This week the class is officially starting a 10-week playtesting session with games and platforms of their choice. One team has selected Civilization IV, one Spore, and a third Second Life. I am tagging along wth the Spore team as I prepare a book chapter discussing the incorporation of Cell and Creature stages into a middle school science class in the area.

"Xi Bao" - my creature just after making land.

As I play Spore I’m trying to keep in mind ideas from Gee’s, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2ed). We’re using this text to help better justify and articulate why spending up to 50 hours (and more) of course time playing COTS video games and exploring Second Life. This being the first week, I have nothing more to report that I’ve made it past the Cell Stage. My creature, who still retains his cell name (”xi bao” is Mandarin for “cell”), admittedly not a creative moniker.