JobPro: Get Dressed Critique Blog
Design for Educational Games
Metadata:
The educational game I reviewed is titled “JobPro: Get Dressed,” created by Etcetera Edutainment Inc. It is accessible on both Android and iOS App Stores. This app, crafted by Matt Denton in collaboration with Partner4Work and the Auberle job prep organization, is part of a series of mobile games. Its primary objective is to assist young individuals in understanding the suitable attire for job interviews across various industries and ultimately getting hired for employment.
Link to the game:
iOS App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jobpro-get-dressed/id1036998941
Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simcoachgames.getdressed&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1
Educational Goals:
When I engaged with the game personally, I observed several educational goals potentially set by the game designers:
Understanding Interview Attire: The game effectively guides players on how to dress appropriately for interviews.
Diverse Dressing Styles for Different Interviews: I noticed the game’s focus on educating players about the suitability of various dressing styles for different types of interviews.
Promoting Personal Grooming and Cleanliness: The emphasis on maintaining a neat and clean appearance became evident during gameplay and feedback, highlighting the importance of personal grooming and hygiene practices.
Building Confidence through Dressing: It also helps in building confidence in the players by showing them how dressing appropriately can positively impact self-image and how they are perceived by potential employers
Decision-Making: The game actively encourages players to make decisions about clothing and accessories, prompting an awareness of the consequences of these choices, particularly in relation to their chances of being hired based on their selected attire.
Dressing for success is more than a popular saying — it’s a crucial factor in succeeding at a job interview. The clothing you wear plays a big role in shaping the initial impression you leave on potential employers. It also communicates the confidence you have in yourself and your abilities.
Therefore, this game serves as a tool to educate players that interview attire is not merely an afterthought but something that demands careful consideration and planning.
Game Elements:
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The game begins by letting the player choose the character’s gender and skin tone. Jobs in the game are grouped into three categories:
- Healthcare and Hospitality
- Food Service and Retail
- Corporate Business, Government, and Non-Profit**
Players begin their job search in the Healthcare and Hospitality category by default. The main screen displays a city map with labeled buildings like Amusement Park, Hotel, Hospital, and more. Clicking on a building reveals the available job roles. Upon selecting a job role, the player enters the main gameplay, where they decide the character’s dress attire.
Here, the player dresses their character based on the chosen job role, with choices in five categories: Head, Top, Bottom, Shoes, and Items. Each category offers various options, including hairstyles, shirts, trousers, shoes, and accessories like watches and chains. After finalizing the attire, clicking the green tick prompts the game to analyze it.
The game evaluates the entire outfit and provides a decision on whether the character will be hired, scoring the attire as Inappropriate, OK, or Appropriate. It also gives a score for each category and offers detailed feedback on what worked and what didn’t. Players can redo their choices based on this feedback, striving to achieve the highest score or progress to the next job profile. To advance to the next job interview, players must achieve a “Hired” result. As players secure different jobs, such as Housekeeper or Receptionist, more buildings unlock, offering additional job opportunities.
Learning Mechanisms:
The game’s learning mechanism involves putting players in different job scenarios, from applying for a housekeeper position to a receptionist role. In these scenarios, players make decisions about their attire, aiming for the main outcome of being either Hired or Not Hired. The game gives instant feedback on overall performance and scores each attire category separately, offering guidance on how to enhance each part. This mechanism helps players improve their attire choices based on job profiles, offering retries and feedback. The game also includes scoring and ranking.
Key learning principles in the game:
- Feedback: The game constantly provides feedback to players as they learn, helping them understand their choices and make improvements.
- Interleaving: Players need to focus on deciding hairstyle, clothing, and accessories simultaneously, promoting a holistic approach to decision-making.
- Multimedia: Visual aids are provided for all clothing items, enhancing players’ understanding of the choices they make.
- Spatial Contiguity: The placement of buildings on the map aligns with their names, and attire options are logically presented in line with supporting text.
Regarding the Coherence principle, the game seems to violate it by including an unrelated, loud default sound. This can be distracting and irritating for players. It’s important to minimize extraneous elements that don’t contribute to the game’s purpose.
Two learning principles supporting the game’s educational goals are Feedback and Multimedia. Visual aids help players make informed decisions, and feedback allows them to understand and improve their choices.
Overall Critique:
After playing the game “JobPro: Get Dressed,” I personally feel that it doesn’t effectively help players learn how to dress appropriately for job interviews. Considering that people typically start interviewing for jobs between the ages of 16–18 in real life, I don’t find the game engaging enough in terms of gameplay and aesthetics to keep players entertained while they learn. Additionally, real-life job interviews involve many variables that the game cannot capture. It’s possible that players may not have the same clothing options in real life to match the permutations and combinations that are possible in the game, leading to inaccurate results. In today’s age with a lot of information available online, I’m unsure if a mobile game is the best method to teach young people how to dress for interviews.
