Gaming Trends

Games have changed a lot since the beginning of gaming.  We have left the world of monochromatic pong and entered a immersive and engaging environment.  I grew up with video games.  Although this dates me a bit, I remember when N64 came out.  My first system was a used Super Nintendo, I don't really remember how my family got it anymore, but I do remember the N64.  We got it for Christmas and I was so excited.  We were all just blown away by the graphics.  I remember the Playstation 2 and the xbox 360 made the previous ones look terrible.  Going backwards is painful.  I don't know if you have ever tried going back, but games I once adored are now unplayable because of how it looks.  I assume that this will continue to happen as technology advances.  Screens, graphics cards, processors, and all of the parts improve.  Rendering software improves, as does the ability to display it in real time.  That is what I think the true future of gaming will be - everything we have now but better.  Better resolution, better options (including 3D and who knows what after that!  Holograms?  Something else?), more in-depth, more realistic, more responsive, more lifelike, and overall better games.

My earlier blogs were less confident and more exploration about gaming in the classroom.  I have always believed in the potential of games and simulations, but I did not think that there were as many options as currently exist.  I knew about some games, but over the past few weeks, I have learned a lot and found many additional ways to incorporate games.  It has also been interesting to see the validation through research and how these fit into educational theories. 

As far as gaming in education, this is something that is still struggling to find its place.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  Unlike traditional gaming, educational games have to be tested to ensure that they are effective.  That is the hard part about academia - we always want to run tests, simulations, and evaluate our work.  It is what allows us to grow.  However, it keeps us from growing at as rapid a pace as the business world which is motivated by profits, interests, and demands.  The other reason is the lack of backing from serous gaming companies or large profit businesses.  Because of this, these games often do not have the best programers working countless hours to produce an amazing product.  Their programers and artists may be skilled and dedicated, but it can't match the scale that other companies have.  In addition, teachers may feel that games do not have a place in the classroom, that they don't know how to find games that are fitting, or may not even know that games are a learning option.

The classrooms of the future will likely have a lot more technology integrated.  The technology will be seen as something that is commonplace, no longer something radical, outside, or uncommon.  In the past, classes took place on chalkboards.  Today's classrooms are focused around computers and PowerPoint, sometimes with a small whiteboard tucked behind the computer projection screen.  A few decades ago, this would have been seen as unthinkable.  Computers and technology as a whole had not progressed to that point.  Even when it had, cost was a huge barrier.  The price of technology is falling and it is becoming more integrated into our lives.  As this happens, I expect to see it integrated into all parts of society - this includes our classrooms and learning environments.

The book that I was reading over the past few weeks by Jane McGonigal (2011) Reality is broken: why games make us better and how they can change the world details some of the benefits of details.  One of the most important points that I feel McGonigal makes in her book, aside from the viewpoint of gamers as something other than socially inept nerds, wholeheartedly participating in something that teaches you important skills, such as collaboration.

Some of our classrooms are already benefiting from games and simulations.  This isn't a new teaching tool either, it has been around for quite some time.  The number of classrooms using the early games may have been limited, but it has grown.  Many of us may remember playing some of these games in our own schooling (Hicks, 2012).  Games can help to teach students who might have trouble in a traditional classroom setting.  It can help to engage those who area already learning well through interactive materials.  Games provide "[o]pportunities for different students with different interests, abilities, and capacities to learn different topics, at different rates, and through different media” (Squire, 2005).  The classroom in the video below engages their students through educational gaming (BGS eLearning, 2009).

Games not only appeal to a variety of learning styles, but they also allow us to take risks and chances that we may not take otherwise.  This article mentions this very thing (Labyrinth).  These immersive environments are spelled out by Burns (2012) in her article detailing the various types of games that can be seen in the modern classroom.  A lot of these are just gaining ground in education. 

I expect that the classroom of the future will have considerably more games for several reasons.  The main reason is that the technology will continue to improve and costs will decrease making it more economically feasible.  The second reason works in tandem with the first.  The future teachers are currently engaged in games themselves.  My generation, and those after me even more so, grew up gaming.  As games are seen as more common, socially acceptable, and a way to learn things they will find their way into the classrooms more and more.  As this happens, businesses will see the profitability in this and start producing more games that are of high quality for educational purposes.  Games have massive potential and I expect that we have only begun to see how games, simulations, virtual realities, augmented realities and other forms of engaging technology will shape our classrooms and learnscape. 


Works Cited:

Burns, M. (2012). Immersive learning for teacher professional development. eLearn Magazine. http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=2181208

Hicks, T. (2012). A bried history of video games in education. Teach Thought. http://www.teachthought.com/video-games-2/a-brief-history-of-video-games-in-education/

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World.

Squire, K. (2005). Changing the game: what happens when video games enter the classroom? Journal of Online Education 1:6.

Simulations

There are a variety of different simulations.  Some are education, some are not.  A simulation is something that lets you act out or imagine 'what if?'  What if I do this or this happens, what is the outcome?  According to Wikipedia, a Simulation is the "imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time". 

Perhaps the most important thing to consider when choosing an educational simulation is that it is:

1. Topic appropriate
2. Content appropriate
3. Age appropriate
4. Screened and tested to make sure there is nothing unexpected

It is important to make sure that your simulation is topic appropriate.  No matter what you are teaching, there is likely a simulation that fits your topic.  

Once you determine that the topic is appropriate, it is important to make sure that the content is appropriate.  Some simulations, although educational, may contain adult situations that could make students uncomfortable or be seen as inappropriate for your students.

Age appropriate means that the content is clear enough to be understood by your students, that the simulation is not too complex to use for their age level, or that it is not too juvenile for older students.  Choosing a simulation that is at the wrong age level could cause students to become disinterested or frustrated.  Even worse, the students miss the purpose of the assignment or are not engaged and learning.  

The last, and perhaps most important item is to ALWAYS PRE-SCREEN YOUR MATERIALS!  I can't stress this enough.  I have heard more than one horror story of a professor or lecturer using materials or a video that they assumed as appropriate.  One of my colleagues used a lecture in a Personal Health Class.  The lecture for the day was about sexuality.  Everything was going fine until she hit the slide on fetishes and found that the lecture contained sound effects - many of which were quite inappropriate.  Another colleague did not fully screen a video.  She watched the first half and assumed the rest was fine.  The video was educational about sexually transmitted infections (STI).  When the video came to the part of that she had not previously watched, there was a graphic scene about condom use and how a condom functions during intercourse.  This was a university class and everyone was an adult.  However, my colleague was very embarrassed and likely would not have shown the video, had she watched the entire thing.  She later commented that she froze and allowed the video to continue, because it was educational, but she also didn't want to appear unprepared.  

I was trying to find some simulations that I could potentially use in a class.  One is called Real Lives 2020.  This simulation allows the student to live as another person.  This could potentially be useful in a variety of fields.  I teach in Health Education, Public Health, and Geography.  This simulation could apply to all three of these disciplines, among others.  Basically, you pick where you are going to live, it could be India, Cambodia, the United States, Ukraine, China, or any other country.  You live life, and your life is shaped by your choices.  All of our lives are shaped by our choices, but normally it takes a lifetime to see the results of living in poverty or a poor diet.  This speeds it up and the choices soon show the results through diseases, lost wages, increase problems, or whatever issues. 

Here is a video of someone playing the game.  He chose someone in the United States for the video, because it is something with which many people will be more familiar.  When playing, the simulated person may be in a country that the student knows little about, making it a learning experience for how the person lives.  Information like health, happiness, and other factors are charted on the left.  The life choices and situations that the person cannot control are shown through the changing measures. 

 Here is another simulation called Babydow where the student takes care of a child.  This could be a very effective tool in multiple class levels, from teaching sex education and parenting to adolescents, to expecting mothers, or to college students in a Personal Health or Sexual Health class.  You must feed, spend time with the child, and the progress is measured through:

Wellness - which includes energy, satisfaction, fun, and cleanliness.

Growth - which includes hygiene, food, walking, curiosity, and speech.

Abilities - which includes motor skills, creativity, memory, and dexterity.  

What the student does with the child determines how that child will do.  Will they thrive?  Did the student anticipate how many factors go into caring for a child?  It is an educational opportunity to show the importance of everything, not just feeding the child and changing it's diaper.  The child can be customized by a variety of factors, including race and features to make the child seem more personal.

Other simulations do not take place on a computer, but allow the student to simulate what would happen in a real life situation - especially ones where health or even the person's life is on the line.  This allows people in the healthcare field to get used to working in trauma situations and using tools without being in an actual emergency situation.  In this video, the students are learning what to do, how to diagnose, what steps need to be taken, and how to save lives.  If the students make a mistake, their is a learning opportunity instead of a lost life.

These simulations have a potential to education, engage, and allow students to take risks that they might be cautious to take in a real life setting.  The amazing thing about simulations is that the students can dare to dream.  Dreams can get you in trouble sometimes in real life.  You reach to far and the project fails or someone gets hurt.  When it works, it is amazing, but there is always risk.  Simulations allow students to take those risks, to see 'what if?', and to learn and try again.

Virtual Worlds

This week I am checking out Second Life.  Many years ago, I had a Second Life account, around 2003 or 2004 when Second Life was quite new.  It was interesting, but something that I never really got into.  Second Life is a virtual reality game where you literally lead a second life.  People literally can open a business, work a job, and even earn real money for their goods, services, or time.

I created a Second Life account and downloaded the client.  As a player, you create an avatar which is your representation in the game or virtual world.  The options ranged from humans to vampires and robots to animals and even more.  I chose a rabbit because it looks very much like the one from Donnie Darko, and that just thrilled me. 

Donnie Darko

However, most people choose something they feel represents them or something they wish they could be.

My avatar flying around Second Life

My avatar standing inside an item I created.  I also made the large pancake looking thing in the back.

 The main challenges while exploring were just getting used to the interface.  For some reason, Second Life has a user interface that is different than the vast majority of existing interfaces.  Generally, most games and sites choose something similar because then the player is already accustomed to this and can pick up and play faster. 

 There are some benefits to VR for educational purposes.  It allows the user to enter an environment different from their own.  Users can create items, spaces, and have social interaction.  Social interaction is important and especially as distance learning grows, providing a social space would allow students to interaction together "on campus". 

Some VR, such as Second Life, are not always appropriate for the educational setting.  Much of the world is adult orientated.  I was only in Second Life briefly, and I was propositioned.  Bringing others into that environment could be dangerous, especially if you teach anyone under the age of 18.  Because of this, as educators we need to be careful and to administer warnings that there could be unplanned interactions and that we are not responsible for what happens in areas that we cannot control.  There is merit to Second Life and other VR, with lessons that fit.  If I was teaching a class on entrepreneurship and business, Second Life would be an idea place for this because we could interact and "visit" a great many businesses and establishments without having to leave the classroom.

One of the main reasons that this is possible is because the reality in Second Life is user created.  In normal games, coders place items, buildings, and characters for the player to interact with.  In Second Life, other players are creating the places (and you can create your own).  Because of this, it is a lot different than a business in say, Oblivion, where I am simply purchasing items from a pre-programed store.  In Second Life, someone made the store, made the items, and are actively selling to me.

An article by Antonacci and Modress (2008) discusses some of the ways that Second Life could be used in a classroom.  One way that they describe is through design and planning.  They give an example of creating a park.  The student designs the park, the layout, the materials, and all aspects of this park.  Other students, and the instructor, can visit to give feedback.  This makes Second Life and other VR a useful tool to try things out that normally couldn't be, because of price or time required if making in real life.

Boulos, Hetherington, and Wheeler (2007) wrote about the use of Second Life in Health Education.  What was interesting is that they are doing interventions to promote healthy eating and other lifestyles in a virtual world, to help people in the real world.  This is a public health project that has the potential to allow students to work in a lab or in the field, even remotely.  One of the problems faced through digital learning is how to engage students and give them real, meaningful learning.  Meaningful learning is often done through interaction or internships.  This allows the student to virtually participate in something that previously, could only be gotten in person.

Other benefits are that it may help some students feel at ease.  "Ethnic groups, for example, might be more comfortable studying with a tutor whose avatar represents a member of the same ethnic group, whilst younger students would be attracted to studying with a teacher who was represented digitally as being ‘cool’ or ‘hip’" (Boulos et al., 2007 p. 240).  This could potentially help to reach students and help with retention. 

VR, such as Second Life, is something that needs more study, but could potentially have a huge impact on our classrooms - both in person and distance learning.  Students are already familiar with games, VR, and other technologies.  Our jobs are now to find the right balance to create meaningful learning in a changing techscape.  


Works Cited:

Antonacci, D.M. and Modress, N. (2008). Envisioning the educational possibilities of user-created virtual worlds. AACE Journal 16:2 p. 115-126.


Boulos, M.N.K, Hetherington, L., and Wheeler, S. (2007). Second Life: an overview of the potential of 3-D virtual worlds in medical and health education. Health Information Libraries Journal 24 p. 233-245.

Fix 14

 Fix 14 in Jane McGonigal's book (2011) Reality is Broken: Why games make us better and and how they can change the world has a series of fixes that apply to both games and real life.  I have been discussing this for the past few weeks now and fix 1-13 is discussed in previous posts.  This week, I am at the point in McGonical's book (2011) where she is discussing fix 14.

Fix 14: "Massively multiplayer foresight: Reality is stuck in the present.  Games help us imagine and invent the future together" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 302).  Games - the term has an understood theme: fun.  That is why we say fun and games, isn't it?  Games can be a lot more than just entertainment.  They are also educational and have the potential to motivate us to think about real life, and very serious, situations.  One such game is World Without Oil.  McGonical (2011) discusses World Without Oil stating that it is a "life-changing six-week experiment" that shows through simulation "what would happen if the demand for oil did eventually outstrip our supply, and what we could collectively do about it" (p. 303).  This game simulated how the people and the economy would be impacted if this happened.  How would we solve this issue?  A lot of issues get put off until there is a crisis.  Simulating a crisis now can help us plan for what we will do when it happens.  It also may expose a reality so grim that we see how pressing the need is for change. 

This is something that is applicable in our lives and our jobs.  Think about your daily job.  Say you work in a university, like I do.  Well there are a whole series of things that must go well for the university to stay in operation.  We need federal money.  What if that money dries up?  What if there is a recession and there is no more funding?  What if students cannot afford to come?  How do we fund our research?  How do we educate people?  What if we can't educate students?  How do we pay for overhead, such as labs, the lights, heat?  There are so many questions that need to be answered if a crisis like that were to happen.  Simulations can help us determine some of the answers so that if the situation ever happens, we have a plan in place. 

Say your job is in a different field.  You are the manager of a factory.  What if there is a natural disaster?  Can people get to work?  Can the trucks get in?  This doesn't even have to be something that is a worst case scenario.  We use this daily.  We play the game of what if? in most of our major decisions.  What if I have the shipping trucks leave at 5:00 AM instead of 7 AM?  What will the results be?  We use a series of math and simulations to see what the difference might be.  Would that be better?  Worse?  I have a small restaurant.  How many employees do I need?  A simulation of real time events might be the best tool to help you establish all of the what ifs?  Simulations help you look ahead to problems and try to find solutions.  Because of this, simulations are a valuable tool to introduce into the classroom to get students used to thinking about all of the what ifs.  

Now imagine that those what ifs are part of the fight for your life.  Imagine you have cancer.  The diagnosis can leave many feeling that they lack control.  Other than trusting your doctors and trying to do some research, there is little to be done.  A game called Remission 2 is designed to allow individuals to literally fight against cancer.  Remission 2 has a variety of partners, largely children's hospitals.  Playing the game can help to empower them by "provid[ing] cancer support by giving players a sense of power and control and encouraging treatment adherence" (About Remission 2).  Treatment adherence and empowerment can actually help improve the odds of survival and recovery. 

While some children and adolescents are fighting for their lives, others are fighting to learn the importance of geography and history.  Global Conflicts is a game that is designed to help students see their world and work to solve global problems.  You might not be able to physically take your students around the world to help them understand global issues, but games like Global Conflicts are the next best thing. 

I have been playing, over the past semester, The Settler's Online.  My town advancement has continued, although my level advancement has slowed a bit.  I have reached a level plateau that I have been stuck at for a bit now.  Most of the current quests require things I rarely have in plenty, such as defeating a bandit camp with X amount of horsemen or something similar.  That is part of games, just like it is part of life.  Sometimes we stall out a little and need to find a new way to get everything going again.

The Settler's Online is a God game.  A God game basically means that I, as the player, exist outside of the game time and am controlling and shaping the reality of the game world.  In the Settler's Online, I decide how many people live here, where buildings go, send men to their deaths, and shape the future of the world.  Other similar games are the Sims. 

A view of a town in the Sims

A family tree in the sims

The town in the Sims starts empty.  The player creates the world by building town buildings, such as work places or shopping.  The homes are created by players, often very elaborate homes with custom items created outside of the game and brought in, and the people are created.  Above is a sample town and a sample family tree.  The player creates the people, finds them a mate, decides if they are going to have children, and repeats to create elaborate towns filled with their creations.  It is actually really really really addictive, for me at least.  I have lost 10s of thousands of hours to this game.  I used to come home from school and play most of the evening.  My friends played and we would compare towns, share items, and even have Sim sleepovers where we played together, sometimes on the same machine or each on our own laptops.

McGonical (2011) discusses a the three skills that are needed in this kind of game (p. 297-298).   The first concept is "taking a long view" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 297).  This means that small actions have long term impacts.  In the settlers, some stuff might not matter, like one well, but then again it might.  Is the placement wrong?  Is there enough?  Too many?  Each action has a reaction, but it might not be immediate.  Taking a long view means considering the long term impact of my actions, not just the immediate or an impact that would happen soon. 

"Ecosystem thinking" is the second skill (McGonigal, 2011 p. 297).  That means seeing how everything inter connects.  When I place a mine, I am not just placing a mine.  I am funneling resources to dozens of different parts of my city.  That mine is crucial, not just to having that resource, but to the success of dozens of areas of the city.  For some, the entirety of the city may rely on that one mine. 

The third skill that McGonigal (2011) describes is to take a "pilot experimentation" (p. 298).  This is scenarios within scenarios.  If I do this, what happens?  You do it at a small scale first, to see the larger impact.  I recently did this by seeing if a good way to get coins was funneling production into something that I knew I could do well - water and fishing.  I started price watching water and fish and found that I could sell these effectively to get a fairly substantial amount of coins - better than with gold mines.  I started small to ensure that I was not paying more in the long run, through the chain.  To fish, you need a fisherman.  That is a one time cost.  Then you need the water - which is preexisting.  The fish are not limitless.  Resources must be spent to stock the ponds.  The total cost was far below the actual coin cost.  So I poured resources into that.  I repeated the process for wells and water, now flour and bread.  I am making more than enough to fund my city, to get the resources I might be lacking, and I am generally leaving each day with a profit, even after funding expenses. 

All of these skills are important to learn.  The long view and the ecosystem thinking helps to show that actions have consequences and that everything is interrelated, even something simple like a new job.  Do I take the job?  What are the impacts today, tomorrow, in a month, in a year, in 5 years, in 15 years, in 50 years?  What is the impact for my future children?  Their children?  My actions now impact them too.  How does taking the job impact my family, my current workplace and coworkers, my neighborhood, and everything else?  I am a piece of each of them, leaving that might upset some part of the structure - for some things it might not.  Can I sample it first through pilot experimentation?  Can I try independent contracting on the side to make sure that I like it before I commit? 

As far as our students, these skills are important now in their education, but also in their future lives.  Someday they will be the ones deciding about the job.  Then their job might have them shaping a workplace, city, or something even larger.  Skills such as collaboration, working on something on an epic scale, or doing their work with wholehearted participation can be taught through games.  All of these are concepts discussed in McGonigal's book (2011) and over the last several weeks of this blog. 

McGonigal's book (2011) was interesting to read.  Overall, the concepts that I found most interesting were that games are so vital to how we learn, that anything can be a game to help keep you motivated, and that on top of motivation - games can make work fun.  I've always loved games, but part of me felt like maybe at some point I should eventually grow up and put the game aside.  I've been resisting that because there is still something really awesome about entering a world so different from my daily own.  Turns out, according to McGonigal, that is part of what makes games so effective for learning.  We are in a world that is not our own, willing to take risks, to learn, and that we are learning important skills like collaboration while doing it.  Games can be playful or serious, but no matter what, they are offering us skills ranging from hand eye coordination to getting out housework done to pondering the solutions to very real and very serious world issues.  Playing games like the Settler's Online helps to show that every part of the city is important and each small part plays a huge role in the larger success.  Pairing that with McGonigal's book helps illustrate the parallels between that and the real world.  Just like that one water well is vital to the success of the civilization, we all have our roles and are vital to the success of our own worlds.  Our daily interactions and lessons learned have a far greater reach than any of us realize.  We could all benefit by taking a moment to reflect on what our part is and how we are impacting the people and world around us for many years to come.  It is out mission to share that with our students as we engage and inspire them to learn and to change the world around them.

Interested in learning about more ways to teach through games?  Remember, your decision to integrate that game could be the spark that inspires someone to choose a career, which leads to an advance in knowledge or new product, which influences someone who finds solution to the oil crisis.  Terry Heick offers some advice on ways to get games into the classroom.

I want my students to feel this excited when learning because the lesson I provided is engaging. 

Fix 13

Over the past few weeks, I have been wrapping up the book by Jane McGonigal (2011) Reality is Broken: why games make us better and how they can change the world.  The book describes a variety of games and behaviors or actions learned in games that can be applied to real life.

Fix 13 (see previous posts for 1-12) is "Ten thousand hours collaborating: compared with games, reality is disorganized and divided.  Games help us make a more concerted effort - and over time, they give us collaboration superpowers" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 277). 

Other games are largely played alone, however some collaboration is required for success.  Spore, a game created by Will Wright, who created the SIMS.  I was terribly excited for this game when it first came out.  I spent more hours than I can count playing the SIMS growing up.  I LOVED the SIMS.  I had all of the expansion packs for all of the SIMS.  I had elaborate cities with large family trees.  So when I heard that game genius Will Wright had a new game, I was thrilled.  I pre-ordered the special collector edition.  I got it, and kind of hated it.  Maybe hated isn't quite right - but it was no SIMS. The who game is creating and evolving little creatures and creating a shared universe.  The image below shows one of the evolution options, where the player can choose how this creature evolves.  How this creature evolves impacts other creatures.  The concept and idea of the game was better than what it ended up being, for me at least.  Many other players continue to enjoy this game.

Coop is one of the best ways to play games.  For the last week or two, my husband and I have been playing Rayman Origins on Wii U.  We are mostly done with the game, and so far it has been one of the best games in a while.  Games rarely have same machine coop.  Same machine coop just means that you are both playing on the same TV and with the same gaming console.  The vast majority of games that allow coop are different machine coop.  There is a validity to both, because the screen size is diminished in split screen or you are both restricted to the same space. 

Here is one of the levels that we beat last night.  It is at the end of the game.  The style changes throughout and the music/theme of these levels are 8-bit. 

 

 Rayman Livid Dead 8-bit Grannies

To play this game in coop, both players run side by side in the same window.  Another game that is like that is Fable, which is a sandbox game, not a platformer like Rayman.  Other games, such as Halo.  The video below shows split-screen same machine gameplay.  One player is the top, one is the bottom.  The two players work together, collaborating.  (Note: there is a little bit of explicit language in the video.  Many, although not all gamers talk like this while playing.)

Halo split screen.  Two players on the same

machine playing online with others online.

If you listen to the video, the players are collaborating.  Although their conversation is casual and they are having fun, they are cooperating and coordinating their attacks.  You have to collaborate to survive.  They often don't survive long.  This is a death match, with two teams pitted against each other in a large arena.  Most kills wins.  You fight, you die, you respawn, you repeat.  These two are playing in the same room, however this conversation could just as easily be happening over chatspeak.  Both players wear headphones, such as these:

Game headphones

The players would collaborate just the same and the conversation would likely not be changed by the distance.  The players came together to complete a task.  They must work together of fail.  They might know each other in real life, they might not.  I've played with people across the world.  Sometimes we are communicating in broken sentences with what little we know of each others languages.  I know enough German and Japanese to poorly communicate our plans.  Others speak to me in broken (although sometimes exceptional) English.  We manage and get by.  The main problem is everyone things I am a little boy, instead of a girl.  Once we get past that, we manage to work together to succeed. 

As gamers, we work together a lot better than most of the collaborations in work or class.  We each have a role.  If the other fails in their role, we both die.  The stakes might not sound that high, but when you are both fighting to get through after the 5th hour, losing and starting over is kind of huge.  The Rayman game that my husband and I are playing is kind of like that.  Although most of the levels are not very difficult, some are tougher.  There was quite a bit of screaming in my house last night when we died and them quite a bit of dancing when we finally finished the level that we were struggling to beat. 

Taking those lessons and applying them to the classroom are beneficial.  We each have our role and we depend on each other to succeed.  Gamers just have a lot more practice collaborating. 

Ten Thousand Hours Collaborating - How this applies to the Settler's Online

I have also been continuing with the game The Settler's Online.  Collaboration in the Settler's Online largely takes place through resource trading.  We are sharing our goods.  I need iron ore and this guy needs water.  We swap.  I need something that my clan mates have a ton of, they might give it to me for one fish (you have to trade something).  McGonigal (2011) discusses Ping Quotient (PQ) which is reaching out to others (p. 277).  By reaching out, we are establishing a line of communication and collaboration.  This can be done in the global chat, clan chat, or private messages (PM). 

Regardless of what game your are playing, most are getting more social.  In the past, playing a game socially meant handing the remote to your friend in the room for their turn.  Now, sometimes people play with people around the world collaborating.  Of course, where are always those playing different machine coop like this:  matching his and hers gaming stations.

Fix 11-12

In the previous weeks, I have been reading the book by Jane McGonigal (2011) Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and I have been applying it to the game that I have played now for the past few months, the Settlers Online.  In her book, McGonigal discusses the various "fixes" that are in both games and life, how games influence life, and how we use what we have learned in life in the games and what we have learned in games in life.

Fix 11: "A sustainable engagement economy: compared with games, reality is unsustainable.  The gratifications we get from playing games are an infinitely renewable resource" (McGonical, 2011 p. 244).  This means that as a player, you are getting something out of the game that real life doesn't often give you - rewards and a purpose.  Today I cleaned my house.  There was purpose in the fact that my house is less gross now and I didn't want bugs moving in because I keep putting off cleaning.  Later on, my "reward" for cleaning is that I can play a game.  I'm playing The Elder Scrolls Online, which is having another beta weekend to stress test the serves to get ready for the official launch.  In the game, I will do all sorts of little odd tasks with a character that I am invested in.  My husband also plays, and I have the same investment in his character.  I will go out of of my way or do specific tasks to get his character something that he needs.  McGonical (2011) writes that players become invested in the game world and the character, have long-term goals, and are rewarded (p. 245).  I am getting all of those things from the game. 

Fishing in The Elder Scrolls Online

My husband and I in The Elder Scrolls Online

 In the Settlers Online, fix 11 works to keep me as a player invested and involved in the game.  The game world offers continual tasks and maintenance that requires the player to keep coming back and investing time and energy into the world.  This is an attempt to keep players engaged and progessing forward.  Other things that the settlers does to create a good game world is to inspire a player to explore through treasure hunts and missions, to expand their world, and to collaborate with clans or other players to keep their world succeeding.  To create good game mechanics, the Settlers Online are given clear results.  As soon as a quest finishes, the player is rewarded with a series or XP, goods, or in-game currency.  The Settlers Online creates a good game community by providing a variety of chat boxes, including global, help, and clan, email options, and PMs to let players communicate for both fun and collaboration. 

Fix 12: "More epic wins: compared with games, reality is unambitious.  Games help us define awe-inspiring goals and tackle seemingly impossible social missions together" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 252).  Social participation of the masses is where social powers are harnessed instead of just intellect or human labor, such as adding closed-captioning or digitizing print media (McGonigal, 2011).  In the Settlers Online, my clan has a method that is a small scale of what McGonigal (2011) discusses on pages 253-254 where individuals send positive messages to children who need support as they take important exams worldwide.  My clan has a mentorship program where newbs are mentored by those who are further along in the game and have mastered it.  It is a much smaller scale, but something that provides social interaction and feeback that is personalized to help a player succeed. 

There are other gaming methods to help improve peoples lives on a large scale.  One site compiles them together, as well as like-minded individuals.  The site actually has my favorite PSA currently trending in the main window of what people are playing, "Dumb ways to die" which was intended to keep people acting smart and safe around trains.  It's actually really fun, goofy, and the music video is fantastic. 

Crowdsourcing
Never heard of it?  Not to worry.  Many people are unfamiliar with the concept of crowd-sourcing, or at least the term.  Basically, you are getting a crowd of people together to help you with a project or goal.  So, how does one go about crowd-sourcing?  You go to the place where there are billions of people connected, millions of whom have similar interests, passions, and ideals - the internet.

Crowdsourcing is kind of like a MMORPG, such as World of Warcraft (WOW) or the Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) according to McGonigal (2011 p. 229).  Crowdsourcing can provide a "good game world", "good game mechanics", and a "good game community" (McGonical, 2011 p. 229-230).  She goes on to use Wikipedia as an example of crowdsourcing, where the site effectively does all three things.

If you are unfamiliar with Wikipedia (hated by most educators, beloved by most students) it is an encyclopedia that allows individuals to create, edit, and contribute to pages.  I've even made a few pages of my own, such as this one about the Tom S. Cooperrider Kent Bog State Nature Preserve in Kent, Ohio.  I wrote the text, those are my pictures from a walk a few years ago now, and I am the primary contributor of that page.  There are in-pages on here, often authored by experts in the field or topic, and it is an amazing and invaluable resource that is accessible to anyone with internet access.  It is the kind of thing that I dreamed about as a kid reading through the encyclopedias that my mom and dad purchased one at a time from the grocery store.  The criticisms of Wikipedia and other similar sites is part of what makes it both feasible and amazing - the fact that anyone can contribute information.  Some pages are falsely edited, often religious or political figures are targeted.  Others are pranked with jokes.

Aside from information, crowdsourcing can have some very real, serious, and important applications.  These can range from the progression of science to search and rescue.  The government has realized the potential that people have to contribute when all working together, technology in hand.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has created a website and an app that allow individuals to report in information to help compile a database that helps disaster victims and rescuers/responders.  This is something that is applicable to both health and geography, the disciplines that my background is in.  Often, in times of serious disaster, such as hurricane Sandy or Katrina, universities are called upon to help manage GIS information or to create maps for rescuers/responders.  What roads are closed off?  What routes can the crews take?  What hazards are there for the people in the area and for rescuers/responders?  How was infrastructure systems impacted?  One previous problem was that there was no streaming data for this.  Satellite images only come in so often.  Although you can do a lot with that, some of what is happening on the surface might not be caught.  Crowdsourcing, where the individuals on the ground both disaster victims and rescue/responders can contribute.  A quick picture or a few lines of text can make a large difference in saving lives.

Hurricane Sandy was crowdsourced in New York through water samples and measurements collected by volunteers.  People can together who had an interest in the storm, the area, safety, or for a variety of other reasons.  They worked together to help create a picture of what was happening in that area.  Weather crowdsourcing is not uncommon.  I participate in a crowdsourcing group that contributes accurate measurements, photographs, and information to the local meteorologists at a Toledo news station.  The information shared by myself and other weather nerds can help during times of severe weather.  I'm a trained spotter, as are many other members of the group.  In addition to contributing information to the local station, we report to the National Weather Service who can issue watches or warnings based on what is seen at a specific location by a trained spotter. 

Fix 9-10

I am continuing with my semester long game, The Settlers Online.  Perhaps I will play this game after the semester, although Elder Scrolls Online has just entered beta and I am a tester, so that may take all of my free time.  I'm a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls universe.  They are launching a MMORPG similar to World of Warcraft (WOW) which I have discussed in previous posts. 

Elder Scrolls Online loading screen during beta testing

I am also continuing to read Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGoniga (2011).  In my previous posts, I disucssed fixes 1-8. 

Fix 9 is "More fun with strangers: Compared with games, reality is lonely and isolating.  Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch" (McGonical 2011, p. 172).  I know quite a bit about community and creating a sense of community.  My research from my master's thesis dealt with how participating in an activity, in that case urban gardening, can help to create a sense of community.  Gaming is no different.  A shared activity, in this case gaming, brings people together.  Once together, the people get to know each other and form their own social circle.  Think of a place that you go where you enjoy yourself and always have fun talking with friends.  It could be church, it could be your workplace at lunch, it could be a hobby, it could be anything.  Now think about how you feel when you are there in the social setting, enjoying your friends.  Games give gamers the same kind of feeling.  A sense of community.  A feeling of belonging.  People are coming together to "cultivate a shared interest among strangers" and to "interact with each other around that interest" (McGonical 2011, p. 172).   

The main difference between the community as I study it and community in games is the length.  Most gaming communities are fleeting.  They are intense, but brief.  They often last from a few days to a few years, unlike neighborhood community which may extend to a persons entire life.  Although brief, they are beneficial.  McGonigal (2011) writes that the community formed in gaming gives social benefits by making people feel less isolated.  From my own experiences with games, the people that you meet within the game are no less real to you than someone you know.  Often, I am more excited to see my game friends than I am my coworkers or other people that I interact with in person on a regular basis.  The friends in the game often know me better too.  We spend more time together, we talk more, and we have fun together.  Although we are sometimes across the world, it is a friendship as real as if we were hanging out playing in the same room.  Occasionally, the gaming world can even take place out in the real world through games such as Cruel 2 B Kind, which was actually developed by McGonigal.  Some even get out into the real world making the city their playground, such as this zombie game. 

Fix 10 is "Happiness hacks: Compared with games, reality is hard to swallow.  Games make it easier to take good advice and try out happier habits" (McGonigal 2011, p. 189).  People in games generally are appreciative, thankful, and well... nice.  That isn't to say that you won't have some noob trolling you (a jerk being mean to you).  The point of the game can even be to be nice, such as McGonigal's game that I mentioned above, Cruel 2 B Kind. 

Fix 9 (More Fun with Strangers) in the Settlers Online.
Participating in a clan helps to increase the sense of community in the game.  Without that, the only real source of community is through the chatroom.  If you are in a clan, you have a private chatroom, but more importantly, you are working together as a team to make something happen.  All members of the clan have to pull together to ensure that they are going to reach the goal - getting guild coins.  The words guild or clan are synonymous.  Technically I am in a "guild" but the guild is a clan.  It's just a word choice, for those who are unfamiliar.  We have the common interest of doing well in the game.  On a more basic level, we have the common interest of all succeeding to get Guild Coins by completing the common tasks.  We are all sitting on our computers planning fake little cities.  Tell that to someone else and they might think you are crazy.  Say that to someone in settlers, who is a part of your community, and they will totally get you.

Fix 10 (Happiness Hacks) in the Settlers Online.
There are people, especially in the clans that are generous.  One of my clan mates comes to my city daily and buffs the heck out of me.  A buff is something that you put on your buildings to make them work better.  So he buffs my fishermen - I get more fish.  My mines - I get more iron ore.  My bakery - more bread.  You get the point.  The buff is helpful.  The clan is also willing to share goods sometimes, especially among the newbies like myself.  Although I am about a level 30 in there, it is always nice to get a shipment of something that is difficult for me to make from a mate, and to return it for a lower level mate.  Things like this and group speak tend to make the game more enjoyable. 

If it wasn't for that pesky thing known as work and school, I would probably play more often.  That is the worst part about games - you would probably rather be playing than doing whatever else it is that you are supposed to be doing.  The hardest thing in life is finding balance between what you like (school) and love (sleeping, playing games, and being lazy). 

Fix 7-8

 Over the past few weeks, I have been reading this book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal (2011).

I've talked about several types of games over the past few weeks.  One that I have not discussed yet is an ARG.  So what is an ARG?  The name kind of makes me thing of this:

An ARG or Alternate reality games is really not that complicated as Fry from Futurama would make it seem, although the concept would likely baffle him has he has difficulty putting on his pants correctly.  This video is a brief introduction to ARG.  Unlike many games that have directed outcomes, an ARG is a game that is shaped by the players.  Their decisions shape the game and the outcomes.  It's the real world, in digital form.  It can be more like a parallel universe or it came make real life tasks seem more interesting, such as housework.  To read even more about it, check out this PowerPoint Lecture by Jane McGonigal (the author of the book I have been discussing for the past few weeks).  McGonigal writes in her book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World about Chore Wars, how her husband and her use it to make their real life obligation of cleaning the house into a competitive game.  As much as my husband likes games, I am not sure that this one would work on him.  I can wish though, right?  McGonigal (2011) and her husband work to complete their chores then login to Chore Wars to reap the experience - literally.  You click what chores you accomplished and you get points for it, XP points.

Fix 7 in McGonigal's (2011) book is "Wholehearted Participation: Compared with games, reality is hard to get into.  Games motivate us to participate more fully in whatever we're doing" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 124).

Chores are hard to get into.  I can honestly admit I don't enjoy doing all of our dishes by hand, mostly because it ruins my nails.  I do it because I have to do it.  Most people have a job that they have to do and rarely enjoy.  I like teaching and I like researching (most of the time).  I'm lucky enough to enjoy my job.  If I was still a daycare worker or waitress I might need a lot more motivation to wholeheartedly participate - if it was even possible.  Games are often more fun and one thing that is nice about games - at the end of the day if I don't like the game - I quit.  As much as I would like to, I can't quit many of the tasks that I am not wholeheartedly participating in.  Maybe all I need is a few good ARGs.  Games can motivate people to do what they don't want to do, like these children at the Quest to Learn school, which McGonigal also addresses (p. 128).

Fix 8 in McGonigal (2011) "Meaningful rewards when we need them most: Compared with games, reality is pointless and unrewarding.  Games help us feel more rewarded for making our best effort" (Mcgonigal, 2011 p. 148).  McGonigal discusses her dislike of flying and how many other individuals also feel the same way making "airports and airplanes the perfect target for game-design intervention" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 149).  Video games and scavenger hunts are among some of the distracting rewards for flyers. 

I am continuing with my adventure playing The Settlers Online.  My guild has been getting more active, so the social portion of the game has been increasing for me.  Although I am not just chatting randomly, my guild has been helpful in figuring out how to be a good guild member.  They even have their own website that we can join with a discussion board.  My participation is Wholehearted (Fix 7) because I find the game a welcome distraction from whatever work I am trying to dodge at the moment.  I am rewarded with a distraction and delighted when I actually have enough soldiers or resources to complete the task.  It's nice seeing my map cleared of bandits.  It's nice actually having soldiers live through the event, although I am not above sending wave after wave of my own men.

Fix 5-6

In my last two blogs, I talked about fix 1-2 and fix 3-4.  I am continuing today by talking about fix 5-6.  The fixes are discussed in the book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal.  

Fix 5 is "Stronger Social Connectivity: Compared with games, reality is disconnected.  Games build stronger social bonds and lead to more active social networks.  The more time we spend interacting within our social networks, the more likely we are to generate a subset of positive emotions known as "prosocial emotions"" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 82).  Mcgonigal defines a prosocial emotion as one that is a "feel-good" emotion towards another person (McGonical, 2011 p. 82).  She discusses the teasing and boasting that comes with winning.  Teasing can stimulate these social emotions, increasing our bonds (p. 83).  So can being silly (p. 84). 

A lot of the social games, which are the small games that you play socially on Facebook or your phone are often best at this.  It brings people of all ages together to make little towns, such as Farmville.  For a time, Farmville was all you heard about.  Send me some of this, help me get that, check out my town, tend to my crops.  This video talks about what went into Farmville 2 (got to change to keep it fresh and to keep people interested!).  My mom even played, although she quit after some time because she was scheduling too much of her day around when her crops would be done.

Fix 6 is "Epic Scale: Compared with games, reality is trivial.  Games make us a part of something bigger and give epic meaning to our actions" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 98).  Epic is a word that is overused anymore.  You can have an epic win or an epic fail, often neither of which refer to actual games anymore.  You can go for an epic run or an epic climb.  You can eat epic food or wear epic clothes.  McGonigal (2011) is using epic to refer to the experience that a gamer is getting from participating in a game that she calls big enough to be epic on its own, because of the expense and the scale (p. 98).

I have been playing The Settlers Online for the past several weeks.  Several of the previous blog posts discuss my progress, as well as an overview of the game.  I have started talking to a few other players online occasionally.  I am often not on long enough to really benefit from the social potential of the game.  He has been playing almost the same amount of time that I have been playing.  Although I started first, he is a higher level than I currently am.  This is partly because he dedicates more time to the game than I do.    He plays about two hours per day.  He likes resource management and creating an army.  He rarely socializes other than to facilitate trades.  One aspect he dislikes about the social part of the game is how everyone talks with each other and becomes friends.  Those who don't spend as much time in chat aren't able to make friends as quickly and other players aren't as willing to trade if they don't know you.  At least not for a good price.  His main complaint about the game was about resource availability.  He feels that it is purposely limited so that you have to pay for never ending resources or to speed up resource acquisition.  The most challenging part of the game for him is resource management and to keep everything at a high enough level to produce enough goods and to create his army.  One way that he overcomes this is to focus on making several specific resources and then using those to sell/trade to get the other resources to ensure that he has enough of everything.  Although he plays the Settlers Online, he plays a variety of other video games, mostly on Xbox 360 and the Wii U.  He does not play many online games overall, but chooses this one because there is a lot of variability, you aren't required to pay money, and because you do not have to spend long periods of time playing to have fun. 

Based on my digital friends responses, I wanted to reflect on my own experiences to this point. 

My own social connectivity in the Settlers Online (Fix 5)
My social connectivity in the Settlers Online has been somewhat limited.  I often do not have time to play for very long stretches, and it is often at different times of the day.  It seems that many players often play at the same time daily.  I am still outside of the network of social connectivity in this game.  If I was able to dedicate more daily time, or at least more regular time, say between 8-11 PM, I would likely talk to the same people again and again.  I have experienced this in other games, and the closest that I can liken this to is being Norm in Cheers.  You come in, your friends all know you, everyone knows your name and often shouts greetings as you enter.  It's the digital equivalent of being Norm Peterson.  Your popular and your friends are glad to see you, just like you are glad to see them.  I have recently joined the guild "Hobbit Isle" in the Settlers, which may end up increasing my socialization.  When in a guild, you are associating with the same group of people again and again.  

My own epic scale in the Settlers Online (Fix 6)
I haven't really been playing long enough to experience epic wins or anything epic at all.  It is always nice to have the small victories, accomplishing tasks or fighting bandits and winning, but more often than not anything epic is the epic crushing of my generals and armies.  

Fix 3-4

I am still playing the game the Settlers Online.  In my last post I discussed Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal.  I wrote about fix 1 and 2.  In this post, I am continuing with that though on fix 3 and fix 4. 

Fix 3 is "More satisfying work - compared with games, reality is unproductive.  Games give us clearer missions and more satisfying, hands-on work" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 55).   I have to say that I agree with this.  I might leave my sink full or dishes, but I am going to be more willing to wash digital dishes in a game if it gets me XP to help my character along.   Sure washing virtual dishes is easier.  I'm sitting on the sofa, a bean bag chair, my bed, or the floor and pushing buttons.  I'm not standing there elbow deep in soapy water.  But how much of that is really contributing?  I feel that the virtual dishes are more satisfying.  When I complete them, I am rewarded in some way.  I feel a sense of accomplishment that isn't quite the same with that real pile of dishes.  I think that has probably contributed, at least in part to the popularity of games.  "Playing World of Warcraft is such a satisfying job, gamers have collectively spent 5.93 million years doing it" (McGonigal, 2011 p. 52).  What makes work satisfying?  According to McGonigal (2011) it is a clear goal and an actionable next step. 

Fix 3 More Satisfying Work in the Settlers Online
In any game, how do you know you are doing well?  Leveling Up, of course!  In the vast majority of games, the first few levels come quickly and easily.  The longer you play, the harder it is to level up.  You have to fight (often figuratively fighting, it is only in some games that you literally fight to gain levels) to make progress.  I am currently about half way through level 28.  Could I be leveling up faster?  Sure.  For me, and many other gamers, the level isn't necessarily the purpose of the game.  The level matters, to an extent.  In some games it is bragging rights, in others you are allowed access to new places/materials/resources/jobs/other things that keep the game interesting.  
The main way to level up in the Settlers Online is to complete quests, which is a clear goal and an actionable step.  Some games use tasks, some quests, some each activity progresses you towards your next level.  Others are even more complicated where specific actions, such as running builds stamina, but you need to be well rounded across numerous catagories to actually make level progress.  As far as level progression, the Settlers Online chose a fairly simple route - do the quests, gain XP (shorthand for experience), level up.  Leveling up gives you a new number, but it also comes with prizes.  The prizes vary from game to game.  In the Settlers Online, you might get wood, gold, building permits, or more population.  It can vary by level.  To keep the game on pace, you can't give the same reward to a level 2 as a level 32.  At level 2, 5 coins and a few simple pinewood planks is a pretty big deal.  At level 32, it's essentially almost worthless.  The prize has to scale to the level to keep it feeling like an actual reward.  

My goals are to complete the quests to level up, gain experience, and to have resources to further my town.  I can gain all three through the clear goal provided in a quest book.  Seen below is a screenshot of my current quest book.  On the left, is my clear goal.  I am currently working to increase my population.  

 

I can reach this clear goal by following the actionable next steps shown below in this additional screen capture.  I have two tasks to accomplish this quest.  I had to open my mail and read a new message and I have to raise my population level.  When this is done, I reach the goal.  The goal in this specific quest is some settlers and some XP.  The XP helps me get closer to leveling up.  The settlers allow for a variety of things, including workers and soldiers.  They are essential to the success of my civilization.  After all, what is a civilization if no one lives there!

 By providing a clear goal and an actionable next step, I am able to easily see what I need to do to further my position in the game.  If I am lacking the clear goal or the actionable step, I may become frustrated.  Life often lacks clear goals or actionable next steps to reach that goal.  McGonical (2011) addresses this when she states that the lack of the clear goal and actionable step means that "it's not work - it's a problem (p. 56).

Fix 4 is "Better hope of success - compared with games, reality is hopeless.  Games eliminate our fear of failure and improve our chances for success" (McGonigal 2011 p. 68).  Hope helps us go forward, both in games and in life.  We hope we succeed.  We hope we will do well.  McGonigal (2011, p. 72) discusses the game Rock Band.  Rock Bank allows you to play with friends to form a band and go on to success as a rock star.  You play before cheering and adoring (if you are playing well) fans.  The game allows the player to live in a dream world where they are a rock star.  Of course they are not actual rock stars, but the little plastic instruments and the fun with friends all while your fans cheer is still pretty fun.  

Fix 4 Better Hope of Success in the Settlers Online
The Feedback in the Settlers Online gives you a sense of control and a desire to succeed.  The feedback comes in several different ways.  There is negative feedback - which comes in the form of running out of what your town needs to succeed.  This can be resources in the red or a factory that has stopped production because you failed to provide enough raw materials.  No one likes to see a huge warning sign showing them that something is really wrong and you aren't doing well.  This kind of feedback offers motivation to ensure that you are working to balance the tasks at hand.   Positive feedback comes in the form of rewards and completed quests, new lands, and new items you can access.  As you play the game, you get closer to Mastery.  Mastery is when you are good at the given tasks.  An example of mastery in the Settlers Online is getting to a point where you aren't running out of resources.  There are multiple levels of this.  In the Settlers Online, mastery can happen in small things - not just big picture.  You work and work and finally get where there are enough trees being planted to ensure that you will have a steady supply of wood, while ensuring that you have enough chopped wood and planks for factories and construction.   So you don't have to master every part of the entire game, small mastery gives hope that you are working towards running a successful and thriving society.