Comments for Epistemic Games

Comment on D&D Redux by D. A. Robinson

D. A. Robinson — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:03:47 +0000

Roll saving-throw to keep from crying.

Comment on Reflections on the Barracuda: Doing what you don’t necessarily love by D. A. Robinson

D. A. Robinson — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:49:58 +0000

First of all, let me say that I feel for you. I sat through five years of watching my son be the slowest kid in karate class, and I must say that, for me, it was one of the most grueling parts of being a parent. Now, on to the point. I’m beginning to wonder if the whole adult attitude of, “I don’t like playing games with my children!” isn’t a learned behavior based on what we think we are suppose to do when we “grow up.” I’m 43 years old and I have three children spanning between the ages of two and nineteen. While that doesn’t exactly make me the average parent, it does make me about the right age to have computer game playing children. I don’t play computer games as much as I would like to, not because I have somehow grown out of playing games, but rather I simply don’t have as much time to play them as I would like. And believe me, I would like a lot! I would like nothing more than to spend hours a day on EVE or W.O.W. I’ve been playing computer games since my old TI99-4a (kids, look it up) and my love of games didn’t go away when I got old, so my question is, why aren’t the old Donkey Kong, Ms.Pac-Man and Dragon’s Lair players playing games with their kids? What excuse do they have? Incidentally, I played Pokemon Red while my son played Pokemon Yellow. We would challenge each other constantly in Pokemon Stadium and my Nidoqueen (I named her Latifah) can still kick his Pikachu’s butt. (OPEN CHALLENGE!)

Comment on FAQ when talking about games by David Williamson Shaffer

David Williamson Shaffer — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:38:00 +0000

Thanks. Some of these ideas are expanded upon (by me and others) in some of the blog postings on the site. For example:

http://epistemicgames.org/eg/reflections-on-the-barracuda-doing-what-you-dont-necessarily-love/

Comment on The MacArthur Foundation supports research into computer games and learning by David Williamson Shaffer

David Williamson Shaffer — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:36:19 +0000

There is a nice summary of what epistemic games are here:

http://epistemicgames.org/eg/category/games/front/

It is true, of course, that games can enhance hand-eye coordination. But the potential of games to promote learning is much broader than that!

Comment on FAQ when talking about games by Bike Games

Bike Games — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:16:03 +0000

What an excellent FAQ on the tricky subject of games. Thank you !

Comment on The MacArthur Foundation supports research into computer games and learning by july

july — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:59:17 +0000

All I know is that videogames can enhance the eye-hand coordination. So I also promote learning videogames

Comment on The MacArthur Foundation supports research into computer games and learning by july

july — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:57:25 +0000

@vince

What is epistemic learning by the way?

Comment on New epistemic grants by Vince Duran

Vince Duran — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:37:33 +0000

This is great stuff! I am about to start a program in New Mexico that uses our mobile video game theatre and Kodu to teach kids 8 and older how to program basic computer games. I am glad to see that these concepts are getting real traction!!!

Cheers!

Vince

Comment on The lessons of a PIM fail by David Williamson Shaffer

David Williamson Shaffer — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:52:50 +0000

Hi, Rick and Alan! Nice to hear from both of you!

@Rick, I like your formulation (an ounce of cure…). Pithy as always.

@Alan, I agree that the formulation in the pdf you link to is really interesting. Thanks for posting it. We’ll never know precisely what was said at that particular meeting, of course–now more than a decade ago. But I think it was part of a discussion that was making a slightly different point than your PDF. Regardless, if I took the sentiment out of context I apologize!

Thanks to both of you for adding to–and updating!–the record!

Comment on The lessons of a PIM fail by Alan Kay

Alan Kay — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:22:48 +0000

Hi Rick,

That’s because I never said that “quote”. It got changed to a mis-quote which doesn’t make a lot of sense. The actual version of this that I use is found in this little essay:
http://www.vpri.org/pdf/m2003001_human_cond.pdf

Cheers,

Alan