TQ#3

The three simulations I chose to play were Westward Trail, Sim City Classic, and Quest Atlantis-Atlantis being my favorite. You can view snap shots of my experiences with Westward Trail and Sim City on my blog. Provided here are summaries of my experiences, and some things I learned and think my students will learn while playing.
The game that was the least hassle-free and time-friendly to me was Westward Trail. Although I played Oregon Trail as a child on my friend’s computer for hours a day, I don’t think I had the reasoning skills that I do now to play with more discretion about certain actions to take to help my crew stay alive. While I was playing Westward Trail, I actually used my higher order thinking skills to frequently check my status of materials and settings so that I could make it through the journey for a longer period of time, and I put a lot of thought into the next move I should make, such as resting versus trading supplies with other travelers. I wanted to make the best moves possible so that my crew and I could stay alive and make it through the sometimes treacherous conditions imposed upon us. After about 20 minutes of play time, my whole crew finally bit the dust, despite valiant attempts to hunt for food, trade with other travelers, use my carpentry skills to fix broken wheels and axels, provide rest time for the sick members, and trudge through snow storms and thunder storms. I was genuinely disappointed at the end that we didn’t make it all the way across the trail. I was prematurely excited to see what riches my crew would find at the end of the trail; however, instead of being greeted with riches after a long, depressing journey, we were sadly greeted along the way with grim disease, natural disasters, and eventually death, which all prevented us from reaching the end of the rainbow. I invested a bit more time into playing Sim City Classic because I had never before played it, but I must say that city construction is not my thing. I didn’t get much past the first few steps of setting up coal plants, residential neighborhoods, industrial parks, and commercial areas before fires started raging and my little town was facing its demise. The simulation on which I spent the most time and had the most enjoyment with was Quest Atlantis. Although it took me about 30 minutes (no joke) to find where Nancy Sanchez was located (10S 4E), I enjoyed the navigation, and I felt a great sense of achievement once I found her. Throughout my quest, I learned the background of the Atlantis through viewing the comic book and watching the video, and I impressed myself by exercising constant patience despite struggles such as figuring out after about ten minutes that all I had to do was press the escape key on my keyboard to get my mouse back.