I’ve been sitting on this draft for a couple weeks, but seeing this article come up in Google Alerts pushed me into sending it out. I tend to not post unless I have a completely formed thought to communicate. This time, no such luck.
It’s no secret that people use software for all kinds of things other than what they’re originally intended to accomplish. Any coder who’s written a system for someone else’s use can tell you at least one tale of a horrific stretch of functionality that pushed a system far outside what it was ever meant to accomplish. Sometimes those attempts result in fantastic things, and other times they explode in new and exciting ways.
MMOs are great in that we get to see and hear firsthand what happens when people use our software for purposes that never occurred to us. It’s even better when that use is amazingly cool, useful in a very practical sense, and something we can help foster.
The third page of the article talks about how researchers at Northwestern University (namely, an enterprising grad student named Yolanda Rankin) began experimenting with using EverQuest II as a way to teach english as a second language. She’s been through one study with some interesting results you can read at the link, and is currently starting on a larger scale study also using our game.
When we were first discussing implementing character voices in the game, people using it this way wasn’t something that was on the radar. I’d call this one of the better unintended uses I’ve heard of, and hopefully it does turn into something fantastic for them.
What’s the amazing revelation here? There really isn’t one, other than to say that it’s exceptionally satisfying to be able to point out some of the more positive and socially redeeming aspects of gaming.
Why stop with ESL? If you ask me, education at all levels would be a lot better off if there were more compelling ways such as this to get people excited about, and keep people interested in, learning. Talk about an industry overdue for a revolution. I can only speak from my own experience with schools from kindergarten to college, but suffice it to say that I walked away feeling that the approved, traditional methods were something short of the most compelling way to spend sixteen years.
Here’s to hoping that this is one envelope that continues to get pushed in all the right directions.
srand said
October 18 2007 @ 9:22 pm
“Any coder who’s written a system for someone else’s use can tell you at least one tale of a horrific stretch of functionality that pushed a system far outside what it was ever meant to accomplish.”
On AC1, one of my designers mutilated the simple quest scripting behaviors to implement an entire fishing system. I still shudder every time I see a blue cube.
“Why stop with ESL?”
And there are some available niches even without changing game design. For example, look at all the statistics and math that goes into theorycrafting and armchair balancing. And you can learn a lot about the scientific method by designing tests to calculate miss rates …
Cuppycake said
October 18 2007 @ 11:22 pm
Honestly, things like this are what have grown me to be almost as interested in the virtual-worldy web industry as I am with the hardcore MMO gamer segment of the population. Also, the educational opportunities that games and worlds present has been totally magnified in my experience so far with Metaplace. The number of universities and private parties who are looking to become involved in virtual education is astronomical.
Vargen said
October 19 2007 @ 10:35 am
The potential for using these games in education is vast. The problem however is twofold: it’s expensive to build something like this (that’s why we’re excited about Metaplace) and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of overlap in people who know good game design and people who know education. And that’s forgetting the problem of selling something like this to The Powers That Be™. ESL is an excellent place to start because commercial games are already well suited to the subject, but with a bit of customization and scripting there are all kinds of possibilities.
Moorgard said
October 19 2007 @ 8:33 pm
I was thinking MMOs were great for sex ed, but I guess that language stuff works, too.
Online Gaming Radio » EverQuest 2 = English Tutor? said
October 22 2007 @ 12:28 pm
[…] would be one of those days and I’m over looking at Scott’s blog to read about a very interesting use of the game he is the producer for (EverQuest 2 - for those who didn’t […]
Ariel Leroux said
October 22 2007 @ 12:31 pm
I hadn’t thought about that in particular as a viable educational use of the game. Sometimes it’s hard to see things right in front of you, and it’s exciting to hear/read that others are beginning to use the games as unintended for educational purposes. This just adds more clout to gaming as being something other than a waste of valuable time.