The future of gaming

Games based learning is one of the most important strategies for 21st Century education. We have enjoyed playing games since time immemorial, and video arcade games such as Asteroids and Space Invaders of the 1970's were just the start of the emergence of digital games. Recently, with the development of handheld controls (such as the Nintendo Wii), 3D screens (Nintendo 3DS) and non touch gestural and voice controls (Microsoft's XBox 360 Kinect) games have become increasingly captivating, and have an immersive quality. Games, whether digital or analogue, have the capability to motivate learners, challenge them to improve their dexterity, problem solving and reasoning skills, encourage teamwork and collaboration (Nemerow, 1996) - especially social games such as World of Warcraft or Call of Duty - and performance is under constant peer review. These match some of the key skills required to succeed in the world of work where digital technology is prevalent. Thiagarajan (1998) believes that games have five major characteristics that are important for learning, These are conflict, control, closure, contrivance, and competency. Clearly, digital games have a great deal to offer the future of learning. So what can we expect of games based learning in the future?

Recent interviews in the magazine Short List by Ellison (2012) feature the opinions of several acknowledged video games experts. Ben Wilson, editor of Official Playstation Magazine UK believes that games will continue to improve in quality, with characters exhibiting more realistic human behaviour. Drivers in racing games for example, 'could be pressurised into making errors, footballers might make more realistic runs, or be angered into reacting to a late lunge or a dig in the ribs.' David Darling, who is one of the co-founders of Codemasters, sees games consoles becoming even smaller, and agrees with Wilson that the resolution of graphics will continue to improve. His main contention though is that games will become more augmented, and tied into the human emotions via retinal projection. Darling sees us playing games in the near future by proxy, controlling our avatars from a distance, with our senses stimulated so that we feel we are 'virtually there.'

Brain control is also something predicted by David Cage. The visionary designer who is behind PS3 games such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, believes that in the future, games playing will be radically different, requiring no controls. We will simply think our way around the game using our mind power, using directly implanted sensors. Jon Hicks, editor of Official Xbox 360 Magazine also takes a futuristic view. He feels that we have just about reached the limits of what we can achieve with screens and controllers. The next stage, he says, is to place the gamer even deeper into the virtual world. He believes that motion sensors will use information about our body postures, facial expressions and biofeedback to tap into our emotions, and then do 'amazing or even terrifying things with that information'. Combine this emotion tracking with augmented reality and we are approaching the ultimate experience. 'Imagine a Silent Hill game that can work out how scared you are, and change accordingly' he says, ominously.  

Whatever the future holds for gamers, we can be sure it will be different, more enhanced and more realistic than it is right now. So remember, the next time you venture into Azeroth, or don the hood of Connor Kenway, you may be taking your first steps toward a brave (and very scary) new world where reality blurs with fantasy, and where your learning will never be the same again.

References

Nemerow, L. G. (1996) Do classroom games improve motivation and learning? Teaching and Change, 3 (4), 356-361.
Ellison, J. (2012) You're going to need a bigger living room. ShortList, 8 November, 250, 49-52.
Thiagarajan, S. (1998) Ask Thiagi. Thiagi Game Letter, 1 (4), 6.

Photo by Steve Wheeler



The future of gaming by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Don't be surprised

'Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in a different time.' - Rabindranath Tagore

If you are a teacher, and you are trying to introduce new technologies or software into the classroom, be warned. You may be completely blown away by the shiny new devices, and the latest Kinect 360 or Nintendo 3DS may impress the heck out of you. But don't be surprised when the children in your class say, 'yeah, whatever'. It's difficult to impress young people with technology, but they can be impressed when teachers spend some time connecting personally with them, and helping them to understand. Children in primary schools only know the 21st Century. That is why it is important for teachers and parents to understand that they should learn in ways that they can dictate the pace and space of, rather than in the style that we have been accustomed to. Children expect and demand interactive content, because they have known nothing else in their short lives. They communicate through games. They speak the language of txt and connect constantly through social media. The ability to click or touch something to activate it is something they have always done. It's only a small step from there to making computers do things through non-touch gesture, or eye movements and facial expressions. The video below demonstrates how easy a 2 year old child can operate an iPad. She has her first encounter with it, and immediately knows intuitively how to use it. It reminds me of a quote from Marx (Groucho, not Karl of course) who said: 'A five year old child could understand this! Get me a five year old child!




Don't be surprised by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.