507 — Do learning games still have a place?
Aug 4, 2026
Online learning keeps sliding back to text and images. Authoring tools and AI course generators make content cheap, but it often looks like learning without ever asking the learner to think or choose. Games work the other way, running on decisions, feedback, and the chance to try again. Following our recent conversation with Julie Dirksen, we ask where games belong in the age of AI.
In this week's episode, Ross G is joined by Richard Durham, Co-founder and Lead Game Designer at Tentacular Games and Great Grand High Lord of Everything at Wonder Tree Studios, and by Mindtools Kineo's own Claire Gibson, to dig into why games work for learning and whether they still earn their place.
We discussed:
- What makes games actually work for learning
- Why in-person, analog game-based learning never went away
- Whether modern authoring tools have flattened games into quizzes
During the conversation, Richard pointed to the beer game, MIT Sloan's classic supply-chain simulation that demonstrates the bullwhip effect through decisions and their consequences. He also referenced ABC Learning Design, the rapid workshop method from University College London for mapping out the activities that make up a course.
In 'What I Learned this Week', Claire shared The Sumerian Game, a 1964 resource-management game created by Mabel Addis, who is credited as the first video game designer. Ross shared a piece by Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, on a study of AI-generated books on Amazon and how their slow creep is starting to erode sales of human-written books.
For more from Mindtools Kineo, visit our new website mindtools-kineo.com. There, you'll find out how we can help your organization build AI skills, and how our Skills Practice scenarios help build human skills.
Connect with our speakers
If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: