Design Educational Games
Game Metadata
The game name is TypeRacer or TypeRacer for Kids. TypeRacer was created by programmer Alex Ephsteyn. It can be accessed and played on browser. TypeRacer’s high-level instructional goal is to teach and familiarize people with the technical skill of typing.
Learning Objectives
TypeRacer, or TypeRacer for Kids, is a browser game where players have the option to either race against one another to see who can type out a passage of text faster or practice typing on their own. The prerequisite knowledge for TypeRacer is knowing how to read and write English, as well as having basic motor function in your hands. It is helpful to already know how to type before playing this game, as most of the fun comes from seeing how fast you can type. Given that the game is centered around typing and racing, I think those with no prior knowledge of how to type will not enjoy themselves as much as those who have typed before.
TypeRacer aims to teach and familiarize players with typing. Typing is a technical skill that is both widely and increasingly useful today, as more and more of our lives involve communicating through a digital space for various reasons. It is also a useful tool that makes many physical activities, such as writing long papers, easier and quicker. Consequently, TypeRacer’s main learning objective is to help players become faster and more accurate typists through competition. Other learning objectives include teaching beginners how to become more comfortable with typing and helping players strengthen their reading ability.
Game Elements
Many key game elements can be seen by looking through the TypeRacer website:
Pictured above is the TypeRacer homepage. We can see that players have the option to enter a typing race with online opponents, practice on their own, or race with their friends. These three options are immediately presented at the top of the page. Choosing any one of them leads to the same racing format that we will see in the next picture. The only difference is that players decide who or how many others they will be racing. At the top right corner of the page are the player statistics: skill level, average speed, races, and points. These statistics are placed there to motivate players to become better typists by obtaining better statistics through racing. They can be accessed regularly when players create an account on the site. Below the player statistics are options to change the language, turn on Instant Death mode, and choose a theme. Players can choose to type in over 50 languages, meaning that TypeRacers is fairly accessible all over the world. Instant Death mode causes players to be disqualified and instantly lose if they make a single typo in any race. While it can feel daunting to constantly be on the precipice of disqualification, it may be a useful tool in improving player accuracy. Choosing a theme changes how the website layout looks overall. In the picture above, the theme is “Responsive”, which is meant to give the page a more modern look. The other themes are “Classic” and “Dark”. There are two other elements on the home page — TypeRacer Universes and a leaderboard of top scores. Choosing a different Universe allows players to type passages that all fall under a certain language or theme. In this case we can see the Universes Dictionary, Spanish, and Anime, along with how many races were held under each theme. Finally, the leaderboard at the bottom of the page lists the fastest and most recent typists that have played races on the site. It helps bolster a competitive spirit among those who choose to race seriously.
Pictured above is the “Race with Friends” option. When players participate in any race, they are given a text passage to type perfectly. Passages are pulled from many different forms of media, including books, textbooks, movies, songs, and more. They are all grammatically correct, which helps players learn to type proper language rather than only letters. At the top of the page there is a graphic that shows player progress during the race and displays final wpm (words per minute). There are also statistics for player performance during each race, a review and replay area, a graphical analysis of any typing errors made, a leaderboard of fastest typists for each specific passage, and a chat box where players can talk to each other during each race. This format is kept the same when players choose to practice on their own. The only difference is that there is only one car being shown on the racing graphic. Overall, the entire structure of the “Race with Friends” page is there to motivate players to become better, faster typists. There are many ways to learn about the typing material, reflect and improve upon typing mistakes, and have fun competing against friends, all while continuing to practice typing.
Another element of TypeRacer is the Pit Stop, which adds a social aspect to the game. Like the description says, players are able to read messages, edit their profiles, make friends, and even learn about their competitors while utilizing this feature. TypeRacer’s Pit Stop helps draw players in and build a community of likeminded typists that want to meet one another and improve.
Players experience a wide range of emotions while racing. They can feel excitement, anxiety, and determination when they are trying to win a race and best their competitors. Winning a race causes feelings of joy, satisfaction, and smugness, while losing a race may cause feelings of frustration, sadness, or resolve to come back even stronger. The core game element of competition among others while maintaining speed and accuracy is addictive for many and results in many players constantly saying to themselves “one more round”.
Learning Principles
Three key learning principles that TypeRacer emphasized were immediate feedback timing, variability, and interest.
A core element of every race was immediate feedback timing. When players race, the words they type out appear as they are typing and are highlighted with different colors. If the player is typing exactly as the given passage dictates, their typed words are highlighted in green. This indicates that everything is correct and there is nothing to worry about. However, should the player accidentally make a mistake, be it a single letter or symbol, the highlighted real-time text automatically turns a worrisome red color. When players see red, they know that they’ve screwed up and are falling behind in the race. Immediate feedback timing is a very impactful and effective learning principle that players pay attention to every single time. Another important learning principle that I observed was variability. I mainly noticed variability in the length of the given text passages for each race. Players did not know whether they would be given a long or short text passage, which always kept them attentive. In each passage there was also variability in the complexity and lengths of words, as well as in grammar and notation. For instance, a sentence with more capital letters, quotation marks, apostrophes, and commas would be more likely to trip players up than a simpler sentence with less notation. The usage of variability in the content that players had to constantly see and type out was more effective in both teaching typing and bringing players out of their comfort zone. Finally, the learning principle of interest was emphasized in how TypeRacer allowed players to choose between different TypeRacer Universes. Anime fans are much more likely to keep playing and practicing their typing when they can race in the Anime Universe. Typing text passages that are drawn from a player’s specific interest may greatly increase player engagement and continuation of learning.
Overall Critique
Ultimately I think TypeRacer succeeds as both a game and a learning experience. It has an effective core mechanic of players racing and competing against others while constantly practicing the technical skill of typing, as well as additional features such as leaderboards, themes, and a social aspect — all of which help keep players engaged. TypeRacer is also an inclusive, diverse game that is accessible to players of a wide range of ages and nationalities around the world. It is simple to understand and provides many opportunities to improve the skill of typing. Should anyone want to improve their typing skills, I would not hesitate to recommend this game!
