Group hatches initiatives for research on computer games

Computer games and academics typically don’t go hand-in-hand. However, Jeff Bardzell, assistant professor at the IU School of Informatics, and several of his colleagues are directing their efforts toward changing this. Through the recent foundation of the Enlightening Games Group, Bardzell aims to take the first steps toward promoting and initiating game research on the IU campus. \nBardzell said game research is an interdisciplinary field that is directly applicable to various academic concentrations. \n“In education, there is an interest in using game technology to create interactive learning applications,” he said. “People enjoy games, and games force people to learn.”\nA popular example is the massively multiplayer, online game “World of Warcraft.”\n“I have over 1,000 pages of strategy guides (to ‘World of Warcraft’) sitting on my desk right now,” he said. \nThese guides provide useful information, statistics and suggestions to players. The game also promotes online forums in which thousands of people can talk about their experiences and exchange ideas and advice. \n“The goal is to take that and convert it into socially productive learning,” Bardzell said. \nGame research can also be used in interactive storytelling to give people a broader and high-dimensional perspective. \n“(Storytelling) is usually pre-packaged and linear. When you tell a story through a game, every single individual experiences it differently,” Bardzell said.\nSophomore Graham Sheldon enjoys the strategic element of computer games but thinks that to make computer games effective learning tools, they need to be fun. \n“The only way to educate kids through games is to make them forget they’re being educated,” Sheldon said. “They need to play a game and learn at the same time. Games that make people forget the educational aspect are the most effective. You have to integrate it into the game play.” \nSheldon participated in a computer game simulation called “Arden,” which is being developed in the Telecommunications Department and aims to introduce children to the world of Shakespeare.\nSheldon thinks that the Enlightening Games Group is an excellent idea. \n“We haven’t uncovered one-tenth of the potential that games have to teach us. This sort of project will definitely help,” he said.\nAlready, individuals at IU are conducting game research in various departments around campus, but there has been little inter-departmental communication, Bardzell said. The new group hopes to bring the entire campus together to create an interdisciplinary and coherent approach to game research.\nBardzell is particularly involved with human-computer interaction, which focuses on developing efficient and productive computer software. The goal of human-computer interaction design is to develop software applications that people enjoy.\nThe Enlightening Games Group is focused primarily on massively multiplayer online games, or MMOGs, because IU has one of the biggest concentrations of MMOG players in the world, Bardzell said. However, the members were hired individually and communication has been limited until now, he said. The group hopes to bring together researchers from various departments and encourage people to connect.\n“Our first steps will be to host a monthly colloquium to discuss what we’re doing. Our long-term goal is to create an interdisciplinary Games Research Department that pulls from multiple areas,” Bardzell said.