As someone who is already familiar with mouse click control video games, when I played Oregon Trail for the first time, I experienced a huge difference between keyboard control and mouse click control. On the screen of text and options, Oregon Trail is very similar to many video games today-the scenario is written right on the top of the screen, and the different options are listed one by one at the bottom of the screen.
What’s interesting is that there is a flashing input symbol in the game to guide the user to type and play. When the player makes a choice, they need to enter the choice and press Enter to confirm. This is different from many video game experiences today. For example, the Pokemon series (my childhood favorite games) released on the Game Boy platform from 1997 to 2010 allows players to select one of the options through the arrow buttons, then press the confirm button to confirm the choice. This mode avoids the need for a complete keyboard to input options. Today, most video games can directly select options with a mouse click or a touch.
Regardless of the differences in operation methods, the familiarity that Oregon Trail gave me also exists in other aspects. For example, a game story based on role-playing. Players can experience this game through a first-person perspective and choose their own profession and initial data. I think the success of this game lies in the addition of many random factors. Random events (such as sickness, snake bite, sudden death, etc.) make players encounter many setbacks uncontrollably. These challenges virtually increase the playability of the game.
What’s more commendable is that Oregon Trail is an educational game that simulates real American history. Therefore, its value is not only reflected in the entertainment level, but also allows students to more interestingly participate in the understanding of this period of history through a medium different from traditional education. Combining games with education is worthy of reference for us.
