LibGuides: Active Learning Multiplayer Scenario Game-Based Learning: Multiplayer Scenarios

What is Multiplayer Scenario Gaming?

At its most basic level a multiplayer scenario game involves putting a group of players directly into a problem or scenario, often within a simulated physical environment or derivative “world,” while providing a mechanic to allow the players to interact cooperatively to resolve the problem or experience the scenario. These (usually analog) games apply the pedagogy and have the characteristics of experiential learning, active learning, and engaged learning. Multiplayer scenario gaming has been best (so far) represented in the field of education by escape rooms,(aka puzzle hunts), Edu-LARPs, and megagames. However, other games in the broader immersive field include alternate reality games (ARG), immersive theater and transmedia experiences. (See www.argn.com). Each type represents a different nuanced application of role immersion and simulated milieu.

In his book Teaching as the Art of Staging: A Scenario-Based College Pedagogy in Action, Anthony Weston notes that, Students learn actively when they are "doing things and thinking about the things they are doing." And students doing things - engaging dynamic situations, often urgently, in carefully structured and progressive ways - is the very point of staging scenarios (p.5)."

Note that not all of the articles and sites on this page pertain specifically to "multiplayer scenario" games and experiences. These are resources that give justification for employing interactive experiences in general and engaging games in particular.

Live Interactive Narrative Experiences for Education
SITE: In the early days of video games, many games were attempts to create digital versions of real-life activities. Pong, the first commercially successful video game, was based on real-life table tennis.¹ Later on, from the early text-based adventure games to simulations to sports games, video games aspired to try to emulate real life as best as possible. As technology has progressed over time, we now have games that are often indistinguishable from real-life video. However, today we’re seeing a shift from digital games back to real-life, in-person gaming experiences. Real-life gaming experiences like puzzle hunts, paintball/lasertag games, and LARPs (live action role playing) have been around for many years, but generally they have been more for niche audiences. Recently however, we’ve seen real-life games becoming more a part of mainstream society.

Why Active / Immersive Learning?

10 Key Points About Active Learning
Inside Higher Education
The Problem with High School: Neither Interesting nor Useful
Medium: Education

General Bibliography

Carnes, Mark C. "Being There: the Liminal Classroom." The Chronicle Review. 8 Oct. 2004, Available online here: reacting.barnard.edu/node/3048.

Nash, Ron. The Active Classroom: Practical Strategies for Involving Students in the Learning Process. Corwin Press, 2009.

Nygaard, Claus, et al. Simulations, Games and Role Play in University Education. Short Run Press, 2012.

Walsh, Andrew. The Librarians Book on Teaching through Games and Play. Innovative Libraries, 2018.

Gaming in Education Blogs and Podcasts

Ludology
Welcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the how’s and why’s of the world of board games. Rather than news and reviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, as well as discuss game history, game design and game players.
Games in Schools and Libraries
From Gamer Scientist to Scientist Game Designer
John Coveyou of Genius Games joins Kathleen Mercury to talk about his games, how he designs them, and how teachers and libraries can use them in the classroom.

Immersive Gameplay by Evan Torner (Editor); William J. White (Editor)
ISBN: 0786468343
Publication Date: 2012-06-14
This collection of all-new essays approaches the topic of immersion as a product of social and media relations. Examining the premises and aesthetics of live-action and tabletop role-playing games, reality television, social media apps and first-person shooters, the essays take both game rules and the media discourse that games produce as serious objects of study. Scholars of social psychology, sociology, role-playing theory, game studies, and television studies all examine games and game-like environments like reality shows as interdependent sites of social friction and power negotiation. The ten essays articulate the importance of game rules in analyses of media products, and demonstrate methods that allow game rules to be seen in action during the process of play.
Participatory Culture in a Networked Era by Henry Jenkins; Mizuko Ito; Danah Boyd
ISBN: 0745660711
Publication Date: 2015-11-16
In the last two decades, both the conception and the practice of participatory culture have been transformed by the new affordances enabled by digital, networked, and mobile technologies. This exciting new book explores that transformation by bringing together three leading figures in conversation. Jenkins, Ito and boyd examine the ways in which our personal and professional lives are shaped by experiences interacting with and around emerging media. Stressing the social and cultural contexts of participation, the authors describe the process of diversification and mainstreaming that has transformed participatory culture. They advocate a move beyond individualized personal expression and argue for an ethos of "doing it together" in addition to "doing it yourself."

Organizations & Institutions

The Disruptive Learning Media Lab
Coventry University: The Disruptive Media Learning Lab (DMLL), is a cross-university experimental unit comprising of academics, learning technologists, subject librarians, educational developers and researchers. The Lab is based in the heart of Coventry University’s campus in a newly refurbished space on the top floor of the Frederick Lanchester Library, uniquely designed to promote open dialogues, collaborative work and exploratory play for all interested in defining the 21st century university.
Brantford Games Network Lab (BGNL): Changing the World through Games and Play in Brantford, Ontario, Canada
The BGNlab (pronouned "Begin Lab") is the game lab run by Scott Nicholson out of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University - Brantford in Ontario, Canada.
The goal of the Brantford Games Network lab is to create transformative games and play that can change the world.
Transformative games are forms of play with goals and structure designed to change players. The term was coined by Jesse Schell, but these games are also refered to as serious games or games for change.
Tranformative play recognizes that the structure and goals of games are not always needed, as in a museum. Some times, the play activity itself is rich enough to be transformative.
There is a focus in informal learning environments, which refers to spaces outside the classroom where learning takes place, such as libraries, museums, zoos, community centers, and in the home.
The Brantford Games Network lab is directed by Scott Nicholson, who moved to WLU from Syracuse University in 2014. The BGNlab comes out of his Because Play Matters lab at the iSchool at Syracuse Univeristy, which in turn evolved from the Library Game Lab of Syracuse.

This video is not about immersive gaming in education. It is not even about gaming in education. But, it speaks to the main concepts that active, immersive gaming addresses.

Who Am I?

My name is Jared Seay, and I am a research/instruction librarian at the Addlestone Library at the College of Charleston. Generally speaking my raison d’être is the investigation of the intersection of learning and human engagement; specifically as this intersection involves the concept and techniques of games and gaming in education. Other than learning and teaching, games and gaming are my personal passions. I am currently working on completing a grant in which I am creating escape rooms, megagames, and portions of Edu-LARP for use as tools for library instruction and orientation. I welcome any fellow educators to share in the knowledge and practical application of immersive gaming in the cause of active learning.