directing learning

In many first-person shooters games, the environment of the game is structured to help guide the player through the maze of the level. In cases where the scenery opens up (like open street fighting in Left 4 Dead) the direction the bad guys are coming from is often an indicator to the player which direction they should be moving. For those who don’t play, it’s usually toward the bad guys. In the game demo’d in class tonight, Army of 2, the unfinished warehouse walls directed the player toward the path they should take to get through the level. There were extra walled in rooms that allowed the player to explore, potentially picking up amo, weapons and money, but the basic path to navigate the level was provided in the scenery. In this way, many first-person shooter games are designed to allow the player freedom to move within the world, while clearly directing their play and path. However, unless GPS is activated, the player simply ‘reads’ the environment for clues on navigation, having previous experience in first person shooters is often helpful for reading the scenery quicker. So a player who prefers this type game becomes more familiar with the scenery and builds literacy skills that help them read the environment to navigate their way through the levels.


In this way games are directing the learning of a player. Specifically, first person shooter games are signaling to players where to go, and providing clues in the scenery as to the correct path. However, most players read these clues without being conscious of their learning of and use of a specific literacy skill within a specific game genre. As educators we look at learning within in videogames for ways to help us direct classroom learning. How do we create a learning environment where the path from day 1 of school to the last day of school is directed to the students without them realizing the pushes they receive along the way? How does the scenery of a classroom encourage exploration, and reward correct exploration behavior, while still creating the necessary literacy skills to keep the student on the correct path without them even realizing they are learning how to be while learning ?