Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Podcast296V: Introducing and Explaining Travians, A Free Online Simulation Game (by 11 year old Alexander)

This podcast is a 57 minute screencast recorded by 11 year old Alexander, giving an in-depth introduction to the online browser game Travians.com. Travians is different from the singular Travian game, which he has discussed in two previous podcasts (linked in these shownotes) and is more of a simulation game rather than a team-based warfare game. Alexander recorded this podcast using the software program ScreenFlow and a M-Audio Producer USB microphone. I edited the screencast afterwards, adding video effects to zoom in on the parts of the screen containing game elements he discussed. I was impressed not only by the complexity of the game and Alexander’s ability to teach himself the game, but also by the ways he is learning about economics and contextually using his mathematics skills to succeed in the game. He clearly is constantly solving problems in the game too, as well as learning to safely navigate challenges presented by online, interactive games. Should I grant a friend request? How much information should I disclose about myself? This podcast is a good example of something one of my graduate education professors taught me several years ago, regarding the topics we often provide to students to discuss and share. Too often we ask students to write about topics where they are shallow, or have very little knowledge and experience. This podcast is an example of a presentation on a topic about which Alexander is very deep, or knowledgable. I was amazed that with a minimal amount of prior planning, he shared this screencast lasting almost an hour. Alexander was very aware of his online audience for this presentation, and found the prospect of not only having my undivided attention for this presentation but also having a chance to publish this on the global stage to be a very engaging activity. Many thanks to Alexander for sharing this presentation and these ideas!

Show Notes:

  1. Travians.com
  2. Travian.us
  3. Podcast209: A 10 year old discusses Travian, an online simulation war game
  4. Podcast240: Travian Tips and Lessons Learned After Four Months Playing Online
  5. Travians Quest Help Page (referenced by Alexander in the podcast)
  6. ScreenFlow (software used to record this screencast)
  7. iSquint (free software used to compress this screencast to half its ScreenFlow-exported size)

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