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.