Customer Reviews

The Magic Circle: Principles of Gaming & Simulation: Third and Revised Edition

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This is an incredibly comprehensive review of gaming and simulation. And by review I mean review of their fundamental nature -- why they have meaning, why they work so well as teaching and learning tools, and how they can best be used by both academics and practitioners. Klabbers provides his own keen insights and also provides ample evidence from the learning sciences to fortify his overview. For years his journal articles have provided new perspectives through which to understand these environments -- now all of this is captured in one place. For more information see this interview with the author on the subject of simulations in general and his book:
http://saulnier.typepad.com/learning_technology/2009/04/principles-of-gaming-and-simulation-an-interview-with-jan-h-g-klabbers.html

This book is the most comprehensive review of the subject by one of the field's experts--and comprehensive is probably an understatement. Klabbers uses an interdisciplinary approach to describe the gaming landscape in his first three chapters--Gaming: meaning play (a voluntary activity), games, and simulations (forms of play with one or more players with roles, rules, and a goal). The third chapter extensively reviews interactive learning through gaming. Gaming has been part of social structures since the Mill Game was played by the early Egyptians. Gaming was mentioned by Sun Tsu in the fifth century BC when discussing a two-person zero-sum game. Chapters four to seven address the game designer and the design-science of gaming. Chapters eight to 11 are large-scale case studies involving gaming and interactive dynamics, human capital, policy options for climate change, and management. This is a handy book (6×9 inch, 380 pages), but when I first looked at it, I was struck by the small font and the fact that the figures are readable only with my magnifying glasses. This book should be essential reading for business researchers interested in gaming and simulation to support learning and instruction.