Instructional design of gamification: Plan before you play - PART 3

My journey through instructional design and gamification with the goal of improving a course continues....

After pondering over the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics of MDA Model (Elverdam & Aarseth, 2007; Kim, 2015; Robson, Plangger, Kietzmann, McCarthy, & Pitt, 2015), my search next located several other models, including the Game Object Model II (Amory, 2007).....taking me deeper into the role of aesthetics in educational gaming.

While reading about aesthetics and enhancing narration, I somehow began reading about situated learning....the next step in my quest (this has now become my quest) to design a solid gamified experience. Lave and Wenger (1991) purport that learning, thinking, and knowing emerge from a world that is socially constructed. Meaning, then, is what happens when learners become increasingly involved as participants in social communities.

Hmmmm....in addition to aesthetics, dynamics, and mechanics, gamified learning also needs narration AND opportunities for socialization...

Engagement is connected to motivation....and involvement....all of which are very important in game design, not to mention in learning.

Maslow (1943, 1954, 1970) suggests people are motivated to meet certain needs. When one fulfills a need, the person moves on to fulfill the next need.

These first four needs are identified as deficit needs.  If these deficit needs are not met, these needs make us uncomfortable, motivating us to sufficiently fulfill these needs before we can even consider the other needs. Referred to as growth needs, the last four needs constantly motivate us as they relate to our growth and development.

Maslow also arranges these needs in a hierarchy, indicating that we are primarily motivated by a need only if lower level needs have been met. This means that before cognitive or self actualization needs can motivate us, we must address the basic deficit needs like physiological, security, belonging, and esteem.

So...how does this connect to situated learning, engagement, motivation, and involvement with building a game experience?

Situated learning in the game experience supports Maslow's level 3 needs of belonging and love. This third layer of human needs is social, involving emotionally-based relationships in general, such as friendship. This is the beginning of developing a social community.  Upon meeting the needs of this social community, this sense of belonging, humans next need to meet their level 4 esteem needs (engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued) and the level 5 need for knowledge and understanding  - the cognitive needs. Then on to level 6's aesthetics needs.

This is where educational gaming enters the picture. This game experience must allow the learner to make meaning while participating in the social community...meeting Maslow's levels of 3 through 6.

The narrative, then, must help make the game experience meaningful while fostering a social community. Jakobsson and Taylor (2003) offer that social networks are vital to the appeal of virtual environments, and social interaction is a crucial component of situated learning. The absence of social networks can be a barrier for new players. The game world social network takes many forms: game world blog and/or wiki, no social interaction with other players, limited interaction in the form of gifts or boost, a fellowship where players choose to work together communally to help each other, and a fellowship where players must work together to advance through the game. Social communities develop or write their own narrative though, often through some form of player or group chat. The narrative, then, shifts from a game world-base to a more personal, locally-written narrative.

Where do I go from here?

Time to re-visit my three questions posed previously...and even propose some responses:

• How do I motivate players and keep them motivated to play?
• How do I meet the goal of player enjoyment?
• In my dream game, the journey is the learning, not the final score or the badge. So how do I create a game experience that allows players to learn about the community college, to interact with community college "employees" and "students" and then complete the experience?

First, the topic and concept of the game experience has to interest the players - in this instance, my students. I also want to keep myself focused on the philosophy behind the game experience: to simulate a community college, with the various units/departments, faculty/staff/students/community partners, and the daily task of managing a community college.

If I explore the MDA model backwards, I can begin my planning. Obviously I have learning outcomes that need to be incorporated into the game experience, but the plan seems to begin with development of the narration.

Thinking upon that.....Actually, the game design plan needs to begin with choosing the genre of game  - adventure game, role-playing game, action game, simulation and strategy game, or virtual world. I suppose part of this step is to choose the platform - definitely keyboard and mouse.

What unique features do I want to include? If I go with my ideal game experience, I want students to build their own community college, learning about the various departments and units and the constituencies (students, faculty, staff, community partners) while interacting with day-to-day issues impacting the balancing act of college administrators. Perhaps the various community colleges would then have to interact with one another in dealing with student transfers, program offerings, even sports. That interaction, then, could provide opportunities for the social network to develop. Or...those opportunities could be provided prior to the colleges' full development through a forum.



Aesthetics
Once I select the genre that best meets my needs, I can then plan out my narrative, crafting the backstory, cutscenes, plot hooks, and compelling characters necessary to engage learners. What will I include?  What won't I include?

Planning the narrative also requires I ponder the various emotional goals of the game. Make-believe really does not apply here  (no elves or dragons, other than the symbolic ones),  but narrative drama is certainly a goal of my dream game. While students build/design their community colleges, they will need to deal with the same challenges administrators meet every day: budget, staffing, community, marketing, human resources, facilities, students....Just a typical day. While an obstacle course is not really a goal for this game, fellowship with the game serving as a social network outside of class could be a goal.  Hmm...I wonder how many goals I should have? How many are too many?

Environmental design also needs to be addressed. Every story needs a setting, so I need to create a game world. That, however, will need more research on my part, more pondering  and more skills. I will keep this in mind as I move on to identify my game experience needs. Environmental design and how to actually build the game experience need an entire blog post or two of their own...Can I build what I want within Second Life?   If not, what software should I use?  How much programming do I really want to learn?

Dynamics
The aesthetics drive the game dynamics, those in-game behaviors and strategic actions and interactions that emerge during play. Will the game provide actual text feedback or will  feedback be implied during the responding event? If a responding event is the feedback, then that response should be based on current research.

Player progress is part of game dynamics, so I need to consider pathways to player progress - multiple or linear...along with the impact of time. Avatars are often important, but in this game experience, I do not really see the appearance of the avatar being important - instead, the community college becomes the avatar, with the player guiding the choices


Mechanics
Game mechanics encompass the reinforcements present in the experience (behaviors with rewarding outcomes are likely to be repeated in the future). This can be done with badges, achievement awards, levels, resources, and such.  The achievements - or rewards - must be valuable to the player or the player may  lose interest.....and stop playing. Having a balance of rewards is most desirable - after all, if everyone earns the top prize, then how much is the top prize really worth?

How do we measure a successful community college administrator? Is it through points? Badges?  Dollars earned? Enrollment? Evaluations?   All of these could certainly be used in the game experience Or.. is the experience itself of serving as an administrator and becoming familiar with all aspects of the community college, is that experience the "success"? Are badges or points even worth considering in this instance?  I suppose awarding experience badges based on visiting and interacting with various college units/departments could be awarded, simply as a way to allow players to see where they have been.....

Competition? Collaboration? Or both?

Research on characteristics of effective community college administrators suggests the ability to collaborate and show respect for others (Jones, 2010; Kezar, 2005) to be at the forefront of requirements, including listening (Schmidt, 2012), the ability to form partnerships/alliances (Eddy, 2007), and using research-based and data-driven decision-making (McClure, 2008).

Competition does not seem to enter into the mix, according to the research. Administrators need to make sure that staff and faculty salaries are competitive and that their college is preparing students to enter the competitive work force environment. Community colleges do continue to face competition from for profits ...but these are all examples of external competition, rather than a personal need to compete.

Perhaps rewarding collaboration, then is a good choice.

Exactly when do I want to integrate the social community? Will participation be required or encouraged?

In conclusion

So many questions still remain...and more reading...and thinking.

How does someone with no programming skills develop the platform for a 3D multi-user environment to immerse adult learners in educational tasks?

Could this game experience be created elsewhere, perhaps in Second Life? If not, where else might I be able to create it?

My quest still continues . . . 

 References

Amory, A. (2007). Game object model version II: A theoretical framework for educational game development. Educational Technology Research and Development, 55, 51-57.

Eddy, P. (2007, Fall). Alliances among community colleges: Odd bedfellows or lasting partners? New Directions for Community Colleges, 2007(139), 59-68.

Elverdam, C., & Aarseth, E. (2007). Game classification and game design construction through critical analysis. Games and Culture, 2(1), 3-22.

Jakobsson, M., & Taylor, T. L. (2003). The Sopranos meets Everquest: Social networking in massively multiplayer online games. Paper presented at the 5thInternational Digital Arts and Culture Conference, Melbourne, retrieved July 28, 2015, from, hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/Jakobsson.pdf.

Jones, D. C. (2010, September 6). Collaborative governance depends upon mutual respect. Community College Week,  23(2), 4-5.

Kezar, A. (2005). Moving from I to we. Change, 37(6), 50-57.

Kim, B. (2015, February/March). Game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics. Library Technology Reports, 51(2), 17-19.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-96.

Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper and Row.

Maslow, A. H. (1970). Religions, values, and peak experiences. New York: Penguin.

McClure, A. (2008, May). Driving the data: Applying business intelligence is helping community college leaders reach their goals. University Business, 11(5), 42-43.

Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J. H., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L. (2015, July). Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification. Business Horizons, 58(4), 411-420.

Schmidt, P. (2012, August 10). Administrators and professors find listening is a survival skill. chronicle of Higher Education, 58(43), A6-7.