Instruction of evolutionary biology at the state and national K-12 level is fraught with challenges. We need new methods to teach and engage students, teachers, and the public in evolutionary education. We are therefore developing video games that feature explicit models of biological evolution. Our premise is that adding biological evolution to video games makes the games better for the game player and facilitates player comprehension of complex concepts that are hard to teach. Traditional video games are usually scripted, featuring “waves” of enemies that have defined and predictable characteristics. A player’s success in such games is based on learning the predictable, rote script necessary to advance to subsequent levels. By integrating principles of evolutionary biology, we argue that video games can be made more compelling. One of the reasons why evolution has not been correctly implemented in video games is the perception that evolution is an inherently slow and gradual process – to slow to add much value to a video game. In this paper, we describe two simple video games in which generations of enemies undergo adaptation through natural selection. The enemies with the traits that best counter the player’s strategies survive to reproduce, and their offspring feature prominently in the next generation (analogous to a game level or wave). In both cases, we demonstrate significant phenotypic evolution of enemy populations over time scales that are amenable to game play.
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