Today I attended a workshop on serious games. It was hosted by two organisations who are becoming an increasing presence in the field, and was addressed by the chairman of the serious games institute.

We were given a hands-on demonstration of a product developed by the host organisation, while another showed us the use they have been making of Secondlife as a space for delivering learning.

It was very interesting. However, I am increasingly concerned that the learning design of serious games has taken a backward step, with the control being in the hands of the designer, and the learner having reduced ability to target specific learning requirements that he has identified for himself. This is against the flow of developments in online learning.

However, the opportunities within Second Life or similar environments are enormous. I will post more on this another day when I have more time.