作者：Ben Betts

近年来，电脑游戏行业飞速成长。社交网络的病毒性本质和移动设备不断提升的性能使得游戏行业超越电影行业。以下是游戏设计给我们带来的3个启示，可以让我们在学习项目中获得更大的收获：

Objectives(from toolkit.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au)

1、确定起点和目标，但不规定实现的路径和方法

做决定是游戏中的基本技能。在任何游戏环境下，玩家都需要做各种决定，这些决定会影响游戏的进程。你应当向左转还是向右转？你是否应当将愤怒的小鸟向那只猪抛出？在游戏中，几乎不会出现特定任务只有单种完成方法的情况。尽管可能存在解决问题的“最佳”方法，但是其他路径也能够通向相同的结果。

我们很少于在线教育中看到这种自主性。我们的学习者面对的只是令人恐惧的“下一步”按钮。这种方法没有给予参与者必要的控制权，他们觉得无法主宰自己的命运。他们只是跟着跑而已。

下次，当你面对此类挑战时，尝试为学习者确定“任务目标”，并告知他们获得成功所需要的资源。剩下来的事情都由他们自己完成。

2、不要衡量页数，衡量经验

我见过的多数在线教育的标志性特征是“页数”或进程指示器。我们很擅长于向学习者呈现此类进程报告，在线教育几乎都这么做。

对我而言，这是错误衡量的经典实例。页数只是进程的幻觉，向学习者呈现的是学习进程的外在动机。学习者相信，如果他们再多点击几次“下一步”按钮，他们就能够完成学习。但是，这样当然算不上真正的学习。

游戏往往选择以经验点数机制来奖励玩家所作出的努力和取得的进展。如果用户快速通过区域，与环境的互动很少，那么他们就不太可能获得经验点数。但是，如果用户花时间尽其所能与该区域互动，甚至多次重复相同的行动，那么他们就会得到更多的经验点数奖励。环境中的每个动作都能够获得点数奖励，有些动作获得的奖励更多。你希望最终获得多少经验完全取决于自己。

3、与人而不是电脑互动

与多数在线教育一样，游戏的持续时间也是有限的。除了部分复杂的战略游戏外，多数游戏的再玩性有限。一旦你完成了游戏，就不会再想玩。让游戏变得“社交化”能够改变这种状况，游戏设计师明白这一点，这就是他们发明多人游戏概念的原因。改善游戏再玩性的最简单方法是将玩家注意力从脚本元素移开，引入与他人一起玩游戏而自然产生的复杂性。

如果我们想要让学习者掌握某项课程，我们就需要让学习更富深度和复杂性，而只有多人学习才能够实现这一点。我曾经见过部分在线教育鼓励反思协作和观点分享。目前有许多工具可以让这种讨论变得更加容易，包括Twitter或Yammer等简单的工具、讨论板等老式工具和合作软件。

总结

重点在于，我们应当意识到，其实让游戏充满吸引力的并不是攻击僵尸、建设文明城市或与敌人战斗。自主性、进展性和社交性才是游戏真正的魔力所在。这些因素是数十年来心理学研究的结果，包括对控制效果、“心流”理论和社交认知领域的研究。

这些都是值得我们学习和执行的概念。你不一定会遇到游戏制作中因使用某种机制而产生的开发障碍。如果执行恰当，这些方法能够帮助用户更加投入到在线学习中，产生足与游戏媲美的吸引力。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2011年7月18日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How to… Learn Lessons from Game Designers

Ben Betts

The Computer Games industry has seen explosive growth in recent years. Energized by the virulent nature of social networks and the increasing capabilities of mobile devices, gaming is bigger than Hollywood. Here are 3 key lessons from game design which we would do well to take heed of for our next learning project:

Lesson 1: Define a start point and an objective, but not the path to be taken.

One of the fundamental skills in gaming is decision making. In any given game environment, the player will be faced with making a series of decisions which will influence their progress through the game. Should you turn left or right? Should you throw this Angry Bird at that pig? And so on. Rarely in games is there a single method of completing a given task; whilst one path might be the ‘best’ course of action, many other paths could result in progress towards the same result.

How often do we see this level of autonomy existing within online learning? Not often I would suggest. Our learners are much more likely to be faced with the dreaded “next” button. This approach fails to give participants the necessary control they require to feel in-charge of their own fate. They are simply along for the ride.

Next time you are faced with this sort of challenge try defining a ‘mission objective’ for your learners and point them in the direction of the resources they will need to succeed. The rest is up to them.

Lesson 2: Stop measuring page numbers; start measuring experience.

One of the staple features of most eLearning I’ve worked through is the ‘page number’ or progress indicator. We’re very good at giving this sort of progress report to a learner working through a given piece of learning – it is rare to see eLearning without it.

For me, this is a classic example of measuring the wrong thing. Listing page numbers merely gives the illusion of progress whilst actually presenting the learner with a motivator extrinsic to the learning process. The learner believes that if they click the ‘next’ button ‘x’ more times, they will have completed the learning. But, of course, idly flicking through pages is rarely the path to a true learning insight.

Games often choose to reward effort and progress with an Experience Points mechanism. If a user passes quickly through an area, incurring very little interaction with the environment, then they are unlikely to accrue much in the way of experience points. However, if a user takes the time to complete an area to the best of their ability, perhaps repeating the same exercise again and again, then they are rewarded with more experience points. Every action possible within the environment is worthy of points; some actions are weighted heavier than others. How you choose to ultimately reward experience is up to you.

Lesson 3: Play with people, not computers.

Like most eLearning, games tend run their course over a limited number of hours. Certain complex strategy based games aside, most games have a limited replayability. Once you’ve done it, you’ve done it. Making a game ‘social’ can change all of this – game designers know this, it’s why they invented the concept of multiplayer. The simplest way to promote replayability within a game is to take the focus away from the scripted elements and to introduce the natural complexity that comes with playing against other people.

If we want to get our learners on the journey towards mastery of a subject, we’re going to need to introduce a depth and complexity to our learning which only other people can bring. Some of the best eLearning I’ve seen has encouraged reflective writing and sharing of insights. There are a number of tools that can facilitate this sort of discussion, from something short and simple like Twitter or Yammer, to something old school like a discussion board, through to collaboration software.

Lessons learnt?

It is important to realise that much of what makes games engaging has very little to do with blowing up zombies, building civilisations or fighting trolls. It is with ideas like autonomy, progression and socialisation that the real ‘secret sauce’ of any game is found. These factors are backed up by decades of psychological research, ranging from studies on the effect of control, to the idea of ‘flow’ or being ‘in-the-zone’, to the field of social cognition.

These are concepts which we can learn from and implement today. You don’t have to incur the development barriers associated with creating games to use the mechanics. Implemented well, these lessons will help you engage your audience in their journey just as well as any game does. (Source: ELN insights)