Skip to main content

Learning, Reasoning and Modeling in Social Gaming

  • Conference paper
Transactions on Edutainment X

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((TEDUTAIN,volume 7775))

Abstract

In the last two years, the introduction of social gaming - playing video games in the context of social media - has created new possibilities for playing and learning. Social games attract a huge base of players that represents a different demographic than traditional video games. For this reason, it is worth asking whether or not they can be used for educational purposes. This paper examines the comments made on a single article within a wiki devoted to the characteristics of the Facebook-based social game FarmVille. In order to identify whether or not there is any evidence of learning or knowledge-construction around the game, this study explores and analyzes the conversations around the wiki article. Such evidence is reviewed with the goal of identifying the educational potential of social gaming in general, and FarmVille in particular.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. AAAS. Benchmarks for science literacy. Oxford University Press (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Abbott, M.: Portal on the booklist (2010), http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2010/08/portal-booklist.html (accessed January 18, 2011)

  3. Adams, P.C.: Teaching and Learning with SimCity 2000 (March 1998), http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/00221349808978827&magic=crossref----D404A21C5BB053405B1A640AFFD44AE3 (Online; accessed December 13, 2010)

  4. Alexander, L.: GDC Online: Ian Bogost’s Troubling Experiences With Cow Clicker (2010), http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30835/GDC_Online_Ian_Bogosts_Troubling_Experiences_With_Cow_Clicker.php (accessed December 01, 2010)

  5. Appdata. Facebook Application Metrics (2010), http://www.appdata.com/leaderboard/ (accessed December 03, 2010)

  6. Boyd, D.M., Ellison, N.B.: Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(1), 210–230 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Boyd, D.M.: Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications. In: Papacharissi, Z. (ed.) A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites, pp. 39–58. Routledge (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Braga, M.: Networked games like Farmville are attracting huge audiences - and big developers (2010), http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/09/08/f-videogames-social-network-gaming.html#ixzz16KKyKORt (accessed November 24, 2010)

  9. Chick, T.: Why social games suck, and whether they’ll get better (2009), http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/07/why_social_games_suck_and_whet.php (accessed November 23, 2010)

  10. Commonsensemedia. FarmVille on Facebook (2010), http://www.commonsensemedia.org/website-reviews/farmville-facebook (accessed December 01, 2010)

  11. Crawford, C., Peabody, S., Loper, D.: The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford (Electronic Version) (2003), http://library.vancouver.wsu.edu/sites/library.vancouver.wsu.edu/files/ACGD.pdf (accessed January 12, 2011)

  12. Dunbar, K., Blanchette, I.: The in vivo/in vitro approach to cognition: the case of analogy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 5(8), 334–339 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. FarmViller. Talk: Unreleased items (2010), http://www.farmviller.com/index.php?title=Talk:Unreleased_items (accessed December 03, 2010)

  14. FAS. R&D Challenges for Games In Learning (2006), http://www.fas.org/gamesummit/Resources/R&D_Challenges.pdf (accessed January 17, 2011)

  15. Gaber, J.: Simulating Planning: SimCity as a Pedagogical Tool. Journal of Planning Education and Research 27(2), 113–121 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Gardner, J.: Futurology: FarmVille on Facebook (2009), http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23749479-futurology-farmville-on-facebook.do (accessed November 23, 2010)

  17. Gee, J.P.: Learning by design: Games as learning machines. E-Learning and Digital Media 2(1), 5–16 (2005)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. Gee, J.P.: What would a state of the art instructional video game look like. Innovate, Journal of Online Education 1(6) (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Gee, J.P.: Learning in games. In: Salen, K. (ed.) The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, the john d edn., vol. 42, pp. 21–40. The MIT Press, Cambridge (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Goad, L.: FrontierVille creator Brian Reynolds rolls his eyes at critics (2010), http://blog.games.com/2010/10/20/frontierville-creator-brian-reynolds-rolls-his-eyes-at-critics/ (accessed October 24, 2010)

  21. Goodfellow, T.S.: Social Games: The Industry’s New Wild West (2009), http://www.crispygamer.com/features/2009-07-20/social-games-the-industrys-new-wild-west.aspx (accessed November 23, 2010)

  22. Kirriemuir, J.: Video gaming, education and digital learning technologies: Relevance and opportunities. DLib Magazine 8(2) (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mbalog. How to Use Farmville on Facebook to Teach Math (2010), http://www.ehow.com/how_5803268_use-farmville-facebook-teach-math.html (accessed December 01, 2010)

  24. Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 21st Century Student Outcomes (2009), http://www.p21.org/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf (accessed December 12, 2010)

  25. Poling, N.: 21st Century Skills in Starcraft (2010), http://www.honors.ufl.edu/courses/coursesfall10.html (accessed December 01, 2010)

  26. Russel, L.: Math Skills with FaceBook’s FarmVille Video Game (2009), http://www.suite101.com/content/math-skills-with-facebooks-farmville-video-game-a137313 (accessed December 01, 2010)

  27. Schell, J.: The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses, 1st edn. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Constance, A.: Steinkuehler and Sean Duncan. Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds. Journal of Science Education and Technology 17(6), 530–543 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Squire, K., Durga, S.: Productive gaming: The case for historiographic game play. In: Ferdig, R. (ed.) Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, pp. 1124–1141. Information Science Reference, Hershey (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Snow, S.: FarmVille vs. Real Farms (2010), http://mashable.com/2010/09/10/farmville-vs-real-farms-infographic/ (accessed October 16, 2010)

  31. Squire, K.: Replaying History: Learning World History through playing Civilization III. PhD thesis, Indiana University (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Steinkuehler, C.A.: Games as a Highly Visible Medium for the Study of Distributed, Situated Cognition. In: Barab, S.A., Hay, K.E., Songer, N.B., Hickey, D.T. (eds.) Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, vol. 54, pp. 1048–1049. Erlbaum, Mahwah (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Steinkuehler, C.A., Williams, D.: Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as “Third Places”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11(4), 885–909 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Steinkuehler, C.A., Williams, C.C.: Math as Narrative in WoW Forum Discussions. International Journal of Learning and Media 1(3) (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Wikia.com. Orchard (2010), http://farmville.wikia.com/wiki/Orchard (accessed December 16, 2010)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Söbke, H., Corredor, J.A., Kornadt, O. (2013). Learning, Reasoning and Modeling in Social Gaming. In: Pan, Z., Cheok, A.D., Müller, W., Iurgel, I., Petta, P., Urban, B. (eds) Transactions on Edutainment X. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7775. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37919-2_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37919-2_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37918-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37919-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics