Educational games and simulations have been described in science
fiction for decades. From the Kobayashi Maru’s “no-win scenario”
for the purpose of testing character (Ecklar, 1989), to a child
prodigy named Andrew Wiggins guiding actual troops in what he
believed to be a mere simulation (Scott, 1994), games have
proven to be plot devices in many science fiction scenarios.
Like many technologies that found their roots in science fiction
(Stewart, 2010), games are beginning to find their place in
modern society, both as an art form and as an educational tool.
The tabletop and video gaming industries have boomed in the last
twenty years, and the current proliferation of games could lead
to an increased use of games and simulations in education In
Salen & Zimmerman’s Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, a
game is defined as “a system in which players engage in
artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in
quantifiable outcome (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003).” If games can be
designed to provide a desirabl