High school and early college gamers form the target market for Hephaestus. However, the content should be accessible to a larger audience. Foreseeable game play involves one player per avatar at one time, although groups can and should collaborate in the design phase of the robots themselves.

Hephaestus can be used within a synthesis of pedagogical approaches. Players learn by an iterative design process where they design a robot, observe how it interacts in the world, making modifications, and then trying out the robot some more. As a community-based game, it is expected that players will also learn from one another, observing other robots, seeing how others have approached similar design problems, and altering their designs accordingly. Finally, players may come together to design persistent structures in the environment, such as bridges, walls, or trenches. This type of work would be collaborative design. See the design tensions section for more background on pedagogy.

The game might be described as employing a community supported constructionist approach (See Amy Bruckman, 1995; 1996). Players learn both through constructing their robots, and by seeing how they function within the world. Thus, players are designing robots not just to pass a test or even win a competition, but also to achieve the goals that they set for themselves in the world.

Assessment
Hephaestus offers several opportunities for assessment. First, playing the game is an example of a performance assessment: Players learning by doing. Potentially, players engage in constant self-assessment in building robots, analyzing their performance, and then modifying their robot. Players can use the communication tools to rate other players' performance in the community.

In addition:

1) Hephaestus will ship with a set of challenges that can be used for assessment purposes. For example, students might be instructed to create an energy efficient robot that will burn X amount of fuel yet be able to travel Y distance. Other challenges can be created.

2) The instructor can set up challenges in the arena for players - challenges that are directly tied to the FIRST competition

3) Instructors can enter the world and set up challenges for players, by dropping off materials at certain way points, or organizing challenges within the game space.