ABSTRACT
Alongside this landscape of failed play and Zoom fatigue, three engaging patterns of play-at-a-distance stand out as potential models for the future: the suspicion-driven multiplayer narrative of Among Us; the revamped competitive structures of Jackbox games; the collaborative platforms powering distant Dungeons & Dragons; and the social connections enabled across lockdown restrictions with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. By examining the design choices, affordances, and play mechanisms of these games, we can see not only the potential structures for the future gameful classroom but also the harsh realities of why the Zoom classrooms of the pandemic have proven unwieldy and disengaged. We position these current models alongside historical patterns, hearkening back to the lessons of MUDs and MOOs, Second Life, and MOOCs, to consider an essential question: why is our digital pedagogy stalled in a time of apparent platform innovation, and how can we adopt the lessons of meaningful pandemic play?
