Arising From Injustice - An Educational Alternate Reality Game

Arising From Injustice

An EducationalAlternate Reality Game

What is an

Alternate Reality

Game (ARG)?

The Beast ARG

The Beast ARG

• Play as yourself

• Takes place in the real and virtual worlds

• Uses a variety of media and technologies

• Collaborative gameplay

• (Emergent storyline and gameplay)

ARG Characteristics

World Without Oil ARG

World Without Oil ARG

Learning Goals

• Analyze the prejudice and discrimination against Japanese Americans during World War II

• Evaluate primary source historical information, such as oral histories, photographs, and historical documents

• Create collaborative projects using various online media and tools

• Critique online media and text in a constructive, thought-provoking manner

Player’s Goal

Win the game

GAMEPLAY

Story – Puzzle – Mission

Story Overview

• Alice Sasaki found unconscious while working on Memory History Cognition (MHC) device in her laboratory

• You access Alice’s data on the MHC and find yourself in the 1940s reliving Alice’s life

• You figure out that you need to help Alice recall her memories in order to bring her out of her coma

• Puzzles – part of MHC security protocol

• Missions – present Alice with memories of her past

Puzzles

• Engage the teams in challenging, collaborative exercises

• Expose the players to a variety of web resources that they can utilize in the Missions

Puzzles

Each player emailed clues to find three individual characters embedded in various online media, such as an oral history about a Japanese American person’s wartime experience.

t y D g F b

M l r I b .

http://bit.ly/rbDMgF

Missions

• Teams create media and content relevant to Alice’s WWII memories

• Requires players to utilize the online resources introduced by the Puzzles

• Points awarded for creativity and feedback on other teams’ creations

Missions

Create Word Cloud

Missions

Create Video Slideshow

http://bit.ly/HEIQQr

Prototype Results

• Over 2,500 discussion board posts by 16 players in 5 week period

• Pre- and post-game survey analysis showed some significant learning about history and use of primary sources

• “…liked the fact that we were learning something meaningful while we were playing”

• “…the game was well thought out in content and allowed the players to push the boundaries of creativity”

Edu ARG Benefits

• Relatively inexpensive to develop

• No programming skills required

• Any subject/topic

Edu ARG Challenges

• Embedding learning objectives into game

• Competition vs. collaboration

• Assessment

• Creating an emergent, player-driven storyline vs. linear story

Edu ARG Future

• Incorporate new media and technologies

• New design ideas from entertainment ARGs

• Teachers/trainers as game designers

• Students as game designers

Arising From Injustice

Randall FujimotoGametrain Learning, Inc.

randyfuj@gmail.comTwitter: @randyfuj