Journal Entry #3 for week 4 - - -

Quote:  "Fifth, the QA project has an explicit focus on engaging girls, a population that too often has been ignored or overlooked in the design of computer-based environments."

Response:  This paper comments on multiple occassions about the teams focus on engaging girls and making the experience "girl friendly."  I think it is important to not that there is a difference between non-violent and girl friendly.  Sonic the Hedgehog was/is a non-violent game, but I would not necessarilly consider it girl friendly.  Of course, by making a comment about creating a "girl friendly" environment can lead to the exploitation of stereotypes.  Girls are not all glitz, glamour, and pink too toos.

Link:  So a random search in Google for "Girls Video Games" brought this link to Leda on YouNow. 
This search has opened a door to a whole new world.  Yes, girls do play video games and stereotypes of girl gamers are just that, stereotypes.  This young lady explores video games and girls in a fun way, while there is no scientific content there is lots of personality and real opinions.  Or as she says, "my little rant about girls and gaming."

The bigger intrigue here is that this is considered a Vlog (another new tech term to me).  This young lady and many many other young people have an entire YouTube Station where they stream live and interact across the globe.  YouNow is an entire subculture and Leda appears to be star in that world. 

There is so much I could say here about her, the content, the format, and its relevance to this course.  However, an introduction to this world through a link to this video will suffice for now.  I'm going to check out a few more of her videos.  She is personable, bubbly, knowledgable on gaming, and just a real treat.  The giggles and high pitch of her voice can be annoying and what's with the whole "anime look."  I know there is a word for it, yet another video subculture.

Enjoy!

Scratch Game

I have this idea that I want to build an interactive vocabulary game.  I was delighted to find the Hangman Game, which was a favorite of my youth.  I have some concern about using the concept of "hangman," because of potential concern on the violence of the phrase.  (That is not my personal opinion, but part of the bigger picture.)  It is unfortunately a challenge in todays educational setting. 

As my intention is to utilize vocabulary relevant to coal I believe I will explore the concept of an unloaded coal cart, where a wrong guess would remove a lump of coal from the cart and when the cart is empty you lose. 

The Hangman Game I found is located here.

Journal #2

Interaction - There is a strong interaction in Garden of Time.  The nature of the finding hidden items requires a communication between the game and the player.

Production - I am disappointed in the production component of GOT.  There is a minimal requirement of thought and effort into building a Garden.  While it is necessary to accomplish quests it is actually an insignificent portion.  I find the amount of production to be less than stimulating.  However, in Farmville2 and other Zynga games they have built the level of production to the opposite extreme.  Almost making it impossible to accomplish the objectives in the allotted time with reasonable play time. 

Customization - I would have to put this in the same level of satisfaction with Production for GOT.  While there is some variety in setting up a personalized garden, it is still limiting.  Perhaps the ability to define some skills levels in the games would make it more intriguing.  All players face the same level of difficulty in finding objects. 

Well-order problems - I feel like I'm being critical of the game, but here again there was no work around.  The items the player needs to find are given and those are the items to find, no exception.  A way to accomodate this would be to allow a change in items to find, perhaps through a spinner, when an item is unable to be located.  The special tools are nice, but limiting.

"Just In Time" and "On Demand" components of GOT are the tool helps.  With the option of the infinite availability of finds, but only every 60 seconds the player is never without a lifeboat.  Additional helps can be earned or be given.  Having used 3 of the four tools the only one I found helpful was the infinite find tool and then it was frustrating to use, I wanted help, not a give away.  Although there were instances such as the finding the onion in Carnaby Street or the scissors in London Nightclub would have happened for me without the find.

Pleasantly Frustrating - The last time I played GOT I felt a certain amount of frustration.  I hate to be dependent upon the gifts of friends, and needing to depend upon their largesse makes the game difficult to play.  This is the case in many social media games, one is continually asked to "share" "ask" and "tell."  This goes above and beyond interactivity between different characters and players, but often requires you to go outside the confines of the game to bring in new players for energy, water, or some other requirement of the game.  Previously when I played GOT I had not made it beyond Carnaby Street and now I remember why.  It is more frustrating that fun. 

In GOT (and even in Farmville2) there are a variety of technical programming issues that take some of the enjoyment out of the game.  I have played both games on different computers and encounter similar issues so I know that there are hiccups beyond my computer.  I do like the way GOT uses different vocabulary for the same items in the same scene, there is active learning going on in the game, but the frustration with technical issues makes it a game I'm not keen on continuing to play.

My Opinion

First I would like to comment that on the surface the 3 presentations make a very symbiotic package.  The first two pieces were engaging, they permitted me to multi-task while listening and digesting the information.  If I missed a point, or need to clarify what I heard I went back to the piece and moved the timer back.  I accomplished other things such as fixing a cup of tea and washing a few dishes, made a few notes (although the paper is now wet), and I understood the content.  The third piece, which was a static Powerpoint did not engage me, hold my interest, or leave much of an impact.  The power of video was missing.

Based upon the concept that the act of learning builds gray matter and therefore improves the mind it is easy to see that video games of the right type at the right time will improve the intelligence of the average person.  This can be proved through research into the Flynn Effect.  I would like to think that we could get on a spinning wheel where playing produces dopamine so therefore we want to play more (been there, done that), and the more we play the smarter we get.  Is this perhaps why so many gamers are super intelligent in many ways?

I'm not sure how I feel about the statistics of the 1102 kids surveyed.  I have seen many instances where children become sequestered in their own world or the world of their computer.  I question the reliability of the numbers regarding their likelyhood to interact face to face.  Perhaps those numbers do not give a ttrue representation.  There is also a demographic issue that needs to be looked at, the same study conducted in the city of New York would be very different than one conducted in Charleston, WV.  There would need to be an equalizer for socio economic conditions and ethnicity base.

I have never believed that too much gaming was harmful, but I've always believed that there needs to be time away from the computer.  Being only slightly older than the second presenter I remember the games he spoke of - "Where in the World....." was a fun game for all ages and there was a game at the same time that was a history based westward travel covered wagon game that was very popular for students and adults.

I do still believe that computer games can, because of the dopamine enhanced, addictive quality can become a deterrent to a productive life.  There is an addictive quality about some games that just make it difficult, if not impossible to walk away from. 

Just as not all video games are created equal, neither are all gamers.  There will always be exceptions to the rules, but I am hopeful that by the time my grandsons begin to be serious about video games that they can benefit from all that technology has to offer.

Teens, Games, and Civics

The statistics are overwhelming.  I can read the numbers and I'm blown away by what I'm reading.  Yet, in my hyperactive brain they have no connection to the real world.  I can't help but wonder if a study of 1107 youth is a valid sample to make presumptions about the overall youth population.

I would not discount that games can encourage civic engagement, but in this, like in many areas of technology, I believe the demographics will have a major impact upon the success of any initiative.

It is not surprising that more boys play than girls or that broadband users play more, what is surprising is that their statistics show that daily gamers are as likely to communicate face to face as they are virtually.  I'm not sure that I am totally comfortable in agreeing with that. 

I do believe that the world of gaming has opened up new communications and has connected people who would not have met otherwise.  My cousin, met and eventually married a man that she met online playing WOW.  They lived on opposite sides of the country and I have no doubt they would not have met otherwise.

I find it difficult to assimilate the information provided in this slide information.  It is dry, boring, and virtually unprocessable for me.  There is not enough activity in the content to keep my attention and I find that I am not able to process the content the way I need to.  I also might add, that I can bury myslef in a book and get lost for hours, but there has to be a point to what I'm reading.  I'm not getting it out of this flat, 1 dimensional presentation.  Shouldn't they be preparing something more hi-tech based upon the topic they are covering?

Are Video Games Making Kids Smarter

This video had some really cool information. 

I have never contemplated the amount of time I (let alone my children) have spent playing video games.  But that the presenter anticipates he has spent 8-10K hours on one game alone is amazing.  I remember the first time I comprehended the number of texts that my son had sent in one month - I was floored.  How was it possible to send 5200 text in 30 days?

Gamification is an interesting concept.  Many companies and industry use some type of gamification already, such as video training at McDonald's.  Times they are chaning.  It was often a struggle to do crew training with a one on one setting and the introduction of computer training that training productivity actually went up.

It is surprising to learn that the act of learning increases grey matter.  That is incredible.  We can actually stimulate our children to being smarter.  What did not surprise me was that video gaming stimulates the production of dopamine.  It does make total sense.

Just this morning I was watching Thomas the Train with my 3 & 4 year old grandson and I realized that some of their vocabulary use was coming off of the video which they have watched repetitively.  They do not have cable and they have a few DVDs that they LOVE, including Thomas.  The narration of Thomas is done is a very proper UK English and I see that carrying over in their speech patterns.  They are not yet "gaming," but they do tackle small apps on the IPad and I am always impressed at their ability to teach me how to play a new app.

The presenter puts forth the notion that children with ADD or ADHD do well in video games and then find the world too slow.  I think that concept makes sense.  I am a doodler, I'm never content to just listen to a lecture, I must have my hands doing "something."  I carry handcrafts for car rides, listen to music or books on tape while working around the house, and overall have a need to have some type of multitasking going on in my environment.  But this concept causes me to wonder if we will ever create such stimulated environment that it will become unhealthy.  When will it be too much?

Your Brain on Games

What an interesting video!  There were several things that I found surprising, but I was also delighted to find that several of my thoughts on AVG usage were valid. 

I was surprised to learn that vision is actually improved with video game play.  I have noticed that as I play Sand of Time that I often have trouble seeing some objects, that I actually have to memorize where they are.  For me, this is mostly items that are in the shadows.  However, I have noticed that after playing a game a period of time I do become more attuned to shade differentials. 

The concept of Video conflict resolution is not something I had every really thought of, but it makes perfectly good sense.  My son has always been adept at identifying multiple things in a busy scenerio.  I refuse to tell him that perhaps that is because of his video game playing.

It was surprising to learn that video games at the right age are beneficial.  I believe that I have heard before that older people need to keep their brains active, so this should not be a new concept, but it is good to know that there is some science behind it.

I'm curious to know if it possible to define a particular age at which time AVG play is more beneficial?  I would suspect that it is not a chronological age, but a developmental age.