Age of Empires III
Game
Documents about Age of Empires III
Whitepaper11 pages
Ganking the Ranking: The Self-Reported Learning Potential from a Selection of Game Genres to Develop Self-Directed Learning
This study examines how third-year Bachelor of Education history students perceive six video games as tools for game-based learning (GBL) and self-directed learning (SDL), framing self-direction as a critical 21st-century skill that games might cultivate.
- Only 24 of 80 invited students completed the survey (a 30% completion rate), so findings rest on a small, self-selected sample from one North-West University cohort of third-year Bachelor of Education history students, limiting generalisability to South African pre-service history education.
- Participants rated Age of Empires III highest (mean satisfaction 4.235 out of 5), followed by Assassin's Creed (4.111), while Total War: Rome II (3.412) and Valiant Hearts: The Great War (3.292) drew more mixed reactions, with Valiant Hearts scoring lowest overall.
- Initial impressions were driven by nostalgia, genre preference, historical setting, storytelling approach, emotional response, and familiarity with the depicted content, and the authors caution that positive first reactions alone do not demonstrate a game's educational suitability.
European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL)Sep 2022
Whitepaper8 pages
Controversies: Historicising the Computer Game
"Controversies: Historicising the Computer Game" examines the tensions that arise when video games represent real history, arguing that such representation is inherently problematic and frequently contested.
- The report argues that representing real history in games is inherently contested, and that games cannot faithfully reproduce the past but can convey the atmosphere and flavor of historical periods, with developers bearing an ethical responsibility when they use real events.
- Historical games warrant heavier scrutiny than other genres precisely because they engage with real events, and simplistic treatments risk reinforcing jingoistic mythologies.
- Exclusions carry political weight: Sid Meier's Colonization omits slavery and genocide mechanics, Call of Duty frequently dehumanizes its enemies, and Age of Empires III shifted its depiction of Native Americans from cautious neutrality to deliberate inversion in its expansion.
DiGRAJan 2007