{"id":6985,"date":"2014-11-24T03:45:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T11:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=6985"},"modified":"2014-11-19T10:04:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T18:04:03","slug":"deconstructing-learning-games-the-oregon-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/deconstructing-learning-games-the-oregon-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Deconstructing Learning Games: The Oregon Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last<\/a> post I introduced a method for deconstructing learning games to estimate their effectiveness. Now, let\u2019s test this method by using it to analyze a classic learning game that many of us who grew up in the \u201980s and \u201990s will have played: The Oregon Trail.<\/p>\n

The Oregon Trail, first published in 1985, puts players in the role of pioneers from the 1840s making their way from Missouri to Oregon via covered wagon, and encountering many obstacles and dangers along the way.<\/p>\n

In The Oregon Trail, you have a number of resources to manage and decisions to make. How much food do you buy? Clothes? Spare parts for your wagon? How fast is your traveling pace, and are rations limited or eaten generously? Do you try to ford the river yourself or hire a ferry? These decisions affect the long-term health of your party members and their ability to cope with difficulties that occur along the way. There are also mini-games on hunting and river rafting that introduce a few extra challenges. It\u2019s really a rather tough experience; getting your party to Oregon fully intact is a feat that takes planning, careful resource management, and quite a bit of luck.<\/p>\n

While playing, three learning goals seem to emerge.<\/p>\n

1. Understanding the sheer amount of difficulty that traveling the Oregon Trail entailed.
\n2. The names of different towns, forts, and rivers that existed on the trail back in the 19th century.
\n3. Facts about the history of the trail itself.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve played the game and remember nothing about the geography or history of the trail but a lot about the toll of dysentery, it may strike you that the first learning goal is the most strongly represented, but let\u2019s see if we can figure out why.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my analysis of the original Oregon Trail.<\/p>\n

Note: For simplicity\u2019s sake, I combined the core mechanics (verbs) of buying, selling, and trading into \u2018resource management.\u2019 \u2018Decision-making\u2019 includes game choices that players make when they select an option from a list, like \u201cford the river or hire a ferry.\u201d Other than that, hopefully the rest of the items feel straightforward and clear.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"OregonTrail_2\"<\/a>
\nFrom this analysis, it seems apparent that the first learning goal is the one best represented. Most of the mechanics strongly contribute towards experiencing that sense of difficulty. The other learning goals are less well-represented, both in the quantity and quality of connections.<\/p>\n

Why did I give traveling and reading \u201cweaker\u201d connections? First, I don\u2019t think traveling or reading are strong verbs to engage in, since they are mostly passive forms of activity. Second, those learning goals are themselves not that strong. Are specific names and facts as important as an understanding of a pioneer\u2019s difficulties? For me, the answer is no. Understanding what pioneers went through immerses me in the history and gets me asking deeper questions. Why did these pioneers choose to subject themselves to such an arduous endeavor? Did they start off as uneducated as me about the realities of the trail? Could a lot of tragedy have been avoided somehow?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note how the kind of core mechanic affects the sort of learning it produces. Some mechanics, like the decision-making found in The Oregon Trail, produce learning in an experiential way that fosters deep understanding. Others, like reading, produce a passive kind of learning and usually only a surface-level understanding. This poses an interesting question: is passive learning really what you want in a game? If the learning in your game relies on reading, why make a game when a passage of text would suffice?<\/p>\n

That said, let\u2019s explore how we could we tweak the game to strengthen those last two learning goals. For the locations learning goal, I know I would have preferred to see my journey better represented on the map. Generally, to see the map, you must choose to look at it, and even then it doesn\u2019t convey much information. Why not show the map whenever you set out for the next landmark, with the locations better labeled? I would have learned a bit more about each location and had a better reference for the geography involved.
\n\"OregonTrail_3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s look at the history learning goal, which would be a challenge to strengthen without overloading the player with information. A bit more narrative when arriving at each location might help; just a quick piece of welcome dialogue as you arrive would suffice as an opportunity to inject some history. Another option would be to do more with the \u201ctalk to people\u201d option at each location. Most of the time, it\u2019s just a couple short snippets that give you clues as to what decision to make next. If there were options for who to speak with, such as a ferry operator, a native, or a fellow pioneer, you could have more choice in what kind of information you want to receive.<\/p>\n

Based on the design of The Oregon Trail, it seems clear that the primary intention was for players to experience the difficulties of an 1840s pioneer, and I\u2019d say it was quite successful in that. It may not help players recall specific facts about specific locations, but it certainly can increase their interest in the subject matter overall!<\/p>\n

By Brendon Trombley
\nThis post is part of a series, and originally appeared at Institute of Play<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last post I introduced a method for deconstructing learning games to estimate their effectiveness. Now, let\u2019s test this method by using it to analyze a classic learning game that many of us who grew up in the \u201980s and \u201990s will have played: The Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail, first published in 1985, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":6988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,33,11],"tags":[390,389,379,370,229,388],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7022,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985\/revisions\/7022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}