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bringing together professionals and information in the field of digital game-based learning.
   
   

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Should I try this in-house or buy from a vendor?

Simple Digital Game-Based Learning tools, such as templates, should almost always be bought from a vendor - they have been built, tested, and proven to work, and they can be up and running almost as fast as you can add the content - often in less than a day. They also have people standing behind them to fix them should they not work. While you can run simple e-mail games yourself, more complex games for thousands and tens of thousands of employees require the server power and know-how of a vendor. If the content you need is available in a game off-the-shelf, you should carefully consider using it, bearing in mind that some vendors are more willing to tailor or customize than others.

For complex, custom-designed Digital Game-Based Learning, the decision is somewhat more involved, as a number of skills are needed, some of which are highly unlikely to be found inside a company at the level required. Probably the key factor in the decision as to where to base the project is whether the project management skills and experience to build a complex computer game are available within the company. I was available, for example, within Bankers Trust. Paula Young was available within PricewaterhouseCoopers. Richard Barkey was available within McKinsey. Cindy Klein was available within Ameritrade. While we still had to go out and hire some combination of game designers, graphics designers, game programmers and script writers, because of our backgrounds we knew enough and had sufficient experience to manage and design the projects ourselves. This obviously saved on the "hard costs" side of the budget.

If, on the other hand, you are a trainer or executive building a game for the first time, you would be well advised to seek out a firm, or "general contractor" that has done this before. Among the reasons for this are that
  • They will understand the resources required and how to manage them
  • They will know where to find the right resources (game programmers, actors, scriptwriters, voice talent, games graphics designers, etc) when needed
  • They will ideally keep you more focused on making the application game-like and keep it from slipping back into a more traditional training mode.
A third approach would be to hire a consultant who has created learning games before as a general contractor and "partner," letting them do the design and hire the necessary free-lance resources, potentially cutting out some of the overhead associated with a company. There may be tradeoffs here, however, in losing the value of an established an well-oiled team.

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