Gaming Trends

           We see video and online games everywhere, even in the classroom. However, I did not realize how useful games could be in education until I took this course. At the beginning of the class, I thought The Settlers had lots of benefits such as providing meaningful rewards and social connectivity. I will mention below. All the benefits I imagined gaining from playing this online game became true by playing it. I believe these educational games can provide standards-based academic content and allow students to practice 21st-century thinking skills at the same time. These games create an efficient and fun environment for learning experiments. Moreover, they allow students to build communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills while being challenged to think in a different way. Maybe the most important feature of game-based learning is its ability to support experiential learning. Plan formulation and strategic thinking are also other good qualities acquired through playing some of these games.

To sum up the positive potential games have to enrich learning environments, I might give a long list based on our textbook title, Reality is Broken. I think there cannot be a format providing more wholehearted participation than a game-based learning environment. Students experience an increase in their own intrinsic interest in playing educational games because even if they sometimes fail, they are always leveling up without feeling discouraged for failing, unlike reality.

Moreover, game-based environments offer meaningful rewards. Jane McGonigal (2011), author of Reality is Broken, made the following observation about the game Chore Wars:

Every chore grants you a customized amount of experience points, virtual gold, treasure, avatar power ups, or points that increase your virtual skills and abilities: plus ten dexterity points for dusting without knocking anything off the shelves, for example, or plus five stamina points for taking out all three kinds of recycling. (p. 120)

 

Likewise, all my efforts were rewarded while playing The Settlers, even if I put forth very little effort. This is one of the most meaningful rewards to me.

Social connectivity is another positive quality of good games. I think gamers are more willing to help each other than in real life. Good educational games also have clear goals and actionable steps. In the game we played during the semester, most of the goals were very clear. There was a list of things to do and details about how to do them. Games also provide instant feedback, which is the opposite of traditional learning environments. The Settlers also gave me a lot of different responses. For instance, after fighting a bandit camp, I got a letter that said, “Your troops have fought a valiant battle. You can watch the replay of the battle.” It made me feel like I controlled the battle very well.

Taking a long view is another quality we can acquire from a game. McGonigal (2011) stated, “Taking a long view means working at scales far larger than we would ordinarily encounter in our day-to-day lives” (p. 297). I have experienced this situation in The Settlers. While playing the game, we needed to consider the entirety of our island in terms of increasing population, maintaining resources and materials, building up supplies, and training an army. These activities can provide students a long view for their classes.

Another good quality of a game is ecosystem thinking. I do not know if other games provide that to gamers, but ecosystem thinking is one of the main goals of The Settlers. McGonigal (2011) wrote, “A good ecosystem thinker will study and learn how to anticipate the ways in which changes to one part of an ecosystem will impact other parts” (p. 298). In The Settlers, if we do not have a balanced production of resources or materials in the game, it becomes difficult to expand our islands and level up.

The most important quality of a game is mastery. McGonigal (2011) alleged that “when we play Wow, we get blissed out by our own productivity-and it doesn’t matter the work isn’t real. The emotional rewards are real-and for gamer, that’s what matters” (p. 61). Indeed, I feel the same. I feel like I am succeeding at big things. Since I began to play The Settlers, I feel better about my chances of being successful in real life, too. I believe that playing good games gives us the hope to become successful people.

As for this week’s topic, gaming trends, I would like to talk about the video titled “TEDxKids@Brussels - Gabe Zichermann - Gamification” (TEDxYouth, 2011). In this video, the speaker mentioned that Dr. Christopher Lucas from NYU said, Games don’t teach the right kind of attentional skills-sustained, no reward, and Dr. Dimitri Christakis from UW was reported to have argued that children habituated to games may find the real world underwhelming, under stimulating. Playing a game is thought of as a leisure activity and not good for kids. However, the Zichermann said today is the first time kids, parents, and teachers agree that games are amazing. I totally agree with the speaker. Games were thought of as bad for kids earlier and were excluded from learning environments, but today games are a part of education. It is really interesting.

Thinking about a classroom in 2030, I am sure it will not be like today’s classroom. Just as iPads and Kindles are replacing textbooks, I believe classes will be replaced by a combination of game-, virtual world-, and traditional classroom-based environments. However, I cannot image exactly how it will be because classrooms are changing with developing technologies. We do not even know what the jobs of the future will be or how educators will need to prepare students for these jobs. However, I can say that game-based learning will play a part in the future of education. However, educational games are also changing. In the article titled “The New Games People Play: How Game Mechanics Have Changed in the Age of Social Media,” Tsotsis (2010) talked about some game mechanics that may be applied in the future. She stated, “The level of creativity and fun that’s coming is incredible” (p. 1). I believe having fun will be the main point for educational games in the future. Apparently, fun is the future because it is the most engaging aspect for learners.

In the article titled “8 Research Findings Supporting the Benefits of Gamification in Education,” Walsh (2012) listed the benefits of gamification in learning environments. Some of these benefits are positive attitudes toward math, positive results in constructing children’s own video game experiences in terms of cognitive and social growth, positive results in attention span, and developing fearlessness in real life by playing scary games. The most surprising benefit is the development of fearlessness. I never thought war games might generate this kind of positive result. I understand once more that we need to be open to new things and should not be prejudiced toward new things until it is proven they are harmful to us. Walsh (2012) also stated that “… how many of these findings indicated benefits that can come from the use of gaming in education” (p.1). I believe the list of benefits coming from game use in learning environments will be supported by new surveys in the future. We will see what will happen in the education world.

 

 

References

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken. New York, NY: Penguin.

TEDxYouth. (2011, June 9). TEDxKids@Brussels - Gabe Zichermann - Gamification. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2N-5maKZ9Q   

Tsotsis, A. (2010). The new games people play: How game mechanics have changed in the age of social media. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/01/the-new-games-people-play-game-mechanics-in-the-age-of-social/

Walsh, K. (2012). Research findings supporting the benefits of gamification in education.  Retrieved from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/12/8-research-findings-supporting-the-benefits-of-gamification-in-education/

 

Virtual Worlds

 

Virtual Worlds

One of the elements that is lacking in the current educational system is that the information students learn does not have real-life applications. However, virtual environments (VE) meet this need. Stanton, Foreman, Wilson, Duffy, and Parnell (2002) stated that “Numerous studies using VEs have demonstrated that spatial knowledge can be effectively acquired from virtual exploration alone, and that such information can be readily transferred to real equivalent environments” (p. 13).

I think the online virtual world could be used to develop educational tools for educators who do not have technical knowledge about programming. Thanks to its visual tools, creating an educational environment is easier than programming. Young, Franklin, Cooper, Carroll, and Liu (2012) stated that “Compared to other programming languages, the native tools in Second Life speed up the development time needed to create educational modules for the classroom, which is why it is the largest programming environment” (p. 59).

In their article, “Envisioning the Educational Possibilities of User-Created Virtual Worlds,” Antonacci and Mondaress (2002) stated, “Educational games and simulations can engage students in higher-level cognitive thinking, such as interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving” (p.1 ). I think this means that the knowledge acquired through playing games and in simulations is equal for all learners, regardless of how much money they have or where they are in terms of their education level and location they live. Therefore, the use of games and simulations could be a big turning point in educational history. For example, the multimedia platforms used in games and simulations would provide students with access to different learning styles.

In the video titled Your brains on action games: Daphne Bavelier at TEDxCHUV from YouTube website , speaker mentioned how gaming helps enhance various skills, such as better attention to detail. She also mentioned that she could not believe how playing games, such as war games, or shooting zombies could make gamers more intelligent. However, parents find it great if their children play Sudoku or read Shakespeare. However, she alleged that playing shooting games had both positive and negative effects. She talked about the impact that playing a video game has on the brain and gave several examples. We believe that watching a video screen makes our eyesight worse. However, according to some surveys, it does not. Interestingly, playing these kinds of games makes us more careful drivers. She also rejected the belief that playing video games could lead to attention deficit disorder or problems with distractibility in children. However, when the attention span of gamers was measured the in labs, they found that “action video game play enhances attention control.” She also mentioned multiple-object tracking. There is no doubt that gamers would be better in traffic, such as being able to keep track of obstacles such as running dogs. Another interesting point mentioned in the video is spatial rotation. I received a scholarship to obtain a master’s and a doctorate abroad by passing a tough intelligence exam. Some of the questions were about spatial rotation. This is not the type of exam for which you need to study. The speaker stated that after playing an action game, people are better at mental rotation. Lastly, she questioned as to why the gaming market does not create games that produce only positive effects. She believed it was because the market has two sides, which she called the broccoli and the chocolate side: to be able to eat broccoli, it needs to be covered with chocolate because if a game is not fun, it cannot be engaging.

As for the Lumosity web site, it is a resource for developing short-term memory and attention skills. After selecting different aspects in all categories on the web site, it created a personalized training program. It was amazing!

The first game I played was Speed Match. It was easy. The only thing I needed to pay attention to was whether or not the symbol matched the one that came immediately before it. The second game I played was Memory Matrix. It was about one’s ability to remember an item’s location. The last game I played was Eagle Eye, which was related to visual attention. The only thing I needed to do was to find the bird to build my collection. It was easy at first, but the game added some distractions, and it became more difficult. After experiencing these training programs, I agree with the web site: “The personalized training program helped me achieve my goals for a better life!”. For instance, I am a little bit better in remembering an item’s location thanks to this training program. I believe if I keep my training on the website, I will be better.

I found the information in the short video titled “Neuroscience, Games & Learning” to be really interesting. The speaker stated, “When players viewing images from internet games, similar neural activities as when addicts of drugs or gambling view images of cues.”

As for the information in “The Science Behind Lumosity,” Hardy and Scanlon stated that “Scientists once believed that mental ability was fixed after childhood. But over the last few decades, neuroscientists have discovered that adults’ brains are constantly changing—growing new neurons and connections—in a process known as neuroplasticity” (p.1 ).

Therefore, the Lumosity training programs could efficiently be used to develop short-term memory and attention skills in all ages. The most interesting thing about the Lumosity training programs was that they provide a personalized training program because the percentage of skills in a brain are not the same for all people.

References

Antonacci, D. M., & Modaress, N. (2008). Envisioning the educational possibilities of user-created virtual worlds. AACE Journal, 16(2), 115–126. Retrieved from http://etpt5980.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61532371/antonacci_VR_possibilities.pdf  

Hardy, J., & Scanlon, M. (November 2009). The science behind Lumosity. Retrieved from http://www.lumosity.com

Stanton, D., Foreman, N., Wilson, P., Duffy, H., & Parnell, R. (2002). Use of virtual environments to acquire spatial understanding of real-world multi-level environments. Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies, Veszprém, Hungary. Retrieved from             http://etpt5980.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61693630/stanton_spatial.pdf

Young, W., Franklin, T., Cooper, T., Carroll, S., & Liu, C. (2012). Game-based learning aids in Second Life. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 23(1), 57–80. Retrieved from

http://etpt5980.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61531322/young_second_life.pdf

Fix 14

Fix 14

Massively Multiplayer Foresight

1. Describe your personal growth in the areas listed below as a result of playing Settlers.

Taking a Long View

            Jane McGonigal (2011) stated, “Taking a long view means working at scales far larger than we would ordinarily encounter in our day-to-day lives” (p. 297). I have experienced this situation in Settlers. Wh ile playing the game, we needed to consider the entirety of our island in terms of increasing population, maintaining resources and materials, building up supplies, and training an army. Consideration of all of these factors was the only way to expand our island and to level up. I never before in my life experienced considering so many things at the same time.

Ecosystems Thinking

            Actually, ecosystems thinking is one of the main goals for this game. McGonigal (2011) writes, “A good ecosystem thinker will study and learn how to anticipate the ways in which changes to one part of an ecosystem will impact other parts” (p. 298). As she says, if we do not have a balanced production of any of resources or materials in the game, it becomes difficult to expand our island and level up. For instance, if we do not have enough natural resources like gold, bronze, and steel, the materials made with these resources cannot be adequately produced. That is why we always need to send our geologist(s) to find all kinds of mines. Even if we have enough mines of all kinds of natural resources, the mines can be depleted. It is similar for our fields, which can become exhausted in the same way a mine can become depleted. We also need to combine manmade resources with our mines to be able to produce crucial items like swords, planks, bread, brew, sausages, and bows. Actually, having enough materials, resources, and manmade products is not enough to maintain a good chain. We also need to achieve stable rates of production because only with this can we maintain a balanced chain of all productive activities. After realizing how difficult achieving this situation is, I came to understand how something little can affect my whole island.

Pilot Experimentation

At the beginning, I thought this game would provide us with all the requirements to level up and I did not need to think about what I should do to help us get there. However, after leveling up, I have learned that I should have run some trials before deciding how many buildings and resources I should have and which ones would be most important to expanding my island. This process is called a “pilot experimentation.” McGonigal (2011) wrote that “Pilot experimentation is the process of the designing and running many small tests of different strategies and solutions in order to discover the best course of action to take” (p. 298). Even though I tried different strategies to cope with the problems in the game, I could not become successful. Then I began to slow the pace at which I leveled up. I began to ask other players for advice and visit the forum of the game to get help. This attempt worked very well! I began to level up more easily, and my trial and error periods began to decrease.  Even though I am now better during trial periods, I still have some difficult moments when new situations arise. I always think I need to find a way to achieve an effective outcome while playing the game.

 

 

 

2. In what ways could these skills be beneficial to any individual?

I think ‘Taking a Long View’, ‘Ecosystems Thinking’, and ‘Pilot Experimentation’ are a requirement in any career. This game teaches individuals the importance of seeing the “big picture.” For instance, teachers can develop better evaluation skills for their students by playing this game. This would allow them to prepare more effective instructions. Moreover, teachers would be better able to see how something little affects the whole learning process and which potential changes might make the learning process more efficient.

3. How could you take this kind of gaming experience and skill learning into an educational context and use it to empower learners? Be creative in your answer!

I think this experience could be very useful for teachers to evaluate their own instructions.

 

Taking a long view: Getting students to see the much bigger picture. To catch students’ attention, teachers should explain why the class they teach is important and how students can use class information in their daily lives. For a good learning experience to take place, students have to see the big picture before teachers start to teach. Students also need to have well-prepared instructions for what they need to accomplish. They also need to know what they can do with the information they learn in their work places or colleges. They need to know the intended outcomes of any learning context before actually learning the information. If students play this game, they will see for themselves how important it is to see the big picture. 

Ecosystems thinking: Thanks to this game experience, students will come to understand how something little, such as lack of studying, has an effect on their whole learning ability. They understand that if they do not study regularly, then they are likely to fail, even if they can study for a long period just once a week.

Pilot experimentation: According to Multiple Intelligence Theory, people have different learning styles and that they learn best in their own learning style. This game could function as a form of investigation of students’ preferred learning style. Investigation of each of students’ learning style is very difficult and time consuming, however students could discover their learning style on their own thanks to this game experience. 

4. Summarize the three most memorable concepts from McGonigal's book that you learned or could relate to while playing Settlers.

1- (Hacking happiness) McGonigal (2011) states, “We gain confidence that we can connect with others when we want to, and when we need to” (p.182). She also states that “Recent research has shown that we don’t even have to know someone to experience the benefits of thanking and being nice to them” (p. 189).  

Actually, I did not think like that at the beginning of the game. However, I am now confident enough to ask any question to people that I never even see. I have also gained the confidence to be thankful to those I have never seen in real life. That made me happier than I was before. I have really experienced the benefits of this social game. That is why I cannot forget McGonigal’s insights.

 

2-(Leveling up in life) McGonigal (2011) states that “Games, of course, help put people back in control” (p. 149). As she said, if we manage everything effectively, like we do with the consumption- production chain in the game, I think we can attain the power to balance our lives too. Playing this game gave me the power to control things in my life better than before because progressing toward goals gave me a kind of power. 

3- (The Benefits of Alternative Realities) McGonigal (2011) writes of a game named Chore Wars that “Even as the laundry gets dirty again or the dust starts to sneak back in, your avatar is still getting stronger, smarter, swifter. In this way, Chore Wars brilliantly reverses the most demoralizing aspects of regular housework” (p. 123). Just as in the game Settlers, even if my general loses a war, I can always return him to life, and I can cure him with medical packets all the time, unlike in real life. In real life, even if you do everything correctly, there is always the possibility of losing something. That is why the quotation above is also one of the memorable sentences to me.

 

Reference

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.

 

 

Fix 13

Ten-Thousand Hours Collaborating

This game makes establishing a settlement possible without help from others. However, doing so makes it harder to move up levels in the game. If I interact and collaborate with others through sending gifts or trading for their needs, I could advance to a higher level more quickly.

I would like to continue describing my experiences about the collaborations in the game by giving some details about specific game terms.

Collaboration

In her book, McGonigal (2011) stated the following about collaboration: “Collaboration is a special way of working together. It requires three distinct kinds of concerted effort: cooperating (acting purposefully toward a common goal), coordinating (synchronizing efforts and sharing resources), and cocreating (producing a novel outcome together)” (p. 268).

I believe this game includes all of these kinds of concerted effort. When I think about the collaboration in the game, the first thing that comes to my mind is helping other gamers and receiving help from other players. I think of these helps in a kind of an epic way because we are trying to settle an island by defeating bandit camps with our soldiers and experiencing adventures with the soldiers and other players.

Shared Concentration and Synchronized Engagement

In her book, McGonigal (2011) described a game: “They actively focus their attention on the game, and they agree to ignore everything else for as long as they’re playing. They practice shared concentration and synchronized engagement” (p. 269). The Settlers Online game also provides shared concentration and synchronized engagement. All players have to log in every day to prevent the loss of our settlement. This might be an example of shared concentration. As for synchronized engagement, we know whether or not our friends are online in the game.

Reciprocal Reward

The author alleged the following about a game: “Whether they win or lose, they’re creating reciprocal rewards” (McGonigal, 2011, p. 269). The Settlers Online game also provides these rewards to the players. I have experienced a player’s trading with me for an amount of coal, even though he needed the coal, because the primary goal of this game is helping each other. This makes the game meaningful emotionally. With this help, he won because he felt good by helping me, and I won because I received help. It is a reciprocal reward.

Real-Time Coordination Tools

The author stated, “Game developers aren’t just designing more co-op play; they are also creating new real time coordination tools to help us find the right people at the right time to cooperate with” (McGonigal, 2011, p. 273). In the Settlers Online game, players also get help from other players in a synchronized manner through the Help tab. Therefore, the Help tab is one of these real-time tools. Players are also being friends and trading resources in the game in a synchronized platform.

Massively Single-Player Online Game

McGonigal (2011) said about a game, “There are no other players in the simulated ecosystem; everything in the world is controlled by artificial intelligence” (p. 275). In the game, we experience the same thing. We do not have to play with any of players as long as we do not want that in the game. We are managed by artificial intelligence.

Reference

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.

Fix: 11–12

Sustainable Engagement Economy

Good Game World

In her book Reality is Broken, McGonigal (2011) states that “participants should be able to explore and impact a ‘world,’ or shared social space that features both content and interactive opportunities” (p. 245). I think that the game The Settlers Online creates an entertaining and challenging world by McGonigal’s standards. She mentions that, in this game, players function in an environment that encourages them to interact with different elements. These interactions satisfy gamers mentally and emotionally. McGonigal (2011) also states, “In the economy of engagement, it is less important to compete for attention and more and more important to compete for things like brain cycles and interactive bandwidth” (p. 228). The Settlers Online provides these opportunities for interaction. It is necessary during the game, for example, that players make decisions about whether or not they should build buildings or have a guild. The decisions are optional. These different levels of complexity within the game cause players to think strategically.

Good Game Mechanics

The author continues on to define what constitutes a good game: “Wikipedia has good game mechanics. Player action has direct and clear results: edits appear instantly on the site, giving users a powerful sense of control over the environment” (McGonigal, 2011, p. 229). Likewise, because The Settlers Online offers clear quests and clear results, the game has good game mechanics. To give an example, when a player needs to fight bandits, the game allows him or her to choose how many fighters are within the bandit camp and who rules the bandits before engaging in combat. Gamers thus can defeat a well-defined enemy. Such mechanics empower gamers and motivate them to continue playing.

Good Game Community

McGonigal (2011) states that a “good game community requires two things: plenty of positive social interaction and meaningful context for collective effort” (p. 230). The Settlers Online provides exactly those two things she mentions. Some of the requirements for leveling up in the game relate to one’s connection with other players. These requirements include buffing other players’ buildings and trading resources with other players. To give another example, gamers sometimes need to ask questions using the Help Tab; during these times, other players are often very friendly and willing to assist others in a social forum.

More Epic Wins

1. Has this game made you curious about what more you can do? If so, in what way?

My answer is: yes. This game did make me curious about what more I could do within the context of the game. I at least wanted to construct many different types of buildings and defeat every bandit camp. However, I had to give up the game because of having severe neck pain.

 

2. How does this game harness the social participation of the masses?

The game harnesses the social participation of the masses in several ways. This game encourages players to assist each other, for instance, through the Help Tab function or through guilds. It also offers many appealing challenges. In McGonigal’s words, “Gamers are creative, persistent, and always up for a good challenge. Their strong cognitive resources, combined with their proven engageability, are a valuable resource just waiting to be tapped” (p. 240). Through its rewarding and challenging quests, The Settlers Online provides the engagement that McGonigal recommends.

Crowdsourcing

I examined AT&T’s quarter-billion-dollar campaign named AT&T Announces Quarter-Billion-Dollar Expansion of Education Commitment which is designed to help more students graduate from high school, prepared for both college and a career. It is obvious that this campaign has improved high school success and college/career readiness, especially for the students most likely to drop out of high school. The campaign was started on March 19, 2012. I believe this campaign has created an important opportunity for these students. McGonigal’s take on crowdsourcing was that “it is not for a lack of time spent on the Internet. It is just incredibly difficult to achieve the necessary critical mass of participation on any given serious project” (p. 226).

 

Reference

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.

 

 

Fix 9-10

            Fix 9-10 

McGonigal who is writer of Reality Is Broken alleged that:

In order to turn a group of strangers into a community, you have to follow two basic steps: first, cultivate a shared interest among strangers, and, second, give them the opportunity and means to interact with each other around that interest. (McGonigal, 2011, p. 172)

In the game The Settlers, I have experienced both of the steps the author mentions.  An example of my experiencing a sense of community is when I became too exhausted waiting to train the army and send an explorer to find a coin with a medium search.  I said in the help tab of the game that I am too tired waiting for everything.  I feel exhausted with everything in this game! Then, a player said this game does take a lot of patience and I have to be willing to wait for things.  The player also said with luck one gets a coin on the Explorer’s first twelve-hour run; others don’t get it for weeks and I just need to make sure he runs all the time. After getting this motivating answer from one of the players, I felt like I was in a community in which all its members experience the same difficulties.

Another example of my experiencing a sense of community is when I sent my army to an adventure island and I could not complete the adventure on time.  I did the only thing I could and canceled the adventure.  However, I was too scared that I would lose all my troops and my general, so I asked whether or not there is a possibility for losing my all troops there on the help tab of the game.  One of the players said if I also send the general on the adventure, it will take more time.  The player also said they are on their way and I can check how much time remains to get them back on the Star. Moreover, the player tried to motivate me by saying absolutely I will get all my troops back. After getting this reassuring answer, I felt I was in the game with other helpful people.  I have never felt alone since that conversation.  The writer of Reality Is Broken summed up this feeling very well: “We gain confidence that we can connect with others when we want to, and when we need to.  And with that confidence, there is no reason to ever feel alone in the world—virtual, real, or otherwise” (McGonigal, 2011, p. 182).

I have experienced common interests between me and other players in various interactions.  The first interaction was when I was trying to find wild animals to get more meat.  When I asked how to find wild animals on the help tab of the game, some players answered my question, and others offered a trade.  It was a win-win situation.  Other opportunities in which I interacted with other players were when I buffed other players’ buildings, added other players as friends, and sold some stones and water.  We cooperated because of common goals in the game.  As the author of Reality Is Broken said, the game “focuses the attention of a group of people on a common goal, even if they think they have nothing in common with each other” (McGonigal, 2011, p. 172).

I think all of these opportunities create a sense of community when I compare it to real life.  Actually, the author mentions about creating a sense of community through good games in her book by saying that “compared with games, reality is lonely and isolating.  Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch” (McGonigal, 2011, p.172).

When we think about how there is an interests gap between grandparents and grandchildren, this game is something that can really bring them together.  McGonigal mentions how good games work to get together all generations by writing: “What would it take to convince young people to call their grandparents more often?” (p. 177).

McGonigal mentioned that “alongside platforms for communicating the science of happiness, we need platforms for engaging people in scientifically proven happiness activities” (p. 187).  I believe The Settlers is one of these platforms engaging us in scientifically proven happiness activities because the game does not allow us to feel alone thanks to its features such as buffing other players’ buildings, asking questions on the help tab of the game, and being friends with other players.  In her book, McGonigal also stated that “according to most scientific findings, there are almost no good ways to be happy alone for long” (p. 186).

The Settlers allows me to be thankful and to be nice people in the activities I have mentioned.  This situation is a happy experience.  In her book McGonigal mentions about happy experiences by saying:

Researchers have shown that sharing the same space for even just a few minutes a day with kind and friendly strangers makes us more optimistic, improves our self-esteem, makes us feel safer and more connected to our environment, and generally helps us enjoy our lives more. And if we return the favor, we benefit as well: when we give to others, or act cooperatively, the reward centers of the brain light up. (p. 190)

I can say that I have experienced all the benefits described in this quote. Since I began to play this game, I feel more connected to other people and have more self-esteem because of giving to and receiving from others.  I feel good thanks to this game!

I would like to mention a video game called Top Secret Dance Off, which is on our class PB work page.  People can dance together on the Internet thanks to this game. Moreover, they can have real-life adventures with a soundtrack, throw their bodies around, make each other laugh, and convince each other to dance more than they thought possible, at home, in public, wherever! I found it to be possibly the best happiness hack!

 

References

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.

Fix 7-8

Wholehearted Participation

I understand that the main motivation for playing Settlers is to pass this course. However, have you experienced any increase in your own intrinsic interest or enthusiasm for playing the game? If so, what was the reason for this?

I have experienced an increase in my own intrinsic interest for the playing game because even if I sometimes fail, I always leveling up without any punishment unlike real life.

Meaningful Rewards

1. What has been the most meaningful rewards for you while playing the game?

Author of “Reality is Broken” (2011) states about the game named Chore Wars that:

Every chore grants you a customized amount of experience points, virtual gold, treasure, avatar power ups, or points that increase your virtual skills and abilities: plus ten dexterity points for dusting without knocking anything off the shelves, for example, or plus five stamina points for taking out all three kinds of recycling.( McGonigal, 2011, pg. 120, para. 4)

Likewise, my all efforts were rewarded while playing the Settlers, even if they are very little efforts. This is one of the most meaningful rewards to me.

As for another one, I hate doing many things at the same time because I do not feel all things are in control. I think I cannot manage many things at the same time. However, this game makes me courage in managing many things altogether. For instance, I produce many dishes of fish in Provision House, find deposits for less marble stones, send my explorer to find treasure, send my geologist to find iron, buffer all buildings, trade for my needs with other players, train my recruits, bowman, and militias in Barracks, check if we win the battle in Garrison, go to battle with my soldiers and general, build new wheat fields instead of exhausted fields, and get help from other players through instant message help platform. I am doing all of them at the same time without feeling trouble. McGonigal mentions the same reward about “Chore Wars”. She (2011) states that:

…as an added bonus, our place is cleaner than it ever has been before. Chore Wars has transformed something we both normally hate doing into something that feels creative and fun. The game has changed our reality of having to do house-work, and for the better. (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 121, para. 3).

As last most important reward of the game to me, I can say that it is restriction. There are some restrictions in the game. Players can reach some features of the game after they reach a particular level. For instance, in the Settlers, to be able to train militias, that some stronger fighters for battles, we need to reach level 21. It is a restriction that makes me more motivated to keep playing. Actually, the book’s writer mentions similar things about “Chore Wars”. She (2011) alleges that “…the more interesting the restrictions, the more we enjoy playing.” (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 122. para. 123)

Except all these rewards I mentioned above, there are also social rewards in the Settlers. To give an example, because of trading, buffing, and accepting other players’ friendship request, I help them indirectly. Giving some helpful answer to their questions in instant messaging platform in the game is another way of help. The author calls these rewards as emotional and social rewards. She (2011) claims that:

The emotional and social rewards we really crave require active, enthusiastic, self-motivated participation. And helping other players participate more fully in the moment, instead of trying to escape it or just get through it, is the signature hallmark of alternate reality projects…. (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 124, para. 7)

2. In what way have these rewards made you feel in control?

            These rewards make me feel in control because even if I fail, I am leveling up or there is a solution to fix my failure all the time. For instance, in the Settlers, even if my general be captured by enemies after a battle, I can always get him back to Garrison as alive. Moreover, I can send him a Medical Pack in order to make him better soon. To give another example, even if some of sources are consumed a lot or gone completely, the game gives me different options to make up them by trading, finding new deposits, building extra fields, increasing the production through buffering, and giving love potion to increase population. Those make me feel in control. However, in real life, when I face some difficulties, I do not sometimes know what I can do to solve the problem. Sometimes, there is no time even to think about the solutions in real life, if the something happened immediately and is in need of fixing soon. McGonigal (2011) says “Games, of course, help put people back in control…Meanwhile, progressing toward goals and getting better at a game instills a sense of power and mastery.” (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 149, para. 4) As she says, The Settlers gives me a feeling which drives me having more power and control.

References

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.