Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Critique Blog — Post 3
Game Metadata
Game Name: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Designer/Developer: Borderbund
Platform: Computer: Browser (Emulator)
High-level instructional goal: To develop an understanding about the world’s geography, as well as the history and culture of specific regions.
Link to Game: https://archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990
Learning Objectives
In order to successfully play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? a player must have some prerequisite knowledge of geography and correspondingly, languages and culture.The greater a player’s knowledge of the world’s geography and the characteristics of countries and cultures that exist within it, the more efficiently and quickly they are able to navigate through the game and ultimately in apprehending the suspect.
The primary learning objective is for the player to develop and strengthen their understanding about the world’s geography as well as the history and culture of specific regions. They will learn about geographic and manmade landmarks within countries, languages spoken in various regions, and the characteristics of a variety of cultures, among other related details.
From an overarching perspective, players of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? will hone in on their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Identifying the next location they need to travel to and/or identifying a suspect requires the players to process a variety of information including, but not limited to, the previously mentioned items: geographic location, landmarks, languages, and cultural details. It is within this context that the player will navigate through the game.
Game Elements
In the first edition of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? we find ourselves in the story of a detective (the player) who is traversing the globe with the intent of capturing thieves and advancing within the ACME Detective Agency, headquartered in San Francisco, California and led by “The Chief”. Each time they are presented with a case, they follow geographic and cultural based clues to various locations where they continue to gather evidence and information, ultimately leading them to one of many potential suspects listed on their dossier. If they are able to acquire a warrant for the correct suspect and make the capture, they will advance in the game. As they advance closer to the ultimate thief, Carmen herself, the game increases in difficulty.
The player’s virtual game board is comprised of four major components that serve as interaction points for the player:
- Videophone: A tool used to travel, contact Crime Net, receive messages from The Chief, and acquire a warrant. Turning this on marks the start of the game.
- Interactive Map/ Screen: A major visual component of the game, players will see maps of travel destinations, images of geographic regions, evidence, and the characters who exist within the game.
- Center console: A key navigation and organization where the player can view written messages, the evidence they have collected throughout the game, dossiers on each of the potential suspects, basic information on a number of countries, as well as their options menu.
- Interactive Notepad: A list of actions the user is meant to take, the notepad guides the player through a series of steps that ultimately result in a series of clues and information, meant to influence the player’s next steps.
Presented with the “detective brief” at the start of each case, the player learns what has been stolen, from where, and the deadline for recovery. The Chief (a protagonist and head of ACME) directs you to make your travel arrangements via the video phone, marking the official start to your quest. On their initial departure, the travel location will be chosen for the player, however as each case progresses the player will need to choose the destination themselves. In each destination, the player completes the tasks on their notepad and from the information acquired, deducts clues about the suspect and the next destination they should travel too. As they add characteristics of the suspect to their evidence list, they aim to reach a level of specificity that allows them to identify the thief and request a warrant, before locating them. If they successfully do so, they will advance onto the next case, should they fail to catch the thief or do so without a warrant, they will remain at their current rank and are presented with a new case.
The Carmen Sandiego world has expanded quite a bit since it’s origination. From its inception in 1985, it has since spanned twenty-two video games and the subject of multiple TV shows, including a new Netflix series.
Learning Principles
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? heavily prompts players to consider information that they already know and to follow the trail of their suspect, demonstrating the induction/refinement principle of activating preconceptions and building on their understanding of a region and it’s geographic and cultural characteristics. An example of this may be the player taking a flight to Athens, Greece from the list of available destinations after hearing the suspect was on a merchant boat circling Crete, which they can identify as of the Greek islands.
However, the player may be happy to find that while they are required to do some of the heavy lifting in terms of connecting the dots, the game does also practice the principle of application, where it presents small snippets of information to the player and then allows them to use this newly acquired knowledge to actively problem solve the hurdles they encounter throughout the game. Additionally, the game utilizes the guided attention principle (also of the induction/refinement categorization) as it prompts and guides the player to their next move, whether it be scheduling travel arrangements or a list of activities to complete while in a specific location.
Reflecting upon the sense-making principles, we can identify the use of Temporal contiguity throughout the game. The game does provide some written and visual guidance, but the complementary audio (often in the form of witnesses and The Chief) provided plays a significant role in propelling the game forward and in my opinion contributes to the personality of the game. Spatial contiguity is also evident, particularly in the provided evidence reports that the player acquires throughout the game as it closely places descriptions near the visuals. One (ok, perhaps two) last sense-making principle to touch upon that I enjoyed seeing, is the presence of questioning. The player is not guaranteed to select the correct destination or suspect (now we see cognitive dissonance sneaking in) which means there are likely to be times where the player is uncertain in their choice and selects the wrong destination. However, this does not always result in an immediate loss of the case, but instead the player is able to pause and reflect, before re-evaluating the information at hand and continuing on with the game.
Overall Critique
With Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? I continue down the trail of nostalgic games from my childhood. The internal motivation to continue playing I felt when I was younger, is something that still exists to this day. Personal feelings aside, I do still think the lifespan and expansion of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? is a clear indication of its success as a game and perhaps that I am not alone in the allure that Carmen Sandiego has.
As far as determining its level of success as a learning experience, I feel a bit less confident. While arguably there are a number of learning principles embedded in the game, I do believe that a player could conceivably guess their way through the game without an existing or expansive knowledge of geography and culture. (Difficult, but possible.) I also wonder how much knowledge the player will actually take away from the game. I imagine that they would retain some, I question if it is enough to claim a true and definitive understanding of the various geographic regions and cultures that exist within their borders.