They are all some variation on “type properly or bad things happen,” but there’s enough variety and focus on different skills that they remain a fun practice mechanism. The typing games–in which your typing speed, accuracy, and/or rhythm helps penguins cross icebergs or blows up asteroids–have been a part of Mavis Beacon since the beginning, but there are now a lot more of them. There’s also a fairly high degree of customizability, including the ability to make custom lessons, and to import text (including Word 2007 documents) to use as the basis for a practice session. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing makes a few useful concessions to change -it recognizes “split keyboard” layouts, for example, though it does not allow you to select a specific model, which could be problematic if your keyboard uses a slightly non-standard layout for some punctuation or symbol keys. What can be added falls easily into the category of bells and whistles: more graphics, more games, more sound effects, all surrounding a solid core of typography. Therefore, there’s really not too much to be added in terms of real functionality the same typing lessons which worked even in the pre-computer age still work today. (And the Dvorak keyboard option is no longer included as an option in MBTT). Well, let’s face it–QWERTY hasn’t changed since the 1800s.
