[quoting Draper, 22 Jan 97] If games and enjoyment are the key to learning, why did Clark not express his ideas in this form, but write an essay? Some different possible answers:
(1) Deep down he don't believe it...
(2) He does believe it, but it's expensive to write...
(3) Actually by the end of the paper it almost sounded as if games meant a repetitive activity, and would be good for skill training and perhaps repeated drills like math problem solving, but would never be the medium for conveying new concepts...
Which of these do you pick, Clark?
None of the above, of course. The point is that learning requires activity and reflection. Games are for activity, and I have explicitly not addressed how reflection can be facilitated (other than a couple of pointers). It's a very interesting topic, and I believe even more difficult than emotion and motivation (Lloyd, what's the scope of ITForum to host a panel rather than a keynote? Could we get a panel discussion on it?). Myst succeeded in generating it. I've heard multimedia industry people say there was only room for one Myst, but I think there's lots to be done in exploring how reflection might be supported in the game environment. But that's not my purpose here.
This is a forum for those engaged in designing learning environments. So, we're already engaged in the activity, this is a forum for reflection. That's not a role for games I've been arguing for. Which doesn't lead to a game I could design (I'll ignore the easy answers: saying that the medium we use doesn't support it, or pleading for funds.) That doesn't mean there couldn't be a game to teach game design (an interesting exercise), it just means that it's not appropriate for our goals here.
However, I very much want to argue against the view (and I'm terribly sorry it could be inferred from my paper) that I think this is only for drill and practice. I do mean skill training, but I'm particularly interested in high-level skills like design. If you visit the Quest site (and can live with the download times to at least get a feel for the game), you'll see that the skills addressed are more like the perseverance needed to succeed at living independently, and the chains of relationships that lead from application for funding to actually getting money. This is vastly different than math drills, I'll argue.