The seven circumstances of game-based learning: a worked example and an invitation

In this worked example, I propose a framework for characterizing the learning that occurs in particular uses of a game for educational purposes. The framework is based upon the ancient Greek rhetorical structure that evolved into the "five W's" of modern journalism (who, what, when, where, why--the Greeks also had "how" and "with what"). This framework is just one (worked) example of how we might achieve the larger aim of this proposal, which is to encourage game designers and researchers to be explicit about the theories of learning, goals, and contexts that undergird their designs or analyses, which might help the field of game-based learning research to develop a common language and facilitate exploration of the many regions of what I consider a high-dimensional space. In this example I describe the seven circumstances of game-based learning and offer examples of how we might locate particular games within this space.