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Syntactic Moves
(The Grammar Game)
This paper contains a proposal to support the development of an educational game to improve students understanding of grammar, language and punctuation use. The structure of the game is detailed in the Appendix.
Why would a grammar game be useful?
Judging by the number of complaints about young peoples grammar, anything that would make grammatical issues more palatable might be welcomed. Lamentations about poor grammar are seen and heard regularly in educational newspapers, in university staff discussions, and even in articles about computer games. Indeed, feelings on grammar run very high in the gaming community, as can be seen in an HYPERLINK "http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15345" extract from a forthcoming stylebook for gamers ADDIN EN.CITE Thomas200727810000000278Thomas, DavidOrland, KyleSteinberg, Scott2007The Videogame Style GuidePowerplay Publishing(Thomas, Orland and Steinberg, 2007).
The fears are not just to do with communication between generations and perceived lack of professionalism, though these are significant. There is a concern that through not seeing how English language is structured, students risk missing important cues about their studies. An understanding of grammar can help a student to see, for example, who the agent is in a situation or, perhaps more interestingly, how agency can be disguised through use of the passive voice. Similarly, a student with an interest in games would benefit from thinking about the difference between nouns and verbs, as demonstrated in a HYPERLINK "http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/11/a_game_design_g.html" blog from a game designer ADDIN EN.CITE Bateman2005277160000000277Bateman, Chris2005A game design grammarOnly a Game1 April 2007http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/11/a_game_design_g.html(Bateman, 2005). Grammar is therefore important for structural as well as aesthetic reasons, and for game designers and well as students.
The broad aim of the game proposed here is to to inflame the passions of those who are not yet so interested in grammar and to do it subversively by (a) engaging them in interesting practices and (b) showing them how those practices (games) have a grammar and logic of their own. Too often grammar is taught in a decontextualised way using unreal sentences or, as one student put it more succinctly, its just grammar. The target groups for this game are gamers, students and game designers themselves.
There are two types of objective here: one for the game itself and one for learning. They are closely related.
Game objective: to gather syntactical structures words, phrases, clauses and punctuation and put them together in a meaningful paragraph that contains a message.
Learning objective: to transfer the vocabulary, syntactical structures and meaning-making encountered in the game to practical applications of writing, reading, and particularly of game design.
The full version of the game would need a strong team. As HYPERLINK "http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/simcity.htm" Friedman puts it: The introduction screens for contemporary games read like movie credits, listing producers, programmers, artists, musicians, and actors. ADDIN EN.CITE Friedman1995279, updated on the Internet70000000279Friedman, Tim1995Making Sense of Software: Computer Games and Interactive TextualityJones, StevenCybersocietySage Publications(Friedman, 1995, updated on the Internet). Three modes of play are proposed: I might eventually be able to undertake the interactive fiction mode myself but would need graphics, animation and programming support at the very least for the other two modes.
Why would this grammar game be useful?
There are grammar games already on the Internet, but they do not seem to go much further than drill and practice. They may use lively and appealing graphics, but the main aim is to get a high score in what feels like a classroom exercise. For example, there is a HYPERLINK "http://eatsshootsandleaves.com/ESLquiz.html" punctuation game which demonstrates that flying apostrophes can look quite impressive, but which simply engages the player in a few trivial activities before advertising a book ADDIN EN.CITE Truss200327610000000276Truss, Lynne2003Eats, Shoots and LeavesLondonProfile Books(Truss, 2003).
The proposed game is also associated with a book ADDIN EN.CITE Sinclair200727410000000274Sinclair, Christine2007Grammar: a friendly approachMaidenheadOpen University Press(Sinclair, 2007) which might be said to provide the back story. The characters from the book three students called Barbara, Kim and Abel are also characters in the game, though the main agent is the player. The students are used to illustrate, explain, demonstrate and request (occasionally demand). A central theme of the book is no sneering; if people do not know correct grammar it is quite probably not their fault. Two of the routes through the game retain this feature; the third one departs radically from it (see The games moods below).
The game is different because it does not fall into the trap of jazzing up essentially boring exercises that do not seem to have any end in themselves. Because it has an ultimate goal tied to a story and related to the sub-puzzles, it should be sufficiently engaging. It will also be proposed later that the game might be modified and customised by the players to explore the issues further.
The story
The player enters the game through a classroom where three students have formed a study group. In the first visit to the classroom, the player can get a briefcase, a magic eraser and fairly vague instructions about the game.
On leaving the classroom to the east, the player enters the main (social) space and discovers seven other rooms off this space (see Figure 1 in the Appendix). Each room has a different function and in each there is a puzzle (see Figure 2). Sometimes the puzzle involves taking something from one room to another. The seven puzzles each result in some points for the player and also a magnetic strip containing some words, or in one case, some punctuation. The player needs these strips to put on a magnetic board which is in the centre of the social space.
When the magnetic strips are correctly positioned, a message appears and the player has won. The player can save the game at any stage, and at that stage there is a message saying what their current status is: If you quit now, you will leave as a berk, novice grammarian, trainee grammarian, semi-expert, grammar-getter. You will not reach your target of being a grammar mastermind. The appropriate word will relate to the number of points scored.
The player can switch at any stage between the three modes or moods of the game: interactive fiction, fantasy or video nasty(ish). The player can only die in the last mentioned, in accordance with my feeling that this is what might happen when people play with guns.
The games moods
The moods of the game have been labelled according to grammatical moods indicative, subjunctive and imperative though these labels were not my starting point. By happy coincidence, though, the labels seem to fit: indicative for the interactive fiction, subjunctive for a fantasy visual version, and imperative for the version where the students turn nasty and start ordering the player and each other about.
My personal interest is in developing an interactive fiction game, but I felt early on that that would be unlikely to reach the students whom I really want to attract. A visual treatment is more likely to appeal particularly to the virtual mind as opposed to the lettered one ADDIN EN.CITE Monereo200425600000000256Monereo, Carles2004The virtual construction of the mind: the role of educational psychologyInteractive Educational Media932-47(Monereo, 2004). Images can even help people who prefer language: I remember taking an interest in gerunds as a child because of cartoons by HYPERLINK "http://www.stcustards.free-online.co.uk/topp/latin/latin2.htm" Ronald Searle ADDIN EN.CITE Willans195428010000000280Willans, Geoffrey1954How to be Topp: A Guide to Sukcess for Tiny Pupils, Including All There is to Kno about SpacePenguin Books(Willans, 1954). The idea to include a third nasty strand came from debates and joking about violence well, it would probably be acceptable to shoot people for misusing an apostrophe and realising that for some people this would actually bring the subject to life and make it memorable. The interactive fiction version would still be preferred by some young people, however, including those who have difficulties in accessing visual games.
The game would operate in a similar way in each mood, but there would be visual differences and designers would be expected to take advantage of the distinguishing features of each style as seen in Table 1 below. Here I have attempted to outline the differences: I would expect the technical experts to offer alternative suggestions, especially for issues such as action and speech.
Table 1: The games moods and their differences
Indicative (fiction that looks like fact)Subjunctive (fantasy how things might be)Imperative (the grammar pals turn nasty)The player is himself or herself with an interest in finding out about grammar. Movement comes from typing compass directions or words such as enter.The player will need to choose an avatar. Movement comes from the arrow keys or the mouse. The player will need to choose an avatar and a weapon.Comments on the players moves are characterised by wry humour and a mix of helpful and non-helpful observations.Graphics are attractive, possibly involving cartoons and bright colours and very distinctive rooms. Special effects would be encouraged e.g. for use of the magic eraser.Graphics follow the style of the subjunctive, but are harsher perhaps darker, or less colourful. The cartoons might be more menacing or perhaps real people could be used in a video nasty.The player uses tools by typing in appropriate verbs. The player will need to select a verb from a set, e.g.: point, take, use, wave, press, push, pull, open, close, cleanExtra verbs will be needed for this one, because there will be guns: shoot, load, emptyDialogue occurs through following a convention, e.g.
>Barbara, give me the eraser. or
>Ask Barbara for the eraser.
If Barbara has no appropriate response, the message is (usually): >Barbara doesnt answer.Dialogue occurs through a chat box. If there is no appropriate response, the character shrugs his or her shoulders.If there is no appropriate response, the character shakes his or her fist.Inventory can be seen by typing InventoryInventory can be seen by opening the briefcase or pressing a button to reveal it.Inventory is seen in the same way as in the subjunctive moodPeople generally act in a positive way, though Barbara does get annoyed if the player takes things (like her magic eraser) without asking.People are generally friendly, but occasionally what the player asks of them will be too much for them and they may seem unco-operative.People will order the player and each other around. The librarian in Room 2 turns particularly nasty and starts shooting the player for wrong typing. The Tardis activity in Room 5 involves unpleasant people. The player has to watch out for the balaclavad vigilante in Room 7.
I would like players to be able to switch between moods, either by typing switch or pressing a button in the visual versions. When they switch, the appropriate heading in table 1 comes up.
In each case, the location title, number of moves and points scored are shown in a panel at the top of the screen.
The designer would be expected to stick to similar layouts of objects etc, but could change colour schemes or lighting, add things like pools of blood etc.
Development
As can be seen in Figure 3 of the Appendix, I have made a start on the Interactive Fiction (IF) version, but I have not yet got very far. From having played a few IF games, I think that what I am proposing should be manageable. The IF community seems to be very willing to share their expertise, from the freely available design system HYPERLINK "http://www.inform-fiction.org/I7/Inform 7.html" Inform 7 to the collection of resources on the HYPERLINK "http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page" ifwiki.
For the other two moods, I would need a lot of support. I have still to work out some of the details of the puzzles and those might be constrained by the technology or even suggested by the technology available.
One problem with the game as described is that once it is solved there would be no incentive to play it again. This might be overcome by allowing modification of the game or HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modding" modding. Indeed, I would want to make this a key feature of the game because part of the target audience is potential game designers themselves. This is just one of many issues that I would need to discuss with a design team. It is an appealing idea, as it could also help with the evaluation of the game especially if combined with an interactive website.
Conclusion
The outcome of the puzzle pays homage to the author ADDIN EN.CITE Gee200326510000000265Gee, James Paul2003What video games have to teach us about learning and literacyBasingstokePalgrave Macmillan(Gee, 2003) who has particularly inspired the view that videogames can be educational. As Gee makes clear, it is the learning principles from videogames that are important whether or not a videogame itself is used. This game attempts to incorporate those principles and to engage students with grammar by presenting it in a more appealing format. Grammar has always been a notoriously difficult subject to teach, but it is still needed even (perhaps especially) in our videogame age. Ironically, the desire to create and participate in games might provide a sufficient stimulus for students to learn about grammar so that they have a vocabulary and structure to think about their actions and relationships in both real and virtual worlds.
References
ADDIN EN.REFLIST Bateman, C. A game design grammar (2005) Only a Game HYPERLINK "http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/11/a_game_design_g.html" http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/11/a_game_design_g.html
Friedman, T. (1995). Making Sense of Software: Computer Games and Interactive Textuality. In Cybersociety. S. Jones, Sage Publications.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
Monereo, C. (2004). "The virtual construction of the mind: the role of educational psychology." Interactive Educational Media 9: 32-47
Sinclair, C. (2007). Grammar: a friendly approach. Maidenhead, Open University Press.
Thomas, D., K. Orland, et al. (2007). The Videogame Style Guide, Powerplay Publishing.
Truss, L. (2003). Eats, Shoots and Leaves. London, Profile Books.
Willans, G. (1954). How to be Topp: A Guide to Sukcess for Tiny Pupils, Including All There is to Kno about Space, Penguin Books.
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PAGE 6
(The Grammar Game)
Christine Sinclair
1 April 2007
Syntactic Moves (the grammar game)
An Interactive Fiction by Christine Sinclair
Release 1 / Serial number 070401 / Inform 7 build 4K41 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/11N) SD
Entrance
You're standing just outside the classroom where the grammar group meets. You can enter the classroom to the east. (New players should type help.)
Switch mood
SelectAction
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Entrance 0/0 Points 0
Entrance 0/0 Points 0
Avatar
Avatar
Action
Mood
Weapon
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