Official Session Name: (4pm)
Game mechanics used for learning – Douglas Whatley (CEO Breakaway)

Summary:
Really interesting talk – exploring how “game mechanics” themselves can (and should) affect the player.

Ecampus Takeaway:
This session really nailed the idea that the ever-popular “jeopardy trivia game” is just a damned training exercise. It doesn’t involve true “learning,” and isn’t really a game! (Boom!)

Raw Notes: Continue reading

3:00pm- Code of Everand: Designing the Serious Casual MMO (summary)
Code of Everand GuyI thought this talk was excellent.

Essentially, the speaker works for a hip NY group, who usually do real world events. They were approached by UK government agency to develop something about road safety which kids could actually respect. They chose to go for a fantasy video game, and focus on sneaking in the “teaching” under guise of metaphor and fun. Continue reading

Posted in GDC.