Tutorial on Getting Started with Gaming in Higher Education

Foreword

Remember, any game can be used for educating. Don't look for content specific games (although that can help), that is not how life or education really happens. People learn everyday from what is happening around them. The ability to tie that experience into the subject matter they are learning is what helps them to learn. I strongly recommend you start off with using off-the-shelf games. They are easier to work with and most students have an experience of having already played them. While this is advantage for them, it may not be for you. Perhaps at the beginning of the semester, take a survey of the games your students play and do some research. Look at the type of games they are and the content they provide. Try to see to if you can make a connection to what happens in that particular game environment and the content of your course. A good assignment might be to have students find a way to teach, or apply, the subject matter they are studying using their favorite game. This will force them to think about possibilities and allow you to see more opportunities that may not have been noticed before.

 

For the purpose of this tutorial, we will be using a popular game that really spans all age levels from teens to the more mature adult. World of Warcraft is what many gamers refer to as a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or MMOPRG. In WOW, players get to become either heroes or villains (which we will discuss in a moment) and explore the online realms in WOW fulfilling quests, having adventures, battling evil, battling each other, and just plain having fun. Players can choose to go at it alone or join groups in battles and adventures taking on opposing alliances or hordes. (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004-2007).

 

If you have never played WOW, that makes you a newbie. If you have played other MMPORG games, you will probably be at an advantage. This tutorial is meant to help the newbie or NOOB, get off to a good start without looking like a NOOB to other players in the WOW. This tutorial is written from what I have learned not to do and to help you make intelligent decisions. Once the basics are learned, the game is both fun and rather addicting, in a good way.  For those who have played the game before, feel free to edit the following sections of the tutorial.

WOW Instruction Booklet

The manual is roughly 195 pages long. I don't recommend reading the entire thing first before you play. This would be unproductive. If you have never played an MMPORG, you have nothing to associate the reading material with cognitively. It is best to read while playing and referring to it when need be. The information I will be sharing here, will be enough to get you started, but for more detail, you may wish to consult the book. With that in mind, I would recommend you do read at least chapters two and three. Chapter two deals with the technical aspects of setting up your WOW account, while chapter three provides you information on getting started in WOW. Chapter three alone is a lot of information, and one could play several hours and advance level-wise with the information in it as well as with the notes contained here.

 

Creating Your Account

You can either download a trial version of the game, which is basically the real version just missing the activation key, or purchasing the game. As of today (2007), you can purchase World of Warcraft, for about $20, not including tax. There are expansion packs that are more expensive, and apparently require you to have the original WOW game (what we are writing about) and a be a certain level in order to access the expansion content. Chapter Two in the instruction manual or the tutorial online from the free trial version, does a pretty good job of walking you through, so I will not touch that. If you want to know the big difference between downloading the trial version (again it is the full version, without an activation key) or buying the game, it is time. The download was nearly 4 gigs and was indicating it would take anywhere from 30-40 hours to download via the internet. A quick trip to the retail store and twenty dollars, really speeds up the process of jumping right in to play. Luckily, Walmart is open 24/7.

 

One additional item to mention is that there is a monthly fee involved to play. The website will list the different degrees of payments and the discounts they offer, but in a nutshell, it is $15 per month.

Choosing a Realm

REALM STYLE

This really deals with the type of gameplay you are wanting. Word of advice if this is your first time, choose Normal. While the other ones may sound more adventurous, you need to time to develop your skill and level up your character. This will allow you to kill beasts, explore, choose quests, join groups and even challenge other players. For information on each of the realm gameplay options of Normal, Player vs Player, Role Playing, or Role Playing Player vs Player, visit http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/realmtypes.html Information will also be displayed on the left side of your screen when you select each one.

With regards to language style,  I suggest English. This is how you plan on communicating with other game characters in the environment as well as technical help if you need it. This provides a great opportunity for ESL learners. If you are teaching a foreign language, I would still suggest English as many of your students may not be as incredibly fluent in the language they are learning. Of course that would provide a similar experience of actually being in a foreign country and having to learn the language as they go...perhaps an advance class. They are many things to learn in WOW and having to master the language first before playing the game, could be frustrating. I suggest that when you get together in a "group" with your students, that you simply make the rule of only speaking in the language they are learning when communicating with each other.

CHOOSING REALM

One of the things to look for is population when choosing a realm. If you are new, maybe a low population is better. That is where I started and it seems more than adequate to get started in a game play world. Throughout the game, you can always change the realm location as well as create a new character for each one if you so desire. The first two times I was in the world, I abandoned each realm I started in and deleted my characters for those realms. I was performing so horribly because I did not really know what to do and was located in an area so advanced for my character, I could not defeat air, if it were an enemy. One time, I fell off a cliff and landed on a branch and died. My spirit could not get to it so I floated around for eternity unable to do anything but start over. With that said, do not feel you are locked in to the realm you choose, you can always opt out, but not with your character. You may need to create a new character which starts you out a level one.

Creating Your Character

 

RACE

WOW consists of two sets of races called Alliance and Horde. You can either read up on these ahead of time or read the information on the right side of your screen as you make your selections. No selection is final until you hit create character, so explore. In a nut shell, Alliance is good and Horde is bad. Both Alliance and Horde can be broken down further into more specific races. Alliance includes the races of Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Night Elves, and Draenei. For the Horde, races can be brokend down into Orcs, Tauren, Trolls, Undead, and Blood Elves. Player preference is entirely up to you. If you have a dark side, explore the Horde. For the purpose of this tutorial, I chose the Night Elves. I didn't want to be a human because I am that. Many people play games to have the opportunity to be someone or something they are not. So choose your preference and have fun. This will be a character you will be playing with awhile and investing a lot of time and skill into. Characters can always be deleted, but all levels or skills earned go with them. A nice website to help you obtain more details about each is http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/gettingstarted.html

 

GENDER

Once you have choses your race, choose your gender. Silly I know, but believe it or not, statistics show that men will play female avatars. This doesn't translate into anything if you are wondering. I know male students who will play as female avatars to get more advantages and because male avatars will sometimes treat them differently. Just be aware that male or female players will often choose to play their opposite gender.

 

CLASSES

Next on the list is to choose your class. These may vary depending on the race you choose. You might think of class as a type of occupation or skill set. Throughout the game you will have opportunities to strengthen these skills through both game play and through trainers specific to your class found in many villages you will encounter along the way. For my first character I chose the Hunter for my Night Elf thinking I could snipe my enemies from a distance. That was true till the beast started running at me. Gameplay is very similar to many RPG games where the battling is very turn-based, meaning you swing then they swing and vice versa. After 8 hours of failure, I created a new character and chose Warrior as my class. It is what I was most accustomed with in other games and found it easy to learn and use. For a first time, I would highly recommend it. To see the advantages of each class, you can read the manual Chapter 6 or follow the information that will be displayed to the right of your screen during your character creation.

APPEARANCE

While customization is available, I still found it somewhat limiting. I wish it was as interactive as the character editor in Second Life. In WOW, you can choose preset options for each of the appearance choices available like skin color, facial features, hair style, hair color, and facial hair. I would like to see an option for changing the color of the clothes, but did not see it. If you would rather skip this step, WOW provides a RANDOMIZE button where, when pressed, WOW chooses a combination of the above for you. Your preference.

 

NAME

I think this a really interesting point to make here. When choosing a name, I know this may sound silly, but think about the world you will be playing in. The idea of immersion is to be totally absorbed in the game with sights and sounds, and not just for you. Other players exist in this world and nothing breaks the moment than traveling thru a fairy tale land and meeting a character named, Dr. Pepper. You can not control other people's names, but you can control yours. I admit, it was hard to come up with a clever name, something different than an elf named, Bob. So what I did is wrote out my name and took letters from each one to form a name that could exist in WOW and seem realistic. Of course, if that is too much, you can also have WOW pick a name for you at the click of the button provided underneath the name box. How important is a good name. According to the book there can be consequences for choosing a bad one leading to possible termination from the game. To see there policy on naming, visit http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01722p

 

CREATE YOUR CHARACTER

 

And you are done, click CREATE CHARACTER and then ENTER WORLD.

 

 

Welcome to the World of Warcraft.

INTRO CINEMATIC

Based on the character you created, the intro cinematic will go into about a 2-3 minute cinematic describing the history of the race you chose leading up to the situation that now exists in the world of Warcraft. To opt out of this cinematic, hit the ESCAPE key on your keyboard.

 

FIRST VILLAGE I cannot stress this enough here, love this village and do not be in a haste to leave it. This is where you will gain the chance to become stronger in your skills and learn alot about basic game play. Hurrying off down the road will lead you to higher level beasts which you will not be ready for. A good one to two hours of gameplay can increase your characters level from a level one to a level four. As you progress to different towns, beasts and monsters along the way increase in their level of difficulty. You want to make sure your own skill or character level is close if not equal or better than those of the beasts and monsters. Stay close to home before becoming to adventurous.

 

When you start to move around you may see a display box pop up with directions. You can turn this off, but it is recommended to leave it on as it will pop up when new things are encountered instructing you as to what objects are or what is happening. You may also see yellow exclamation marks appear on your screen, clicking on them reveals the display box with important information, again, relaying to what you are seeing or what is happening. Once they are closed, they will not open again.

 

To help you get started, here is a brief list of things you should do and how while in this first village.

 

 

INTERFACE

Spend some time, mousing over everything here to get a good feel with what it may be. The interface is pretty straight forward and user-friendly. Here are the key things you need to know to get started:

 

HEALTH BAR

In the upper left and to the right of your character's portrait and level, is a health and rage bar. The health bar is on top and is green and the section for your rage will begin to build itself up in battle. Rage seems to help out with special, or "heroic," moves, inflicting more damage on a character. After a battle, your rage will begin to slowly decline. In battle, you will notice your green health bar begin to shrink. This is because you are being pummelted by a beast. If the bar gets to alway to the left, you will die. When you do enter into a battle, the beast you are fighting will appear to the right of your health bar displaying its health throughout the battle. Pray that his shrinks faster than yours. For more information on attacking, visit the ATTACKING BEASTS section below.

 

To bring up your heatlh bar, you can always rest by pressing x to sit down while you recharge. You can also eat food or drink from your backpack by right-clicking on the item. It does not take long to recharge. You can also recharge by walking around or not engaging in a battle.

 

MAP

You have a map located in the upper right that shows your location in relation to the world you are in. This is very important when embarking on quests. You can zoom in to map by press the "+" button next to the map, or zoom out by pressing the "-" sign. The Sun or Moon is the time of day indicator. To the left and attached to the map is an orb that will take you to the World Map, displaying only the areas you have discovered. Once you have discovered an area, it will be added to the map. The world view really comes in handy when you begin to explore off the main roads and need to find your way back to a village.

 

ACTION BAR

Located at the very bottom of your screen, the action bar holds all your weapons, heroic moves, and spells that you have to use. To add a weapon, heroic move or spell to the action bar, you can drag them from their locations (spellbook and abilities or backpack) and drop them in any of the number sequences. The numbers do not indicate any type of order or use. The numbers in the action bar correspond to the numbers on your keyboard. When in battle, press the numbered key to tell your avatar what action to take on its next turn. You can move the items around in the action bar to any desired number slot.

 

EXPERIENCE BAR

This is the long sequence of bars located above the the Action bar and extends from the left side of your screen to the right. You gain experience through exploring and discovering new areas, battling with beasts and fulfilling quests. With the success of each of these, the individual bars will light up. When they have all lit up, or filled, you character will "level-up." A bright shining beam of light will burst out of the heavens and shower you announcing your achievement. As you increase in levels, the experience bar will become longer and require more time to fill up. If you heed the advice of staying in the intro village, you can easily achieve a level 4 in about 1-2 hours.

 

INTERFACE PANEL

Located to the right of the action bar, this is where you can find information on the following or change settings. Starting from left to right:

 

CHARACTER INFO

This is basically your character's stats, reputation, and skills.

 

SPELLBOOK and ABILITIES

Lists your general abilities and spells as well as your heroic moves and fury options.

 

QUEST LOG

I guess the idea of the goblet is in reference to King Arthur's quest for the holy grail, or the need for a drink after achieving a quest. This will list all the quests you are currently enrolled in. They can be abandoned at any time. Quests are not timed leaving the chance to fullfill them at any point.

 

SOCIAL

Add friends to your list to communicate with and find where they are at.

 

GROUP

A great way to find a group embarked on similar quests or adventures as yourself. You can join or put a request out them to have others join you. You will then become a party. Joining a group can be very beneficial when working on quests where crowds of beasts are located. It is not wise to go it alone. Beasts can gang up on your character while you can only fight one at a time.

 

MAIN MENU

This will allow you to change up your interface or settings as well as exit the game or log off as the character you are currently playing. To change out of full screen mode, go to VIDEO OPTIONS and select WINDOW MODE located under DISPLAY.

 

HELP REQUEST

If you are having issues in WOW, this will take you to a common database of information. If you can not find your answer there, you can request to speak to a game master.

 

BACKPACK

 

This is located to the far bottom right of your screen. Clicking on it will reveal the contents in you backpack, including money in the bottom right. You have a limited number of spots in your backpack. Each slot is for a different item. Items that are the same are grouped together with a number in the lower right corner of the item's thumbnail indicating the quantity. For more information on managing your Backpack, visit the MANAGING BACKPACK section below. To the left of your backpack are slots for additional bags that can be purchased and filled.

 

CHATTING

To the left of your screen you will see a yellow cartoon speaking bubble, pressing it opens the chat dialog box as well as some preset sayings and movements for all occasions. You can also access the chat by press the "/" key on your keyboard.

 

In the WOW manual, on page 195 is a list of common acronyms you can use in WOW to type fast. Thanks to IM, this texting format is becoming very popular. These acronyms provide quick texting, which is necessary at times of battle. Terms you do not know, ask the person speaking it or write it down and search it out on the internet. You may find yourself creating new forms of short hand like, l8tr.

 

 

MOVEMENT

As with many PC games, you can use your WASD keys to move forward, turn left, go backwards, or to turn right.  Your arrow keys can also be used to perform the same functions as WASD. To move to the left or right without turning in that direction, select Q or D.  Pressing the spacebar will cause your avatar to jump.

 

Your Mouse controls selection of objects (left button) and attack (right button). The scrolling button allows you to zoom or out on the character. If you wish to move the camera without moving the character, Hold down the left button and move the mouse, it will snap back to the default when you begin to move.

 

SELECTING OBJECTS

As mentioned, the left mouse button is used to select items. Mousing over characters, reveals their name, skill level, race and class. Online players will have their names appear in BLUE above their avatars and will usually list PLAYER in the information displayed.

 

If you wish to interact with objects, like opening chests, speaking with NPC (non-playable characters), you must right click on them. Normally your cursor will change to cartoon speak bubble indicating that interaction can take place with the NPC. Inorder to interact with the NPC, you need to be close by. Text bubbled icons in grey indicate you are too far away for dialog.

 

ATTACKING BEASTS

adYou can either select the object first with a left-click of the mouse and then click the right-button when close enough to attack it, or just press the right mouse button to enter attack mode. If you are not close enough to do so, it will inform you that you are too far away and must be closer to perform the task. Attack methods will depend on your class. Night Elve hunters can shoot from a distance while warriors must be up close to fight. A warning needs to be given here about shooting beasts from a distance. Once a beast or monster has been shot and you are in attack mode, they come after you. Be prepared for fighting up close regardless of your class.

 

When choosing a beast to attack, you must keep in mind your skill level displayed in the upper left part of your screen, under you character's face and health bar. You also need to consider the level of the beast, displayed when you mouse over it. Defeat of higher level  beasts will yield more experience which will increase your level, however, they will also do a lot of damage if not kill your character. Start of slow with level one beasts and work your way up. I have found it best to fight beasts lower than, equal to, or about one level above my character. As you increase in your skill level, your hits will carry more impact. You will also defend higher.

 

When you mouse over a beast it will have it's threat level illustrated by the color of the box that surrounds the information of the beast. Yellow indicates that the beast is passive and you can walk near it without any threat. Red indicates that if the beast's personal space is violated it will attack you whether provoked or not. Beasts labeled in yellow will also fight back once you have entered into a battle with it.

 

When you begin to attack a beast, you have a primary weapon and defense shield that goes immediately into action. You do not need to press anything. It is sort of like watching each character make a move as in a chess game. Your avatar will swing regardless of whether or not you press a button. Right-clicking on your mouse seems to swing your sword, although I do not know if it is completely necessary. It could just be a comfort.

 

As you increase your weapons and spells, you will see them listed in the bottom bar of your screen, know as your attack bar. Each slot corresponds with an action, weapon, or spell. Pressing a number will tell your avatar what to do for the next hit. This is a great benefit when you beging to acquire spells or special moves that work hand in hand with your other weapons. When you purchase weapons or spells, you can drag them to any numbered slot in your action bar for use.

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Anyway, start off easy going after level-one beasts and slowly work your way up.

 

LOOTING YOUR KILL

Once a beast has been killed, you can right-click on it to see what valuables it holds. A list of items will appear, you must then left-click on them to select them and add them to your backpack. You can view the items in your backpack by clicking it at the bottom of your computer screen in the lower right. These items will become useful for trading and earning money throughout the game.

 

DEATH in WOW

Death is inevitable. You can not escape it. It is a fact, at some point we must all die, and die your character will. When death occurs, you do not respawn right away. At death, you will see a button that asks you to release your spirit. Releasing your spirit causes you to appear as a ghost, or "wisp" in the local graveyard. As a wisp, you must then float to your body to be reborn. Looking at your map as a wisp will reveal a type of orange arrow. Following it will lead you to your body for retrieval. When you get close enough to your body, a coffin icon will appear in the map and soon WOW will ask you if you want to "Ressurrect Now." You do not have to be directly over your body to resurrect. As long as you are close enough, it will give you the option of resurrection. Wherever you choose to resurrect is where you will appear. Be careful of appearing too close to beasts or monsters. You do not come in at full health, and if you are too close, they will attack you again. If this is the case, just run. Any distance you make before your next death is good. Eventually, you should be able to get to a clearing when you can resurrect yourself.

 

If you do not want to take the time to search for your body, you can consult with the Spirit Healer. Right click on the Spirit in the graveyard. This transaction will cost you experience though. (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004).

 

One other thing to mention about wisps or ghosts is that they adhere to the same physics in the game world as your avatar. You can not float through objects and should you go over a cliff as a wisp to retrieve a body that has fallen a tree branch, should you miss, you can not float back up. Gravity shows no partiality to the supernatural.

 

QUESTS

As you move around through the village, you will notice NPC's with yellow exclamation points over their head. Right-clicking on them will bring up a quest they are offering. You can decide to accept or decline. Many of them provide substantial rewards for taking them on. I strongly suggest you seek these in the first level of the game. One of the best ones to get started with is the BALANCE OF NATURE quest where you need to kill a certain number of beasts. It is a great way to excercise your weapon skills and advance your overall skill levels in addition to earning money.

 

Once you have a accepted a quest, there is no need to write everything down. WOW records your quest and your status in the gobblet at the bottom of your screen. Clicking on the golden cup will bring up the quests you have accepted allowing you to click on it to see your status. Completing a quest will put a yellow check mark next to it. Once the quest is complete, you must return to the NPC indicated in the quest. They will typically have a yellow question mark above their head. Right-click on them to announce you have completed the task and receive your reward.

 

If at some point you wish to abandon the quest, simply click on the gobblet in the interface panel, choose the quest and abandon it. The avatar will not seek you out or destroy you. The quest are not on any time limit and could be fulfilled at any point during the game.

 

WHY YOU NEED AN INN

Many of your quests may take you from a village. At some point you may be short on supplies or health and just need to get back to a place of safety. When you visit a village or town, search out the local inn keeper. When you find him or her, right-click on them and choose "Make Inn Your Home." When you do this, the inn keeper will sort of cast a spell on you and you will receive a Hearthstone in your backpack. When you are far from the village, right-click the hearthstone in your backpack and your avatar will begin to do something that  looks like magic. Know that you need time to do so. If you are running away from an enemy or hope to do it while being severely beaten, good luck. Once the spell is complete, you magically appear in the comfort of the inn. The hearthstone will reset itself about an hour after you have used it. Again, everytime you enter a new village where you will be taking on nearby quests, it is smart to select the local inn as your home.

 

MANAGING YOUR BACKPACK and STORING YOUR ITEMS for PURCHASING

At some point your backpack may become full and you need to cash in or trade what you have for better items. If you find yourself looting and unable to cram anymore into your backpack, you may have to decide whether the item is more important than another. If so, select the item you don't want and then click any open area of your screen. It will ask you if you want to delete the item.

 

TRADING

The best way to manage your backpack list is to visit any tradesman or merchant. Right-clicking on them will take you into trade mode. In the bottom right of the trade box is an area for you to place items to be traded. You can either drag and drop them or right-click on them in your back-pack. Now, to put you at ease, just because you place the items in that window does not mean you are trading those items with that merchant; think of it like a big wallet. When you place items in there, it will give you the money value of those items. You can always take back the items by selecting the buyback option and pulling the items back to your backpack or right-clicking on them. Even if you do not purchase anything, those items will remain in that type of wallet for any vendor you visit.

 

PURCHASING

Now when you are looking to make a trade with a vendor, make sure you have enough money. There are no credit cards in WOW, except for the $15 monthly fee you pay to play in this virtual world. When you find an item you want, select it and then click in an empty space in your backpack.

 

USING ITEMS

To use food items, just right-click on them. To add amor to your avatar, right-click on them. Just because you bought them, does not mean you are wearing them. I discovered this by accident. If you purchased armor or clothing, when you right-click them, they will appear on your avatar.

 

REPAIRING ITEMS

At some point you may need to repair your items, when you visit an armor or weapons provider, there will be an option for repairing your items one at a time or all. Based on the need of your equipment, the price may vary. I recommend repair all.

 

TRAIN WITH A PRO 

As you earn money, it becomes really handy to learn new fighting skills to help give you advantages in battling. Each town has a trainer for the class you chose for your avatar. When you find them, right-click on them and see what is available. What determines whether or not you can be trained is your experience level. If the training is affordable and you see something you like, click on train and the transaction takes place. You will find the new item in your Spellbook and abilities. Simply drag to your action bar to be used. In battle, you simply choose the number of the action and your avatar will engage in it on it's next move. If it is a defense mode, it will automatically be applied throughout the battle.

 

TRADE SKILLS

Ok, last thing. Another way to eventually earn money down the road is to create goods that you or others can use. WOW allows you to choose up to two trade skills at a time. There is herbalism, mining, skinning, alchemy, blacksmithing, engineering, leatherworking, tailoring, first-aid, enchanting, fishing and cooking. They can be two different, or two similar trades. Some trades work well together and should be considered. Getting good a trade skills is bit more advanced, but it is good to think about this early on so when you come across one at an early stage, you can start growing that skill for later in the game. (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004).