Gamification

"Good games get people to spend a lot of time and money doing things that are difficult and complex" (Renauld & Wagoner 2011 p.59). Which is one reason I think that gaming has hit the 21st century and has no intentions of leaving. Furthermore this same concept was observed by Judy Willis, "Games insert players at their achievable challenge level and reward player effort and practice with acknowledgement of incremental goal progress, not just final product. The fuel for this process is the pleasure experience related to the release of dopamine" (Willis, 2011). Willis (2011) goes on to state, "In humans, the dopamine reward response that promotes pleasure and motivation also requires that they are aware that they solved a problem, figured out a puzzle, correctly answered a challenging question, or achieved the sequence of movements needed to play a song on the piano or swing a baseball bat to hit a home run. This is why students need to use what they learn in authentic ways that allow them to recognize their progress as clearly as they see it when playing video games."

So what is it exactly about games that keeps bringer a player back? Renauld and Wagoner (2011, p.20) suggest the following:
*Games provide constant real-time feedback and give players opportunities to react to that feedback.
*Games provide safe places to make mistakes and errors.
*Games provide players a sense of control and repetition for new learning and application as necessary, allowing players the opportunities to make decisions and change goals.
*Games that are truly engaging are frustrating and "right on the edge of being too difficult."
*Players are allowed to perform before demonstrating understanding, allowing for the building of skills and knowledge through doing.
*Games allow for systems thinking, in which players can see the interconnectedness of ideas and knowledge.
*Games can distribute knowledge and skills to accomplish a task across many people allowing for individuals in a group to use their tools and skills to complete the task with different and varied groups.

Is it possible that teaching teachers to be teachers would be better done through game design?
"When using games-based learning, the teacher becomes a guide or an ar- chitect of students’ learning, rather than a deliverer of knowledge" (Renauld & Wagoner 2011 p.58).


Renaud, C. & Wagoner, B. (Sep 2011) The Gamification of Learning; Principal Leadership. Reston; Vol. 12, Iss. 1; p. 57 (3 pages)

Willis, J. (2011, April 04). A neurologist makes the case for the video game model as a learning tool. Edutopia, Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-games-learning-student-engagement-judy-willis