After a lot of reseach and thinking I had a list of elements that my project should/will consist of:

  • Social learning, multi-user
  • Adapting teaching, caters for each student individually
  • Mobile application
  • Helps to bridge the digital divide
  • Educate people with low technical knowledge
  • Bring developing countries capital
  • Simple so it works on low end handsets
  • Innovative, has never been done before

I’ve analysed this list and came up with an idea of a social multiplayer business simulator game. But this would not just be a learning fun game but more of a ’serious game’, aimed at over 18s, who want to learn how to run a business. I believe this can help some people overcome the fear of starting their own businesses and others can use their virtual business for parctice before the real thing, because simulation is a system that reacts in way similar to the real world, and thus teaches us about that world in the process. Subsequently, such application can increase the number of businesses in developing countries and improve their foreign trade, which can bring a lot of capital and help bridge the digital divide.

A game that I am thinking of creating would not be like a tycoon game, which are usually made mainly for entertainment but you still learn business elements from them. My game would be a serious game for people who are serious about learning business management.

“Serious games are designed with the intention of improving some specific aspect of learning, and players come to serious games with that expectation. Serious games are used in emergency services training, in military training, in corporate education, in health care, and in many other sectors of society. They can also be found at every level of education, at all kinds of schools and universities around the world. Game genre, complexity, and platforms are as varied as those found in casual games. Play, an important contributor to human development, maturation, and learning, is a mandatory ingredient of serious games.” (Derryberry A. 2007 in Serious games:online games for learning: http://www.adobe.com/resources/elearning/pdfs/serious_games_wp.pdf)