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.