Recently, David was looking for networked games, to reward the students for doing their work effectively. He couldn’t install software directly, so we went looking for web-based “learning games”, and found this list from “mission to learn”.
The hit of the day was the McDonalds Videogame. It’s challenging in its literacy and numeracy demands, as well as the ethical / critical literacy considerations. The goal is to boost company profits by razing rainforest, exploiting workers and corrupting officials.
David came back in saying, “They’re all taking it seriously, i’m worried now.” .. raising the issue :
- that if people do not critique the position they are placed in,
- as players of the game,
- they will gain plenty of enjoyment
- from exploiting workers and decimating rainforests.
The ethical nature of the game is presented in an ironical way, that assumes people will naturally oppose such “evil” practices. This is not always the case.
Teacher Intervention Required!Â
ps: i enjoyed the game, but didn’t learn it as fast as the people in the group. i bankrupted the company within minutes. And yes, you do start bull-dozing rainforest as soon as you realise that’s how to win the game.
Hmm…. A couple of years ago (now, 2009) the UN or UNECO or somebody like that had a free online game where you planned relief missions (airdropping cargo, distributing food and water, etc.) of increasing complexity. I don’t remember what or where or even when…..
My own ethical dilemma is do I share (online with other facilitators) games with copyright restrictions on them? In particular, I’m thinking of some I found on Freeware / Shareware sites that were hosting the games without permission.
Hi Wendell, thanks for your comment ;-]
i wonder if the UN game you refer to was “Food Force”, which is linked from that big list of ethical games on the “mission to learn” site.
Re: copyright.. ah yes, that’s always a tricky one. If they’re still on the web, i’d link to it, but note your concerns. If you’re talking about installing the games on your local machines.. well that’s another level of decision-making isn’t it!
(Yes i did avoid taking a position there didn’t i)
Our policy at PRACE is to do our best to make sure that installed software is legally licensed.. which means all software loading needs to go through Fraser the tech guy.
thanks and kind regards, michael