Epistemic. Games.
Whu?
Epistemic games are computer games that can help players learn to think like engineers, urban planners, journalists, lawyers, and other innovative professionals, giving them the tools they need to survive in a changing world.
When students play epistemic games, they participate in simulations of a society that they might someday inhabit.
I doubt this term is going to catch on any time soon, even if the collection is a sensible one.
Yeah it seems like a needlessly highbrow term. Educational games whilst it might put some kids off seems to me to be a perfectly adequate term for what they're talking about.
Posted by: Tom P | June 18, 2008 at 10:17
But if you call it "educational" kids never get beyond peering at the box and asking why on earth they're being expected to waste their time with an underfunded, low-spec exercise with four levels of gameplay when they've got Zelda hidden in their rucksack.
Call it epistemic and you might have half a chance of getting the game started before the realise where you've led them.
Posted by: Ewan McIntosh | June 19, 2008 at 10:48