MODELLING AN EDUCATIONAL ROLE-PLAYING GAME

FOR PRE-TEEN STUDENTS

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1

Overview of the Study

an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skill and sound attitude. It makes an individual
civilized, refined, cultured and educated. For a civilized and socialized society, education is the
only means. Its goal is to make an individual perfect. Every society gives importance to
education because it is a panacea for all evils. It is the key to solve the various problems of life
[8].
Games deliver just-in-time learning and to use data to help players understand how they
are doing, what they need to work on and where to go next. Games create, in certain skills and
areas, a need to know, a need to ask, examine and assimilate. Games also has a state where the
players fail to reach a certain goal a game has, they dont see it as a failure or an obstacle to try
again and again as they slowly reach to goal themselves, which is play. There is something in
play that activates the tenacity and persistence required for effective learning [1].
Learning domains
The definition of e-learning, as mentioned in one book, as instruction delivered on a
digital device such as a computer or mobile device that is intended to support learning. It also
mentioned several forms of e-learning having features such as having lessons stored or
transmitted in a CD or the Internet, uses media elements such as words and pictures to deliver the

content, and uses instructional methods such as examples, practice, and feedback to promote
learning [3].
Learning of age to learning general
The group aims to have students of age 12 to 14 as the primary participants in the study,
as one research study stated electronic games are now an everyday part of childhood and
adolescence, and they made a survey of 1,254 middle school students attending Grades 7 and 8,
where 98% of them were 12 to 14 years of age, and described a variety of motivations for video
game play from them. The same study mentioned that another research surveyed students of
various age groups, ranging from 5th graders to college undergraduates, and saw that samples
from 8th and 11th grade students had more motivation in competition [4].
Out of the three domains of learning, playing video games affects cognitive development.
One research study compiled several studies, mentioning that using computer games favor the
development of complex thinking skills related to problem solving, strategic planning, and selfregulated learning. It also mentioned that video games enable the development of different
learning styles by players adjusting speed and level difficulty [5].
There are many genres a game has: adventure, action, role-playing game(RPG),
maze/puzzle, simulator, strategy, etc. Adventure games are basically about exploring, where
player-character go on a quest, find things and solve puzzles. Action games usually have
multiplayer online play, where your opponents are enemies controlled by real people instead of
by a computer. Role-playing games or RPG are user-dependent because the player is usually
responsible for the development of his/her game characters skill, physical appearance, loyalties
and other characteristics. In a maze game you need to find your way through a physical maze
in which your routes are defined by walls and other barriers. Puzzle games sometimes use
puzzles that are variations of the shell game or that are more indirect problem-solving puzzles

where you must cause a series of things to happen in order to trigger some further action that lets
you advance. Simulator games reproduce a real-world situation as accurately as possible to
immerse the players in the game environment so that the player will have the feeling that he/she
is actually there. And strategy, or computer-based strategy games, determines the best possible
moves and results and then structures the battlefield accordingly, which gave birth to the RealTime Strategy (RTS) genre [9].

The group aims to collect video games that fall under the role-playing genre, as one study
examined the prospect of computer role-playing games, and claimed that those games have
several features useful for educational purposes, such as inquiry learning and reflection. It was
also mentioned that RPGs provide tools for reflection in the form of in-game journals, as
educational games must support reflection during and after learning [6].
HCI
The group will to tackle and study the human-computer interaction of the participants and
the collected games. According to one study, the human-computer interaction for teenagers is
actually in between the Child-Computer Interaction and the general Human-Computer
Interaction, and it is said to be known as Teen-Computer Interaction. It also mentioned that
teenagers exhibit complex behavior and have different personas depending on their situation, and
they are highly motivated to fit with their peer group, as their behavior was likely influenced by
their peers. It concluded that specific consideration is need for different rewards teens perceive as
they participate in such studies [7].
Studies regarding modelling / e learning /age/ domain
Reference study, variable, method, result,
Gap to bridge
Hypothesis/research Q
Scope, Limit

Apps, arcade, pc
Significance
RRL/Studies/Computation/HCI
Methodologies
Step 1
Step 2
Evaluation
REFERENCES
[1] Retrieved March 6, 2015 from http://www.instituteofplay.org/about/context/why-gameslearning/
[2] Retrieved March 6, 2015 from http://www.techopedia.com/definition/1913/gaming
[3] Clark, R., Mayer, R.: e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for
Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning. In John Wiley & Sons, p. 8, July 2011.
[4] Olson, C.: Childrens Motivations for Video Game Play in the Context of Normal
Development. In Review of General Psychology Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 180187, 2010.
[5] Rosas, R., et al.: Beyond Nintendo: design and assessment of educational video games for
first and second grade students. In Computers & Education Vol. 40, pp. 7184, 2003.
[6] Maciuszek, D., Martens, A.: Computer Role-Playing Games as an Educational Game Genre:
Activities and Reflection. In Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Games Based
Learning, pp. 368377, 2011.
[7] Fitton, D., Read, J., & Horton, M.: The Challenge of Working with Teens as Participants in
Interaction Design. In CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp.
205-210, 2013.
[8] Parankimalil, J.: Meaning, Nature and Aims of Education. Retrieved March 8, 2014 from
https://johnparankimalil.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/meaning-nature-and-aims-of-education/

[9] Finney, K.: 3D game programming all in one. 3rd ed. Boston: Thomson/Course Technology,
2013. pp. 1-11. Print.