Multiplayer prototyping and quest design for an educational massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Digital games have proven to be powerful learning tools, and may hold the key to closing the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) achievement gap in the United States. Multiplayer play in particular can foster peer instruction, mentorship, and other productive learning interactions. However, few models of effective multiplayer mechanics exist for educational games. This paper outlines a scheme for developing synchronous multiplayer tasks for a Flash-based massively multiplayer online game (MMO), and discusses design considerations for creating meaningful multiplayer interactions. The results were applied to the design and implementation of multiplayer quest prototypes for the Radix Endeavor, an educational MMO.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• LaVan, Michaela (Michaela S.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Eric Klopfer.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85438

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/85438