|Introduction
Given my specific context, and difficulty in finding an existing educational game in that context, I chose to analyze a game that aims to teach financial literacy, as this is something I’m personally passionate about. This also has some high-level application in my specific context. The game I finally chose to analyze, after playing through three other similar games, is called Money Magic.
After reviewing some options for games that teach digital citizenship, I was really attracted to the Interland game by Google, and have chosen to analyze this game alongside the financial literacy game. I plan to use this with my own kids as I begin teaching them how to navigate the online world.
>> Part One: Money Magic <<
|Overview: Context Dimension
Money Magic is one of several financial literacy games designed by an organization called Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), which is focused on financial literacy for high school students (Endlich & Ranzetta, n.d.). NGPF claims the game can be played in 15 minutes, which was about my experience after playing through a few times. Although some of the other games I played allowed for multiple players, this game is designed as single-player.
Figure 1: Entry point for Money Magic (Next Gen Personal Finance, 2022).
The game can be played online via a web browser, and accessed via the NGPF website. I tested it on a laptop browser and a smartphone browser, and it is designed to work in both environments. Unless students don’t have access to a computer or smartphone, there should not be any technical issues with gameplay. There is sound that accompanies the game, but it is not required, so if the player’s device has no sound it will not dramatically impact the experience. The game could also be played in a variety of environments – wherever the player is conformable playing on their chosen device.
|Educational Value: The Learning Dimension
The game is designed for high school students, and given the difficulty level of content presented it seems appropriate. It is challenging enough to balance the learning objectives without adding too many variables that might make the game frustrating. Given the prevalence of smartphones and computers, and the fact that this game has no cost, the game should be relatively accessible for most players.
Figure 2: Feedback at the end of the "stage" in the game (Next Gen Personal Finance, 2022).
The instructional goal of the game is to teach the basics of budgeting, and to be able to balance short-term needs with a long-term savings goal. Being that the target audience will be headed to either a career or further education not long after playing such a game, this goal seems very appropriate. I don’t think that all the intricacies of budgeting are addressed in the game, but the higher-level goal of planning, balance and self-control are achieved.
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| Figure 3: Players must combine elements for each magic show, to dictate the outcome of each "stage" (Next Gen Personal Finance, 2022). |
Money Magic requires several levels of cognitive skills in order to be successful:
> Analysis: there are several components to each decision that has to be made, and players must recognize the role each component plays
> Synthesis: as the game progresses, and feedback is given, players must piece together these different parts to positively affect the outcome of the game. Feedback is given at the end of each “stage” in the game, and progress can also be tracked at any time with a “gauge” on the left of the screen.
During the very first round of the game, players are given pointers along the way, so it is very clear what they are to be doing and tracking. There are also question mark icons throughout the game, that give definitions of different game elements.
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Figure 4: Sample of the first-round tutorial, which breaks-down and briefly describes each game element. This is highlighting the progress “gauge” (Next Gen Personal Finance, 2022). |
Figure 5: Sample budget-setting page. The hashed lines show the player how much they budgeted during the last stage for each category. (Next Gen Personal Finance, 2022).
As my own children age, a game like this could be a very helpful way to enhance their learning around financial literacy. Given its intended audience of high schoolers, I also feel this could be a great way to engage students in this subject.
|Game Design: Engagement Dimension
There are not many rules in the game, but rather limits to what can be done (i.e. how much money there is to budget). There is a clear pattern of steps to each “stage” and the continuous feedback mechanism makes it clear how you are progressing and keeps you engaged. All game elements clearly link to the three short-term needs (maintaining hype, morale, and upkeep) and the long-term goal (saving for Vegas). The overarching narrative is fun, and easy to track. The visuals are pleasing, not overpowering, and strike a good balance for the intended audience.
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| Figure 6: Purchasing more magic tricks for Enzo allows each show to earn more money. Each trick contributes (either positively or negatively) to the short term needs in the game (Next Gen Personal Finance, 2022). |
>> Part Two: Interland <<
|Overview: Context Dimension
Similar to the previous game, so long as they have access to a web browser, there should be little technical concerns. The sounds do add a lot to this game, so that would be a negative if a player did not have speakers. There is also an option to run the game without high definition graphics, which should help with accessibility.
|Educational Value: The Learning Dimension
The target audience for this game is kids, although as an adult I found it very enjoyable. The instructional goal is for kids to learn how to safely navigate the internet and be a good digital citizen. It does an excellent job of communicating the potential dangers and pitfalls in a non-threatening way. I think that working through some real-life scenarios of the material introduced in Interland would be an important way to enhance the learning of the content.
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| Figure 7: This image shows my total score from Reality River, and my three achievements (Google, 2021). |
As players progress through a given location, they unlock achievements along the way. The player also receives a cumulative score as they progress through the location. At the end of each location, the player earns a certificate of achievement. Once a player completes the entire game, they receive their “Certificate of Internet Awesomeness” and receive a total final score.
Figure 8: my final certificate (Google, 2021).
|Game Design: Engagement Dimension
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Each individual location has its own goal, which I found to be highly engaging. The overall core dynamic is exploration, but each level has a different core dynamic: exploration and collecting (Kind Kingdom), solution (Reality River), solution and alignment (Mindful Mountain), and solution, construct, and rescue (Tower of Treasure). The genre, design, mechanics and training are appropriate for the target age, but also require little knowledge of video game mechanics to really engage.
Figure 10: The (blue) player character (internaut) spreading kindness to other internauts,and blocking or reporting the troublemakers (yellow character). (Google, 2021).
Figure 11: Answering questions helps build a safe path to the other side in Reality River. Internauts have to look out for the “Phishers” who are lurking in the river and sharing scams (Google, 2021).
Figure 12: Some spatial reasoning skills (alignment) are required to send the social media post to the correct audience, by bouncing it between mirrors (Google, 2021).
Figure 13: After collecting all your data and placing it in the tower, you must secure the tower (building) from scammers (green characters) by creating more and more secure passwords (Google, 2021).
The overall narrative of Interland, and within each level, is engaging and has a connection to the learning objective for that particular level. There are rewards throughout the level that keep the player engaged, and the ability to come back and try for a better score would help reinforce the learning objectives. Because the mechanics for each level are different, this also adds to the engagement, and there is a nice balance between the mechanics being challenging while also allowing the player to build their skills.
Figure 14: Review of all scores and learning objectives. Aids in retention and comprehension (Google, 2021)
|Conclusion
After a review of both these games, I think one of the biggest challenges to creating an educational game is to keep it engaging enough for player to way to complete the game more than once (or at all). I’m not sure that the learning objectives for any learning game could be solidified by any player without repeat play (if the games are not too long, which seems to be a good idea given attention spans). This is helpful as I design my own game. I also think that the visual and character design of these games was helpful for engagement and tied nicely to the learning objectives, which has caused me to think how I might employ these techniques in my own design process.
Figure 15: Players can increase their overall score, which could provide competition (Google, 2021).
|References
Endlich, J., & Ranzetta, T. (n.d.). About Next Gen Personal Finance Nonprofit Financial Education. Next Gen Personal Finance. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.ngpf.org/about-us/
Interland: Be internet awesome (Online version) [Video game]. (2021). Google. https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/
Money Magic (Online version) [Video game]. (2022). Next Gen Personal Finance. https://playmoneymagic.com/
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