Overall Reflection

I have had a great time playing this game for the last several months. Although I have not beaten the game yet, I am very close and will continue to keep playing until doing so. With more free time coming up, I think that I will be able to finish it pretty quickly. Through playing this game I have been able to discover the many principles in both learning and motivation that games such as this offer. It has changed my perspective on how useful video games can be to the learning process and how beneficial they could be to incorporate into education. Overall, I have had a fun and educational experience.

What have I really learned?

After playing this game for several months, I decided to go back and reevaluate what I have actually learned through my game-play experience. After playing Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, I do not believe that this game involves great learning in the area of core educational subjects such as math, science, etc. however I don't think that this game was really designed with the intentions of doing so. One exception to this is that I do believe for the younger age groups that play this game, there is valuable learning that can take place involving reading. Because this game is a story mode based rpg game, there are many conversations and scenes that take place that introduce and develop the storyline which all involve quite a bit of reading. I think that younger children could increase there reading abilities through games such as this one.

For the older audience of this game however, including myself, I believe the learning and educational content lie elsewhere. I think that the main learning for this age group comes from the experiences the game provides for evaluating and relating to your identity. This game involves you taking on the role of Mario and Luigi, and Bowser, the traditional villain in the Mario & Luigi series. It is interesting to compare how you relate to each of these characters, and take on their identities based on your relationship. Also, I believe that throughout the game, as your identity, and the identity of the characters develops, the way you play each of these characters and relate to them may change.

Incremental Principle

This week , I have discovered another one of Gee's principles that is very evident in my game, the Incremental Principle. This principal involves the idea that learning in the game is ordered in a specific way so that things you learn early on can be generalized and can eventually help you in later more complex situations. I find these ideas present in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Throughout my playing, I have found that I need things that I learned in the very basics in the beginning later in the game. At later times, I must take these basic skills I had learned and adjust them and build on them in order to be successful at later more challenging tasks.

My View on Cheating

There are numerous ways that someone can define the word cheating, especially in relation to video games. Throughout my experience of playing Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story over the past few months I have come to a better idea on what cheating is in my mind. For example, for my game there are numerous sources both in print and online that contain step by step walkthroughs on how to play the game. Although I have not used any of them yet, I feel that it would be okay to use them if I was in a position where I was stuck and could not move on in the game unless I used the walkthrough. I think it is okay to use the walkthrough at this point because without it I might not continue with the game at all. This is an interesting way in which cheating such as through using a walkthrough can actually be beneficial to a game or a players experience with that game. Another method of cheating is cheat codes. From my perspective, I think that it is only okay to use these once one has already beaten the game once. This is also somewhat beneficial because it adds to the replay value of the game and helps to create new experiences from which the player could learn on.

Transfer Principle

Throughout playing my game this week, I have really picked up on the idea of James Gee's Transfer Principle in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. James Gee's Transfer Principle states that "learners are given ample opportunity to practice, and support for, transferring what they have learned earlier to later problems, including problems that require adapting and transforming that earlier learning". I have seen examples of this repeatedly throughout my time spent playing this game. One example is the way in which I battle enemies. In early levels of the game you are taught to fight certain enemies with simple and basic moves. Once a couple levels have passed, these enemies you have become used to fighting no longer exist, and in their place are new enemies with higher difficulty. Every time I encounter a new enemy I find myself thinking about the ways I have succeeded in fighting previous enemies, and analyze and apply these methods to the new enemy. This is an example of the Transfer Principle because I am applying my previous knowledge and adapting and transforming it to conquer new situations and problems.

Tough Battle

This week during my game play I found myself struggling at a particular battle. In order to move on in the game I needed to beat the enemy and succeed in this battle. I tried many times, using different techniques each time, and with each new attempt I got closer and closer to winning. This shows that each time I retried the battle I was learning from my previous mistakes and correcting them in order to improve my techniques the next time. Also, something internally was motivating me to, even though I had failed several times, continue to go back to the same battle and try again, until I finally succeeded.

Customizable Experience

I think one reason that some games are so successful is because they are structured in a way in which the player believes they are in control to some extent of what's happening in the game. In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, one way that the game is able to be customize the player is the way that the character's in the game are rewarded with experience points. In the game, after playing a certain number of battles and earning experience points Mario, Luigi, and Bowser will advance one level. When they advance a level, each of their subcategories of points, such as health, defense, power, special, etc. are given additional points. Next the player is allowed to chose one category to add additional points to, and a random number of additional points is added to that category. Because the player is able to choose which categories to add additional points to every time the character levels up, the characters can become more advanced in certain areas depending on how the player distributes the points. I think this is an important aspect to this game because it really allows the player to feel in control of the game and to stay interested and involved in it.

"Just In Time" Learning

Throughout playing my game this week, I was able to find the concepts of "Just In Time" learning in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. "Just In Time" learning is the idea that you are not taught specific skills or facts until just before you will need them. This is one way to keep learning active. In playing my game, I have noticed that tutorials that teach you specific skills come just before you will need them to solve a puzzle or use in a battle. I find this idea of "Just In Time" learning very helpful and rewarding because I am not bombarded with numerous amounts of facts and information at once and then need to remember them to use later. Instead right after I learn a new move or new skill, I am immediately able to practice that skill and put it into effect. I believe that this is an important concept found in many games that differentiate learning from games from learning in a classroom setting.

Mario or Bowser?

Now that I am beginning to get the hang of the game and advance to higher levels, I have started to be able to transition more between playing as Mario and Luigi and playing as Bowser. In order to move along in the game you have to switch back and forth between the two, each time assuming their identity fully and utilizing their special attacks and skills. I believe that throughout swtiching back and forth between these characters I have begun to learn some things about myself and the identities I am taking on while playing the game. Before starting this game, I had played a few other Mario Bros. games. In all of these that I had played Bowser was the portrayed as the bad guy and the story line ultimately involved defeating bowser in the end. However, for Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story they give the traditional games a twist. Now you are playing as both Mario and Luigi and Bowser, working towards the same goals of saving Mushroom Kingdom. As I play as Boswer more, my feelings and preconceptions about him as a bad guy are starting to be lost as I need to assume his new identity in order to move forward in the game.

Gee Principle

As I have continued to play Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, I have found myself noticing the presence of many of the principles that James Paul Gee talks about in his book What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy. Through my playing of the game this week I have really come to find the ideas of the "Psychosocial Moratorium" Principle. Gee describes this principle as learners being able to take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered. There were several times in throughout my playing in which I decided to shut down my game without saving. I had taken risks since my last save point that I had not liked the outcome of, so by restarting the game I could return to my last save point and not felt any of the effects of the risk I had taken. I believe this is very important principle to learning in video games and how it differs from learning in school. In school people are raised to value success and not take risks if they could lead to failure. In video games however, options such as restarting to return to the last save point allow people to take risks they would normally not take in an environment such as school. By taking these risks you can explore various outcomes and learn from your mistakes.

Motivation

One aspect of motivation that I have found throughout playing Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is the idea of the "Gap Theory" of curiosity. At the beginning of the game, a story line is developed. In this particular game, a disease called the blorbs has infected many of the people in Toad Kingdom. In order to get to the bottom of what/who was causing the sickness a meeting was held at Princess Peach's castle. In the end Mario and Luigi were chosen to investigate/solve the case. The creation of this storyline really brings the player into the game and fills them in on all of the background information they need to know before they start playing the game. This storyline also creates a gap in the players knowledge. I found myself wondering and asking myself questions what/who was causing the spread of the blorbs, how would we go about solving these problems, and wondering what was in store for the rest of the game. This tension and gap in my knowledge has caused me to feel a sense of motivation to find the answers to these questions and more. The game also did a very good job when setting up the storyline and beginning training levels to find a nice medium in between giving the player too much information (where they would be bored) and giving the player not enough information (where they would find it too challenging to continue playing). I think these are key concepts in how this game and other video games connect with the players and keep them coming back to play more.
Another concept of motivation that this game has is flow. By creating this idea of keeping the player in flow, the game captures my full attention and allows me to enjoy the game in its entirety. At the beginning of the game I was taught a few basic skills through tutorials on the early levels. As soon as I had mastered these basic skills, right when I was beginning to feel very comfortable with them, I entered new levels that created new challenges. Through these new challenges I was able to learn more and master more skills. Once again right as I was getting very comfortable with these new skills I was given new challenges again. It is this cycle that kept me in a state of flow and continuously felt a sense of intrinsic motivation to play the game. Through this concept of flow that the game created, I never have felt bored with the game or too challenged to not continue playing.

Finally, I have also experienced the idea of autonomy that I believe has added to my motivation to play the game. There are many points in the game where I am given choices on what to do. This allows me to feel a sense of control and the ability to decide my own destiny. For example, every time that Mario, Luigi, or Bowser gain enough points to level up, I am given a choice of which of several categories to add a certain number of points too. Where I add the points effects things such as their health, power, defense, etc. which all can affect later stages of the game.

My Game Choice

The game I chose to play this semester for EDUC: 222 Video Games and Learning is Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for the Nintendo DS. There are many reasons that led me to choose this game. First, I decided that I would choose a genre of video games that I am not as familiar with as others. In the past, I have usually found myself more interested in the puzzle and strategy type games rather than the action and role-playing games (RPG). I thought that this would be a great opportunity to leave the zone of the games I am comfortable and experienced at playing and choose a game that is a bit different than what I am used to. After narrowing down the category, I did some research and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story seemed to catch my eye. Reading numerous online reviews and talking with friends who had played the game before assured me that I had made a good choice on a game to play.

In playing this game, I hope to learn many things. I believe that one learning principle that I will find embedded in this particular video game is the idea of becoming another person and and bringing out your personal values and goals through your character in the game. I believe that this game is good for teaching about identity because during the game you can change from being Mario & Luigi to being the traditional "bad guy" Boswer. I think that it will be interesting to see how I react to playing as the different characters, throughout the game.