How Video Games Teach Users To Play: Matthew Valia For many, the experience of purchasing a new video game or receiving one as a gift is an exciting one. Most games worth playing have much anticipated release dates that are often delayed as software developers tweak their code in an effort to make games perfect. Gamers read magazines, search websites and even place pre-purchase deposits at their local game stores to make sure they get a copy when games are released on that special Tuesday. When the day finally comes, gamers rush home, take a day off work or school and dive into an immersive world of entertaining play. Once the game is loaded and a player’s character or file is created, the gamer, whether or not they want to, must embark on the same journey—the learning stage, where the game teaches its player how to play. Today’s complex, three dimensional, high-definition commercial video games must teach users about the controls, maps, characters, storyline, history and outline goals and missions. The genre and intricacy of the game should determine the complexity of the learning stage, but should include solid teaching methods to ensure even the most novice user will be able to move on to more advanced levels and ensure growth in an industry that sold $7.4 billion in games and consoles in 2006 according to the Washington D.C. based Entertainment Software Association. But what methods do game designers employ when designing these “learning stages” of video games? Do designers haphazardly place objects, characters and instructions to teach gamers how to play or is there evidence of instructional design based on the theoretical research of the learning sciences? How have learning stages changed as advancing technologies have made graphics and storylines more complex? Can the suggestions of the theoretical history of the learning sciences make learning stages of video games more effective? To answer these questions, I will explore the learning stages of one video game franchise, The Legend of Zelda, produced by Japanese video-game company Nintendo. With titles on all of Nintendo’s seven gaming consoles, the franchise consists of 14 games dating back to its first release, The Legend of Zelda in 1986 to the latest title, The Phantom Hourglass in 2007. The franchise has sold 52 million copies according to a July 2007 press release on Nintendo’s website making it the 8th bestselling video game series of all time. Each of the 14 titles revolves around the traditional “save the princess” and “defeat the forces of evil and darkness” motif set in a fantasy world of monsters and spirits. Each game involves the same protagonist, a legendary male hero named Link who must rescue the princess Zelda. Dressed in a green hat and tunic, Link discovers as a boy that he is the chosen one; he collects items and powers and explores dungeons and defeats enemies all leading up to a final confrontation with the main antagonist who captured the princess and sank the land into darkness. Even though each title exploits the same characters and storyline, the learning stage of each game has to adapt to the new technology, game platform, and overall game design as many titles shift the perspective of how the user goes through the game. Evaluating the learning stages of the franchise, we will look at six of the 14 titles. The table below details each title, release date, console and new technology which makes it standout in the series. Table one. Titles in the Zelda series studied
Methodology To study the learning stage of each game, I used a miniDV digital camcorder to record game play of the beginning of each game, the portion I define as the learning stage. While the gamer learns new skills throughout the game, the beginning stage is most crucial as the player learns how the game’s controls, maps, items, weapons and enemies work in a new virtual environment. As with any instructional design, capturing a learner’s attention and engagement is vital to ensure educational or gaming learning goals are achieved. With the exception of the third title, A Link to the Past, each game was patched directly into the camcorder to ensure a clear representation of the game play. The only copy of A Link to the Past I had was the version ported to the Nintendo DS, a handheld game that could not be patched into the recorder. The title originally appeared on the SNES, which is not a handheld console. Evidence of learning theory exist in the learning stage After playing the learning stage of each game and watching the video, I searched the video for evidence of learning theories that could have informed the games’ instructional design. I discovered the following theoretical learning phenomena were present:
To study the learning stage of each game, I used a miniDV digital camcorder to record game play of the beginning of each game, the portion I define as the learning stage. While the gamer learns new skills throughout the game, the beginning stage is most crucial as the player learns how the game’s controls, maps, items, weapons and enemies work in a new virtual environment. As with any instructional design, capturing a learner’s attention and engagement is vital to ensure educational or gaming learning goals are achieved. With the exception of the third title, A Link to the Past, each game was patched directly into the camcorder to ensure a clear representation of the game play. The only copy of A Link to the Past I had was the version ported to the Nintendo DS, a handheld game that could not be patched into the recorder. The title originally appeared on the SNES, which is not a handheld console. Learning is strictly behaviorist in the first two titles In the beginning, like many early video games, gamers ventured blindly into an environment with no learning stage. In some games, a character jumped when the gamer pushed the A or B button and in others, he jumped with the push of the up button on the directional pad. Some enemies could be defeated by jumping on an enemy and other times the gamer would lose a point or be defeated if he touched a bad guy. If you jumped down a hole, you could advance to a lower level or simply die when venturing into a chasm. The early gamer had to rely on direct cause-and-effect, trial-and-error approaches to learn how the game worked. Smith and Ragan (2005) stated according to behaviorism, learning has occurred when learners evidence the appropriate response to the appropriate stimulus. The gamer in early video games quickly learn when they are presented with an enemy or pitfall, they must apply the appropriate stimulus –button push to jump or throw an object—to defeat an enemy. Early on, gamers were conditioned to jump over holes, swing a sword, duck and run, when it was appropriate, but only after many pervious failures. Cronjé (2006) in his attempt to construct a model to describe how constructivism and objectivism could be integrated in a learning environment described similar learning environments when no instruction exists. He stated it would seem no learning could take place in such situations. He drew a parallel to anecdotes such as “a driver changing lanes without checking and being honked at” and “a toddler who picks up a bee and gets stung.” In both situations, like early video games, no instruction is present, yet learning happens. The driver will check his mirror before turning and the toddler will learn yellow-and-black-striped insects sting. Gamers also quickly learn that fire will hurt your character if you walk into it if he loses life points or must restart the level. Like other video games in the late 1980s and early 1990’s, the first two Legend of Zelda titles, The Legend of Zelda and The Adventures of Link, have no learning stage and gamers’ learning happens as a response to his environmental stimulus. Video One. Behaviorist learning in the first two titles of the Zelda series
As The Legend of Zelda opens, the gamer moves his character from third-person, top-down perspective. There is an inventory/control bar on the top of the screen and the gamer has to interpret that the B button throws the boomerang and the A button controls the sword. Link also has a life bar with hearts that represent he can take some unknown damage. As he moves to the next screen, Link encounters enemies. The gamer quickly learns that if he touches the monster, he will lose life. If he hits the A button, he can kill the monster. Audio cues are present to let the gamer know he has lost life as he is hit by the monster. A menu bar can be activated by pushing the start button and a description of a triforce exists. The main goal of the game is to collect all the triforce pieces located in eight dungeons. While the menu screen indicates there is a place to put collected triforce pieces, there is nothing to indicate to the main character that this collection process is the goal of the game. Consistent to the behaviorist theme, to find hidden places, the gamer must place a bomb in random places. The placement must be precise or else no secret cavern is revealed. Once inside the secret cave in the video, Link does speak to another character who says “Let’s play a money-making game.” The character must move around to figure out he must move over a picture of a rupee to place his 10 rupee bet. The second game in the clip, The Adventures of Link, offers the gamer the same behaviorist environment with no instructions. Link now wanders around in a side-scrolling game. He moves from a two-dimensional perspective inside a castle to an over world map. Link then becomes a symbol that moves around the map until he touches a monster character which then moves him back into side scrolling action. Link later comes to a town where he can read a sign and talk to people. Here the trial and error task begins again. There is no instruction telling the gamer what button to press to talk to the town’s people or that he has to press up to move inside the house to refill his magic power. The only learning tool the gamer has in these early virtual worlds is the instruction manual that came with the game. Game designers rely on a gamer to have this manual. If it was lost or a game was sold or traded without the manual, the gamer would be back in the behaviorist learning world. Today, a gamer might be able to visit a website to learn how to control a character or get an outline of the storyline. In 1986 however, gamers did not have this luxury. While these games offered little help, a sense of adventure is created by leaving a gamer to fend for his or her self. Bombing around in several different places until a secret is revealed is tedious, yet rewarding when the “you found a secret” sound effect is played and a square black cave is revealed. However, gamers are left wandering for hours of exploration. Items are not conveniently placed where they are needed, a cause for more frustration for the gamer. While these games were less complex than today’s games and did not require advanced teaching strategies, some incorporation of a learning stage would have pushed the gamer in the right direction. Moving toward a constructivist learning stage: The introduction of an authentic, media-rich environment with anchored instruction After The Adventures of Link was released in 1987, gamers would anxiously wait four years before the next Legend of Zelda title would be released. A new gaming console, with more colorful graphics and textures and the ability for designers to incorporate high fidelity sound, meant new possibilities for designers to add to the learning stage of 1991 release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. For the first time in the series, the gamer was immersed in a story. Scrolling text, a soundtrack with realistic sound effects created a mood that framed a tale for the gamer. With the incorporation of a storyline and the appeal to gamers’ senses of sight and sound, a more authentic learning environment was created that could not be afforded to the gamer simply by reading the manual as was the case with the two previous Zelda titles. Brown, Collins and Daguid (1989) state representations cannot easily be (or perhaps not at all) be replaced by descriptions. Most people will agree that a picture of a complex machine in a manual is distinctly different from how the machine actually looks. Two other features in the learning stage of this third title act as pseudo-features of more developed constructivist elements. A Link to the Past introduces the use of an expert who teaches Link how to swing the sword. The omniscient narrator also acts as an expert, giving the gamer the history of the story and also hints about what to do next. Other characters, such as castle guards and Link’s uncle, give detailed instructions about game play elements. This creates a social feel for the gamer. While these elements are undeveloped compared to their use in a true constructivist learning environment, their presence shows the progression toward the constructivist approach and gives the gamer more than the strict behaviorist environment present in the first two titles. Video Two: A move toward constructivism with an authenticated learning environment and traditional apprenticeship models
As video two demonstrates, this Legend of Zelda title strays far from the behaviorist style learning environment. As the game and the learning stage begin, the player is immediately immersed in a narrative. In other, non-Zelda titles, it is common that a player would actually hear the voice of a narrator explain elements of game play and outline the plot of what will take place next. In A Link to the Past, technology in 1991 offered the gamer scrolling text. By immersing the gamer in a story, and forcing them to read every line of text, game designers create an anchor for instruction that gives the gamer something to refer to as they learn other aspects of the game. Ferguson, Bareiss, Birnbaum and Osgood (1992) state telling stories is an effective way to teach aspects of nearly every task and domain. However, to be effectively remembered, a story must be told in a context that enables the hearer to index its functionality in memory. This occurs naturally when stories are told to students while that are attempting to perform the task being taught. By meshing the story narrative with direct instruction followed by game play to reinforce the narrative, developers are able to envelop the gamer seamlessly into the learning stage. While intertwining the story with game play helps advance the learning stage, the most helpful component is the story-as-anchored-instruction technique. The gamer is not thrown into a world without a clue what’s going on. They have a text, a sense of history, purpose, chronology and are given examples of how past heroic characters acted and functioned in the story’s timeline. J.D. Bransford et. al. (1990) explain that anchored instruction begins with a focal event or problem situation that provides an anchor for students’ perceptions and comprehension. Ideally, the anchor will be intrinsically interesting and will enable students to deal with a general goal that involves a variety of related subproblems and subgoals. As the Zelda title in video two begins, so does the anchor. The gamer experiences a cartoonish video and creates a verbal representation in their mind from the scrolling text. The story explains there is a problem of an evil demon Gannon that has captured the princess and is trying to harness the powers of the triforce to sink the land into darkness. After about ten minutes of the text and video anchor, the gamer can begin playing, but is immediately forced to continue reading narrative from the main character’s uncle who helps the gamer transition into the game play. With a sense of setting and a story to guide the gamer teaching him game-play elements along the way, the player can begin to tackle the first mission of the game, finding his uncle and learning how to use his sword. Thanks to anchored instruction via video and narrative, the learning stage has been bolstered, marking an important milestone in the development of this series’ game design. Continuing to build a constructivist learning environment in the learning stages of the Zelda series, A Link to the Past also introduced an apprenticeship model to teach the gamer everything from picking up and throwing a rock to using gamepad buttons in combination to reveal advanced sword-fighting techniques. In A Link to the Past, the apprenticeship mirrors the traditional model of a blacksmith or shoemaker. The gamer watches the expert, the main character’s uncle, slash the sword by pressing the “B” button and swing the sword in a full circle by holding “B” for a few seconds. Like Collins, Brown and Newman (1989) explain, apprenticeship focuses closely on the specific methods of carrying out tasks in a domain. Apprentices learn these methods through a combination of what Lave calls observation, coaching, and practice. In video two above, the evidence of the traditional model exists. As the series develops with further releases through the mid-to-late 1990s, the same traditional model that was established in A Link to the Past becomes a staple. Realizing a more constructivist model: Infusing cognitive apprenticeships, scaffolding, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and social negotiation into the learning stage But it takes more than just a traditional apprenticeship model to build a constructivist learning environment. Other elements needed to be included. With the 2003 release of The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker, Nintendo’s game developers continued to include a richer narrative-based anchor and added elements of cognitive apprenticeships to the learning stage. As game play in the series matured to involve more advanced problem-solving stages and battle scenes, the need to focus on the gamer’s cognitive ability to develop strategies to solve these levels arose. Thus, the cognitive apprenticeship model of training appears in The Windwaker. Like previous titles, the main character has to learn how to use his sword and interact with his environment and he is still trained by an expert. But unlike the previous titles, the expert becomes more of a teacher and the dialogue focuses on the metacognitive process of realizing that you understand and grasp each new skill. Scaffolding is also involved as training is conducted in multiple visits with lessons that become increasingly difficult and complex. The close relationship with the expert also mimics Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development theory as the coupling with the sage brings out a natural progression of new skills. Finally, the dialogue in the Windwaker’s training scenes, along with dialogue with other townspeople, create an arena where the gamer can verbally negotiate the new skills he just learned. Video three: More advanced constructivist strategies evidenced in the learning stage
Picking up where the previous Zelda titles left off, The Windwaker makes use of the apprenticeship training model, but this time because the problems in the game are more complex, a shift toward cognitive apprenticeships is made. Collins, Brown and Newman (1989) state cognitive apprenticeship refers to the learning-through-guided-experience on cognitive and metacognitive, rather than physical, skills and processes. They further state that the relatively transparent relationship, at all stages of production, between process and product facilitate the learner’s recognition and diagnosis of errors. In video three above, the main character learns how to perform a roll attack and later on, how to swing a sword. Unlike previous titles, the dialogue of the expert reflects his understanding that he must make sure his apprentice understands the skills being taught and tells him to only proceed if that understanding is met. Otherwise, the apprentice must continue to practice before he moves on to the next part in the training. This focus on understanding is a metacognitive technique to help the learner realize whether or not the concept has been internalized. At the end of video three the expert explains he sees potential in the main character’s skills, but he must learn more before he receives his sword. Along with cognitive apprenticeships in the learning stage of The Windwaker, designers also use scaffolding to gradually build up the skills of the gamer. Quintana et. al. (2004) state scaffolding has been traditionally defined as the process by which a teacher or more knowledgeable peer provides assistance that enables learners to succeed in problems that would otherwise be too difficult. By breaking the swordsmanship exercises into smaller lessons that progress with increased difficulty, the gamer, as evidenced in video three, develops his skills over time and eventually is able to fight difficult opponents and solve sophisticated puzzles. This apprenticeship situation of the game also has parallels in developmental psychology of education. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as Davydov (1995) explains, what a child is initially able to do only together with adults and peers, and then can do independently, lies exactly in the zone of proximal development. Both scholars and practitioners are now using this concept more and more often in the sphere of education. In this game, the software developers use Vygotsky’s ideas as well. Incidentally, the main character in the learning stage of the game is a young boy who needs to learn skills to save his sister. Vygotsky also stressed, according to Davydov (1995) the need to pay attention to how a child interacts with dynamic social surroundings with other adults and other children. Throughout the Windwaker, the main character speaks with dozens of children and adults in towns, his relatives, shop keepers and magicians. The dialogue is interactive and the gamer can choose answers to the other character’s questions which lead to different verbal outcomes. Characters are also strategically placed around areas where a gamer must learn a new skill or possess an inventory item in order to move on in the game. While there is no social interaction with other humans playing the game along with the gamer, a level of social negation with characters with some artificial intelligence is evident and helps the gamer learn how to play the game. The newest constructivist learning strategies in the most recent title: The use of microworlds in The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess In the latest release in the Zelda series, a new interactive gaming console with a motion-sensing input device creates new opportunities for the learning stage of the franchise. The latest console title, The Twilight Princess for the Nintendo Wii, allows the user to swing a sword, aim and fire a slingshot or bow and arrow, move blocks, ride horses, and maneuver through the game using a wireless, motion-sensing remote. While this offers a novel game-playing experience, the challenge of teaching the gamer to use the remote is another concept that must be taught in the learning stage of the game. To train the user how to use the remote and other new concepts such as horseback riding, the game uses the constructivist method of microworlds suggested by Driscoll (2005). Driscoll, quoting Papert (1981), explains microworlds are small but complete subsets of real environments that promote discovery and exploration. They embody the simplest working model of a domain or system, and they offer a point of entry that matches the learner’s cognitive state. In the beginning of The Twilight Princess, the main character must learn to ride a horse that will be his mode of transportation throughout the rest of the game. To teach the gamer how to use the horse and the new controls, the learning stage of the game incorporates a goat herding microworld game in the first town the character visits. Video four: The use of microworlds in The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
As illustrated in video four, the gamer must learn to ride a horse. He visits the Orden Ranch and is greeted by a ranch hand who asks him to herd his goats. When the gamer accepts the offer, a shift in action occurs and the game moves the main character into the corral automatically with a fade-out, then fade-in lighting technique. This subtle video gesture creates a feeling of separation and clues the gamer in to the idea that this is a learning game. As the player moves his horse, prompts flash on the screen instructing the gamer to push buttons to make the horse go faster. When a goat enters the barn, a flashing count appears on the screen keeping score of how many goats have been herded. This experience, while slightly separate from the main game play, offers the user a chance to practice skills that will be used later on and are in the simplest form that coincides with the novice gamer’s inexperience with horseback riding in the game. Once completed, transfer should occur to other parts of the game when the character needs to use the horse to surround enemies like he has surrounded the goats. At the end of video four, an additional tutorial is included that shows a second microworld where the gamer must point the remote at the screen in order to send an eagle to pick up a baby’s crib downstream. This microworld acts the same as the previous game and occurs right after the horse training. Together, these games create a scaffolding effect that allows the user to become more comfortable with the Wii’s new input devices. Conclusion: Why a constructivist model makes sense Clearly, a shift in the instructional strategy of the learning stage of the Legend of Zelda series has changed from 1986 to 2006. This change has occurred as a reaction to advancements in gaming technology and sophistication and the development of game design theory. The pure behaviorist learning stages of the first titles have given way to authentic, socially-negotiated, apprenticeship teaching styles to lead a gamer through the introductory learning stage that brings them to a point where they have gained enough cognitive and motor skills to participate successfully without throwing the controller at the TV like many people did in the late 1980’s. Driscoll (2005) states constructivist theory rests on the assumption that knowledge is constructed by learners as they attempt to make sense of their experiences. A constructivist learning stage seems like an applicable model for a game designer to choose as video games are about exploration and making sense of a new, immersive, foreign world. Many educational web and media designers choose video games when they set out to create a constructivist learning environment because it lends a sense of adventure and creation of new ideas through hypermedia designs. With the advent of online gaming over wi-fi networks, not on the computer, but on a video game consoles, the next logical step for the learning stage of the Zelda series would be to allow gamers to move their main characters through a space where they could practice these hypermedia microworld games with other users and truly socially negotiate the skills they learn. Designers could have both a separate space outside the game to practice the real game-world skills they would need, but collaboratively with teams of players. The latest handheld Zelda title for the Nintendo DS offers an online battle mode where users can compete with fellow gamers around the world. However, the game play doesn’t have anything to do with the main mission of the game and no interactive chat occurs. Nintendo could take advantage of Vygotsky’s social learning theories and allow gamers to enter into this in-game, collaborative container. Nintendo has always been a company that innovates its products to incorporate more interactivity as it did with the Wii, a more socially-involved gaming device. Perhaps the next Wii Zelda title will continue to invent new ways to train users how to play the game using constructivist teaching methods. References Bransford, J.D. et al. (1990). Anchored instruction: Why we need it and how technology can help. In D. Brown, J. S, Collins, A., and Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Collins, A., Brown, J.S., & Newman, S.E. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, Cronjé, J. (2006). Paradigms regained: Toward integrating objectivism and constructivism in instructional Davydov, V. V. (1995) The influence of L. S. Vygotsky on education theory, research, and practice (S. Driscoll, M. P. (2005) Psychology of Learning for Instruction. (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. Ferguson, W., Bareiss, R., Birnbaum, L., & Osgood, R. (1992). ASK systems: An approach to the Quintana, C., Reiser, B.J., Davis, E.A. Krajcik, J., Fretz, E., Duncan, R.G., Kyza, E., Edelson, D., & Soloway, Smith, P.L., & Ragan, T.J. (2005). Instructional design (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. |
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