Poll: Choosing a game for academic research

[Beldaros]

Hello Escapists,

Anyway, I am looking to conduct an experiment on EFL (English as a foreign language) students in the near future involving video games, I am honestly a teacher, and I am honestly working on this proposal right now. However, I am suffering with game choices and could think of no other place to look than here.

What I require are two games that are very easy to learn how to use, require absolute minimum tutorial time as this is not what I want to spend in-class time explaining.

One game has to feature a wide variety of group activities, like most modern shooters. The other has to have a fairly heavy, accurate script (spoken english, preferably with the ability to enable subtitles). Now I am not as up-to-date with modern game culture as I was in my early 20's so I hope you guys can help me with any suggestions.

In terms of the console choice, well, I think PC is out of the question, even though everyone owns a PC, if I imagine a situation where one of the students hasn't played a game since the Tetris era, there is no way they are going to be able to get the hang of the controls. So, any easily accessible console (no NES for example).

To put it simply, I need games which new gamers can pick up with ease and where almost no time will be lost explaining how to play it.

Please, if you are going to respond, if the game is a little obscure, please tell me what console supports the game and a little about the basic features of the game.

When the proposal is complete, anyone who wants to follow the progress will be able to. The research itself is not likely to be carried out until the summer, but the set-up will be starting ASAP. The games are the least important but nevertheless essential part of the experiment.

Thanks for your help.

Aaron Dodd

 

[Caiphus]

I see Thomas was Alone is on PS3. That's probably fairly easy to get the hang of, being a puzzle-platformer, and has a decent amount of narration. Pretty sure it has subtitles.

And wide variety of group activities? You could try Mario Party. Watch your students murder each other.

Edit: Alternatively, I see you're from the Czech Republic. FIFA? Would sports games be what you're looking for?

 

[Beldaros]

Snip

Hello, thanks for your response.

So, tell me about Thomas was alone, does it have a story? Is there a lot of room for s=discussion around it? What is the point of the game? I just want to know because I've never heard of it.

MArio party is something I wouldn't have even considered but I quite like the idea, I'll ad that to the list of potentials for now.

Also, I'm not from the Czech Republic, I'm British, I was based there for two years and haven't updated my profile since.

The problem with sports games is that they aren't as universal as one would hope, I mean, football is a hobby as well as gaming, so people would need to be interested in football, hockey, whatever, to make a sports game viable.

Thank you though, I appreciate your suggestions.

 

[Caiphus]

Snip

Hello, thanks for your response.

So, tell me about Thomas was alone, does it have a story? Is there a lot of room for s=discussion around it? What is the point of the game? I just want to know because I've never heard of it.

No problem!

I haven't actually, err, played Thomas was Alone. Watched around an hour's worth of Let's Plays for it though.

People tend to praise it for its story. It's a platformer. You play as a series of, essentially, Tetris blocks (one of whom is Thomas). At the beginning of each level, which tend to be fairly short, a narration is told. This narration is how the story is presented, and describes the characters' motivations, reactions etc. When you meet another block, the narrator will tell you about how Thomas has finally found a friend, and all that. It's rather cute. People praise it for the story. Take a look on youtube if you'd like:

Spoiler

MArio party is something I wouldn't have even considered but I quite like the idea, I'll ad that to the list of potentials for now.

Also, I'm not from the Czech Republic, I'm British, I was based there for two years and haven't updated my profile since.

The problem with sports games is that they aren't as universal as one would hope, I mean, football is a hobby as well as gaming, so people would need to be interested in football, hockey, whatever, to make a sports game viable.

Fair enough! It would depend on the demographic to whom you're trying to present this stuff.

Other than that, Littlebigplanet? Narrated by the illustrious Stephen Fry (although I can't remember if there were subtitle options). I have played that one, and it is fairly easy to get into, even for novice gamers. Can be played just as easily single player and multiplayer. Again, a platformer.

Edit: Just noticed that I fucked up the youtube link

 

[Beldaros]

Snip

Hello, thanks for your response.

So, tell me about Thomas was alone, does it have a story? Is there a lot of room for s=discussion around it? What is the point of the game? I just want to know because I've never heard of it.

No problem!

I haven't actually, err, played Thomas was Alone. Watched around an hour's worth of Let's Plays for it though.

People tend to praise it for its story. It's a platformer. You play as a series of, essentially, Tetris blocks (one of whom is Thomas). At the beginning of each level, which tend to be fairly short, a narration is told. This narration is how the story is presented, and describes the characters' motivations, reactions etc. When you meet another block, the narrator will tell you about how Thomas has finally found a friend, and all that. It's rather cute. People praise it for the story. Take a look on youtube if you'd like:

Spoiler

[youtube5K4zjNtQ3y8]

MArio party is something I wouldn't have even considered but I quite like the idea, I'll ad that to the list of potentials for now.

Also, I'm not from the Czech Republic, I'm British, I was based there for two years and haven't updated my profile since.

The problem with sports games is that they aren't as universal as one would hope, I mean, football is a hobby as well as gaming, so people would need to be interested in football, hockey, whatever, to make a sports game viable.

Fair enough! It would depend on the demographic to whom you're trying to present this stuff.

Other than that, Littlebigplanet? Narrated by the illustrious Stephen Fry (although I can't remember if there were subtitle options). I have played that one, and it is fairly easy to get into, even for novice gamers. Can be played just as easily single player and multiplayer. Again, a platformer.

Well, Thomas was alone sounds quite interesting, and I will certainly have a look at the video. Thank you for that recomendation.

The demographic is completely diverse, there are three age groups, five levels of comprehension and both mono-lingual and multi-lingual classes.

Now, in theory littlebigplanet sounds good, the problem is, though heartmeltingly magnificent Stephen Fry is, his voice overs are rarely made with foreigners in mind. For advanced students maybe, I'll add it to the list as a maybe for now.

Thank you again, you've been very helpful.

 

[Caiphus]

Well, Thomas was alone sounds quite interesting, and I will certainly have a look at the video. Thank you for that recomendation.

The demographic is completely diverse, there are three age groups, five levels of comprehension and both mono-lingual and multi-lingual classes.

Now, in theory littlebigplanet sounds good, the problem is, though heartmeltingly magnificent Stephen Fry is, his voice overs are rarely made with foreigners in mind. For advanced students maybe, I'll add it to the list as a maybe for now.

Thank you again, you've been very helpful.

Just fixed the video in my post above. It's just the trailer, but you can find let's plays pretty easily.

And that's a pretty wide range of ability. If you were after something sort of similar to LittleBigPlanet, but with much less dialogue, you could try the Lego games (Lego Star Wars, Indiana Jones, all that stuff). They actually lend themselves rather well to all ages, and are super forgiving.

Spoiler

Again, not a lot of dialogue. The characters all tend to mime at each other in cutscenes. Not sure if that's useful for you.

Anyway, those are my suggestions. Hope you find success with your study, whatever you choose to do

 

[Beldaros]

Well thanks Caiphus,

Yeah, I just searched my own sources for videos regarding Thomas is alone, it is interesting and a definite consideration ( i need quite a few games for the different comprehension levels) this seems a good choice for lower levels.

In regards to dialogue, I need more not less, the issue with little bigplanet is that Stephen Fry tends to speak in a very intellectual and sometimes difficult to follow way, so I need to look at littlebigplanet before being sure, but I've pretty much ruled that out. The lego games... hmm, I don't think they have enough story value, and also they are generally watered-down versions of pre-existing media and create too many variables.

Either way, you've been very helpful and I will give your suggestions some real thought.