As video games become more sophisticated, game makers are finding themselves asked what they're teaching players. How many gamers knew the name Ayn Rand before "BioShock"? Ken Levine might not have set out to teach, but he did.
On the other hand, "WolfQuest" is an online game designed to teach.
The last time I encountered "WolfQuest" was mocking it during a segment for The 1UP Show, but my actions were only somewhat in jest. "WolfQuest," an online space where players live the life of a wolf, is a compelling idea. The program's designer, David Schaller of eduweb, discussed this during a behind-the-scenes panel at GDC last month.
Ironically, Shcaller's biggest obstacle came from the education community. Educators hoped to see children hovering around a computer monitor less often, while Schaller believed it better to communicate with kids using a device they're already hooked on. For Schaller, that required a four-step process. Educators wanted it to happen in one step.
1. Children are already at the computer due to games
2. "WolfQuest" is a game, but meant to be a learning tool about wolves
3. Adventures in "WolfQuest" lead to an interest in wolves
4. Kids finally end up outside to learn about wolves in real-life
From the educator's point of view, providing children with yet another reason to sink time into a computer is counterproductive. For "WolfQuest," it's a bit of a gamble. If "WolfQuest" proves too compelling of a video game, what is the incentive for the player to leave the virtual world? Ultimately, Schaller's argument implied that if kids never left "WolfQuest" to learn about wolves at a zoo, at least they learned in "WolfQuest" itself.
Schaller pointed the audience to James Paul Gee's book "What Video Games Have to Teach Us," in which Gee introduces the same subjects Schaller is riffing on:
"In the end, then, video games represents a process, thanks to what Marx called the "creativity of capitalism," that leads to better and better designs for good learning and, indeed, good learning of hard and challenging things. ... How are good video games designed to enhance getting themselves learned -- learned well and quickly so people can play and enjoy them even when they are long and hard? What we are really looking for here is this: the theory of human learning built into good video games."
You can download a free copy of "WolfQuest" for PC and Mac at the official website. Oddly enough, now I kind of want to check it out. Who wants to be in my wolf pack (learning not guaranteed)?