4) There's a Solo Campaign: Glossary Building option for students who might not be familiar with MMOs or even video games. Sheldon explained, "On their own everyone researches and sends in suggestions to build a glossary for the class. Last semester we used a textbook that was so riddled with typos, grammar mistakes and factual errors, students hunted for them for XP."

5) The final grade is based on a guild project, which so far has been a concept document for an MMO (because it a game design class). "Since each guild member received the same grade, I added a secret ballot peer review, so that anyone not contributing would receive a weighted grade," Sheldon said.

According to Sheldon, this approach to teaching has had a major impact on his classes. "The participation in class rose dramatically from the usual 'sage on the stage' lectures," he said. "Attendance was higher. And the average class grade rose from a C to a B compared to the previous class as a lecture."

Much of Sheldon's approach and his experiences will be in his book, Practical Game Design: A Toolkit for Educators, due out in August. We wonder how much XP he'll grant students for reading it.