GISuser.com Feature – Epic Win: Using GIS and Gaming to Save the World

I feel a certain sense of accomplishment today. I read through this piece about GIS and gaming by Troy Lambert that caught my eye as interesting, only to find the work of our GeoGames group featured in the middle! Very cool. I am happy to see the potential of GIS as a gaming platform featured, especially as I reflect on how we might be able to mitigate the "...mass exodus to virtual worlds" by infusing GeoGames and GeoPlay with a deeper sense of mission, community and reinforcing feedback.

Thanks for this pointer by National Geographic Education Blogger Sarah Zeglin. http://blog.education.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/04/game-of-the-week-reach-for-the-sun/. Another production from Filament Games that looks really nice. What I find particularly helpful about their games catalog is that they provide educators with more specific learning goals/standards that are supposedly targeted by each game, and a detailed curriculum that can be used together with the game.

Alliance megagame - a huge board in-person GeoGame

Here's a great example of a map-based, almost realistic, geopolitics/economy multiplayer game. It is interesting to think of how this game could be implemented online. Clearly the video illustrates the animated interactions that can happen when you gather 60+ players in the same room around one big game for a 4-hr play session. Can those interactions be as rich and nuanced when you can only hear a voice or see persons through video? Probably not, looking at the body language in some of those scenes. How much does that contribute to player engagement? Not clear, and certainly an interesting thing to look into.