Fix 3-4

Leveling up:

 It is a little more difficult than lower levels anymore because some missing resources or foods missing began to emerge. To do list in request paper, I needed to refill these missing first. Then, I could realized the quests. However, as long as I leveled up, I feel more motivated. Leveling up made me more desired to keep playing. As long as I leveled up, I feel more satisfied. In the book named The Reality is Broken, writer (2011) states about a game named World of Warcraft that:

It is impossible, but it’s true: if you add up all the hours that gamers across the globe have spent playing World of Warcraft since the massively multiper online (MMO) role-playing game (RPG) first launched in 2004, you get a grand total of just over 50 billion collective hours- or 5.93 million years. To put that number in perspective: 5.93 million years ago is almost exactly the moment in history that our earliest human ancestors first sttod upright. By that measure, we’ve spent as much time playing World of Warcraft as we’ve spent evolving as a species. (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 52, para. 2-3).

Actually, it is same for the Settlers. Building, harvesting wheat, training recruits, mapping, trading, mining, producing, searching for coal/copper and populating in real world probably take a lot of years. However, in the game, I need just couple minutes to do any of them. It is amazing when compared to the real world. It is a game but I feel I am really doing it! I feel I am really build, produce, attack, and control in just a couple hours! McGonigal (2011) says about getting results soon “In real life, if someone gave you a task that normally took five hundred hours of work to finish, and then gave you a way to complete in half that, you would probably be pretty pleased.” (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 55, para. 2).

Clear goals and actionable steps:

Most of goals are very clear in the game. There is a list to do and details about how to do them. Some of goals were building hardwood forester, hardwood cutter, hardwood sawmill, well, garrisons, farm field, copper smelter, and like that. Some of them are more difficult like defeating a bandit camp. Nevertheless, they are clear goals.  However, some of them are not clear or not understandable to me. In such a situation, I am going to forum or instant messaging platform to get help. For instance, I needed more settlers in a time but not know how to increase them. Then, asked other players through the instant message platform. They said when I increased my settlers’ capacity with residents; I get 1 every 15 minutes by default. To give another example, one of the goals was claiming 4 sectors. However, I could not claim sectors, and I did not how to do it. Then, I asked again in help platform. Other players said how to do it.  Some of goals are in mail, instead in quest paper. For instance, I got a mail saying “I heard your general was defeated. Use med pack to send him again Garrison”. Then, I went to the Star to get med pack in order to cure my General.

Feedback:

As feedback, the game gives me a lot of different response. For instance, after a fighting with bandit camp, I got a mail saying “Your troops have fought a valiant battle. You can watch the replay of the battle”. It made me like I controlled the battle very well. Actually, there are lots of other feedbacks after completing each step of quests. If I completed any little thing as quest, I get free hardwood or pinewood planks, stars, foods, bows and something like that. If I won a battle, I got building licenses for free. After buffing for buildings, I always got a screen message saying “You buffed A building. This will increase your building”. After getting these feedbacks soon, I feel my settlement is under control- and everything is going well.

Mastery:

Author of the book (2011) alleges in her book “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 gamers, that’s what matter.” (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 61, para. 4). Indeed, I feel same thing. I feel like I am succeeding big things. Since I began to play the Settlers, I feel better about to be successful in real life, too. I believe good games gives a hope to be successful to people. In real life, when I fail about something, my motivation decreases soon. However, in the game, when I face a failure, I do not feel in that way. In such a situation I feel I can do it in second try or third try. It is really interesting. I need this power in real life. Even though I read lots of motivational and personal development books in order to be strong in the face of failure, none of them did work until now! McGonigal talks about same situation in her book. She (2011) says “Learning to stay urgently optimistic in the face of failure is an important emotional strength that we can learn in games and apply in our real lives.” (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 61, para. 4). However, how these failures make me more emotionally-resistant? She also expounds that in her book by saying “When we are energized by failure, we develop emotional stamina. And emotional stamina makes it possible for us to hang in longer, to do much harder work, and to tackle more complex challenges. We need this kind of optimism in order to thrive as human being.” (McGonigal, 2011, pg. 61, para. 4).

  

References

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