What they *don't* know in Roller Coaster Tycoon

Every time I do an observation in the game lab, it seems I am reminded by one consistent fact... "Kids who play games" are not all alike. Each has preferences, and challenges and interests that differ from the next.

For example, when playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, Amanda told Karin that she didn't like doing the tutorial (though she had experience with previous versions of the games), yet Kailey told me that she did the tutorial for a while, but got bored and then moved into playing the game. When I asked in the game how she learned a specific thing, she toled me it was in the tutorial.

I was surprised at things that I thought would be inherently obvious, that Kailey missed. (I don't know why I was surprised... i have played a lot more games than she has, so there are things I just know "should be able to be done"... she doesn't have that experience.) For example, when I put the entrance to one of my rides in the wrong place, I asked her how we could move it. She told me we couldn't and that we had to delete the ride and put it in again. This is a small thing, but it reveals two things:

1. We assume kids are just a natural with the game, yet they don't have a sense of "what should be able to be done"... such as making small changes. Because they don't have this sense, they may not always search for the smartest solution, they will just go with what works.
   
2. This seems small, but if we measure any kind of progress or success in the game based on earnings, these kinds of mistakes are very expensive... it would be wise to advise kids on these kinds of tricks, to make their overall gameplay smarter.
   

The kids weren't "opposed" to math... but didn't really see how it fit. I asked them if they would be interested in a challenge on Monday where they competed to build theme parks based on simple math ideas, and they were enthusiastic. I don't know if it was because of the chance to play RCT again, or if they liked the idea of a competition.