my opinion for edutainment more broadly: “Sounds like a good idea at first glance, basically no wins. Probably doomed”
Are you sure there are basically no wins? Kaj Sotala has an interesting anecdote about the game DragonBox in this blog post. Apparently it’s a super fun puzzle game that incidentally teaches kids basic algebra.
When I was a kid, I played some of edugames of the form “pilot a submarine, dodge enemies, occasionally a submarine-themed math problem pops up”. I’m not excited about that sort of game. I’m more excited about what I’d call a “stealth edugame”—a game that would sell just fine as an ordinary game, but teaches you useful knowledge that happens to be embedded in the game mechanics. Consider the game Railroad Tycoon 2. It’s not marketed as an edugame, and it’s a lot of fun, but as you play you’ll naturally pick up some finance concepts like: debt and equity financing, interest rates, the business cycle, profit and loss, dividends, buying stock on margin, short selling, M&A, bankruptcy, liquidation, etc. You’ll get an intuitive idea of what supply and demand are, how to optimize your operations for profitability, and how to prioritize investments based on their net present value.
Another example along the same lines—not primarily edutainment, but apparently law professors play clips of that movie in their classes because it is so accurate.
Kaj Sotala has an interesting anecdote about the game DragonBox in this blog post. Apparently it’s a super fun puzzle game that incidentally teaches kids basic algebra.
@Kaj_Sotala wrote that post 11 years ago, titled “Why I’m considering a career in educational games.” I’d be interested to see if he still stands by it and/or have more convincing arguments by now.
Are you sure there are basically no wins? Kaj Sotala has an interesting anecdote about the game DragonBox in this blog post. Apparently it’s a super fun puzzle game that incidentally teaches kids basic algebra.
When I was a kid, I played some of edugames of the form “pilot a submarine, dodge enemies, occasionally a submarine-themed math problem pops up”. I’m not excited about that sort of game. I’m more excited about what I’d call a “stealth edugame”—a game that would sell just fine as an ordinary game, but teaches you useful knowledge that happens to be embedded in the game mechanics. Consider the game Railroad Tycoon 2. It’s not marketed as an edugame, and it’s a lot of fun, but as you play you’ll naturally pick up some finance concepts like: debt and equity financing, interest rates, the business cycle, profit and loss, dividends, buying stock on margin, short selling, M&A, bankruptcy, liquidation, etc. You’ll get an intuitive idea of what supply and demand are, how to optimize your operations for profitability, and how to prioritize investments based on their net present value.
Another example along the same lines—not primarily edutainment, but apparently law professors play clips of that movie in their classes because it is so accurate.
Nope, not sure at all. Just vague impression.
@Kaj_Sotala wrote that post 11 years ago, titled “Why I’m considering a career in educational games.” I’d be interested to see if he still stands by it and/or have more convincing arguments by now.