Guest: Dave Smiderle www.scentreservices.com

In this episode of GAMELAYER, David Kolmer talks with DaveSmiderle about game-enhanced learning, entrepreneurship, attention, creativity, and why life may be best understood as a series of side quests.

Dave brings experience as a former associate dean,consultant, recording artist, micro-farmer, and industrial-organizational psychology expert. The conversation starts with Pokémon, geocaching, and alternate reality games, then moves into motivation, learning design, and thevalue of experience.

A central idea is that exploration and achievement may notbe opposites. David describes experience as his personal currency, while Dave shares how he gamified his return to live music by collecting glasses from open mic venues. Each glass became proof of a completed quest.

The conversation reframes “gamification” as engagement. Dave argues that attention is one of today’s most valuable forms of commerce, and learning designers need experiences that compete for it. Games, simulations,and playful structures can help learners practice, persist, and connect.

Dave also compares academia and entrepreneurship.Institutions offer infrastructure and support, but can slow innovation. Entrepreneurship offers freedom, client impact, and flexibility, but requires clear value, delivery, and metrics.

A major highlight is Dave’s Minecraft-based learning projectfor children ages 8–10. The game taught cybersecurity while supporting Indigenous language and cultural preservation through the Seven Grandfather Teachings, animal guides, and recorded voices from elders.

The episode closes with reflections on play as practice andsurvival. Dave suggests humans may be wired for play because early games helped children rehearse adult skills. From theater to video games to chopping woodwith a wedge, the Daves explore how trying, playing, and reflecting change theway we learn.

Guest Bio

Dave Smiderle is a Canadian consultant, educator, recordingartist, former associate dean, and industrial-organizational psychology expert working in training, upskilling, change management, and game-enhanced learning.

Key Themes

Experience as currency; life as side quests; engagement overgamification; academia vs. entrepreneurship; metrics and learning impact; Minecraft, cybersecurity, and Indigenous language preservation; play as practice, simulation, and survival.

Notable Moments

Geocaching as the “OG” alternate reality game, eveningprimrose flowers opening at sunset, Kolmer’s “Blaster Master under the Buddha” story from Thailand, and Dave’s lesson from using a wood-splitting wedge after decades of relying on an axe.

Pull Quotes

“If you can make something into a game, then it just adds awhole other dimension.”

“Attention is the commerce and the premium right now.”

“The good things are the hard things.”

“The purple frog jumps over the green fence.”

Resources Mentioned

Geocaching, Pokémon Go, alternate reality games, Rabbitspodcast, Blaster Master, Minecraft, Kahoot, Seven Grandfather Teachings, Two-Eyed Seeing, Kirkpatrick’s Levels of Evaluation, Bartle taxonomy, Dungeons & Dragons, and Shakespeare.Alternate Reality Episode Titles

• The Purple Frog Jumps Over the Green Fence
• Experience Is the Currency
• Engagement Is the Game
• Life Is a Series of Side Quests
• The Play Is the Thing
• The Wolf, the Wedge, and the SideQuest
• Blaster Master Under the Buddha
• The Human in the Game Loop

CREDITS

GAMELAYER RADIO is found wherever you get your podcasts. Transcripts and swag at Gamelayer.fm

Theme Music by Caleb Willitz. calebwillitz.com/ calebwillitz.bandcamp.com/music

Found Sound on the "domain of play" borrowed from ⁠⁠Balance in the Spiritual Life Dharma talk by Sr. Trai Nghiem⁠⁠ ⁠https://youtu.be/yZag9LOp7uc?si=T2Qyfc-4y-XJoSOz&t=3301⁠

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