First Impressions

I have to admit I'm a little behind on this one. I introduced the character sheets and rules of the game to Katie and Connor last Thursday night. I still think it's definitely worth mentioning their initial reactions.

I explained that each of them was going to get to create a character sheet. I asked which theme they preferred. Katie liked the "Wizard" theme while Connor was excited about the "Modern Military" theme (he especially liked the dog tag on the design). 

Then I went over their character attributes and we plugged in their classes to those slots. I told them that all their attributes start off at level 1 and how they were going to earn experience points with each grade they get in their classes, and with additional extra credit "special missions/quests" that I would give them here at home. 

They were truly excited and ready to get started, even though it was close to bedtime. Katie rushed off and returned only a few minutes later with a folder she selected to keep her character sheet in. Connor on the other hand instantly went to work trying to make up his own extra credit. 

"So what if I do my multiplication tables? Will that get me experience points?", he asked.

"Yes.", I replied, "But it's only extra credit so it would be worth 10 points, not 100."

It took him about two seconds to come up with a reply. "So if I do my 5's I get 10 points? What if I do ALL of them, do I get 100 then?"

Unable to argue with that logic, or the fact that he was making up schoolwork for himself I replied, "Sure. If you do your 1-10 multiplication tables I'll give you 100 experience points."

And off he went on his own spontaneous quest. I knew at that moment that all extra credit would have to be assigned by me in some way, otherwise he would simply pull up any bad "real grade" he got in school by doing lots of multiplication tables at home.

It hadn't been 5 minutes after Connor left before Katie walked in.

"I figured out your code.", she says. 

Since I didn't remember creating any "code" I said, "You figured out my what?"

"Your code. On the character sheet."

And she handed me the character sheet. At the top of the page I had placed some decorative design elements, mainly a line typed in J.R.R. Tolkien's elvish script from "Lord of the Rings". In a little over 5 minutes, for reasons I don't pretend to understand, she had decoded and translated the line back into English.

While I don't think that particular skill will help her in any of her classes it proved that she was definitely excited by the project, and I gave her 10 points in her Language Arts attribute for the effort.

First impressions are one thing, the true question is will it improve their schoolwork and their INTEREST in schoolwork over time?

Next week we'll kick things off officially and see how it goes. 

The Character Sheet

The first piece that I'll be introducing at the Academy is the "Player Character Sheet". This will possibly be the most important new element for the student as it will keep track of their individual achievements, progress and virtual inventory throughout the school year.

But first, lets clarify some terminology moving forward. Since we are treating the students as if they were playing a game throughout the year, let's follow that through when referring to them and the school year. Students, moving forward will be referred to as "players" while the school year will be referenced as the "game". Each game will encapsulate one school year.

By the end of this year I may have everyone speaking with a whole new vocabulary.

Now, back to the character sheets. Character sheets are not a new concept, originally they were used as the representation of players in Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. They kept track of each character's attributes, stats, inventory, and any other special notes needed to define that character in the game.

Each character sheet would list attributes such as, strength, intelligence, wisdom, and dexterity. These attributes were usually measured on a scale of 1-18. One indicated a very low ability, while 18 meant the character was as good as he could get in that specific ability.

This numbers based ability system has since been used in hundreds if not thousands of other games. It is in fact still used today in computer games such as World of Warcraft and virtually any other massively multiplayer online game (MMO) on the market. It's a system that the majority of kids who play games are very familiar with.

To make our "game" as appealing as possible to all our "players" we've given them the option of choosing from three possible playing themes, medieval wizard school, modern military, or futuristic space ranger.

At the Academy, we'll be using the character sheet to track progress through the life of the game. We'll be replacing the standard attributes of strength, intelligence, dexterity and constitution with each of the player's classes for that game.

So, for our two players, Connor selected the "modern military" theme. His attributes are reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies. He also has three "special abilities", art, music, and P.E.

Katie on the other hand selected the "wizard" theme. Her attributes are social studies, ELA (language arts), math, and science. She also has three "special abilities" which are art, dance, and choir.

The fact that Connor has one more class than Katie isn't a concern. They are in different grades, Connor in the 3rd and Katie in the 6th.

Unlike Dungeons & Dragons or World of Warcraft, we are not going to assign random values to each of the player attributes. All of our players will begin at level 1 in each of their attributes.

Being level 1 in everything you do is pretty terrible. So, how do they get better?

That brings up our next term clarification moving forward. In school, the values you get for each test or paper or activity are usually called "grades". At the Academy grades have a negative connotation which we'll get into in a later post. But for now all we need to know is that "grades" will be known as "experience points" from now on.

Players improve or "level up" their attributes by earning "experience points" (xp). The more xp they earn the faster they will advance and the more rewards they will be able to claim.

The great thing about this new system is that it can ride directly on the back of existing school systems. Which brings up yet another term. Homework, quizzes and tests are no fun. Pretty much all kids HATE them, and they hate even the mention of them. Therefore, there will be no homework, quizzes or tests at the Academy of Games. They're gone, thank you, buh-bye.

Now, give a kid a quest, a mission, or better yet, a SECRET mission and you've got his attention, and it helps him or her stay in the mindset of the game. Each of these quests, or missions are a chance for them to earn more xp, which is a chance to further level up their character and earn rewards!

Go into a class and in the middle of the lesson announce that you are giving a pop quiz and you'll get a bunch of groans and moans. Nobody likes pop quizzes. Now, go into the same class and announce in the middle of the class to be on guard that they have just encountered a 'wandering monster' or 'side quest' and I propose that you'll receive a much different reaction. When was the last time you ever had anyone cheer a pop quiz?

Kids, or probably anybody I know for that matter, can't make a connection between getting good grades and advancement. While they are "learning things" throughout each year, existing school systems fail to show true "advancement" that learning brings.

In the Academy, it's a very simple path to follow, grades earn experience, experience gains you levels, and levels gain you ranks. It's a very clear path of advancement.

But we haven't mentioned 'ranks' yet. On each character sheet is their Attribute list, their "total level points" and two tables. The "level table" shows how many experience points are needed before a player can raise their attribute rating by one point or "level up" an attribute. While the "rank table" shows how many levels must be earned before getting promoted to the next rank. The ranks are themed along with the character sheet. So, while Katie begins as a "novice" and is trying to work her way to "Grand Master", Connor, with the modern military theme, begins as a 'private' and is trying to earn his way to the rank of 'Command Sergeant Major'.

We'll break down exactly how this leveling up process is handled in a later post, for now it's just worth emphasizing that there is a very clear path for each player. Each player will see almost immediately how getting good grades, or bad grades effects his ability to level up.

On the character sheet you'll also find a listing of "special items", which I have still to work out the details of but it's worth mentioning that it has a place on the sheet.

And that's pretty much the makeup of our character sheets. It's something that players will use for the whole game. Ultimately, I'd love for the player sheets to be found online, but for our first run we'll be handling them the old fashion way...with pencil and paper.

Welcome to the Academy!

"Stop playing games and do your homework!" 

"Are you just going to sit there all day in front of that computer?"

"That game's going to rot your brain."

These are statements heard almost daily across the country. Games and education, for many, seem to be at opposite ends of the motivational spectrum. While some people may spend dozens upon dozens of hours a week in the virtual world of Azeroth playing World of Warcraft, you typically don't hear of too many kids spending the weekend laboring over their algebra homework.

But what if we could do something to combine games with learning. What if we could make solving a huge algebra problem just as fun and rewarding as slaying a dragon in World of Warcraft? 

Then maybe, just maybe you might hear one of these statements...

"I know it's dinner time but I'd really like to go over my multiplication tables a few more times."

"Maybe I can finish up this English paper on Sunday. I really like how it's coming together."

"A pop quiz. YES!!!"

I mean, are games and schoolwork all that different? Each has activities that you are required to learn before advancing forward. Both have a scoring system. Both have 'levels' through which you advance through. Both even have small repetitive tasks that you perform again and again and again before you can attempt a larger challenge.

It seems games and schoolwork actually have quite a bit in common. 

Lets also examine for a moment what skills are required to create a computer game. There's the obvious computer skills like programming which carries a heavy amount of math and mathematical formulas. Then there's the art, sound effects and music. The writing. The research. In many games there is a fair amount of physics, geometry and trigonometry. And given the right subject matter for the game it may contain, history, government, biology, astronomy or even psychology. 

I don't know about you, but that list starts to sound an awful lot like my middle school and high school days.

In fact, I would go as far to say, given the right game theme, you could learn any subject matter found in our modern middle school or high schools.

Why then are these two things, that have so many similarities, so far apart in the minds of kids today? Why isn't schoolwork fun? 

Maybe the better question is, "Why can't school be more like a game?"      

That's the driving question behind the Academy of Games. 

My name is Todd Cowden and I have nearly a decade of experience in the gaming industry as a creative, as a game designer and as a developer. I've helped build games for companies such as Universal Pictures, LEGO, Microsoft, Post Cereal, Lucasfilm and many others. Creating those games was fun, but the thing I'm proudest of in my life is my two kids Katie and Connor. 

Katie and Connor are both big gamers. They've both been playing games pretty much since they could touch a mouse. And both have learned a lot from playing games. Katie was reading at at least a 2nd grade level when she started kindergarden, mainly from playing Disney's Toon Town massively multiplayer online game. Connor has a better understanding of World History at age 8, than most high school students I know in no small part because of games like Civilization and other real-time-strategy games.

I can, without any hesitation what-so-ever, say that games have helped them with school. But that still doesn't quite make school 'fun' for them. We still have to get onto Connor when it's time to do homework, especially when a controller is in his hands. 

The Academy of Games is a program to make school more like a game. It's handled mainly in the presentation. It rides on top of the existing education system instead of reinventing the entire system. 

As of last week I've rolled out version 1.0 of the Academy's program to both Katie and Connor. 

This blog will follow their progress through the rest of the school year as we apply the Academy's scoring system, advancement system and reward system to Katie and Connor's schoolwork.