Category: Games
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The Rewards of Risk
‘I will take the Ring,’ he said, ‘though I do not know the way.’ — J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, “The Council of Elrond” Frodo setting off on a nearly hopeless trip to Mordor or the knight taking up the quest for the Holy Grail are, intentionally or not, setting out…
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The Joy of Failure
The best games make failure fun. In much of life, failure can be costly, even deadly. Games get to define what failure looks like. In games, the blows of failure are softened, so that the player is safe (more or less), but they are not eliminated. Games — and education — grant us a crucial opportunity…
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Education as Game
Recently, an e-mail list participant recommended a book which I’d never heard of—Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse. While waiting for that book to arrive, I revisited Johan Huizinga’s wonderful book Homo Ludens. And I also read Karl Oles’ Scholars Online blog post before it was posted. Both of the books address play as an important part…