The “Best Gameplay” nominees include The Republia Times a game called Quandary that lets players deal with the ethical issues that come along with shaping a society and Reach for the Sun, which asks players to help a seedling grow strong enough before winter. They include a game about buying and selling data called Data Dealer Eskom Energy Planner, a game that lets users control a virtual power plant and The Republia Times, a game that puts players in the editor-in-chief role of a newspaper trying to keep the government looking good. The games in the “Most Significant Impact” category sound a little more intellectual–the kinds of strategy games that you could get lost in for hours. In the “Most Innovative” category, Games for Change selected Blindside, a 3-D audio game that explores what it’s like to deal with dangerous situations while blind Nevermind, a horror game that uses a heart sensor to teach players to stay calm in tense situations and Jewish Time Jump–New York, an augmented reality game that teaches American and Jewish history. The original AoE introduced me to the RTS genre.I spent most of my time with AoE2 though, playing with friends in huge, eight-player death matches which were always lots of fun and demanded an ever evolving strategy to be victorious. Brilliantly insightful and one of the best agitpop games so far. They could also swap out images.The nominees are separated out by category. Paul Dacre Simulator: The Republia Times Rock, Paper, Shotgun - pingback on April 16.
As an extension activity, have students copy the headlines out of a newspaper or political magazine and then rewrite them to reframe their points of view. Get students to consider whether gossip and sports - like they do in the game - distract us from more important current events. Get them to identify media they believe is biased and to explain how they can tell.
After students play the game, encourage them to draw connections to the world around them. For less focused students, give a brief introduction to get them thinking about bias before jumping in. Let your students dive in and play without any instruction, so they can discover the game’s point on their own and get excited for discussion. Since it only takes 10-15 minutes to play, it serves as a great discussion starter and introduction to a lesson or unit on media messages, or even persuasive writing. This is a game that’s best played solo or in pairs, because students will need to focus and do some reading. Play the Republia Times (Free, legal play of the game through a Flash-equipped web browser.
0 kommentar(er)
