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Analysis of "The Top 10 Most Influential Educational Games"

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Saved by Richard Chen
on October 20, 2009 at 9:58:05 am
 

This analysis utilizes the list found on the post "The Top 10 Most Influential Educational Games"The original article can be found here

 

In this analysis, we look at some of the most influential educational video games.  The original version of these games were mostly published before 1990, though, due to their success, many of the games received multiple iterations, and some still serve as franchises today (Math Blaster, Mavis Beacon). 

 

In our analysis, we ignored the "retro" aspect of the videogames, the feeling of familiarity while playing a video game from your past, and focused on the essential aspects which made the game entertaining and motivated us to continue playing. 

 

You can find playthroughs of all the game at Top 10 Educational Videogames Playthroughs.  We refer to specific timestamps within each of these playthroughs.

 


 1.  Oregon Trail

 

Publisher: MECC

Platform: PC  

Release Date: 1993

 

Description

“The Oregon Trail is an educational computer game developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 and produced by MECC in 1974. The game was inspired by the real-life Oregon Trail and was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th century pioneer life on the trail. The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding his party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon's Willamette Valley by way of the Oregon Trail via a Conestoga wagon in 1848.” – Wikipedia

  

“Never before had a game based on the concept of education featured such levels of replay value and enjoyable gameplay. And never had they been presented to such an extent that even if the game weren't trying to educate you, you'd still want to play it based solely on its merits as a game. Oregon Trail wasn't the longest, deepest, or most thrilling of educational games, but it helped set a precedent for what an educational game could be. Namely, it was something that managed to both teach and entertain, and it did both extremely well.”  - Alex Navarro for Gamespot

 

Game Walk Through

  • Choose your profession (@0:07)          
  • Enter name party leader and 4 other party members[screenshot] (@0:13)
  • Introduction to story elements and time period [screenshot] (@0:38)
  • Choose month to start the trail (@0:39)
  • Visit store to buy initial supplies [Screenshot] (@0:58)
  • Begin journey in Independence (@3:20)
  • Face obstacles throughout the journey (ex: Blizzard @ 3:39)
  • Experience risk through making decisions that effect your journey (ex: River crossing @ 4:38)

 

Game Objectives

The player’s goal is to reach the end of the Oregon Trail with all of their party members and as many supplies as possible.  If players finish the trail they are then assigned a point value for the number of party members that have survived along with the amount of supplies that they have. 

 

Educational Objectives

Oregon Trail’s main educational value is to have players learn about the Oregon Trail through landmarks as well as experiencing a simulated experience of living on the trail.  Through gameplay, players learn about all of the obstacles and difficult decisions that pioneers faced while traveling the Oregon Trail.  

 

Motivational Elements     

The main reason for players to replay Oregon Trail is to test different options and choices.  The game provides many options from choosing a profession to the amount of supplies that you want to bring while starting your journey.  Players can play through different decisions and scenarios, while also facing new events, such as blizzards and robberies, which make each playing experience unique.  Players are also reminded of their past journeys through elements such as tombstones, to indicate where their past journeys have failed, and the Top 10 list based on the number of points you receive at the end of the game. 

 

Educational Outcomes

Oregon Trail primarily fails in its main educational objective of teaching players about the historical Oregon Trail.  Players can easily play through the game without reading any of the historical context or landmarks.  Players would have the same gameplay experience if the game were set in a fictional time period and setting. 

 

Although the historical elements of the game are not always obvious, Oregon Trail uses its strong entertainment and replay elements to teach players about history as players gain factual knowledge and understanding through experiencing the journey of traveling on the Oregon Trail.  For example, players may remember a particular landmark because one of their party members died at the location.  Through experiencing the virtual Oregon Trail, the game may garner enough interest in players to learn more about the historical Oregon Trail, comparing their journey to the actual experience of settlers on the Oregon Trail.  At the very least, players will change their attitudes towards the historical subject, as the game makes learning about a historical event interactive and interesting.

 

Beyond the historical elements of the game, players gain conceptual and procedural knowledge though management of their supplies.  Conceptually, through the decisions to buy, sell, and trade supplies, players understand how planning can affect later events and decisions.  Procedurally, players apply supply management skills when deciding how to ration food and clothes, which helps in understanding the importance of maximizing resources while in limiting situations. 

 


2.  Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

 

Publisher: Brøderbund Software

Platform: PC  

Release Date: 1985

 

Description

"It all starts in Brazil. But who knows where it will end up. The infamous Carmen Sandiego is at it again! This time she's run off with a rare and valuable edition of the "Travels of Marco Polo." Worth millions! And this is just one of many historic heists that'll have you hopping the globe. Expand your world geography skills. Ignite your critical thinking and decision-making talents. Match wits with the elusive Carmen Sandiego as you recover the stolen treasures of knowledge! Discover the World in a Thrilling Crime Stopping Chase!" -IGN

 

Game Walk Through

  • Enter name to be identified as returning detective or a brand new detective
  • Details of a new case will be given
  • Travel around cities collecting clues of the whereabouts and looks of the criminal
  • Travel around the world to track down the suspect
  • Go through the dossier to become familiar with Carmen's gang
  • Obtain a warrant by entering information about the suspect into a computer database
  • Look up facts in The World Almanac and Book of Facts to finalize promotions

 

Game Objectives

The player must track down and arrest the members of Carmen Sandiego's gang.

 

Educational Objectives

The primary educational objective of the game is to increase interest in geography.  Upon arrival at each location the player is greeted with a picture of the area featuring some famous attribute of the area and a brief description about the area.  The player will need to learn information about each region in the game to take advantage of clues.  Where in the Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? also teaches time management, as the player must catch the criminal in before a certain time.

 

Motivational Elements     

As a player starts as a rookie detective, he is motivated to catch more criminals to move up the ranks.  Each new promotion requires the player to solve even more cases.  Cut-scenes encourage players by letting them know that they are on the right track as well as make the vileness of Carmen's crew apparent, these criminals must be put behind bars. After arresting several members of Carmen's gang, the player wants to know where in the world Carmen Sandiego is and, moreover, would like nothing better than to finally bring her to justice.

 

Educational Outcomes

 Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? is fairly successful as a tool to teach and, more importantly, encourage further learning in geography.  The pictures of locations spark interest in the cultures and geographical features of the regions.  Players will want to know the geography because they will not want to waste time.  On the subject of time, the importance of time management is made clear to the player as he must account for everything from travel times to sleeping. 

 

The process of obtaining a warrant and earning higher ranks as a detective help make the game fun, but also confuses the educational outcomes of the game.  Players may become interested in the criminal investigation side of the game seeing as catching crooks is the main goal of the game.  A player learning about criminal investigation does not mean that he cannot also learn about geography, but does lower the effectiveness of the game in inciting further study in geography.  Some players will still want to know more about the places they visited in the game, but other players will associate the fun of the game with criminal investigation.

 

 


3.  Sim City

 

Publisher: Maxis Software Inc.  

Platform: DOS   

Release Date: 1994

Version: Simcity (aka Simcity Classic)

 

Description

“The objective of SimCity, as the name of the game suggests, is to build and design a city, without specific goals to achieve (except in the scenarios, see below). The player can mark land as being zoned as commercial, industrial, or residential, add buildings, change the tax rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and many other actions, in order to enhance the city.

Also, the player may face disasters including: flooding, tornadoes, fires (often from air disasters or even shipwrecks), earthquakes and attacks by monsters. In addition, monsters and tornadoes can trigger train crashes by running into passing trains.” – Wikipeida

Simcity was Will Wright’s breakthrough game.  The game not only spawned multiple sequels of the simulated city gameplay, but also led to simulated environment games such as SimTower, SimTown, and the Sims.

 

Game Walkthrough

Simcity’s main gameplay provides a very open ended environment.  Gameplay does not occur in a linear fashion as players are given a blank area of land which they then develop into a city using various tools, such as creating buildings and roads and setting taxes.  The game has no clear ending, as players continue to develop their city until the city is destroyed and they are unable to rebuild. 

Simcity’s scenarios provide more structured gameplay.  Players are placed in the role of Mayor of a real city in either a fictional (Tokyo being attacked by a reptile monster) or historical (the 1906 San Francisco earthquake) situation.  The player’s city is already developed, although parts of the city may need rebuilding.  Although players are free to develop the city as they wish, they are given specific objectives at the start of the game.  Players must reach these objectives within a set amount of time in order to complete the scenario.

 

Game Objectives

Simcity has no clear way to win.  Player’s objective is to create a functioning metropolis through building structures and infrastructure.  Players must maintain a steady income, through revenue from their buildings and setting taxes, which allows them to further their city’s development.  Throughout the gameplay, players also face disasters and other scenarios where they must protect their city and citizens or rebuild destroyed areas.

 

Educational Objectives

The main objective of SimCity is to allow players to gain experience in city development and planning through a simulated environment.  Although much of the game is exaggerated, players learn the importance of effective city planning and money management.

 

Motivational Elements

The main objective in Simcity is to create a successfully functioning city.  Due to game’s open-ended gameplay, players have many options to achieve their objective.  Experiencing identical gameplay is nearly impossible, which allows for great replay value as players explore new methods and techniques to develop a city.  The scenarios provide a more structured gameplay, but continue to allow players to create their own techniques to achieve set objectives.

 

Educational Outcomes

Although Simcity was never marketed as an educational game, the game provided strong educational outcomes through its open-ended gameplay.  Since the gameplay is based on the game’s educational objective to develop a city, the game provides high integration between gameplay and educational content.  Due to its exaggerated events and relatively simple resource management, critics may point out that Simcity does not provide an accurate portrayal of its objective, to develop a city.  However, the game’s educational strength is allowing players to develop conceptual knowledge within a simulated environment.  Players establish an understanding of how their actions and decisions can affect their city’s citizens.  Whether it is building new structures or reallocating funds to the police force, players are able to apply their conceptual experience and obtain feedback based on their citizen’s satisfaction level and the city’s overall wellbeing.  As players are able to create their own cities based on their personal techniques, they may also gain interests in aspects such as city planning and money management.  

 


 

4.  Reader Rabbit


5.  Math Blaster

 

Publisher: Davidson & Associates

Platform: SNES  

Release Date: 1994

Version: Math Blaster: Episode 1

 

Description

The game's story is a simple rescue mission, centering on the efforts of Blasternaut to retrieve Spot from the clutches of the malicious "Trash Alien". The garbage he leaves behind consists primarily of empty containers and bad food, though coil-springs, boots and fish skeletons are also present.” - Wikipedia

 

Game Walk Through

  • Choose varying difficulty levels for action and math problems (@ 0:24)
  • Main action elements through shooting spaceship’s lasers at garbage (@0:47)
  • Shoot lasers at garbage with representative number that answers math problem ship’s screen
  • Must be wary of enemies and their lasers (@0:47)
  • Protect health by avoiding enemy lasers or destroying enemy ships (@0:47)
  • Add to score, which can be seen via the scoring system in the ship’s panel (@0:47)
  • Keep lives intact (@0:47)
  • Shoot power-ups to get more points (@ 1:19)
  • Reach bonus stages which serve as non-educational segments where players shoot meteors without math problems (@2:20)

 

Game Objectives

Players progress through levels by answering a set number of math problems, determined by the “F” bar on the left of the screen.  While searching for the piece of garbage that answers their given problem, players must also be aware of enemies who shoot at their ship.  Players gain points through shooting the correct answers, power-ups, or meteors in the bonus stages.  The difficulty of the gameplay and math problems increases as players reach higher levels.    

 

Educational Objectives   

Math Blaster teaches players mathematical equations through repetition and determining answers that appear on screen.

 

Motivational Elements

Players are motivated to obtain high scores based on the game’s memory of past performances.  Players can also increase difficulty of the math problems and gameplay in order to test their skills.              

 

Educational Outcomes

The glaring criticism of Math Blaster stems from its integration of its educational content with its gameplay.  The game takes a basic gameplay concept, shooting enemies and objects in space, and adds math problems in order to make the game educational.  This means that unlike the top games on the list, Math Blaster’s gameplay and educational content are very distinct. 

 

Math Blaster serves as an interactive method of completing addition and multiplication tables.  Players memorize and apply their math skills in order to differentiate the answers.  Players can practice math problems through memorization and trial and error; however, the game does not help players understand the factual knowledge behind the math problems.  Players gain procedural knowledge by remembering math problems and being analyzed by right and wrong answers through the game’s point system.  The game also provides some motor skills, as players must aim their lasers at moving objects.  While playing the game, players may change their attitude towards math as math problems become more exciting due to the gameplay; however, it is unlikely that the Math Blaster will increase players’ interests in math because the game teaches route memorization. 


6.  Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing


7.  Lemonade Stand

 

Publisher: MECC

Platform: Apple II    

Release Date: 1979

 

Description

From the Lemonade Stand title screen:

“Hi Welcome to Lemonsville, California!

In this small town, you are in charge of running your own lemonade stand.  You can compete with as many other people as you which, but how much profit you make is up to you (the other stands’ sales will not affect your business in any way).  If you make the most money, you’re the winner!!”

Game Walkthrough

  • Game descries the scenario of running a lemonade stand in Lemonsville, CA in order to make the most money possible
  • Game describes player’s decisions of how the number glasses of lemonade, the amount spent on  advertising, and what the price set for lemonade each affect their daily income. 
  • Players start with $2.00
  • The game explains concepts such as expenses, profits, and the relation of sales to advertising and price. 
  • Players are then taken to the gameplay
  • Each day starts with a weather report - sunny, cloudy, or hot and dry – along with a picture to represent the weather
  • Players then set how many glasses of lemonade they wish to make, how many advertisements they want to create, and how much each glass of lemonade will cost. 
  • The game simulates a day based on the player’s decision and gives a daily financial report, which describes income (glasses sold and price per glass), expenses (glasses made and signs made), profit, and total assets. 

Game Objectives

Players aim to make as much money as possible within 30 days.  Players with the highest assets at the end of the 30 days win the game. 

Educational Objectives

Lemonade Stand seeks to teach players about judicious decisions through a business simulation.  The changing weather scenarios force players to change their strategy of supply management, advertising, and pricing. 

Motivational Elements

Lemonade Stand allows players to test different asset allocation strategies in order to maximize profits.  By allowing up to 30 players to play in one game, players are able to compare their strategy to others playing the game.  Players can continue manipulating the number of glasses they make, the amount of money they spend on advertising, and the price they charge for lemonade until they find optimal values of each variable based on each weather scenario.  

Educational Outcomes

Lemonade Stand is successful in achieving its primary educational objective, teaching players about business through making judicious decisions.  The game teaches the basic elements of business strategy such as pricing and advertising.  Players apply and understand conceptual knowledge as they modify their variable numbers each day, and are quickly evaluated through the daily report and the amount of profit they make. 

 

Due to the game’s limited number of variables and scenarios, players can quickly discover the optimal variable amounts based on each scenario.  Unlike later versions of the game, the Apple II version simply provided feedback through financial figures.  Players did not know what they were doing wrong, and were forced to modify their variables through trial and error.  Later versions displayed feedback on customer satisfaction ratings and cumulative figures to give players further analysis on how to change their daily strategies.    


8.  Number Munchers

ROM: http://www.cdosabandonware.com/std_games_details.php?gameid=2159

Playthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeMvJcfBDLM&feature=related

Entertainment

  • Cutscenes @ 104
    • Personality @ 104
  • Quick calculations
  • New enemies @ 138
    • Danger
  • Lives
  • Highscore @ 924
  • Level progression - increasing difficulty @ 25
  • Dynamic board with enemies - constant awareness @ 7:00
    • Strategy with safezones @ 010
  • Different modes @ 06
  • Set difficulty @ 930

9.  Zork

ROM: http://www.cdosabandonware.com/std_games_details.php?gameid=1387

Playthrough:

Entertainment

  • Read and think
  • Narrative

 10.  Windows Solitaire

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSav9W8qfdw

Entertainment

  • Choices to where to place @ 12
  • Think ahead
  • Clicking and dragging
  • Problem solving @ 330

 

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