Reflective Learning through Playing Digital Game The Sims 2

摘要

Containing too many actions and only a little time for reflection, earlier games were reflexive rather than reflective. Most of the research literature on game play emphasized the learning that occurs through game actions but relatively few concern the potential for emotional experiences and reflection that occur within game play. In combining artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and advanced simulation systems, the digital game The Sims 2 (752), provides a life-like narrative structured environment for player exploration, making it one of the most powerful and dynamic interactive narrative environments ever created. The TS2 player online community provides artistic creations, fictional narratives, ongoing in-depth discussions of play experiences, and descriptions of real-life experiences that have intermingled to become a firm network that supports social interactions and learning. In this study, I investigated the reflection that occurred via playing the digital game TS2 to see if such experience and reflection could lead players to generate new understanding and learning.