How are games educational? Why are they educational? How can they be used? What is the best game you ever saw used in a classroom? How was it used? What were the benefits? What were the reactions?
How can we contact more teachers? What do teachers want? What are teachers already doing?
Publishers, what do you want? What do you have? How have you promoted games in classrooms? What frustrates you?
Parents, how have you seen games used in the classroom and by your children? What are the benefits? What do you see that the rest of us do not?
Students, how can game use in the classroom be improved? What do you want? What works best?
What can you do to spread the word?
This school year, this group is initiating several larger, important projects. The largest, National Games Month, is much bigger than us and is detailed below.
First, we need to develop an annotated bibliography of games for teachers. This will be a catalog of games and curricula that help teachers plan and purchase for their classroom. It will be indexed by topic, age ranges (material, reading level, and so forth), and publisher. We need reviews. We need copies of games to test in classroom. PUBLISHERS, WE CAN ONLY PUBLISH REVIEWS OF GAMES WE HAVE SEEN AND TESTED IN CLASSROOMS. Many of you are familiar with a variety of games. If you can write a few paragraphs concerning the use of a quality game in the classroom, please do so and send it to us!
Second, we are considering a directory of those involved in this group. This includes anyone receiving this newsletter. What do you think? If you do not want your address published, it will not be. This won't happen for a number of months. GAMA would have to approve the substantial printing costs. Such a list could also be made available on the Internet, but again, give it time.
Third, we are developing materials for non-gaming teachers interested in beginning to use these games. If you have anything to contribute to this, please get in touch with us.
Mayfair Games and Avalon Hill Games both have a deal for teachers. The former will send their wonderful train games for classroom use FOR FREE. Simply request it using your school or department letterhead. Avalon Hill offers an across the board 40% discount for teachers. This is great! There are surely others. Let us know.
Lorece Altken of Pegasus Games in Madison, Wisconsin sent us the addresses for all of the middle and high schools in her community, and we thank her for this. If you know of interested persons or institutions, send us the address. Here it comes!
There are several ways we may be involved in this project. The focus is Origins which runs from July 13th to 16th. GAMA is examining ways to bring in teachers, perhaps at a very low price or even free. We may be in a position to offer seminars to our largest audience ever, introducing many teachers, classrooms, and students to the use of these powerful games. Your support can make the difference.
GAMA is also exploring the establishment of a scholarship fund to be awarded during the game convention. Will this be an annual event? We do not yet know.
GAMA is also planning a variety of other promotions and events. Watch for them in your area and in your areas of interest. Encourage everyone to participate. Most importantly, write to us now with what you think will make this all work best.
I led three seminars: Gaming & Young People, Gaming & Education, and Gaming & Prejudice. This is exactly the order I prefer and the one I requested. Each was a two hour discussion, though I often began talking with some people well before our official start, and we always found ourselves sliding precipitously close to the next event, though we gracefully avoided any conflicts.
The first attempts to define games simply but broadly, define young people developmentally, then examine them in their real world context. For those of you that attended, sounds pretty impressive, neh? This was a good exchange of questions and ideas. We spent much of the time exploring the issues surrounding game clubs (and game groups, families, school groups) with a broad age range. Occasionally public game clubs find themselves trapped between youthful interest, gamemaster freedom, and parental ire. There were a number of ideas, some of them contradictory as is inevitable such a pluralistic discussion. If there is interest, I can go into more depth with these at a later date here.
Gaming & Education is the main course for me personally. Two hours to talk about the delightful and powerful discoveries of teachers in their classrooms. It was good. Our teachers included a librarian, a coast guard trainer, several graduate students, and many others. Everyone is welcome. We are all teachers. Suffice to say, I happily spun tales (all of them true) of my own students over the years and their valuable encounters with a number of games.
The third seminar explored issues of bias and stereotyping both among players and within game settings. This was the smallest of the seminars, and for some reason it was scheduled in a smaller, more isolated chamber far from the center of the con. We had a great time. Issues of race and gender came up early, as did the depiction of sexuality in general in games. We discussed games that offer a balanced opportunity and those that accurately portray a society and its unspoken rules of conduct and status. Everyone was respectful, but all presented their own truly held ideas and opinions. In examining the complex issues of children, our world, classrooms, and games, these often sticky issues are going to rear their heads. If I can teach U.S. history to ten year olds, I can certainly (and inevitably) discuss with them the thorny topics of our times.
These seminars generated a wealth of new interest in our work. This newsletter is now received by almost 400 people, and many more read it through Internet postings.
I was able to visit the vast dealers' room, and it was a heady experience. The profusion of new games, art, and even forms of games was breathtaking at every turn. Many have immediate applications in classrooms. Others are valuable for their ability simply to bring people together and stretch their thinking. Some games are reviewed below, and if the many friendly publishers cooperate and send us more games, look forward to much more!
On Sunday I attended the GAMA Board Meeting. It was a serious affair. I presented our work thus far and our plans for the near future. The board was very pleased and immediately supportive. For many member, this was their first real chance to learn more about our efforts, to ask questions. It went well. The board is presently considering a permanent budget for our work, allowing us to get a better handle on our impressive growth and making possible much future work. You will hear more about this as we know learn more.
Lastly, I was able to spend some time in the child care area of the con. This secluded but certainly not quiet service is provided by the friendly and skilled staff of Klapper Day Care. They have a well-developed program, from registration to activities. I was impressed, and interest in their services has grown every year. The kids were having a wonderful time, some playing games, some doing art, a few napping. I think this is a great idea, especially with the growing number of families attending cons. If you are interested in knowing more, I can put you in touch with them.
It's only ten months until Origins....
Role-playing games encourage math skills. Rolling dice, totaling them, adding and modifying factors, subtracting them, multiplying and dividing them by something else are common occurrences in these games.
Most importantly, role-playing games are a social activity. Having a group of friends to rely on during the tough years of adolescence is invaluable, and role-playing games build friendships that can last a lifetime.
[So, what do you think? How can this be improved? What is not covered? How can we expand this to cover a much wider range of games and questions?]
Dr. Steven Fratt of Trinity College, Professor of History, uses a variety of wargames in his classes: "In upper level classes I require a semester-long research project and no tests. During the final exam time, we game!"
Dr. Fratt recommends two games focused on the Vietnam War: Frank Chadwick's Tet Offensive wargame from GDW (P.O. Box 1646, Bloomington, IL 61702-1646) and Vietnam Survival Tour, a board game from MC Mets (3352 Darlington Road, Holiday, FL 34691).
The speaker's task was to describe the design on the card. Each listener was to draw the design on a sheet of paper. After a few minutes the group compared the card with the listeners' designs. Then each group chose a new speaker. We passed a new card to the group, and they repeated the process.
This exercise could be done using a fragment of a role playing game. The speaker could describe a room or creature, and the listeners could try to draw it and compare their drawings.
My students seemed more relaxed if they had something in their hands, so early in the course I had a speech about an object. One student brought a bag of dice. I have heard dozens of oral reports using model planes, tanks, or ships, but these were history classes.
Games are a potential source of speeches in other categories. The "process speech" can be about how to play D&D, and the "controversial speech" can address the question, Are role playing games really dangerous?
Blacksburg Tactical Research Center, 1925 Airy Circle, Richmond, VA 23233
Distant Seas has players compete for cargo in any one of three time
periods: sail, steam, and modern. The rules are clear, and the heavy-duty
world map is accurate and easy to read. This Monopoly of the high seas
allows students to learn the qualities that made for profit and failure in
each era. I have a copy in my classroom, and while this is not the simplest
game, my students were drawn to the eye-catching map, and they began
playing on their own. They preferred the modern era; it's the simplest to
get started, but they were intrigued by the meteorological rules for the
sail-shipping game. This game has applications in studies history,
economics, geography, and technology.
Distant Seas Publishing Company, 9557 Fern Hollow Way, Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Technopoly transports the familiar lanes of New Jersey to the bustling
lands of Silicon Valley. Based on familiar rules and layout, this game
offers much that is new. The playing track is mostly two-way and has
several sub-paths. Players compete for contracts with computer
manufacturers, network developers, and military suppliers. The
opportunities for following directions, problem-solving, and social
brinkmanship are many. Jim has detailed each technology on the cards, but
no knowledge of computers or technology is necessary for play, any more
than you need a degree in hotel management to play Monopoly. I have used
this game with strong sixth grade math students. By unanimous acclaim, we
took it on our class camping trip: "In case of rain, David!" If they can
play Monopoly, they will enjoy Technopoly.
Jim McBurney -Technopoly, 890 South Wolfe Road, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Unfortunately, my parents and teachers think that role-playing involves too much fantasy, and they are waiting for me to outgrow it. My parents strongly discourage it, mainly because they focus on on all the negative aspects of the materials, such as magical properties and evil-looking creatures (They don't realize we play the good guys.). I m not allowed to attend any conventions, and this discourages me because meeting other players is always interesting.
Matthew
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Dream Park is extremely simple, so much so that students can learn the
basics in less than 5 minutes. Even advanced combat is simple, yet
convincingly cinematic. Characters are fast to create (5 minutes, less if
you know the rules already). Best of all, because the game is designed to
mimic a simulation of reality (ie. the Dream Park gaming domes) you can
easily mix and match genres and still maintain play balance.
I use Dream Park rules at school, mainly for the speed that kids can learn them. I've also created a set of FileMaker Pro databases that let the kids print up character sheets and Qwik-Start cards (an abbreviated character sheet), as well as equipment, skill, and spell cards (business card-sized, giving all essential information on one side and a picture on the other).
RuneQuest is not as simple, but a lot more realistic. Its main strengths are a good, fast, realistic combat system and a magical system that can simulate every system of belief on earth. Drawbacks are a longer learning curve and longer character creation times (30+ minutes).
I also use miniatures, mainly to help with the visualization. Most kids in the video generation have a hard time visualizing a character until they see a picture or figure. Hopefully, next year a few of them will actually dare to paint their own miniatures rather than relying on mine!
Rob Prior
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I am a part of a gaming company called TimJim Games. We, in
association with Prism Games, manufacture primarily board and card games.
We believe that some of our games would be a pleasant and useful addition
to school curriculums. In particular, Fast Food Franchise, which is an
economic game reminiscent of Monopoly and Acquire; Suzerain, a card game
which incorporates elements of feudalistic society; and Age of Exploration,
which allows players to plan and run expeditions in the 1400-1500's.
I am hoping to get some idea of which conventions and connections would be fruitful for us to explore and you seem to be a particularly good source.
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Salutations! My name is Travis Bryant and I am a senior at Northern
Kentucky University. For my English major and Honors minor, I will be writing
a complete role playing game. At the end of the book will be a academic
treatment of role playing games in society. This will (hopefully) include a
study of the group interaction in RPG's, internal and external views of the
RPG hobby, and role playing games as continuing oral tradition.
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