entrepreneurship And International Business

Both DEAL and GEO are multi-industry, multi-role, individual-scoring business gaming simulation that gives participants practice in executive deal making. Deceptively simple for participants, both require few decisions, but challenges participants to outmaneuver intelligent markets. When installed on a local area network, both automate administration by beginning, advancing, and ending the competition on their own accord. GEO extends DEAL to include four nations and a voter role with respect to monetary, fiscal, and trade policies. It shows participants how an international economy functions, and how macroeconomic statistics are computed. As preconfigured, GEO begins where DEAL ends to give a progressively integrating learning experience. Notable features include individual and team tracking, regulated venture creation, public and private enterprises, primary and secondary stock markets, bankruptcy support, and marketbased scores

Assigning Individuals Credit Towards Grades for a Unified Submission: Theory and Application

A theory of how to assign individual credit towards grades for a unified submission is presented, together with a computerized teaching management application, GroupMaker, that implements the theory. Data on the choices students make and exploration of the reasons for those choices would extend this research