A Discussion on Educational Games

This weekend I participated in OrcaJam, a game development jam session where local independent developers gather and have 48 hours to work on whatever project they want to work on.

During a dinner discussion, I raised the topic of educational games and there was a consensus that most of them aren't fun. That is, many educational games that we've played lack creativity, variety, strategy, and replayability - qualities that bring players back for more. The only educational game that I have had a lot of fun with is Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the educational games scene so there might be gems out there that I just don't know about. So, please, if you know of an educational game that you've enjoyed please post it in the comment below!

Having never developed an educational game before, I can only guess at the challenges that make the games less fun than they could be. Perhaps there were more focus on the education aspect rather than the fun factor aspect; perhaps the institutions that provide the funding put limitations on the developers; perhaps there weren't enough funding and time to make the game both educational and fun.

In the mean time, I'll go and play SimCity and Civilizations - very fun games that are not educational in nature but have great inherent educational values.

Update: Melissa's blog post brought my attention to a Canadian history game project based on the Civilizations game that Queen's University has been working on. The first chapter of a planned three-chapter series is complete and is available for free at The History Game Canada website. The site begins with an entertaining short video introducing the history of Canada in early 1500's. The game covers the New France period of 1525 to 1763 and the player may choose to play as Ojibwe, Huron, Mohawk, Algonquin, Montagnais, Mi'kmaq, Abenaki, France, or England. The game is essentially Civilizations III, but with Canadian content! Thanks Melissa for the tip!