When looking at how the different forms of modern media have been used for educative purposes and which particular instances have been chosen, one notion stands out – the majority of the most remarkable and effective “lessons” taught to us have been created by extraordinarily talented writers, directors, and producers together with their teams. They have, by and large, not been created by professional educators or instructional designers. Far from trying to sell educators and instructional designers short, we should recognize the opportunities afforded us in studying these outstanding examples of “educational” objects, and try to learn why they have the impact they do. By “studying the masters”, we can progress towards understanding the essential elements of ‘good’ games and begin to discuss the implications this holds for the deliberate design of educational games.
