The Top 10 Free Educational Video Games

The main reason for inclusion in the top 10 was the impact a game had on the educational gaming field. Some of these are getting rather long in the tooth as far as games go, yet their impact is still being felt in educational research that was foundational or continues to be published. On the other hand, new titles are coming out all the time and this list may well change in the future.

The criteria for inclusion were simple. The game must be free and preferably available online. Some of the games are modifications of existing games (mostly Neverwinter Nights). So, mods are free but to run them you will need to purchase the original engine. But that’s a minor quibble since they are free if you already own the engine.

I am interested in other titles, so if you have a favorite that is not on the list, drop me an e-mail and let me know about it. Finally, I also included the learning objectives, host URLs, and my comments on the games. So, give these educational games a look-see, and consider using them in a classroom or other formal learning situation. And let me know about it if you do.

1. Revolution
Type: Modification of Neverwinter Nights Gold
Learning Objective: Experience historical incentives for the American Revolution from the grassroots level.
Host URL: http://www.educationarcade.org/revolution
Comment: This is the game that started folks talking about seriously using the modifiable Neverwinter Nights engine for educational purposes. Several papers were published on this game, focusing on its interactive means of teaching students about the American Revolution. It was perhaps best introduced to academics in a widely read article by Joel Foreman over at George Mason in the first issue of Innovate.

2. Re-Mission
Type: Executable
Host URL: http://www.re-mission.net/
Learning Objective: Understand cancer better and develop a positive attitude toward defeating it.
Comment: It’s a big download, but well worth the wait. The game from HopeLab is aimed at teaching young cancer patients about the disease and providing opportunities to enhance understanding in a positive environment. It offers the latest in educational videogame design, with backing from a well-funded sponsor. Also available in Spanish and French, and can be ordered for free on CD by mail.

3. River City
Type: Multi-user Virtual Environment
Host URL: http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/muvees2003/index.html
Learning Objective: Develop an understanding of the scientific method through inquiry and teamwork, as well as an appreciation for history and environmental issues.
Comment: One of the two big NSF projects for educational gaming on this list, with several years of research following its progress. This Harvard product is freely available to schools, but only on disc through the mail. The team prefers sending it to teachers wishing to use the program in science classes. Chris Dede spearheaded the project.

4. Quest Atlantis
Type: Multi-user Virtual Environment
Host URL: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu
Learning Objective: Help students understand social studies, environmental concerns, current events, and scientific standards.
Comment: Although this Indiana University project offers a guest area where interested parties can explore the Quest Atlantis universe, the NSF-funded project requires teachers contact the team before allowing full access. Several thousand participants have joined QA, and research is ongoing. Sasha Barab spearheaded the project

5. Arden
Type: Modification of Neverwinter Nights Diamond
Host URL: http://swi.indiana.edu/arden/index.shtml
Learning Objective: Attain an appreciation of Shakespearean authorship and Elizabethan England.
Comment: As part of the Serious Worlds Initiative over at Indiana University, Arden was initially funded by the MacArthur Foundation. Executive producer is Edward Castronova, whose book Synthetic Worlds covers many of the economic and social issues in MMOs. Castronova has professed that Arden is not very exciting to typical gamers (no monsters to slay). However, the notion of exploring Shakespeare’s world should prove interesting to English majors and other aficionados of the Bard’s work.

6. The History Canada Game
Type: Modification of Civilization III
Host URL: http://www.historycanadagame.com/
Learning Objective: Understand social forces surrounding Canadian history since 1534.
Comment: O Canada! Down here south of the border, we hardly know ye! But, an initiative funded by Canada’s National History Society and The Historica Foundation aims to change that, for Canadians as well as those outside her borders.

7. America’s Army
Type: Executable
Host URL: http://www.americasarmy.com
Learning Objectives: Teamwork, and a greater understanding of US military expectations for recruits.
Comment: Critics decry this free videogame as a recruiting tool for the military. The Army shrugs its collective shoulders and says, “So?” Actually, America’s Army has many fans with no military expectations. One Ph.D. candidate I work with is a self-described “America’s Army widow.” Almost 3 gigs for the full version; its free nature ensures many adherents for years to come.

8. Food Force
Type: Executable
Host URL: http://www.food-force.com/
Learning Objectives: Understand world hunger and efforts to alleviate it.
Comment: Classroom materials and instructions are available on-site. Besides English, the UN-backed Food Force is available in (alphabetical order): Chinese, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, and Portuguese.

9. Whyville
Type: Instructional Online Virtual World
Host URL: http://www.whyville.net/smmk/nice
Learning Objectives: Provide a student-centered, hands-on environment for exploring various school subjects.
Comment: This Numedeon-backed product is aimed at elementary and middle school students, in hopes of encouraging “scientific discovery” and “social responsibility.”

10. SimCity
Type: Web-based
Host URL: http://simcity.ea.com/play/simcity_classic.php
Learning Objectives: Understand variable manipulations for urban management while having fun building a simulated city.
Comment: Critics have attacked its oversimplification of urban management, but countless children the world over have learned such truisms as the correlation between higher taxes and a disgruntled populace. Also, if you deplete the fire departments’ budget, disasters will devastate your city! The original SimCity is available online gratis from Electronic Arts, with adverts for the newest version, SimCity 4.

Update:
This list is getting long in the tooth, and many new games have been developed or improved since its introduction in 2007. For one, check out Selene from Wheeling Jesuit University’s Center for Educational Technologies. It is free, available online, and promotes science learning along with lunar exploration.

More great educational games are discussed on this blog on a regular basis. Subscribe to the RSS feed to keep up with the latest posts. Thanks.

Battling for Opportunities to Simulate History

I have visited the national historic site for the Battle of New Orleans twice (last time when NECC was in NO). Taking a leisurely steamboat ride from the riverfront mall up the Mississippi, you disembark at the site and listen patiently to a park ranger explaining how Andrew Jackson marshaled his forces, combined with the racially diverse city populace, and held off the evil British soldiers. If you’re lucky, the park ranger will fire off a replicated musket shot to give you a feel for what the battle was like. On the ride back to New Orleans, you can purchase a toy gun or perhaps a coffee mug in the ship’s gift shop to commemorate your visit, and Jackson’s victory.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of our national park system. Somebody once said the Europeans have their cathedrals while the Americans have their national parks. But what if we could play the role of Andrew Jackson, face the same decisions on deploying limited resources against a superior opponent? Could we experience history better if history were simulated for us within the context of a videogame?

Some say, “Yes!” One advocate for this approach is Dr. Kevin Kee over at Brock University, who serves as primary investigator of The Simulating History Project: Best Practices for Simulating History. Here’s the raison d’être for the site:

Canadians are concerned about their understanding of their history, and especially about the way that it is taught. The “Simulating History” project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, is exploring the “best potential” for educational computer simulations (sometimes called computer “serious games”) to teach Canadian history.

The site serves as a blog, with entries detailing various school projects, news from other university efforts, and various serious games related to history. There are also discussions concerning the use of educational videogames in teaching history. One in particular was pointed out to me by Dr. Shawn Graham. “Towards a Theory of Good-History-through-Good-Gaming for Historians and Educators” is by Kevin Kee and Shawn Graham, with contributions by Marion Barfurth, Michel Blondeau, Mike Clare, Patrick Dunae, Andrew Large, John Lutz, and Chris Tan. It offers a cogent argument for the use of sophisticated videogames (namely those in the Civilization series) for use in history instruction; offers the counter-arguments against their use in classrooms; then offers a dialogue for the contributors listed above to hash out their thoughts on the topic.

It’s an excellent online article, and it offers insight to the process of appropriating a technology for pedagogical purposes. Now perhaps somebody might try and incorporate the Battle of New Orleans in a historically appropriate videogame. I suspect it will offer greater insights to the processes surrounding the battle than a site visit offers. Perhaps someday, visitors will be able to purchase the game in the steamboat’s gift shop.

Programming a New AquaMOOSE? Virtual Real Worlds Using MellaniuM & Unreal 2

The famous AquaMOOSE study came out of Georgia Tech a few years back, led by Amy Bruckman. High school students were exposed to a game developed by the team focusing on three-dimensional mathematics (think of Logo, only in 3-D). However, the students had high expectations going into the study, and were disappointed with the graphical sophistication of the home-brewed software. Since then, and maybe because of Team Bruckman’s findings, educational gaming research seems to have shifted more to examining pedagogical potentials within existing products.

On many levels, this makes sense. When one considers the multi-person staffs, high dollar budgets, and extended timelines for creating top notch videogames, replicating that level of sophistication becomes problematic on the typical budgetary levels professors are used to winning in grants. Big grants offer a nice exception to this rule. Even then, the funds may run out, as we saw earlier this year when Castronova over at Indiana was forced to pull the plug on Arden, his ambitious Shakespearean-themed VW.

So existing game engines are hot, especially for serious game development. Appropriate the engines already developed and focus on the pedagogy … this seems to be a guiding principle. Fortunately, folks are out there working to help us utilize some of the state of the art platforms for business and educational purposes.

I spoke via e-mail recently with Joe Rigby, over at MellaniuM, who offers a look into his company’s product that allows highly detailed representations of real world objects created in AutoCAD to be exported into the Unreal 2 engine. Elaine Alhadeff has written an excellent entry in which she explores the product and interviews Rigby. The video Rigby has shows things like a World War II Spitfire, half in shadow, half in light; a motorcycle with multi-spoke wheels (each spoke standing out in detail); and a horse-drawn carriage that looks incredibly detailed.

The product highlights the notion of “virtual real worlds,” where users can explore realistic representations of locations that exist now, in the past, or in imagination. Training or exploration within such environments may be advantageous to police teams learning to deal with emergency situations; military groups learning urban warfare; and college students interested in exploring architecture, archaeology, or historical contexts.

Details within virtual real worlds can be extremely important, and products such as MillaniuM’s offer tantalizing possibilities to programmers.

References:
Elliott, J., Adams, L., & Bruckman, A. (2002). No magic bullet: 3D video games in education. Proceedings of ICLS 2002. Seattle, Washington, October 2002. [Online]. Available: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/aquamoose-icls02.pdf

Ben Sawyer's Top 10 Myths Surrounding Serious Games

Ben Sawyer over at Digitalmill announced on his seriousgames listserv a new article recently published by The Escapist. “Ten Myths About Serious Games” explores common misconceptions surrounding the industry. It’s a good read, and I won’t recap all of it here, but one of the highlights is the myth, “Serious Games Aren’t Fun.”

We saw this idea argued in the Bogost/Peters controversy earlier this year. It seems some feel that any serious elements within games automatically preclude the possibility of fun within the game. Likewise, fun games should preclude serious elements. Sawyer sums it up this way:

Sure, there are times when serious games lack the joy of play that at times disproportionately drives commercial games, but people absorb media for many different reasons, only one of which is for fun. Any number of necessities and other motivational purposes also come into play. To think fun is the only reason users play games isn’t giving people much credit. If anything, serious games are more than fun.

Sawyer also explores questions surrounding academic influence, military influence, and social factors going into the creation of serious games.

I got a lot out of the seriousgames listserv during my stint working in higher ed, spending much time lurking in conversations between academics, authors, and industry professionals. Recently I jumped back onto the listserv, and found these conversations are still going strong.

Sawyer concludes his article by stating it is important to combat the myths perpetuated in a young field like serious games, because too often a lie left unchallenged becomes the truth.

References
Sawyer, B. (2007, October 30). Ten myths about serious games. The Escapist. [Online]. Available: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues
/issue_121/2575-

Force Feedback Vest Makes an Impact

I wrote last week about brain computer interfaces (BCIs), that allow players to control the game without using hands. This week, news hit about affordable feedback vests that should liven up many an action game and see applications in the medical and educational fields.

The idea is simple, really. When your avatar receives a “hit” in the game, you feel a corresponding thwack from the vest. Dr. Mark Ombrellaro (the surgeon kind of doctor, not the teacher kind) has designed the “3rd Space impact vest” and is introducing it to the consumer market through TN Games for less than $200 retail.

Since Dr. Ombrellaro is in the medical field, his original vest was designed to provide haptic feedback to surgeons performing telemedicine. Stevie Smith reports on MonstersandCritics.com that the medical version is awaiting FDA approval, and is considerably more complex than the consumer videogame version. Future versions for the gaming market will reportedly offer g-force feedback from simulated air travel and racing games.

Images from the movie Lawnmower Man were my first thoughts when hearing about the impact vest. “Old style” virtual reality always involved wearing a suit in science fiction tales, while “newer” technologies took place purely in the mind, like in The Matrix.

A few years back, someone came out with the PainStation, which offered players an opportunity to hurt their opponents electronically upon winning a videogame (or be hurt themselves if they lost). Sony put the kibosh on the PainStation toot sweet. I can imagine some enterprising hacker tweaking impact vests so they delivers a stunning impact, then having true knock down fights over the Internet.

As we see the price point drop for advanced haptic devices and things like brain interfaces, expect more beneficial applications for educational and assistive technologies. The impact vest may certainly offer a training benefit during various simulations, or at least add an element of realism.

Slay a Dragon, Learn a Language

I’ve long felt MMORPGs can provide the sort of immersive environment that is so conducive to learning a foreign language. The military apparently feels the same way, and the DARPA-funded Rapid Tactical Language Training System, developed by USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering’s Center for Research in Technology for Education (CARTE) paved the way for advanced MMORPG use in language and cultural acquisition starting in 2004.

Now, other universities have professors conducting research on the benefits of using MMORPGs for second language acquisition. Since some of the biggest MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft (WoW), already have English as their default language, some of the most intriguing research derives from efforts to help Asians learn to speak English while playing in these MMORPGs.

John K. Waters, a freelance writer in Palo Alto covering high tech developments and Silicon Valley, wrote the cover story for the most recent issue of THE Journal. Waters discusses various efforts to offer ESL and language learning within modern MMORPGs. He begins by discussing the work of Dr. Edd Schneider over at the Dept. of Information and Communications Technology at SUNY Potsdam, and grad student Kai Zheng, who has designed games and written for videogame magazines in China.

Dr. Schneider notes, as I have previously, that Asian parents in general and Chinese parents in particular strongly dislike videogames. They are seen as a waste of time, and generally disruptive to the well-being of children. On the other hand, acquisition of English speaking skills is seen as desirable. Consequently, combining MMORPGs and their “forbidden” (and therefore appealing) aspects with language acquisition may well make for a winning pedagogical formula in Asian countries. Dr. Schneider’s key quote: “I really believe that if Blizzard [WoW’s parent company] started an ESL server of English in China, they would make a fortune.”

Additional academic research covered by Waters in the article includes work by Dr. Bruce Gooch while at Northwestern (he is now at U. Victoria over in B.C.), with grad students Yolanda Rankin and Rachel Gold, using MMORPGs for ESL. The team used EverQuest II, which offers more text labeling and more scripted audio feedback from NPCs than WoW, in a pilot study exploring potential benefits. The key quote from Dr. Gooch: “We know that learning is accelerated if we have an emotional response to the learning. We believe that’s what might be going on in the game. I want to defeat an opponent. I’m worried, I’m scared, I’m excited—I’m interested. You tend to remember things that strike you this way.” How true; this emotional aspect to learning in MMORPGs may well provide a rich field of research in the future.

Dr. Gooch plans to continue work at U. Victoria; Yolanda Rankin plans to continue work at Ole Miss. One key benefit uncovered in their preliminary efforts was the fact that mistakes were perceived as being made by the students’ avatars, not the students themselves. This allowed a measure of face-saving that evidently is deemed important by Asian students.

In a sidebar, Waters also notes efforts at language studies in Second Life. He brings up a research project at non-profit SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning called Lakamaka Island in SL. Efforts are spearheaded by PIs Valerie Crawford and Phil Vahey from the Institute. “Learning Technology Engineer” John Brecht has a key quote: “Rather than running students through exercises in the abstract, practicing words and phrases from a textbook, the virtual world allows you to engage students in a virtual role-playing exercise.”

Finally, John Nordlinger from the Microsoft Research Group is given wrap up comments. One potential argument, that language learners might pick up various sword and sorcery terms in these medieval fantasy worlds that are not commonly used in everyday English, is countered by Nordlinger. He notes that such uncommon terms in everyday usage are also rampant in popular English literature such as the Harry Potter novels.

Nordlinger surmises that MMORPGs will not completely supplant foreign language teachers, but may well offer powerful supplemental vehicles for language acquisition. This is an assessment with which I heartily concur.

References:
Waters, J. K. (2007, October). On a quest for English. THE Journal, 34(10). 27-32.

Humana Jumps Into Health Video Game Fray

A bandwagon seems to be forming among health insurers concerning serious medical video games. I blogged previously about Re-mission here and here. Recall that CIGNA was one of the major forces behind the Re-mission effort, partnering with HopeLab’s Pamela Omidyar, wife of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Now, it appears other major health insurance companies are poised to encourage development of video games that promote good health.

In particular, insurance leviathan Humana’s Integrated Consumer Experience Division is partnering with Digitalmill and Touchtown to develop and research health and exercise games. It appears from press coverage that students over at U. Southern California will do much of the coding. USC already has a strong relationship with DARPA surrounding military training games, and has deep roots in the Hollywood special effects crowd which is all computerized these days.

With both CIGNA and Humana now behind serious games in the health sector, look for increased development of products with low profit motivations, but high health ed expectations. Results will be measured in fitness rather than bucks. Hopefully some good research will come out of these efforts as well.

References
Business Courier of Cincinnati. (2007, September 7). Humana to reach consumers through video games. [Online]. Available: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/09/03/daily40.html

Joystick Soldiers Call for Papers

The authors of a new chapter book on military video games have sent out a call for scholarly papers. “Joystick Soldiers: The military/war video game reader” is accepting 500 word abstracts by September 17. Here is part of the call, as seen over on Gameology:

The editors seek essays on military/war-themed video games which explore the multifaceted cultural, social, and economic linkages between video games and the military. The collection will feature scholarly work from a diversity of theoretical and methodological perspectives, including: close textual readings of military-themed video games; critical histories of game production processes and marketing practices; and reception studies of video war gamers, fandom, and politically resistant game interventions. As there is no other collection of its kind, Joystick Soldiers will make a significant contribution to the breadth of work shaping the burgeoning field of game studies, complementing analyses concerning the Military-Entertainment Complex, and offering diverse insights on how modern warfare has been represented and remediated in contemporary video games. The editors invite junior as well as established scholars to submit, and welcome cross-disciplinary work from sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, history, military studies, psychology, economics, media studies, visual communication, graphic arts and game design, education, and so forth.