Games are commonly used in some introductory programming courses because they’re fun for students to create and they teach basic programming concepts just as effectively as creating other kinds of applications.

On the other hand, in the business school we’ve traditionally favoured teaching using little mini practical examples with a business flavour.  We’ve sometimes thrown in a few games in our stage 1 course, but generally the assumption has been it’s better to teach them something similar to what they’re going to be building or prototyping when they graduate.   

The problem with an all games approach is that students sometimes find it hard to apply those concepts to a non-game environment.  Sure, if they’re thoroughly mastered all aspects of programming, they can apply those skills to any domain.  But our students only take one 12-week programming course.  They get the basics, not mastery.  And very few go on to become developers (unless they take computer science also).   They should however understand the design and construction of business applications and be able to prototype systems.   I’m just unsure how well they can do that if all we taught them was to build simple games.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I loved Monkey Island.  I’m not really sure why since I pretty much sucked at them and had to frequently resort to hints sites or walkthroughs to get through difficult bits.  I haven’t the patience to try all the permutations of different objects together to achieve some effect.  But I did like seeing how the puzzle was solved, even if not by me.    I’ve got all the games, and I do go back and play them every year or two.  I find I’ve forgotten half of it by then and it’s like playing a fresh game again.   I’ve always thought it was a shame they didn’t make another game.    Well, now they have!

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One of my favourite games of all time is a very DOS game written in 1983. It is essentially a murder mystery.  Similar to Cluedo, you have to figure out which of the 7 guests did the deed, which room was the scene of the murder, and what implement was used in the crime.  

The game is played in one of two mansion settings, and randomly generates a cast of characters, including the murder victim.  What makes it really interesting though, is the ability to personalise it so that you and your friends or family become the starring characters.

You are a detective, wandering around the house examining objects and questioning suspects trying to piece together the clues.   Your aim is to pick up the murder weapon, gather all the houseguests at the scene of the crime and then accuse the guilty party.  If you aren’t fast enough, the murderer starts to grow suspicious of your investigation, and if you really muck around, they will start stalking you and will permanently eliminate you at the earliest opportunity.

I just never get tired of stuff like this with the names of people I know:
Brendon turns away from you and murmurs, "Aneeta and I spent the entire evening alone together in the guest bedroom".
Now, uh . . . I’m not one to  gossip, but I don’t think you could go wrong by looking into Amal’s story.  There’s one person who won’t lose any sleep over Sian’s death."

Gaming nights usually consist of Settlers of Catan and maybe Munchkin.  I indulged in a couple of Christmas presents for myself and got Pirate’s Cove and Puerto Rico.

I have kind of a ‘thing’ for pirates, although I’ve no idea why.  Pirates Cove is a great theme game, although it involves a lot of luck through dice battles.  It also involves a considerable amount of trying to anticipate your opponents’ moves so as to best screw them over.  I think it will work well.

Puerto Rico is more of a pure strategy game.  There is only a small amount of randomness in the game, and the rest of the uncertainty comes from actions of the other players.   I’ve been trying to get the feel for the game by playing Puerto Rico online before I have a chance to actually play it in real life.  After all, someone has to know how to play.

I can also recommend the place I got them from: The Games.   The website is easy to use at the moment (may change as their range expands), and they use a device of having a hypothetical family of mum, dad and 2 kids.  Each of the family members have different requirements for what makes a good game, and each game is scored as to how much it appeals to each family member.     The website could be improved so the information is a bit easier to get at (fewer clicks and page loads), but as a rating device, it works pretty well.