Category Archives: IDGBL

TOS for a Typical “Free to Play” Online Mobile Game

You will be aware of the rapidly growing number of “free to play” on-line games, especially targeted at customers using mobile devices. And we frequently see long terms of service popping up on devices when some change in terms occurs, … Continue reading

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Plato AND Play-Dough

I was given an amusing and very appropriate congratulations card when I got news of being awarded my MSc with Distinction in e-Learning from the Moray House School of Education at the University of Edinburgh this weekend. It seemed very … Continue reading

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Hypersonic in Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Having been an enthusiastic user of Flight Simulator for the PC since the early 1990s, its been nearly 10 years since I last used Flight Simulator 2002… I skipped FS2004 (a.k.a “A Century of Flight” or FS9), and did not … Continue reading

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Pottermore – Harry Potter Game Experience

J.K. Rowling has created an on-line experience for fans of the Harry Potter series of books… to accompany a site which is the only on-line source of Harry Potter e-Books… a potentially vast market. The pottermore.com site has been in … Continue reading

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Blackboard Collaborate

The University of Edinburgh has chosen Blackboard Collaborate as its virtual classroom. It provides Adobe Connect style tools with multi-way video and audio teleconferencing, particpants lists and profiles with hand raising and AFK indicators, and text chat with emoticons. A … Continue reading

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World of Warcraft – IDGBL Party – Deadmines – 15-Mar-2012

The Fellowship of IDGBLers met once more on 15th March 2012. This time to take on the challenge of a “Dungeon” available through a portal which takes you into a separate “instance” of the game. I think we had fantastic … Continue reading

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Aion – Entering Another New Land

I tried the free to play Aion MMORPG available for download from http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/. I am on EU server “Anuhart”. I entered as one of the races of Daeva (assigned to me on account creation), and selected the Elyos faction and … Continue reading

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World of Warcraft – IDGBL Party – 14-Mar-2012

The IDGBL Fellowship met again on 14th March 2012 again under the leadership of Coranich and including Agostino, Giacabino and Drinu. Aithun joined late, but caught up with the party in Stormwind Harbour. Once again we travelled far and wide … Continue reading

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Gee Learning Principles and Experience in Various Games

I have begun to more systematically think about how the 36 Learning Principles noted by James Paul Gee (2003) apply in the range of games we have been exploring during the IDGBL course, and in my own studies of space-themed … Continue reading

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World of Warcraft – IDGBL Party – 13-Mar-2012

The Fellowship of mages, human hunters and dwarves who are the IDGBLers met near Northshire Abbey on 13th March 2012 and formed a “party” under the leadership of Coranich. Two in the party had paid-for WoW accounts, the others used … Continue reading

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Game Engagement, Immersion, Flow, Obsession and Addiction – Getting the Right Balance

We hope that we can engage learners in a game-like educational experience to have beneficial learning outcomes. We know that some people can be deeply immersed in a game (Murray, 1998, Chapter 4) and can even experience the time-bending state … Continue reading

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Space-Themed Games – Space Race Blast Off – NASA Multi-player Game on Facebook

NASA have created a web-based “game” to test knowledge of science, maths and technology. It is called “Space Race Blast Off“. NASA Press Release (30-Jan-2012) Facebook App URL: http://apps.facebook.com/spacerace Stand-alone Flash App: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/spacerace/

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Space-Themed Games – Orbiter

Orbiter – Space Flight Simulator is a realistic simulation, using real world physics to provide a fun and educationally informative environment for flying spacecraft near the Earth, Moon, Mars and beyond. It was created by Martin Schweiger at UCL, and … Continue reading

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Space-Themed Games – NASA Moonbase Alpha

Another space-themed game with an educational purpose is “Moonbase Alpha” created for NASA’s Immersive Education programme and provides a game scenario with 20 minutes of play set on a hypothetical lunar outpost in 3D immersive setting. This is a proof … Continue reading

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Space-Themed Games – Entropia Universe

Mindark’s Entropia Universe is a space-themed MMORPG in which a player is transported to Planet Calypso by a shuttle, given a basis settlers suit and not much else. A lot has to be learned in terms of skills, trade and … Continue reading

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Europa Game Study – Mindark Entropia Universe and European Space Agency

In 2009-2010, Mindark’s Entropia Universe MMORPG team worked with the European Space Agency on a project entitled “Online Game Technology for Space Education and System Analysis”. This is a learning environment situated in a simulation of a base on Europa, … Continue reading

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Star Trek On-line – Train in Star Fleet Academy

Try Star Trek On-line in free play mode via http://startrekonline.com/ This game involves fairly standard NPC interaction and enemy shooter style game in the initial stages, switching then to spaceship combat style interludes. The initial mission given is to beam … Continue reading

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MoonWorld – Virtual World for Inquiry and Planetary Geology Field Work

MoonWorld in Second Life – http://moonworld.cet.edu/ – is a space themed virtual field trip style game encouraging the study of rocks and geology. It provides a lunar simulation in a 3D virtual environment and was funded by NASA. The instructional … Continue reading

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Pacman – from Clueless to Useless

I started my game play with Pacman (see Wikipedia article) using a free web-accessible version at http://www.freepacman.org/. This is a record of my experience and observations as I went along: I sit looking at the loading screen, frantically hitting the … Continue reading

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Pacman and Space Invaders

As suggested for the MSc in e-Learning Introduction to Game-Based Learning module, I played Pacman (see Wikipedia article) using a free web-accessible version at http://www.freepacman.org/. I also took a look at another even earlier console style game “Space Invaders” (see … Continue reading

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Game-Based Learning Introduction – Austin Tate

Hello to everyone on the “Introduction to Game-Based learning” (EDIGBL) course. Another blog post introduces me, give a picture and shows my virtual worlds avatar “Ai Austin” for when we meet in places like Second Life. I am a staff … Continue reading

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