Epistemic Games
by David Williamson Shaffer
In an article in this issue of Innovate, Jim Gee asks the question "What would a state of the art instructional
video game look like?" Based on the game Full Spectrum Warrior, he concludes that one model is "to pick [a]
domain of authentic professionalism well, intelligently select the skills and knowledge to be distributed, build
in a related value system as integral to gameplay, and clearly relate any explicit instructions to specific
contexts and situations" (2005, para. 20). That is, he describes a good instructional game as an adaptation of
"authentic professionalism" in video game format.
Here I would like to give a more detailed account of this idea by looking more closely at the terms
"authenticity" and "professionalism." I begin by connecting these concepts to some of the theories of learning
on which they are based: ideas about communities of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998),
reflective practice (Schon 1987), epistemic frames (Shaffer 2004a) and pedagogical praxis (Shaffer 2004b).
These theories link games, simulations, and professional practices. In so doing, they provide tools and
techniques to guide the development of games for learning. To show how this works, I will give an example of
one such game that, while still a prototype, demonstrates how a deliberately constructed simulation of
professional practice can be both an engaging activity and a compelling learning environment.
Epistemic Frames and Reproductive Practices
As Gee suggests, what we usually think of as the content of a knowledge domain takes on a new life when
learners pursue meaningful ends within a coherent practice (2005, para. 6). More than that, though, when
learners engage in socially-valued practices toward ends they value—that is, when learners use real tools
and methods to address issues they care about—motivation and learning tend to follow. Resnick and I have
described learning contexts in which this kind of connection takes place as "thickly authentic," meaning that
ac