Developing a TextBased MMORPG to Motivate Students in CS1

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Developing a Text-Based MMORPG to Motivate
Students in CS1

• Richard Barnes and Maria Gini
• Dept of CSE, University of Minnesota

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Outline

• Our CS1 Course
• Educational Objectives of the Project
• MMORPG Synopsis
• Project Details Analysis
• Student Response and Performance
• Conclusions and Future Work

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Our CS1 Course

• Predominantly freshmen
• Typically 120-130 students/semester
• Does not assume any prior programming experience
• Based on Scheme with some material on Python
• Part of a three-year project to improve learning
  in large classes by using active learning and
  group activities

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Student background
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Student programming background
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Educational Objectives of Project

• Resolve tension between willing and doing
• Open-ended, hands-on programming
• Solving complex real world problems
• Apply learning
• Working in groups with a significant amount of
  autonomy
• Developing strong collaboration skills
• Address issues of recruiting and retention in CS

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MMORPG Synopsis

• MMORPGs (massively multi-player online
  role-playing games)
• A persistent world wherein players develop a
  character through interactions with other
  characters and the worlds environment
• Known in their text-based form as MUDs, MUCKS, or
  MUs

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• telnet aalynors_nexus.maelstorm.com 2000
• Name Joe
• Password
• You are standing in an open meadow.
• Fred is standing by you.
• Exits north, south, east, west, and sewer.
• Fred says, Joe, come fight foul monsters with me
  in pursuit of everlasting glory.
• You say, Ok.
• Fred climbs down into the sewer.
• You follow Fred down into the sewer.

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• A rush of rancid air rushes up to meet you. (HP
  -1)
• It is too dark to see.
• You light a torch.
• You are standing in a dank tunnel with a slimy
  floor.
• Fred and a foul monster are standing by you.
• There are no obvious exits.
• The foul monster attacks Fred!
• You wield your sword.
• You attack the foul monster, slashing it.
• The monster kicks you. (HP -3)
• Fred slashes the monster.
• The monster dies, dropping a sack of loot.
• XP 4

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Why use an MMORPG in CS1?

• Fun and interesting material encourages majoring
  in CS
• Students think that Scheme has limited value, the
  MMORPG disproves this.
• Familiar game concept
• Provides outlets for all skill levels
• Everyone can play

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Details on Project

• Optional project, with minimal credit for
  participants
• Pre-project discussion of themes, meeting times,
  design considerations
• A full day of design and programming
• Design and code the game in Scheme from scratch,
  with limited help and guidance

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Analysis of project

• Leadership
• team leadership developed spontaneously
• A single day
• not enough time to complete the project
• kept students focused excited
• Pitfalls
• Lack of comfort with abstractions
• Lack of skeleton code
• Some teams were too large
• Limited inter-team communication
• Lack of familiarity with MMORPG
• Bottlenecks

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Student Response and Overall Performance

• Student response
• Enjoyed the experience and learned from it
• Better understanding of program development
• Better appreciation of Scheme
• Learned importance of team work and communication
• Desired follow-up

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Overall Class Performance
Total number of students 2005 138 2006
116 2007 122
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Conclusions and Future Work

• The project helped student learning in many
  aspects (programming, group work, leadership,
  communication, etc)
• More organization before the project day and some
  skeleton code will enable greater accomplishments

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Wiki page available at https//wiki.umn.edu/vi
ew/CsGame1901 For more information email
barnes_at_cs.umn.edu gini_at_cs.umn.edu