Game Based Learning: Dogwood Trail

Prompt:

     Coming out of the cave, off to your left, through a small gap on down the ravine from the cave, you see the most marvelous Field of Daisies in sort of a natural meadow within these woods! You can do with a bit of sunshine and openness after the dimness of the cave and you take off that way jogging will you keep an eye to the ground for the twists and turns of your path. You used to use daisies to gauge your love life ("Loves me, Loves me not") but you always felt like such a failure.

Field of Daisies: 

Fun Failure and Better Odds of Success from Reality is Broken  by Jane McGonigal

Failure and Better Odds of Success

• When you are playing a well designed game failure does not disappoint. 
• Failure makes gamers excited, interested, and optimistic to try again.  They were paying attention to the moves they made before and they are likely to recognize where they made a mistake and attempt to fix it in the next round. 
• Failure at well designed games allows the users to develop mental toughness. 

Why Failure Makes Us Happy

• Researchers have identified three factors that demonstrate the emotions of failure
• Heart rate
• Users pump blood faster when they are more emotionally involved. 
• Skin Conductivity
• Researchers noted that people were sweating more which is a known sign of stress. 
• Electrical Activation of the Facial Muscles
• We make different facial expressions when we are experiences different emotions-smiles, scowls, frowns.
• Researchers found that the strongest bursts of positive energy were displayed when gamers made a mistake. 
• Watching their mistake play out and thinking about how to avoid it next time brought emotional reactions of excitement, joy, and interest.
• The animation sequence made failure enjoyable. 
• When game designers create a failure scene that is fun to watch gamers are more at ease with failing.  I have witnessed many people crash cars in games like Grand Theft Auto because they enjoy watching vehicles smash into one another with no repercussions in reality.  
• In the game world, the more users fail the more eager they are to do better. 
• The right kind of failure feedback (such as a fun animation) is a reward; these 'rewards' get users engaged in their activity and make them more optimistic about the odds.  Furthermore, it reinforces the user's sense of control over the game's outcome.

Better Hope of Success

• Winning tends to end the fun. 
• Once you master a level it is mastered.  You can go back and play the level again but you probably know where all the traps are hidden and the best way to complete the mission. 
• There are games, such as Crash Bandicoot, that encourage users to replay levels to look for missed boxes or to beat their score. 
• But in most games, the hope of success is better than success-in other words, failure keeps the fun going. 
• The unnecessary obstacle becomes less of an obstacle over time. 
• Continued play time and practice helps gamers master the challenges that stand between them and their missions.  Over time, they master more challenges and move on to harder ones.  But in the end, they learn how to overcome their obstacles to succeed. 

The Hope of Rock Star Success

• Rock Stardom is something that is out of reach for most gamers.  But games such as rock band allow them to live out their fantasies. 
• You don't reach actual rock stardom, but users enjoy the thrill of playing famous songs and performing with and for friends and family. 
• Rock band provides users with a semi-real life experience.  The microphone has a pitch register to detect whether or not the singer is meeting the right notes at the right time.  The drums are designed like modern electric drums. 
• Even games such as rock band include entertaining failure. 
• When players get behind on a song the song begins to visually crash.  The music slows and sounds worse.  The crowd boos.  If you are bad enough you character will be booed from the stage and will sulk away pouting. 

Review: 

     Failure can be fun... in games at least.  Games designers take the time to make failing at their game seem like a reward.  They include fun animations that stimulate the same physical responses that come when gamers complete an epic win.  Failing at a game encourages users to master the challenges and prevail at their mission. 

      This would be an awesome strategy to include in the classroom but I do not see how I would make this work.  Create a cool video for students that fail a spelling test? In video games, users sometimes fail on purpose, and that is the last attitude I want to encourage in my classroom.