Stretching the concept

A question that you might ask is: how far can you stretch the concept of "serious games?"

Something that qualifies obviously has to have an educational aspect to it, and it has to do that via an entertaining interface. But does it have to be software?

Consider this case:

A nation housing over one-third of the earth's illiterate population, India has always been under immense pressure to improve its education system. Yet their challenge is formidable, for many of the cash-strapped provincial governments the extensive investment in proper classrooms and infrastructure required to support a modern education system is simply not feasible. Furthermore, even those governments capable of stretching their budgets far enough to provide schools and literacy training to their citizens often encounter lackluster results, as they struggle to motivate students to set aside their work and everyday obligations in order to attend classes and devote time to studying materials that have little apparent connection to the rest of their life. As a result, many adults ultimately choose to live their lives without any regular exposure to literacy training.

If we look at the slums of Ahmedabad city, however, we see a very different picture. While formal schooling is still well outside the reach of much of the population, many people do have some form of access to a television. In particular, many of them choose to watch the popular television series Chitrageet, a weekly broadcast of music videos for popular Gujarati film songs. Noticing this, rather than constructing a traditional educational infrastructure focused on dedicated study periods, literacy researchers opted instead to insert pedagogical interventions directly into Chitrageet. Building upon techniques previously used for foreign language subtitling, they are able to modify Chitrageet to deliver same-language synchronized subtitles designed to facilitate literacy at a cost of US$0.0065 per year per person. While initially there were concerns that such a simplistic layering of pedagogical content would simply be ignored by viewers, the results from their study show a significant increase in viewer literacy rates versus a control group over a period of 16 episodes. Interestingly, rather than seeing the pedagogical interventions as detracting from their entertainment experience, 99.5% of respondents (N=704) indicated a preference for the intervention over the non-subtitled version -- as literacy became a tool that could help them better understand the lyrics used in Chitrageet. Additionally, many viewers pro-actively requested further educational materials related to Chitrageet.

What do you think? Does this fit the definition of a serious game? Edit this page and add your thoughts ...

In terms of the TV program being a "game", it may not completely fit the bill. However, in terms of using media in an educational sense, it is. Despite not being interactive in the sense a "game", there is indeed interaction involved. There is active learning among the viewers. Of course probably the proper description of Chitrageet could be Edutainment. However, this is a good example of using a medium that can reach a large group of people and provide educational value. (Sherman)

From Shari:

First of all, I'd like to say that I did not see the excerpted text on the page; what I saw was a large blank space after the dynamic text link, 'case'. So I spent some time reading thru some but not all of the content on that (looong) page (and filled with many text links to other media & info)!! Well anyway, my perusal of the actual page however, brought me to some serendipities that reinforce my thoughts/musings over the duration of this course so far: 1) the way India as a whole was taken as an example and contrasted against the example of one city, Ahmedabad -- demonstrating the differences across the country & population (This brought to mind a CrowdTrust discussion: how OLPC is but 1 solution to a problem and not the only solution to all problems); 2) a mention of the use of SMS (texting) technology by citizens of the Philippines which helped to oust former President Estrada (I had posted a memo in CrowdTrust about this, last month); and 3) the overall importance of literacy in measuring a country/citizenry's technological savvy (I had posted a memo in last week's Mod8's Forum page to this effect, under the topic 'Plans for the Future').

SHARI - I'VE CHANGED THE INDENT TO ITALICS, WHICH SUPPOSEDLY WORKS BETTER WITH INTERNET EXPLORER. SORRY! (John Koetsier)

Secondly, I'm intrigued by the Chitrageet example. I think it is so replicable; music is universal, and so many cultures (in the developing world) rely on it for entertainment. Why not help them help themselves by creating such edutainment from their own local pop songs? I wonder what software the Chitrageet project used -- or whether it was a manual transcription task to get the Gujarati script up on the screen of all those the music videos. The advantage that Chitrageet and Ahmedabad has is... the Bollywood industry. I imagine the sheer size of that industry (film) makes dazzling music video creation ubiquitous all over India. I would like to see if this would work in the Philippines - which is quite the musical & entertainment oriented developing nation, exporting its talent all over the world.

Thirdly, in terms of fit, I would say no. Having read the page on the serious games industry as well as others' posts, I would say it lacks the interactive component inherent to a 'game'. However, with their interest in 'further educational materials related to Chitrageet', I can foresee a literacy TV show with a narrator speaking between splices of a song, with some multiple choice options of correct spelling/wording flashed on the monitor in the curvy script, or the song lyrics with blank spots that get filled in with a different colour after ample number of seconds have passed - although still, this would be strictly visual recognition of words and not the actual practise of writing the script... So perhaps only a pseudo-serious game...

And, as a 'PS' -- Incase I can provide a little trivia for ya / incase you wanted to know the origins (what's the --ology?) of the word 'Chitrageet': 'geet' means 'song' in Gujarati (ancestral connection).

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Agreed.

According to the Mod8 definitions, "A serious game is a software application developed with game technology and game design principles for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment" and, "'used for non-entertainment purposes including education, corporate and military training, and health care' (2007). In this way games that have as their central purpose to teach or if they are developed for professional or corporate use are also incorporated into the definition. Furthermore, an understanding of serious games can also be applied to recreational games that are adapted for practical purposes. For example when a history teacher uses Civilization in the classroom, or when consumers use Konami's Dance Dance Revolution as a form of exercise games can therefore become much more than entertainment (Scanlon, 2007)"

So in the case of Chitrageet, is the software application developed with game technology? no. Is the software application developed with game design principles for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment? maybe. Is it used for non-entertainment purposes including education training? yes. Is it a recreational game adapted for practical purpose? no. (depends how much you consider culture a 'game')

To the extent that we are willing to consider elements of the acculturative process 'entertainment', and 'educational', it can be argued that the Chitrageet subtitles project is in fact a serious game. Music can certainly be considered entertaining, but insofar as the 'course developers' are concerned, entertainment is incidental to the purpose of their choice of course delivery vehicle. But, I too would put Chitrageet into the realm of Edutainment.

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From Paul: Yes, I'd agree that this is edutainment. It brings to mind Sesame Street! I was googling and came across this Japanese article (sorry about the 'mangled' English!) about software for women on the mighty Nintendo DS. I'll have to see what other 'serious games' software there is for the DS. Does 'Cooking Mama' count as serious games software? It is a simulation, of sorts! Nintendo's definitely trying to tap into the serious software market.

From Ada: No, the process of adding subtitles to Chitrageet does not seem to be a 'game' to me, but that all depends on what we consider a game like the first reply mentioned. I mean, is there potential interaction between viewer and content? Because games to me involve 2-way interaction between user and content but in this case, is it not the viewer being the sole respondent watching the subtitles? On the topic of what is considered serious game. I begin to question whether not all games can potentially be considered a serious game. If we probe deeper into the developing companies, none of them really developed the games for the sole purpose of entertainment; the purpose for development is to earn a profit. The development of games is a business and whether or not the individual games have an educational purpose just depends on what the game developers and their marketing team choose to target. And potentially, anybody can play any game and justify that he/she didn't play it for the sole purpose of entertainment--just ask a student trying to convince a parent for more computer time! I mean, isn't that the reason why the term 'Edutainment' came to live, when people began to discover there were benefits to gaming besides entertainment? To be even more specific, I totally consider Dance Dance Revolution as a serious game! I used to play that and my biggest purpose was not entertainment: I wanted to burn calories and have more rhythm when I danced! Hahaha! Seriously. (Sorry for the pun.)

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From Sherman: This is response to Paul. I believe that Nintendo is indeed trying to go for the Edutainment market. With the introduction of the Wii, it has given a new dimension to the idea of learning by doing. Especially since you can create your own "Mii" which is a animated version of yourself. You can choose how you look like, similiar (but not as advanced) as Second Life. There is a game called Trauma Center: Second Opinion. You actually use the wireless Wii remote to emulate an operation! How fun and educational??? There is something called Big Brain Academy as well that tests your "skills" in all sorts of brain teasers. Not a formal way of learning (hmmm... a precursor to M10?), but it does challenge the mind! This is only a sampling of the type of software that is available on the Wii. With many more titles being developed, the learning possibilities are intriguing.

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From Mike: Edutainment or educational? I myself like the edutainment. We use DDR as a family on rainy days when the kids have not had the opportunity to go outside and run around. I use it as a way to burn calories (like Ada), and as a way to give this boy some more dance moves when at school dances. The kids love it when I get out on the floor and bust a move (they end up busting a gut laughing at me - but I don't care). I myself like some of the serious games on Facebook: Scrabble, Mastermind, and my favourite Where in the World (Traveller IQ Challenge). I am still not sure how Sherman got so high of a score - impressive to say. Yes I waste time playing these games, but I can justify the time spent because they are edutaining (is that a word) me.

From Ada: Mike, tell me about Sherman's high score on Traveller's IQ!!! I've been trying to beat it and brushing up on my geography too! But it's impossible to beat! So I guess that's a serious game for me too.

From Shari: Oh my -- ! Facebook has Scrabble?! I loved that game as a kid. I think I'm going to have to register (finally) and check this out ...

From Barb: Hooray for the digital edutainment market! I often wonder if my 16 year old son would be so engrossed and enamoured with world history had he not been such an avid gamer of Civilization III, Age of Empires etc. Even his teachers have been impressed with his analytic and comprehensive knowledge of politics, wars and historical leaders. However, I think gaming does not appeal to all students. My other son, who is 15 years old, does not find much entertainment in a digital game (although does equally well in his history courses too). He prefers the interaction with his peers and the one-on-one with a computer is something that he does not take pleasure in. Like other aspects of technology in education, it may not hold the same value for all. I also wonder if my "gaming" son would be as interested in a serious game "assigned" by a teacher!?

As a post-secondary teacher, I think games that can engage students and interact to gain new knowledge is a worthy venture indeed.

From Shari: I agree, I think a serious game "assigned" by a teacher is somewhat disjointed, at least in K-12 -- as games are for fun, and school isn't always seen or explained as being that way. For adult learners like us, perhaps being introduced to a serious game in a formal learning environment is OK, because we might never know about it otherwise (or maybe some of would come across them?). What I'm interested in is how kids come to know about all these cool serious games that get them ahead in school (Civilization III, Age of Empires, all of which I have NEVER heard of before - pardon moi!). It comes back to access to a good thing. I think an introduction to a new edutainment resource that has really high ratings in both the 'kids really like it' & 'highly educating' categories) doesn't hurt -- but the problem I think would be equal access (what peripherals would the kids need to play/use this at home?)

From Tracey: The above conversations definitely ring true for myself. The idea of having a game "assigned" by a teacher isn't quite the same as the students going online either at school or at home to "game" with their own preferences. It seems that anytime I think I have found a great online game and introduce it to my class - it just doesn't seem to quite capture their attention. Hence, once again the division of what they are keyed into and what I as an adult think may catch their attention. It's interesting what Barb mentioned about her two sons both successful in their subjects but having a different way of learning. In our school there is the constant debate about games on the computer and whether they have educational value. I am constantly defending the idea that games do have educational value but there are those teacher who still struggle with that concept!!

From Paul: Ok, I'm not sure what to make of this! The Magic School. On one hand it looks really cool for young kids to have their digital image put into an early years classroom to interact with typical Foundation Stage (Kindergarten) activities. That's a simulation of the school experience. On the other hand, what's the point of using the computer when they should be doing it for real! Is this a case of a solution looking for a problem that doesn't really exist? What do you think?

Here's something else that I'm not sure where it fits. The Three Little Cowboy Builders. Does this qualify as a 'serious game'? It's an interactive 3D pop up book that students can adapt and use to create their own pop up books.

From Julie: I remember in the late 70's early 80's my french teacher would play popular french tunes and give us fill in the blank worksheets. We had to listen then fill in the missing words and then submit them for a mark. I hated it. I was terrible. I wish we had Chitrageet.

Is Chitrageet a serious game? I am not an expert but what ever helps people learn is OK with me. Games have always been used in formal teaching as a way to learn. Spelling bees have been around forever. We always had a game in public school K-6. Sports is a great way to learn teamwork and cooperation to achieve a goal.

(Note: you may wish to read through this page on the serious games industry before commenting.)

Summary and discussion evaluation

The consensus appears to be that Chitrageet is not a serious game because there is no two-way interaction between the content and the viewer. Rather, it's a related but different thing we might choose to call "edutainment." This really serves to illuminate an excellent distinction between the two.

But the Nintendo Wii and games like Dance Dance Revolution can certainly be serious games. Several people wonder how we can introduce "fun" into the classroom ... which seems to be a sad commentary on schools!

Excellent discussion, and I really appreciate the clarity.