Systematizing Play

One of the assignments that I gave to my students when I was teaching my grad class was to take a look at what games actually taught them and map a lesson to a game, using the ladder as an analogy or scaffold. So when I saw this post, I was stoked – someone else had the same idea – I’m sure it’s not unique, but it lends validation. Another validating article for this line of thinking came out of Wired – The Science of Play – looking at how the team at Bungie adjusted the gameplay to ensure that things remained fun. I am of the mind that we should do the same thing with lessons – even though it would take an enormous amount of time, if you know you are going to teaching the same course over and over, why not try?