Comments for Virtual Learning Worlds

Comment on A step in the right, or wrong, direction? by Bartman

Bartman — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:15:19 +0000

Yep, it’s interesting to see the trend in those areas of virtual worlds. I feel like designers are starting to make tradeoffs, exchanging deeper levels of immersion (IE: trying to keep the magic circle in-tact) for better usability or cleaner interactions with the software. The whole random dungeon finder in WoW is a great example. It appears blizzard decided to move away from fantasy, more towards convenience and usability. Looking at the timeline for this mechanic:
1. Had to walk to any dungeon (unless a warlock in the party to summon)
2. Summoning stones implemented, requires 2 people to summon others
3. Dungeon finder implemented, allowing people to automatically teleport inside of the dungeon once a group is formed.

No fiction exists to explain, within the confines of the world, option 3. But it sure is convenient!

Comment on A step in the right, or wrong, direction? by Deg

Deg — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:10:03 +0000

I’ve pondered such things when dealing with Myst Online: Uru Live. At some point we hope users will be able to contribute Ages (levels) to the game. Should that be a process of submitting a zip file to a web site outside of the game or submitting a zip file to a “Age librarian” inside of the game? A dialog box inside of the game would definitely break the immersion, but there should be an ingame analog to such a major action.

Comment on Directed gameplay and learning by Bartman

Bartman — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:54:16 +0000

Absolutely. I know Dragon Age: Origins has a fairly complex editor, but I have not tried using it yet. I wonder if it’s possible just to leverage the dialog engine as a standalone…I would guess it’s easier said than done.

Comment on Directed gameplay and learning by Advocate of 3d Virtual Simulations

Advocate of 3d Virtual Simulations — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:04:44 +0000

Using the Bioware mechanic for children’s learning (not only language learning) would be a huge step towards really converging the world of casual games and serious games. Now what we need is an engine with this kind of power that allows designers to create these games more easily, then we’d really see things move forward in leaps and bounds.

Comment on Directed gameplay and learning by Bartman

Bartman — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:54:22 +0000

I’m still waiting for the Last Guardian to come out for PS3 (that’s when I will probably buy the console). I still think that will be the first game that really makes people tear up on a big level (and I think that’s one of the main design goals for the studio).

Mass Effect 2 didn’t really hit me in the emotional sweet spot, it was more of a “WTF??? Why did my favorite team members just fall over after the Normandy got hit with a single beam?” I later realized it was due to me not upgrading the ship…but it felt kind of contrived. I could go on and on about ME2…overall it was a fantastic shooter game, but the story and pacing didn’t really gel for me.

What about Dragon Age: Origins? I’ve heard a few people talk about the emotional connection with Morrigan and how that hit them at the end in a big way. I never got into the Metal Gear games (aside from the very first one on the NES) but do agree on HL2. Maybe some day Valve will finally release EP3!

Comment on Directed gameplay and learning by Seth Moyer

Seth Moyer — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:30:24 +0000

This is something you have been hinting at for a while, and it makes a lot of sense. It would be sort of like a choose your own adventure book except more interesting (hopefully) and easier to navigate.

Off Topic: You know your IST 110 lecture in which you asked us at what point will games make you tear up over the summer? I’ve Added Mass Effect 2 to my list. It’s joining Half Life 2 and the Metal Gear Solid series. In my opinion those are the 3 best franchises in video gaming. I think that this is because they go out of their way to make you care about the characters and feel sad when something bad happens to them.

Comment on Game Developer’s Conference highlights by Bartman

Bartman — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:22:32 +0000

I can’t say I really ‘get it’ either. Some of Thorne’s students told us that they ‘only play because my friends play’, but then they get sucked in. I’ve tried mafia wars and didn’t really get into it…haven’t tried farmville yet. I get frustrated when my FB page is spammed with other peoples’ farmville stuff, so I guess I’m jaded

Comment on Game Developer’s Conference highlights by Brett BIxler

Brett BIxler — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:17:49 +0000

Farmville is the biggest Zygna game, yet I don’t get it. I play Mafia Wars and other FB Social games, but for some reason Farmville just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe it’s because I have a real garden? Dunno.

Comment on Game UI Analysis by Bartman

Bartman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:09:21 +0000

Exactly! It would be nice to see more learning-oriented software (lms, cms, other systems) take this approach. I recently had a discussion with a friend that relates to your comment about the usability of a UI being intensely personal. That also holds true for your entire desktop OS. A friend of mine hates using other people’s computers for anything, because he feels it’s such a personal device that it just feels…wrong. Especially if you’re someone that runs a lot of custom widgets or other additional utilities on your machine.

Comment on Game UI Analysis by Joshua Landesman

Joshua Landesman — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:14:43 +0000

Usability of UI is an intensely personal issue, in my experience. One of the great successes of World of Warcraft (WoW)comes not from the stock UI, but from the multiple addons and UI’s that allow WoW’s users to customize the UI to their desires. Immersion can be maintained using these custom UI’s and WoW’s great success with the extensible nature of it’s UI can be ported over to learning systems as they are designed, which allows users to maintain their immersion, and thus enhance their retention of information.