Reflection of Cultural Models in Games
Gee states that the learning benefits games bring to learners are their power to encourage active critical thinking about game content by the player (Gee, 2003). In this case, game designers embed patterns into their games that the player must discover in order to win, and they use stories and game structure to hide or reveal patterns.
In doing so, however, game designers also reveal another important aspect of the patterns themselves: the mental models that the patterns represent do not exist on their own. Rather, they are always part of the socio-cultural background of the designer, and their interpretation must be negotiated with that of the learner.
So, as he or she plays the game, the player is exposed to a particular and limited view of the world, expressed through the design grammar of the game by the designer. It is in the dialog between the cultural model of the player and the cultural model of the designer that the three identities--real world, virtual and projective--defined by Gee takes place.
For example, in Civilization IV by Sid Meier, the player takes on the role of the leader of a civilization who must then make decisions that will lead that civilization from primitive to futuristic eras as well as stand the test of time. However, even as elaborate as Civilization is, the cultural model of the designer, Sid Meier, becomes evident almost immediately.
In earlier versions of the game, for example, religion did not figure as an important aspect that a civilization could develop in order to access certain cultural and technological advances. History, however, tells us this is certainly not the case, i.e., the achievements of great composers such as J.S. Bach or Handel hinged substantially on their religious beliefs. On the other hand, great scientific works such as Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica were built upon his earlier religious writings.