Accessible Government

In a two for one deal...this Sunday's edition of the Washington Post also had an article showcasing Arlington County's new virtual presence. The Arlington County Government has a cyber-office where visitors can read promotional posters, meet with economic development officials, gather market research, and conduct presentations and brainstorming sesssions with the intent of promoting economic development. As the article notes, the hope is to give visitors an idea of where the county is going in the future and let the visitors be a part of it.

Schools Got Game

This Sunday's edition of the Washington Post had a very good article on the role of serious games in schools. It mostly had a very positive spin on the role games can play in education. I don't think the article will be particularly "enlightening" to anyone that has been tracking the emergence of serious games, but it is good to see the article made the front page (granted it was the front page of the "Metro" section which is the third section...but still, it's progress; two years ago the article probably would've been buried in "Lifestyles" section).

Lessons from Gamers

I was flipping through a video game magazine that came as a free subscription after getting a Wii for Christmas, and I came across an interesting article on how to do "achievement" right. Achievement in a game is critical to game flow (i.e. that "magical" state where gamers can't put the game down because they need to beat the next level, unlock the next secret, etc.). I was struck by how the learning community can learn a lot about how to build achievement into our simulations and games.

The "Dos"

• Use achievements to lure players into checking out a game's entire feature set.
• Chart the players progress toward unlocking achievements.
• Lead players through your campaign with incremental achievements.
• Implement achievements that are unlocked after the completion of the game.
• Reward players for challenging themselves.
• Weigh achievement points to properly reflect how people play your game.
• Make sure the achievements back up the time investment.

The "Don'ts"

• Force players to play a game in an unnatural way to get achievements.
• Make the majority of your achievements dependent upon higher difficulties.
• Have the "achievement unlocked" message appear over text.
• Reveal major plots in the achievement text.
• Require people to spend a specific amount of time with your game.