Early Computer Games and Simulations from 1984

Even early computer games had educational elements and motives as this video from 1984 demonstrates. The game 'Pinball Construction Set' is a early example of a game that enabled the user to modify the game:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLpP2uh-zmE

------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

A profile of Chris Crawford - the original serious game designer - from 1992

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7p1nOd7QTU

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Crawford_(game_designer)

------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

Serious Games Research Papers and Reports

I've started to create a repository of research papers and reports that I think are relevant to the topic of serious games.

You can find it here:
http://seriousgames.ning.com/forum/topic/listForCategory?categoryId=630751%3ACategory%3A3145

Please let me know if you find anything useful here and feel free to add any papers and reports you think others may find interesting.

------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

The Escapist Magazine - Serious Games Issue

The Escapist, an online magazine aimed mostly at gamers and game developers, released an issue on serious games:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/99
------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

Taxonomy of Serious Games

Ben Sawyer presented a taxonomy of serious games at the recent Annenberg Workshop on Learning Games.



Download the spreadsheet here.

------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

ElectroCity - How is energy is generated? How much does it cost? How does it affect the environment?

How is energy is generated? How much does it cost? How does it affect the environment?

These are extremely important topics today, and are no longer just the domain of engineers and industry experts.

ElectroCity was developed to increase public awareness – particularly among students – of the basic "common knowledge" of these topics. That is, the general terms and concepts of the industry and the dilemmas that go along with them.

ElectroCity is a new online computer game that lets players manage their own virtual towns and cities. It’s great fun to play and also teaches players all about energy, sustainability and environmental management in New Zealand

more ...
------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

Elementeo’s 13-year-old CEO, highlight of TiECON

TiECON 2007, the big technology conference in Santa Clara, Calif., kicked off yesterday.

The buzz on the expo floor was about Silicon Valley gaming startup Elementeo and its precocious 13-year old founder and chief executive, Anshul Samar. “We inject fun into education,” the fast talking entrepreneur confidently proclaimed, touting his new fantasy role playing board game which he believes will change the way kids learn chemistry.

The conference featured keynote presentations from the likes of Marc Benioff (Salesforce.com), Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures) and Tim O’Reilly (Web 2.0 thinker), but the young Samar better represented the theme of this year’s conference: “The New Face of Entrepreneurship.”

VentureBeat interviewed the diminutive executive at Elementeo’s TiECON booth. Like other charismatic Silicon Valley CEOs – think Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison or Marc Benioff – Mr. Samar exudes confidence, vision and a passion to change the world. He’s more articulate than many CEOs four times his age.

Click here to see VentureBeat’s video of Mr. Samar delivering his elevator pitch.

Samar argues that textbooks are boring and kids would rather spend their time battling enemies, blowing things up with bombs, and yes, even giving their opponents lead poisoning. So he created a fantasy role playing game that combines the rapturous teenage joys of competition and carnage with the exciting properties of the periodic table of chemical elements.

more ...



------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

Engaging Visitors With ‘Serious Games’

Michael Skoler of America Public Media’s Center for Innovation in Journalism (and director of APM’s Public Insight Network) showed us how Minnesota Public Radio incorporates serious games to further engage listeners and site users.

Skoler exhibited 2006 Select a Candidate, Minnesota Fantasy Legislature (see “commissioner” Bob Collins’ league notes), and The Real Agenda.

So what are “serious games” and how can they function as tools of engagement for news/political Web sites?

Some think these “serious” or “ubiquitous” games will be fundamental to harnessing collective intelligence. A lofty goal, but one that could essentially lead to a more utopian, user-policed and controlled message boards and forums on a Web site or portal.

more ...
------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

Free MIT tool offers 'easy' coding for kids

A free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed.

Primarily aimed at children, Scratch does not require prior knowledge of complex computer languages.

Instead, it uses a simple graphical interface that allows programs to be assembled like building blocks.

The digital toolkit, developed in the US at MIT's Media Lab, allows people to blend images, sound and video.

"Computer programming has been traditionally seen as something that is beyond most people - it's only for a special group with technical expertise and experience," said Professor Mitchel Resnick, one of the researchers at the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT.

"We have developed Scratch as a new type of programming language, which is much more accessible."



more ...

http://scratch.mit.edu/
------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

Tiga (UK) research questions value of games courses !

"Very few graduates of 'so-called' games courses are fit for purpose"
Ongoing research by Tiga is questioning the value of videogame courses, with developers informing the association that graduates are leaving education lacking employable skills.

Tiga CEO Fred Hasson likening the proliferation of academic options to the influx of media courses that swamped universities in the early 1990's, as the UK now offers videogame courses at over 80 different institutions.
Tiga is in talks with government departments and helping with a Green Paper to be published later this year looking at changes and opportunities for the UK's creative industries.

"What companies have been telling us is that very few of those graduates that come out of 'so-called' games courses are fit for purpose," revealed Hasson, during a speech at yesterday's Northern Exposure conference.

more ...
------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

"Game Over!" is the world's first (and hopefully only) universally inaccessible game

"Game Over!" is the world's first (and hopefully only) universally inaccessible game. This practically means that it is a game that can be played by no one. But why was such a game created? Well, the goal of Game Over! is to be used as an educational tool for disseminating, understanding and consolidating game accessibility guidelines.

more ...
------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games

New Book - Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning and Literacy

A new book by James Paul Gee:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Video-Games-Learning-Epistemologies/
------------------------------
Serious Games Portal Site
Serious Games Wiki

serious games