In this post, we will be exploring how we can learn a lot from video games made for entertainment. Some may think that there is nothing that can be learned from video games of various types, especially video games that have mild to extreme violence. Well I’m here to tell you that this is not the case and in fact educational games use aspects from entertainment video games a lot as well as general education which we will go over. The following topics will be discussed, scaffolding, agency, critical thinking, feedback, and assessment.
Kena : Bridge of Spirits
The game we will use to explore this topic is called Kena : Bridge of spirits (we will reference this as Kena). This game is a semi-open world action story driven RPG game. It takes place in an overgrown forest that has become corrupted. You (Kena) have to collect little creatures called rot’s to help you (a spirit guide) return the forest to how it was originally (without corruption) and guide trapped wandering spirits.
Scaffolding
First, let us talk about the use of scaffolding which extremely common in video games. In the game Kena, the game starts off with easy to beat enemies to more difficult enemies in which you have to use different strategies to beat them. This is obvious use of scaffolding, the game gets harder the more you progress so it starts you off with something simple and builds upon it.
The game also provides just in time information, which is information when you need it but no more than that. This further helps the player progress through the game with minimal frustration. In the game, when a new ability is learned there is
a short description along with a little video of how to use an ability. As the player progresses through the game, the use of player abilities will have to be used in a more precise manner to do significant damage to the enemies, thus making the game more difficult. There are also hints provided if the player if they so choose to seek them through NPC’s but only if the player feels the need for it. These were all examples of techniques used to scaffold the player throughout the game. There is always help, but things become more and more difficult and to the point where the player must demonstrate all the techniques learned throughout the game to win with little to no help. We can see this in education, where there are quizzes throughout the semester until the final test which is usually a summative assessment of what the students have learned throughout the semester.
Agency
Second, we will talk about giving agency. If you are on the PS5 version of the game Kena, there are video guides that can show you solutions on how to get past certain parts. In addition, while you are playing, the video can be pinned to the corner of your screen so you can follow along in real time. As the player, you can choose the amount of help to get. You also control the difficulty level as well as how you decide to play the game. Here are some examples.
Will you choose to do all the side missions, or simply play through the main story. Will you skip cutscenes or watch some or all of it. How will you defeat an enemy? With your bow, your staff, or a combination of both with an added bomb thrown in for extra damage? We can see here that the player has a lot of control as to how to play the game. In terms of education, agency tends to provide more motivation to students. Students feel more involved and feel like they have some sort of control over their learning which in turn can cause a positive outcome for their intrinsic motivation. Since video games give a lot of agency, this may be part of the reason they can be so attractive and keep people engaged in the game.
Critical Thinking
Third we will talk about critical thinking. Puzzles in Kena help foster critical thinking skills. Players must use what they know in order to try to figure out how to solve problems and sometimes the solution requires specific use of different abilities in order to solve it. As a side note, not all the puzzles are required to beat the game, but there are always puzzles that need to be solved to move on. This makes the game challenging enough, but not so hard as to make someone frustrated if they cannot solve certain puzzles. An example of a puzzle (spoilers) in Kena is where you have to shoot four stones with your bow in a certain order to progress.
You do not inherently know the order so you have to look around for clues. Each stone has a different tone to them when you shoot them. You figure out that when you put on your mask you can hear four different tones being played that are constantly changing. The thing is that every time you attempt to match the tone of the stone to the sound you hear or take too long to shoot one, the stones randomize their tone and change. So in turn you must figure out why this is happening and if there is something else missing to the puzzle. I won’t give away the solution but this is just a simple example of a puzzle in the game that uses only two abilities that have to be used together in a certain way to solve a puzzle.
Feedback and Assessment
Fourth is feedback and assessment. You get instant feedback in the game to assess if something is going well. In Kena, if you get hurt your health lowers, you hear an audio cue, you see the character in pain or fall down, you feel the controller vibrate. When you beat a part of the game, like clearing corruption, you get a clear indication that you helped cleanse the forest because colors turn from black and red to a lush and vibrant green color with no dead plants in sight. These are all examples of instant feedback you get from playing the game. There is no waiting for someone to check if you are not doing so well or are doing great. By seeing how much health is left in an enemy you can assess how you did. For example, if you died and left the enemy at half health and the next time you left the enemy at 75 percent health you are not doing so well, but if the next time you leave the boss at 10 percent health you are doing better and you can try and analyze what is working and what is not working each time you try.
In education, you get feedback from the instructor on assignments and based on the grade you get as a student, you can assess how well you are doing in order to pass the class. The advantage of video games, is that there is no waiting for feedback and you can use different ways to assess if you are doing well in the game such as the one mentioned earlier.
Conclusion
In conclusion, aspects from video games made for entertainment purposes can be transferred to use in educational games and even educational instructional methods. Some points we covered were use of scaffolding, giving agency, critical thinking skills, feedback, and assessment all of which are very useful in education. What are your thoughts about the subject. Can we truly learn from video games such as Kena: Bridge of spirits? Are there other points you can think of in video games that can be used in an educational setting. Post your comments below.
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Kena Bridge of Spirits and all images shown are copyright Ember Lab, LLC, 2020, all rights reserved. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Ember Lab
Portions of the materials used are trademarks and/or copyrighted works of Epic Games, Inc. All rights reserved by Epic. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Epic.