“Don’t be slaves to technology,” advises one mobile gaming expert – an interesting statement considering the second annual Float Mobile Learning Symposium was held in conjunction with an event named Techweek.
“It’s very possible to build interesting games and interesting experiences without using high-tech capabilities,” said Kris Rockwell, CEO of Hybrid Learning and ImpactGames, on June 25.
Kris stressed “even simple games are not as simple as they seem on the surface, and that’s what makes them successful.” One example, he said, is the game of darts. He noted a picture of an advertisement he’d captured in Chicago explaining the science behind how darts are able to move through space without flipping end over end.
He also said to look at more traditional card and board games. Each can involve multiple people and get them talking and interacting about the game – in addition to playing the game – incorporating a social aspect that Kris said he feels is lost when we simply stare at our screens.
Kris is a proponent of extending games beyond the screen. He said people can “build games using the surrounding the environment, which I think is the true definition of what immersive learning could be.” For this, he showed a video that illustrated his point to the audience at 1871. “To me, that’s where I’d like to see the concept of mobile learning.”
Kris asked people not to get lost in their screens by tweeting snippets from his presentation. Instead, he asked audience members to write their thoughts on paper so he could collect them at the end. Kris then responded to these thoughts on his blog.
Kris, who wrote the ground training instructions for the 737 model of airplanes, gave roughly a dozen statistics throughout his presentation supporting gaming and the mobile industry in general, explains the benefits of QR codes and why he doesn’t think gamification is the magic answer in creating content, and more.
