What is Player Reflection?
Games-based learning is a form of experiential learning. Through games-based learning players experience something concrete such as game play. Instructors, educators, and moderators then lead learners through debriefings in order help them best make sense of that experience. That debriefing also includes some kind of player reflection on that experience.
But what is that player reflection? What process do players use to reflect on their experiences? How will that kind of reflection influence and affect how they learn through games-based learning?
This article will review why players reflect. It includes an in-depth analysis of players’ reflection in games-based learning as well as how introspection plays a role in game play. Reflection is compared to metacognition and the overall effect this has in its affect on the player experience.
Reflection methods will be discussed as well as how reflection can be used to better inform and influence players learning and habit formation through games-based learning. Finally, applied player reflection for learning will be covered with actionable takeaways.
Why players reflect?
So why do players’ reflect on their experiences in the first place? Sometimes this comes from the loop of experiential learning. Particularly if players get “stuck” in a game or cannot seem to progress or advance within it. Reflection helps players here determine what they have done; what has gone wrong; what has gone right; and what they can do in the future to improve their situation.
This kind of reflection is important compared to receiving information (didactically) from instructors, educators, and moderators as reflection is a form of metacognitive information. That is information that players have created themselves through their own internal processes. Instructors and educators can use reflection through a more formal framework of debriefing in order help players examine their own experience and learn from them. However, player reflection is something that happens personally and individually with learners.
It’s important that players take and make this process a personal and internal one. As making this process personal helps them gain greater self-awareness in a more long-term learning process. This application of introspection helps learners develop their own opinions and sense making about the experiences of game play and learning.
Player reflection and introspection often go hand-in-hand in the learning process. As introspection represents a meta observation of one’s thoughts and how those thoughts reconcile with their own preconceived notions and other experiences.
Player reflection and games-based learning
Games-based learning is a method of applied experiential learning that uses games as a medium for learning. Thus, player reflection plays a large part in helping individual learners achieve their outcomes. This is most evident in video games where players are called to reflect on their relationships with companions, story content, and overall game ambiance.
Player reflection is particularly important to note for games-based learning because for most games there is some element of chance. Unmitigated; that chance could adversely affect the player experience. Player reflection helps individual learners determine where chance was a main determining factor in the game and where individual skill, collaboration, and cooperation help mitigate some randomness.
Chance should instead be taken as a reflective aspect for players. Through reflection, players can address and react to how it in-game randomness challenged them in one way or another. This means that particular approaches such as problem based learning in addition to games-based learning helps learners purposely and concretely summarize problems as challenges and the steps that they solved using their own agency.
These challenges often confront players with problems of limited scope or at least solutions of “inefficient means” to solve. This means that players are presented challenges in games that are up to them to overcome. Of course there are easier ways to score runs in baseball or win in tic-tac-toe if you chose not to observe some of the core rules of the game. But part of the formal structure of games is a rule set in which accomplishing the end goal is artificially difficult. Overcoming that artificially difficult part is what makes the game fun to play and a viable vehicle for learning.
Player refection is also important for ethical play. Specifically when learners playing as characters need to make ethical decisions based on the alignment or objective of their characters. Such examination encourages player to extrapolate their learning and how they might apply lessons learned within the game to larger and wider social issues. In turn, these conclusions can serve as a window into both ethical decisions as well as decisions which question the very ideals and philosophies of individual players.
Player reflection and introspection
Player reflection is most often done individually and privately. This is in contrast to active debriefing lead by instructors, educators, and moderators. This form of private reflection – known as introspection – is done to reflect on a player’s own activities and actions.
Such introspective activities can review objective actions within the game and/or expand to discuss more emotional aspects such as anger; fear; happiness; joy; or other emotions felt during game play. Thus, personal player reflection through introspection is a good route to take for individuals to better understand their own feelings and thought processes.
This means that introspection in learning – especially experiential learning – serves as a core aspect to development and application of lessons outside of the classroom. This can come about from introspective activities; instructor lead active debriefs; or both.
Though, introspection does challenge individual learners and players to answer problems for themselves. Specifically, problems that may have limited scope within a game and or are contextual based on the players’ individual experiences. This prospect can be challenging for players. But limitations of introspection can be overcome by remaining reflective throughout as well as comparing personal conclusions to results obtained by others; instructors; or educators.
Reflection for learning and metacognition
Personal and individual reflection remains an important and critical element of any high quality learning environment despite its modality or format. This is due to the constructivist impact that personal reflection and metacognition can have on individuals who take the time and effort to reflect on their own learning activities.
This is because reflections provide opportunities for learners to predict future behaviors or changes that might occur as a result of a change of their own actions. Of course this is most evident in experiential learning and games-based learning where players have the opportunity to experiment and try different approaches to learning and playing.
While procedural and formative assessment is useful for learners; it’s also important that these progressive forms of reflection be combined with more summative assessments. Those could include instructor and educator lead active debriefs that further include critical reflection of individuals’ activities.
These summative assessments and active debriefs could be combined with other aspects of reflective activities such as storytelling; summarization; and synthesization as a result of an instructor or educator lead debrief. This is useful for the metacognitive process and learning because players are encouraged to put themselves at the center of the learning process. As a result, they are more closely connected and dedicated towards developing their own understanding of their personalized learning process.
This can be a challenging position for novice instructors, educators, and moderators to lead players in this process. Especially when new to games-based learning. However, some simple reflective exercises can help coax even the most recalcitrant learners into reflecting on their individual learning process.
Some of this can be lead in the active debrief with “What, So What, and Now What?” questions. Otherwise, instructors can ask learners to personally and individually reflect on what they thought; felt; and did during the game. Specifically, educators can also ask learners the specific connections and motivations that moved them to act in this way.
Reflections and the player experience
Personal and player reflection cannot be discussed without also including how it affects the player experience. Unlike commercially focused games; games-based learning is not meant to merely entertain. That means that instructors and moderators must focus on the experiential learning process in order to guide learners throughout the educational process – despite any challenges that might arise. This can be difficult – especially for any players who are mostly used to games for entertainment. But re-focusing the reflective process as a narrative based one can be a more successful strategy.
Ideally, educators should strive for transformative and critical reflection from players. These represent higher levels of reflection that often yield the most impactful learning. These are difficult to achieve in even the best circumstances; however experienced educators will be able to critically relate game circumstances and player activities to these highly reflective practices.
It is not feasible to always have breakthrough reflective practices with all learners. However, educators can at least seed learners with introspective practices through regular reflections via class discussion; journaling; or exit tickets to elicit this process from players.
Reflection methods
Of course not all applications of games-based learning will have room or structure for player reflection and introspection. This is particularly the case for commercially available games that are adapted for teaching and learning. However, for other applications like serious games and simulations; reflection can and should be incorporated into the design process.
The types and varieties of reflection practices are numerous. It can be accomplished within in the game as part of the design; as part of active debriefing; discussion; or written personal reflection. As a whole, reflective practices should take into account the empowerment of instructors and educators and how they intend to help their learners’ reach specified learning outcomes.
Learning and habit formation
Ultimately, instructors, and educators are helping learners achieve a specific outcome. That outcome could be completely vocational, technical, or theoretical. But in the end most will want their learners to incorporate some change. Whether that change is philosophical or behavioral is up to the content and the particular outcome.
Reflection plays a part in this change process by providing the learner with a point of comparison. Specifically citing the difference of experience before play; during play; and after play. Such comparisons help individuals map and differentiate how their activities and thoughts have differed throughout the play process.
This reflective process helps individual learners determine what they can do to improve or change; rather than just assuming that change is evident. This connection and conclusion for learners is most important to pursuing constructivism in learning.
This is most importantly incorporated into games-based learning as differentiating between what happens in the game and how it can be applied outside of it is critical. Making this connection may be simple for the educator; but for the learner it could take a larger leap of faith.
Applied learning
Part of engaging in player reflection is so that learners can apply what they’ve learned through games-based learning. This is where the instructor and educator play a critical role. Specifically in reflecting how aspects such as game theme relates and connects to the reflection process.
This is part of the player’s reflection process in which specific questions should be asked and answered. Specifically these should include learners own individual game play; their gaming practices; the design of the game; and observed connections between the game and the real world.
This is often easier observed in some games more than others. Simulations and serious games created for teaching and learning will often have closer connections to real world applications than commercially produced games. However, all games in the right hands can be used for some kind of learning outcome or player development. Player reflection makes it so that this kind of metacognitive processes are capitalized on by both learners and instructors.
This is similar to how cased-based learning or simulations or scenarios can be used for teaching and learning. While learners undergo a simulation (often via paper); other students and learners work and cooperate together to formulate and ideate on a response and solution. Games work in a similar fashion. However, both approaches can include group debriefings and personal reflections on the learning process. The integration of which aids in the achievement of learning outcomes.
No matter how player reflection is used in games-based learning; learners can always examine how their own perspectives influenced their own actions and in turn how they reasoned and reacted to the game in order to accomplish their own goals.
Takeaways
This article examined player reflection. It covered why players reflect as well as how player reflection incorporates the principles of games-based learning. Player reaction and introspection were compared to one another and included how players can make this a personalized process.
Player reflection was also connected to metacognition and ultimately how it affects the player experience. Reflection methods were discussed and how they can be used to augment and influence learning and habit formation.
This article was about player reflection. To learn more about gamification, check out the free course on Gamification Explained.
Dave Eng, EdD
Principal
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Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2022, March 1). What is Player Reflection?. Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from www.universityxp.com/blog/2022/3/1/what-is-player-reflection
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