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.