Game-Based Learning : An Exploration
Running around to tag another person, solving clues to find the treasure, pressing multiple keys to kill the bad guys, we all grew up adoring games. In any format, in any method, playing a game was exciting and engaging for every one of us in the world. It is no surprise that a Netflix show based on team games scored over 100 million views. All this is evidence of how games bring us all closer, keep us on edge and give us the extra incentive to push forward.
Game-Based Learning in multiple dimensions aims to do the same.
How do we even learn through games? Aren’t games just for fun? A few other questions, along with these, are the most common insecurities for an adult.
To begin with, the core concept that this technique teaches us is not to be a sore loser and to constantly keep trying to win, and at one point, we just might because it’s obvious that practice makes a human perfect.
Look at it as a simulation, where the player gets to perform tasks with a deadline that pumps adrenaline, a setting where the player can afford to make mistakes in this risk-free setting, and through constant practice and experimentation, the player finally adapts to applying the same behaviorism in a real-life environment. Even computer games that kids play are designed in this pattern.
A simple example of this can be the simulators used by drivers or pilots to toy around with the controls, the steering until they learn how to drive straight on the road or soar steadily in the sky. For a finance major, a virtual-stock trading competition or a Model United Nations for a Political Science student aids them in building skills for their respective job roles in the future. It helps them take risks at liberty and explore all the options available.
As we introduce critically constructed real-time games in a rigid, mundane work or school setting, these tedious tasks vaporize to make space for the newfound refreshing enthusiasm for deadlines and goals. Ideally, these games need not be sudden shocks into the curriculum or a work environment but carefully integrated with the course to ensure that the theories learned are skillfully applied in virtual reality.
We have all loved games and cherished the times when we got to play. Turning work into productive play is one of the best adaptations in the 21st century. Manufacturing better relationships, coordinating teams, and falling in love with work should be the actual points that we score.
