Orlando, October 2008
Previously in the Fuse, we talked about what the future holds for eLearning, and discussed the applications of Co-Op Play. This month, we'll discuss Clans and Guilds.

Clans and guilds are an extension of the Co-Op Play concept, which is greatly expanded upon within an online game world. Games featuring clans or guilds are known as MMORPG's, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, and are generally fantasy-based. The most well-known of these games today is World of Warcraft.

In a clan or guild, players join together and interact with dozens and even hundreds of other players in an online world. Each member of these clans and guilds is expected to work for the interests of their group; in other words, they must all work towards a common goal. Occasionally, this means cooperating together in raiding a nearby castle, or sometimes it's something as simple as each member must donate a certain amount of gold to the guild by a preset time. It is even possible for more experienced players to take inexperienced newcomers under their wing and "train" them in the ways of their clan or guild.

These concepts could easily be applied to an eLearning environment. Learners could be divided into clans or guilds and be given tasks to complete or goals to reach. Further, due to the design of these games, the learners would not have to be in the same room; they could log into the online learning world from anywhere, and then within that world talk with each other, learn together, and even teach each other new ways of doing things to solve a common problem. The social interaction alone is valuable; the ability to teach large numbers of students something new through a method they enjoy and are already adept at is priceless.

Digitec is currently designing the "Gen I Revolution" game for the National Council on Economic Education. The game design uses the clans concept by grouping high school students into teams. The game itself is single player, but the players' cumulative scores are credited to their team. From a learning perspective, the player will be more deliberate in the choices they make in the game, so they do not let their teammates down. This approach also reinforces teamwork, as teams collaborate to make decisions and share tips to teach each other to increase their collective odds of beating the other teams.

In our next issue, we'll explore the Holodeck concept, which is an extension of virtual reality simulators currently in use.

Digitec is a leader in implementing games as a learning tool and incorporating new concepts such as clans and guilds into the eLearning that we create. If you would like to explore how to make game-based eLearning work for you, please contact us today or visit our Play2Teach website.