Game Name: Quandary
Designer/Developer: Learning Games Network
Platforms: Browser
High-level instructional goal: Ethical decision making
Link to game: https://www.quandarygame.org/play
Learning Objectives
The game attempts to teach its players to make better decisions based upon moral and ethical cues. I think the learning goal for this game is particularly interesting because of how hard it is to quantify ethical decision making or how skilled one is at making ethical decisions. The game also does not explicitly state what the learning goal is but attempts to convey it in a more nuanced way. The learning goal for Quandary is hinted at by the different gameplay elements (which I go in further detail in the next section). For example, one learning goal is the ability to decipher whether a statement is a fact, opinion, or solution. Another learning goal is the ability to determine an effective solution based upon societal reaction. Another learning goal is the ability to make inferences about someone’s opinion and whether a certain fact can change that opinion. So, I think with all this in mind, the learning goal is a multifaceted one that lies under the overarching umbrella of ‘ethical decision making’ but incorporates elements of conflict management, argumentation, qualitative categorization, and rational decision making.
Game Elements
The game opens by allowing the player to choose their character from one of two choices (gendered). After the player selects their character, there is an opening narrative sequence that introduces the game context and world state. The narration is comic-strip style with text bubbles, these text bubbles are paired with audio if you click on them. There is also functionality for going back and forth between the slides, which allows players to go at their own pace.
Once the introductory narrative sequence is finished, the game’s mechanics are then introduced. The game is split into individual ‘episodes’ and in each ‘episode’ the player must solve a decision-based dilemma. There are four episodes in total. After selecting an episode, a brief narrative sequence plays that shows the context for the episode, such as a disagreement that the colonists (NPC characters) may have. After this, the game displays cards for each of the colonists and each card shows the individual with their opinion on the current situation/disagreement. Players are tasked with sorting each card based on whether it is a fact, solution, or opinion. Each individual card has the person’s name and their occupation as well. You can also play the card and it has an animation of the individual speaking their opinion. There is a supplementary ‘score’ meter where each correct sorting improves the score. After organizing the opinions into categories, you are then asked to select two solutions to move forward with. After selecting two solutions, you are then prompted to discover what the colonists think about the solutions. Certain facts can be ‘played’ to potentially change a colonist’s opinion on the solution. These ‘fact cards’ must be used wisely, and their value can drop after being played.
After listening to all the reactions, you are then prompted to select just one solution to go forward with. After selecting a solution, you must defend your choice choosing two of the colonist’s responses that support your solution. You are then prompted to choose two of the colonist’s responses that are the best arguments against your solution. After this, the ‘colony council’ decides if your solution is worth pursuing. After the decision, you are then asked to sort out the colonists based upon their final stance on the solution. Points are continuously awarded for every correct sorting. Your performance in each episode is scored and corresponds to a metric that quantifies how well the colony is doing. Your solutions may either help or harm the wellbeing of the colony.
Learning Principles
Quandary does not utilize much Spacing, in that players can play the entirety of the game in one sitting and there is no encouraged ‘wait’ period in between episodes. However, the game uses some slight Segmenting in breaking up each episode into different sections (such as having to organize colonists’ opinions or having to decide a solution), but I still think one whole episode is designed to be played in one sitting. The game provides Feedback in the form of a quantifiable score meter and in immediate feedback the game provides when the player makes a wrong categorization of a colonist’s stance or opinion. In addition to this feedback, the game also uses Questioning in delivering its feedback by prompting players to think about the impact of their solution. The game also facilitates the use of forums to encourage player discussion.
In Quandary’s opening narrative sequence and introductory narrative sequence for each episode, the game uses Temporal Contiguity by allowing the text to be narrated upon request. Additionally, each of the colonist’s cards can be played and their opinion/stance is narrated by their own ‘voice’. Regarding the specific usage of narrative description for world context, the game uses the principle of Stories and Example cases to illustrate and provide structure for the world and the problems that the player seeks to solve.
Quandary attempts to situate real-world problems within a fictional setting, so in this way, I think it utilizes the principle of Anchored Learning quite interestingly. The problems the game presents are abstract in context (by virtue of there being space colonists) but is real-world in the actual content. Another interesting component of this is the way the game uses the principle of Interest, by structuring the learning content around a fictional universe.
The game uses the principle of Cognitive Flexibility in the way it presents multiple conflicting opinions and solutions. Each colonist has their own opinion and their own proposed solution for a particular disagreement; however, the player must comb through all of these conflicting ideas and opinions to determine the best and most appropriate one (even if it conflicts with their initial idea).
Due to the game’s mechanics and core system, the game uses the principle of Generation Effect by having players generate their own solutions. Players must assess the environment and determine the correct course of action, but there are multiple correct courses and multiple incorrect ones, so the clarity of a specific ‘correct’ answer is more ambiguous.
Overall Critique
The game initially presents a lot of narrative information in its introduction at once, which can be a bit confusing for someone not familiar with fictional tropes. However, I do see the merit in using a fictional setting, even if it takes a bit of time to get the player ingrained within the world. Using a fictional setting is an effective way to provide context to the player and prevent bias from affect decision making. All the information about the world is given to you, and so in this way, it becomes easier to unify the player’s focus.
I think the game is quite fun and innovative in terms of its actual gameplay. I thought it was enjoyable to go through the episodes due to the narrative and I also thought the structure of each episode was very organized and intuitive. The game does a good job of encoding the learning goal within the narrative and the game’s elements, but maybe it is not obvious enough? I think if I never knew what the intended learning goal of the game is supposed to be, then I would not think of it as an educational game but an entertainment one. I am not sure which strategy is more effective in terms of actual distilling learning content, but how deeply encoded a learning goal is within the game is an interesting dynamic to explore.
There are some UI elements and extraneous details about colonists that I think should be either cut out or made more visible. One UI element specifically was being able to have audio play alongside the text. This took a bit of discovery though as it was not immediately obvious that audio could play alongside the text, but all you must do is click the individual text bubbles and a narrator will read it out. The game could do a little better in terms of Weeding with its extraneous colonist details, as there is a lot of information available in each of the colonist’s cards, but not all the information is necessarily relevant to the problem. A specific extraneous detail I would cut is displaying the colonists’ occupation, as from my experience of playing through all the episodes, it had very little impact on the outcome and solution.
One thing I was wondering while playing the game is what is the significance of 32 light years specifically? I understand the narrative significance, but it seems to be used repeatedly throughout the game (for example, the loading screen is from 0 to 32 light years). I just wonder what the intention of this motif is within the context of the learning goal. I think the idea of using motifs throughout the symbolic represent an element of the game’s narrative is interesting, but maybe the motif itself should be more focused on representing an element of the game’s mechanics?
