[B-Greek] Immersive environments - mmorpg (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game)
Daniel, Robert S
rob.daniel at hp.com
Mon Aug 10 12:50:04 EDT 2009
Yes, I have thought about this. I'm not a gamer, but my son has done a lot of gaming. My impression is that these games can be very expensive to develop, perhaps on a level with major movies. Some particular things I've thought about are:
* A game that used only Koine Greek would be useable by people of any native language.
* Many of these games have various levels, and you have to acquire a certain number of points, and correspondingly skill, to advance from one level to the next.
* Many games require the player to find food and shelter and avoid danger, basic needs for which we need basic language skills, so these games can actually simulate the linguistic situation of a small child. If you fail to get your needs met, you die, which means that you start all over at the beginning.
* A technique for teaching language that seems to work very well, especially at a basic level, is to model the behavior to be taught. The learner (sometimes a parrot or an ape) gets to watch somebody else requesting a treat, and then has to imitate the observed behavior in order to get the treat for itself. Games could be designed to do this, especially at the basic levels.
* A challenge in developing such a game would be for the game software to be able to understand sentences spoken or typed by the player! It would probably be limited to understanding stock phrases. For instance think of all the ways of asking for a piece of bread. May I have bread? May I have some bread? Would you give me a piece of bread? Bread, please. Please pass the bread... Would the game software understand all of these?
* Players can get very caught up in these games. They focus intentely and play for long hours at a time. They try very hard to advance, and avoid backsliding. Ideal conditions for language learning!
Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Carl Conrad
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 6:00 PM
To: B-Greek
Subject: [B-Greek] Immersive environments - mmorpg (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game)
Forwarded for: Stephen and Amanda <stephenandamanda at gmail.com>
Date: August 7, 2009 8:17:34 AM EDT
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Immersive environments - mmorpg (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game)
Hi,
Has anyone here ever thought or heard about using mmorpg (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) platforms for simulating an immersive environment for language learning.
What is a mmorpg? They are essentially 3d computer games whereby people on the net are able to interact in an immersive and simulated world/environment.
Eg. Second life (http://secondlife.com/whatis/)
What would be the point? We would be able to recreate a first century town/country side with all the sights and sounds.
In this environment, users could interact and talk in koine greek (Whether by keyboard or mic). You could interact with 3d objects, learn new vocab by interacting with the objects, talk, etc. You would also be learning about the meaning of words within a "more realistic 1st century context".
We could also create tasks/games for users which would require them to interact with their environment and practice their language skills, etc. The opportunities really would be "endless".
We could run classes like Randall Buth does but without the barrier of distance. Any thoughts? Randall?
Admittetdly, it wouldn't be something that you create overnight but then again it would be a significant platform with a lot of different stakeholders (colleges, (?) scholars, geeks, language enthusiasts, etc). While it may seem trivial/gimmicky, I think that this technology represents a significant opportunity in creating a language learning environment that would help the modern language learner to become immersed in the 1st century world.
Please comment.
Regards,
Stephen Young
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