Spore is a game being created by Will Right, designer of games like SimCity and The Sims. The game aims to take the player from a single cell and allow them to evolve a creature, build a civilization, and finally colonize space. It hopes to achieve this grand scope while simultaneously giving the player more input and control over their world and it creations than ever before. It also hopes to bring players together to collaborate on creating game worlds. Wright was recently interviewed by N'Gai Croal of Newsweek. A couple of quotes from the interview follow that I think are relevant to games and education. The full article can be found here (part 1, part 2).
"You want the player to walk away feeling better about themselves then before they walked up to a computer, rather than the other way around. We have the ability to build systems that unlock creative potential within players."
Speaking about user generated content from The Sims...
"It was only because the computer was encouraging them the whole way; at some point the game went from being an entertainment diversion to a tool and they started seeing it that way. It's like, 'Oh, not only have I learned to play this game real well, but in some sense I've learned to play this instrument really well, and other people enjoy looking at the creative output from me playing this instrument.'"
Wright has also been an advocate of education as exploration and discovery...
"Because I really like the idea of conveying science as a toy, or just education as a toy, but I think science especially is really applicable to that process."
