This distinction probably matters most to game designers, but the reason we don’t love gamification or gamify is that the term often refers to things that are not what we do. We understand why people use it. It is an attempt to simplify something complex. And it is not easy to explain why the term […]
Virtual Explorers Is a Journey, Not a Destination
A common questions we hear is a simple one: “What is the outcome of working with Virtual Explorers?” It’s a reasonable question. In education, we’re used to outcomes being tangible: a syllabus, an assignment, a platform, a product. But Virtual Explorers was never designed to be a single destination you arrive at. It’s a journey […]
From Memorization to Interaction: How AI Is Changing What It Means to Learn
For a long time, learning was split into two camps. On one side were problem-based subjects like math, design, and programming. These rewarded experimentation, logic, and iteration. On the other side were fact-heavy subjects like geography or history, often taught through memorization and passive consumption. Many learners gravitated toward the first group not because the […]
Why Specialized AI Personas Matter More Than a Generic Chatbot
Most people encounter AI as a single general purpose assistant. You ask a question, it answers. That model is powerful, flexible, and impressive. But it is not always the best tool for meaningful work. There is a growing difference between talking to a generic AI and engaging with a purpose built AI persona. A generic […]
Interaction as the Starting Point for Better Stories
Video games are often praised for their mechanics, but their greatest contribution to storytelling may be something simpler. Interaction makes a story personally relevant. When a person must choose, struggle, or explore inside a narrative, the events stop feeling distant and begin to feel connected to their own decisions. That sense of agency is valuable […]
A Tuesday with AI
On Tuesday, I did not write code all day.I did not lock myself in a design cave.I did not spend hours staring at a blank page. Instead, I worked alongside AI. By the end of the day, I had to stop and ask an uncomfortable question. How did all of this fit into a single […]
Assessing Learning Through Role Play
Role playing experiences are often misunderstood as hard to assess. In reality, they offer some of the clearest windows into student thinking that faculty can access. In an educational role playing experience, learning is not measured by whether students reach a specific ending or maximize a score. Learning shows up in the choices students make, […]
Essence Over Accuracy
When designing educational RPGs, perfect realism is often less effective than intentional simplification. Real-world systems are complex, messy, and time-consuming, and translating them directly into gameplay can overwhelm players or bury the learning goals. To create meaningful interaction, designers sometimes shorten processes, exaggerate effects, or simplify systems. While this may look like a compromise, it […]
Why Good Stories Still Matter in an Age of AI
As AI makes it easier than ever to generate content, a strange anxiety has emerged. If stories can be created instantly, will they lose their value? The answer is no. In fact, the opposite may be true. When content becomes abundant, meaning becomes scarce. And meaning is exactly what good stories provide. Research and practice […]
Virtual Explorers create role-play experiences not simulations
The line between role-playing games and simulations is blurry. Both are experiential, both place learners inside a situation, and both ask them to make decisions. The difference is not in impact, but in how they are built and how well they scale. Simulations aim to model real-world systems accurately. To work well, they require careful […]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 12
- Next Page »