the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The Potential for Using Video Games to Teach Geoscience: Learning About the Geology and Geomorphology of Hokkaido (Japan) from Playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- 1School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
- 2Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- 3Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- 1School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
- 2Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- 3Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Abstract. In recent years, the concept of using video games as a form of geoscience communication has been gaining momentum. Popular commercial video games see millions of people around the world immersed in wonderous landscapes, many filled with real geological features including volcanoes, mineral deposits, and dinosaurs. Even though these features can be overlooked by many players as simple video game tropes, if utilised in educational environments or scientific outreach events, such video games could be used to encourage and stimulate the teaching of geoscientific concepts, both in the classroom or in their own time. This paper will focus on the geo-educational potential of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the latest game in the popular Pocket-Monster franchise, Pokémon. Released at the start of 2022 on the Nintendo Switch, the game saw over 6.5 million players in its first week explore the virtual open-world landscape of Hisui. Unlike several popular commercial video games that are set in a fictional landscape, Hisui is directly based on the real-world island of Hokkaido, northern Japan. From an educational standpoint, Pokémon Legends: Arceus could be used as a powerful tool to help younger students engage more in their learning by utilising their natural affinity to the popular game and showcasing the many geological and geomorphological features found across the landscape of Hisui. This paper showcases how geological and geomorphic features can be identified in the game and researched using formal (peer-reviewed literature) and informal (online websites) resources to learn about the geological origin of their real-world counterparts on Hokkaido. Applications for this study could prove to be extremely useful for not only increasing interest and facilitating the self-learning of geoscience worldwide, but also for teaching in educational environments.
Edward G. McGowan and Lewis J. Alcott
Status: closed
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RC1: 'Comment on gc-2022-10', Jamie Pringle, 20 Jun 2022
General Comments:
Firstly well done for generating and submitting a manuscript, always an effort so congratulations for getting to this stage. I enjoyed reading the article which is well structured and follows on from a 2021 paper on using video-games for education. I think the paper would benefit from an extra figure or two and a summary table, see below. Id love the next paper to include a pedagogic research project questioning students who have played it their experiences and awareness/understanding of applied geoscience before/after. Specific comments are below.
Specific Comments:
Abstract: this needs to be tightened to read more sequentially through the typical background/rationale, aims/objectives, results and implications style. For example L16 ‘this paper will focus.’ And L24 ‘This paper showcases..’
Introduction: This was mostly good, but the last paragraph L111-117 tries to give the project aims/objectives? This needs to be more clear, maybe separate into sequential aims and then objectives you are going to do to achieve these? Don’t have strong views on separating these though.
Methods: this needs a bit of expansion, for example L119 geological and geomorphological features are identified but what were they? Should a summary table of these be given as per the volcanoes in the closely-related https://gc.copernicus.org/articles/4/11/2021/ paper?
Results: This isn’t named, presumably section3? Should each section have an illustrated figure? E.g. 3.1 Obsidian Fields doesn’t have one? You should also cross-reference more the different sections with either the location map or the figures more and see preceding point.
Discussion: L307 you mention use of this for volcanology, hazard-mitigation, economic geology and more but you don’t really explicitly state this. Is it worth adding a table listing these and where they can be found in the game or indeed in this ms? L340 You mention about some of the drawbacks of direct comparisons of gaming versus reality in this paragraph but this could be expanded I think.
Conclusion: This should be re-ordered into the more conventional sequential paragraphs of summary, limitations and next steps.
Appendices: Im surprised you haven’t included a web-link or similar to the game for readers to find out more information about it? Im presuming that you cant record short clips and have these as Supplementary Resources to the paper for readers? Would be useful to include I think.
References: Havent cross-checked that all present in ref list and vice versa can you do so please?
Table – see the 2021 reference paper for a summary table of features found in the game and their subdivision of realistic/unrealistic subdivisions. This would be useful for you to reproduce here Im thinking?
Figures: see technical comments below to add more detail to respective figure captions and cross-reference to sitemap (which should have the respective named sections annotated). Also – have you permission to reproduce the respective photographs in your manuscript?
Technical Comments:
Suggested edits:
L24, should this sentence be back with L16? Needs tightening
L52, comma after ‘matter’
L119 ‘Authors identified geological and geomorphological features’, what were they as you weren’t explicit? Worth adding a table as per https://gc.copernicus.org/articles/4/11/2021/?
L140 ‘striking similarities can be seen’ – of what? Please be specific, topographic? Element type? Similar to actual island? Etc etc.
L175 2 spaces after ‘cobalt’
L198 space after ‘Cape,tall’
L210 ‘as the fictional cape..’, cross-reference to a figure?
L28 add ‘the’ after ’at’
L314 delete ‘extreme’
L355 geosciences
Figure 1: Topographic maps comparisons of Hisui Pokemon Legends and Hokkaido, Japan. (A) Annotated in-game map of Hisui from Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Note the non-traditional angle of viewing and artistic style © The Pokémon Company (2022). (B) Terrain map of Hokkaido, Japan (Bourrichon, 2019). (C) Geological map of Hokkaido, Japan (Ayalew et al., 2011).
Figure 2: is (b) upside-down? (B) Photograph of dead larch trees,..
Figure 3: (B) photograph of coastal..
Figure 4: this is the only one without showing a photograph of an actual real volcano, is it not based on one? Would suggest to add that to this image.
Figure 5: add ‘Japan’ at end of caption?
Figures 2-5 – can you cross-reference these in the captions to positions on Figure 1 so readers can see where each of these are in relation to the map(s)?
-
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Edward McGowan, 12 Jul 2022
Dear Jamie,
Firstly, thank you for your positive comments and we are both delighted that you enjoyed reading our manuscript. Like yourself, I agree that the next paper should take a more physical, statically approach and question students. I do have a draft questionnaire in development, further investigating geology in video games. However, I also see a possibility for this paper to act as the foundation for a second investigation with students playing the game and questioning them before and afterwards. This may take a bit of time to organise, but this manuscript will certainly help to get that ball rolling!
In response to your comments, the following edits have been made to the manuscript:
Abstract: The abstract was broken down to ensure each section was included sequentially as suggested. The overall edited abstract is now tightened up as requested.
Introduction: The last paragraph was reworded so that the project aims and objectives read more distinctly. Whilst the paragraph still remains as one, however, it should now read more sequential.
Methods: Geological and geomorphological features were expanded on to provide specific examples. A summary table (see supplement to reply) has been added. The table includes our (the authors´) initial hypothesis for how each feature found formed, a brief summary of how the real-world feature formed based on literature reviews, a column questioning whether the previous two were similar or not (I.e. were purely game-based interpretations similar to real-world formation), and a final column of the type of geology that feature covers (e.g. volcanology, economic geology etc).
Results: Additional figures have been added to most sections. 3.1 now includes an image showing the distribution of obsidian sources on Hokkaido and an in-game map of the Obsidian Fieldland. 3.5 now includes an in-game image of Lake Valor and a real-world photograph of Lake Kussharo. 3.7 includes an in-game image of Lake Acuity and a photograph of Lake Onuma (similar to 3.5, emphasising the point that it could be easy to mistake the lagoon-like lake to a caldera lake based on in-game visuals). The only section to not have a figure is 3.6. This is due to the large scale of the area (both in-game and on Hokkaido) that is difficult to illustrate, even with a videoclip.
Figure 1 (maps of Hisui and Hokkaido) have had numbers added to them, with each referring to an individual location mentioned within the manuscript, allowing for easy location cross-referencing throughout. All figure captions have been updated to include these Fig 1 numberings.
Discussion: The types of geological topics has now been added throughout the Results section. This should now link to the statement previously found on L307. As mentioned in the Methods response, this has also been added to the summary table as suggested.
The drawbacks of direct comparison of gaming vs reality have been further expanded. This includes a section on over-exaggerated graphics, commonly found within video games.
Conclusion: Similar to the Abstract, the section was broken down and rebuilt to ensure that all sections were properly included and sequentially ordered as requested.
Appendices: A link to Pokémon’s official website for Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been added to the Data Availability section. This can help to provide additional information to readers.
Short video clips could be provided, however, as many of these features are static (compared to the moving volcanic hazards in the volcano video game paper from last year), we felt that static screenshots of the features were sufficient and that video clips would not add much further to them. If video clips were to be added, they would largely consist of ´fly-overs’, producing 3D visuals of the features.
References: These have been double checked by ourselves. It also appears Jazmin Scarlett (Reviewer 2 also checked the links for many, if not all, references).
Table: See previous notes on Methods section.
Figures: All photographs of Hokkaido were carefully selected from Creative Commons sites and all user requests were followed (e.g. referencing original owners in the Reference List and ensuring no monetary gain from the use of their images).
Technical Comments: All technical comments were individually addressed, including all type errors and additional of words such as ´photograph´ in figure captions. To answer the question of Fig 2b, yes this image is the correct way up. The water of the lake is so blue that is could easily be mistaken as blue skies.
We look forward to hearing back from you and hope that we have correctly addressed all of your comments. We greatly appreciate your feedback to ensure we publish the best manuscript for all to read!
Ed McGowan & Lewis Alcott
-
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Edward McGowan, 12 Jul 2022
-
RC2: 'Comment on gc-2022-10', Jazmin Scarlett, 22 Jun 2022
General comments
An enjoyable and well-structured paper that is good case study to follow on from previous work on the similar topic of utilizing popular videogames for geoscience education in the fields of paleontology and volcanology.
I recommend the following suggestions, some of which have already been covered by Jamie Pringle, therefore I shall not duplicate them here.
Abstract
Less on the background of the videogame, leave this to the main body of the paper. More on the outline of the paper e.g. background, aims, objectives, results and conclusion.
Results
As not everyone would have played Pokémon Legends: Arceus, provide a map and highlight where each of the regions are for each section (section 3.1-3.7). Perhaps pinpoint exactly where each key feature is (similar to a GPS reference point), so people can find it if they play the game.
References
Line 549-550: The Nintendo link in the PDF does not redirect to the website correctly. Similarly, is the Pokemon Legends reference link the same? If so, remove the Nintendo reference and use the Pokemon Legends one.
Suggested edits
- Section 1.2, lines 111-114: Make the aims and objectives clearer.
- Section 2, line 128: mention what physical and geological characteristics were identified. Jamie’s suggestion is good here.
- Section 3.2.2, line 200-201: add numerical age range for the audience who may be less familiar with geological time.
- Section 3.5, line 249: if possible have a side by side comparison of Lake Kussharo and Lake Valor.
- Section 4.1, line 310: I would expand with examples how the game can teach about volcanology, hazard mitigation and economic geology and mention hazard mitigation and economic geology in relevant result sections.
-
AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Edward McGowan, 12 Jul 2022
Dear Jazmin,
Firstly, thank you for the positive comments and overall support, we are glad you enjoyed reading our manuscript. Given that you agreed with some of Jamie’s comments and did not duplicate them in your own review, please read our response to him so make sure we address your view on the same comments.
Regarding your additional comments, we have made the following edits;
Abstract: Parts of the video game’s background were removed, leaving them to the main body. The rest of the structure was edited to form a more sequentially order.
Results: Figure 1 now includes numbers on the main map of Hisui and the topographic map of Hokkaido that relate to areas mentioned within the manuscript. References to Fig 1, both in text and in figure captions, have been added to allow for easier cross referencing between text and figures.
References: Unsure why the Nintendo link was not working. This has been re-hyperlinked and should now function properly. The two references are different. The Nintendo reference is for their store site, same as how each video game was referenced in McGowan and Scarlett (2021). The Pokémon Legend reference is a specific website the Pokémon Company created to provide extra information for the game (e.g. information not found in the in-game Pokédex).
Suggested edits:
- Section 1.2. Aims and objectives have been made clearer.
- Section 2. Physical and geological characteristics have now been mentioned.
- Section 3.2.2. Unfortunately, none of the references (or any other forms of literature online) provide an exact numeric date for the volcanism. They all state “Neogene-Holocene”. General dates for the periods could be provided (I.e. universally accepted age range for the periods), however, we do not feel like these would be accurate enough for publication, as they would only be a rough interpretation of the dates.
- Section 3.5. Figures of in-game Lake Valor and real Lake Kussharo have now been added to Fig 6 (c&d).
- Section 4.1. Throughout the Results, edits have been made to highlight which geoscientific topic each feature covers. This has also been incorporated into the summary table (see response to Jamie).
We look forward to hearing back from you and hope that we have correctly addressed all of your comments. We greatly appreciate your feedback to ensure we publish the best manuscript for all to read!
Ed McGowan & Lewis Alcott
Status: closed
-
RC1: 'Comment on gc-2022-10', Jamie Pringle, 20 Jun 2022
General Comments:
Firstly well done for generating and submitting a manuscript, always an effort so congratulations for getting to this stage. I enjoyed reading the article which is well structured and follows on from a 2021 paper on using video-games for education. I think the paper would benefit from an extra figure or two and a summary table, see below. Id love the next paper to include a pedagogic research project questioning students who have played it their experiences and awareness/understanding of applied geoscience before/after. Specific comments are below.
Specific Comments:
Abstract: this needs to be tightened to read more sequentially through the typical background/rationale, aims/objectives, results and implications style. For example L16 ‘this paper will focus.’ And L24 ‘This paper showcases..’
Introduction: This was mostly good, but the last paragraph L111-117 tries to give the project aims/objectives? This needs to be more clear, maybe separate into sequential aims and then objectives you are going to do to achieve these? Don’t have strong views on separating these though.
Methods: this needs a bit of expansion, for example L119 geological and geomorphological features are identified but what were they? Should a summary table of these be given as per the volcanoes in the closely-related https://gc.copernicus.org/articles/4/11/2021/ paper?
Results: This isn’t named, presumably section3? Should each section have an illustrated figure? E.g. 3.1 Obsidian Fields doesn’t have one? You should also cross-reference more the different sections with either the location map or the figures more and see preceding point.
Discussion: L307 you mention use of this for volcanology, hazard-mitigation, economic geology and more but you don’t really explicitly state this. Is it worth adding a table listing these and where they can be found in the game or indeed in this ms? L340 You mention about some of the drawbacks of direct comparisons of gaming versus reality in this paragraph but this could be expanded I think.
Conclusion: This should be re-ordered into the more conventional sequential paragraphs of summary, limitations and next steps.
Appendices: Im surprised you haven’t included a web-link or similar to the game for readers to find out more information about it? Im presuming that you cant record short clips and have these as Supplementary Resources to the paper for readers? Would be useful to include I think.
References: Havent cross-checked that all present in ref list and vice versa can you do so please?
Table – see the 2021 reference paper for a summary table of features found in the game and their subdivision of realistic/unrealistic subdivisions. This would be useful for you to reproduce here Im thinking?
Figures: see technical comments below to add more detail to respective figure captions and cross-reference to sitemap (which should have the respective named sections annotated). Also – have you permission to reproduce the respective photographs in your manuscript?
Technical Comments:
Suggested edits:
L24, should this sentence be back with L16? Needs tightening
L52, comma after ‘matter’
L119 ‘Authors identified geological and geomorphological features’, what were they as you weren’t explicit? Worth adding a table as per https://gc.copernicus.org/articles/4/11/2021/?
L140 ‘striking similarities can be seen’ – of what? Please be specific, topographic? Element type? Similar to actual island? Etc etc.
L175 2 spaces after ‘cobalt’
L198 space after ‘Cape,tall’
L210 ‘as the fictional cape..’, cross-reference to a figure?
L28 add ‘the’ after ’at’
L314 delete ‘extreme’
L355 geosciences
Figure 1: Topographic maps comparisons of Hisui Pokemon Legends and Hokkaido, Japan. (A) Annotated in-game map of Hisui from Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Note the non-traditional angle of viewing and artistic style © The Pokémon Company (2022). (B) Terrain map of Hokkaido, Japan (Bourrichon, 2019). (C) Geological map of Hokkaido, Japan (Ayalew et al., 2011).
Figure 2: is (b) upside-down? (B) Photograph of dead larch trees,..
Figure 3: (B) photograph of coastal..
Figure 4: this is the only one without showing a photograph of an actual real volcano, is it not based on one? Would suggest to add that to this image.
Figure 5: add ‘Japan’ at end of caption?
Figures 2-5 – can you cross-reference these in the captions to positions on Figure 1 so readers can see where each of these are in relation to the map(s)?
-
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Edward McGowan, 12 Jul 2022
Dear Jamie,
Firstly, thank you for your positive comments and we are both delighted that you enjoyed reading our manuscript. Like yourself, I agree that the next paper should take a more physical, statically approach and question students. I do have a draft questionnaire in development, further investigating geology in video games. However, I also see a possibility for this paper to act as the foundation for a second investigation with students playing the game and questioning them before and afterwards. This may take a bit of time to organise, but this manuscript will certainly help to get that ball rolling!
In response to your comments, the following edits have been made to the manuscript:
Abstract: The abstract was broken down to ensure each section was included sequentially as suggested. The overall edited abstract is now tightened up as requested.
Introduction: The last paragraph was reworded so that the project aims and objectives read more distinctly. Whilst the paragraph still remains as one, however, it should now read more sequential.
Methods: Geological and geomorphological features were expanded on to provide specific examples. A summary table (see supplement to reply) has been added. The table includes our (the authors´) initial hypothesis for how each feature found formed, a brief summary of how the real-world feature formed based on literature reviews, a column questioning whether the previous two were similar or not (I.e. were purely game-based interpretations similar to real-world formation), and a final column of the type of geology that feature covers (e.g. volcanology, economic geology etc).
Results: Additional figures have been added to most sections. 3.1 now includes an image showing the distribution of obsidian sources on Hokkaido and an in-game map of the Obsidian Fieldland. 3.5 now includes an in-game image of Lake Valor and a real-world photograph of Lake Kussharo. 3.7 includes an in-game image of Lake Acuity and a photograph of Lake Onuma (similar to 3.5, emphasising the point that it could be easy to mistake the lagoon-like lake to a caldera lake based on in-game visuals). The only section to not have a figure is 3.6. This is due to the large scale of the area (both in-game and on Hokkaido) that is difficult to illustrate, even with a videoclip.
Figure 1 (maps of Hisui and Hokkaido) have had numbers added to them, with each referring to an individual location mentioned within the manuscript, allowing for easy location cross-referencing throughout. All figure captions have been updated to include these Fig 1 numberings.
Discussion: The types of geological topics has now been added throughout the Results section. This should now link to the statement previously found on L307. As mentioned in the Methods response, this has also been added to the summary table as suggested.
The drawbacks of direct comparison of gaming vs reality have been further expanded. This includes a section on over-exaggerated graphics, commonly found within video games.
Conclusion: Similar to the Abstract, the section was broken down and rebuilt to ensure that all sections were properly included and sequentially ordered as requested.
Appendices: A link to Pokémon’s official website for Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been added to the Data Availability section. This can help to provide additional information to readers.
Short video clips could be provided, however, as many of these features are static (compared to the moving volcanic hazards in the volcano video game paper from last year), we felt that static screenshots of the features were sufficient and that video clips would not add much further to them. If video clips were to be added, they would largely consist of ´fly-overs’, producing 3D visuals of the features.
References: These have been double checked by ourselves. It also appears Jazmin Scarlett (Reviewer 2 also checked the links for many, if not all, references).
Table: See previous notes on Methods section.
Figures: All photographs of Hokkaido were carefully selected from Creative Commons sites and all user requests were followed (e.g. referencing original owners in the Reference List and ensuring no monetary gain from the use of their images).
Technical Comments: All technical comments were individually addressed, including all type errors and additional of words such as ´photograph´ in figure captions. To answer the question of Fig 2b, yes this image is the correct way up. The water of the lake is so blue that is could easily be mistaken as blue skies.
We look forward to hearing back from you and hope that we have correctly addressed all of your comments. We greatly appreciate your feedback to ensure we publish the best manuscript for all to read!
Ed McGowan & Lewis Alcott
-
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Edward McGowan, 12 Jul 2022
-
RC2: 'Comment on gc-2022-10', Jazmin Scarlett, 22 Jun 2022
General comments
An enjoyable and well-structured paper that is good case study to follow on from previous work on the similar topic of utilizing popular videogames for geoscience education in the fields of paleontology and volcanology.
I recommend the following suggestions, some of which have already been covered by Jamie Pringle, therefore I shall not duplicate them here.
Abstract
Less on the background of the videogame, leave this to the main body of the paper. More on the outline of the paper e.g. background, aims, objectives, results and conclusion.
Results
As not everyone would have played Pokémon Legends: Arceus, provide a map and highlight where each of the regions are for each section (section 3.1-3.7). Perhaps pinpoint exactly where each key feature is (similar to a GPS reference point), so people can find it if they play the game.
References
Line 549-550: The Nintendo link in the PDF does not redirect to the website correctly. Similarly, is the Pokemon Legends reference link the same? If so, remove the Nintendo reference and use the Pokemon Legends one.
Suggested edits
- Section 1.2, lines 111-114: Make the aims and objectives clearer.
- Section 2, line 128: mention what physical and geological characteristics were identified. Jamie’s suggestion is good here.
- Section 3.2.2, line 200-201: add numerical age range for the audience who may be less familiar with geological time.
- Section 3.5, line 249: if possible have a side by side comparison of Lake Kussharo and Lake Valor.
- Section 4.1, line 310: I would expand with examples how the game can teach about volcanology, hazard mitigation and economic geology and mention hazard mitigation and economic geology in relevant result sections.
-
AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Edward McGowan, 12 Jul 2022
Dear Jazmin,
Firstly, thank you for the positive comments and overall support, we are glad you enjoyed reading our manuscript. Given that you agreed with some of Jamie’s comments and did not duplicate them in your own review, please read our response to him so make sure we address your view on the same comments.
Regarding your additional comments, we have made the following edits;
Abstract: Parts of the video game’s background were removed, leaving them to the main body. The rest of the structure was edited to form a more sequentially order.
Results: Figure 1 now includes numbers on the main map of Hisui and the topographic map of Hokkaido that relate to areas mentioned within the manuscript. References to Fig 1, both in text and in figure captions, have been added to allow for easier cross referencing between text and figures.
References: Unsure why the Nintendo link was not working. This has been re-hyperlinked and should now function properly. The two references are different. The Nintendo reference is for their store site, same as how each video game was referenced in McGowan and Scarlett (2021). The Pokémon Legend reference is a specific website the Pokémon Company created to provide extra information for the game (e.g. information not found in the in-game Pokédex).
Suggested edits:
- Section 1.2. Aims and objectives have been made clearer.
- Section 2. Physical and geological characteristics have now been mentioned.
- Section 3.2.2. Unfortunately, none of the references (or any other forms of literature online) provide an exact numeric date for the volcanism. They all state “Neogene-Holocene”. General dates for the periods could be provided (I.e. universally accepted age range for the periods), however, we do not feel like these would be accurate enough for publication, as they would only be a rough interpretation of the dates.
- Section 3.5. Figures of in-game Lake Valor and real Lake Kussharo have now been added to Fig 6 (c&d).
- Section 4.1. Throughout the Results, edits have been made to highlight which geoscientific topic each feature covers. This has also been incorporated into the summary table (see response to Jamie).
We look forward to hearing back from you and hope that we have correctly addressed all of your comments. We greatly appreciate your feedback to ensure we publish the best manuscript for all to read!
Ed McGowan & Lewis Alcott
Edward G. McGowan and Lewis J. Alcott
Edward G. McGowan and Lewis J. Alcott
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