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Games for Learning

Games for Learning. Tony Anceriz, Dajana Fox, Neomi Kigelman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMP8OSWGcss. One major way in which computers are changing the way we live is through games

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Games for Learning

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  1. Games for Learning Tony Anceriz, Dajana Fox, Neomi Kigelman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMP8OSWGcss

  2. One major way in which computers are changing the way we live is through games “They create new social and cultural worlds: worlds that help people learn by integrating thinking, social interaction, and technology” (Shaffer et al, 2004). Playing with technology….looking at games from the positive and negative perspectives Success through failure… Repetition… Practice and adaptability http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw3vCsNrLkI

  3. In their 2004 study, Video games and the future of learning, Shaffer et al argue that in order to understand the future of learning, we have to look beyond schools to the emerging arena of video games Video Games:__ Present players with simulated worlds Embody particular social practices Develop ways of thinking Enhance learning Promote digital literacy Whether you play them or not, games are going to change your life (CBC video on the Gamer Revolution)

  4. Children and adults alike, play games for a number of reasons; they are challenging, complex, engaging, and motivating It has been proven that children learn best when material possesses these qualities

  5. This provides us with a perfect reason to translate the concept of game playing into an educational context such as the classroom.Serious Games:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv81g-bujS8

  6. Prensky (2007)A list of skills that students learn from serious games: • To cooperate, collaborate and work in teams • To make effective decision under stress • To take prudent risks in pursuit of objectives • To make ethical and moral decisions • To employ scientific deduction • To quickly master and apply new skills and information (ZPD) • To think laterally and strategically • To persist and solve difficult problems • To understand and deal with foreign environments and cultures to manage business and people

  7. In this day and age, students are frequently engaged with electronic and technological media, and as a result, they are learning and developing skills that differ somewhat from what they are being taught in school. • It is important to combine the two elements since games for learning are going to be inevitable in the future • Schools need to take a proactive stance and help make a change in the curriculum to cater and accommodate the skills that will be valued in the years to come

  8. Euro News – Futuris – Challenge the current state of technology in the schools http://youtube.com/watch?v=-5PSaCykoks

  9. Development of new types of digital literacies : combining elements of traditional reading and writing with new literacies that pertain to accessing and evaluating information, constructing complex narratives, decision-making, and navigating rich multimedia environments (Lotherington, 2004, Beavis, 2002)

  10. Computer KidsComputers in Early ChildhoodComputers as life tools – for everyday use – Placed in a classroom, computers can be used to facilitate and reinforce learning in multiple waysVehicle for increasing motivation and engagement (Owston) http://youtube.com/watch?v=rjpa4uffonM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQL_42H2ouU

  11. James Gee • http://youtube.com/watch?v=qGd1URORsoE (new form of competition for schooling)

  12. What is it specifically about video games that help people learn?  Does it have more to do with the gameplay than the story, the visual content or the characters? • My book covers 36 good learning principles built into good games like System Shock 2, Rise of Nations, Arcanum, or even Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.  But there are many more.  Let me just give a few examples.  First, humans are terrible at learning when you give them lots and lots of verbal information ahead of time out of any context where it can be applied.  Games give verbal information “just in time” when and where it can be used and “on demand” as the player realizes he or she needs it. • Second, good games stay inside, but at the outer edge of the player’s growing competence, feeling challenging, but “doable.”  This creates a sense of pleasurable frustration.  Third, good games create what’s been called a “cycle of expertise” by giving players well-designed problems on the basis of which they can form good strategies, letting them practice these enough to routinize them, then throwing a new problem at them that forces them to undo their now routinized skills and think again before achieving, through more practice, a new and higher routinized set of skills.  Good games repeat this cycle again and again—it’s the process by which experts are produced in any domain. • Final example: good games solve the motivation problem by what I think is an actual biological effect.  When you operate a game character, you are manipulating something at a distance (a virtual distance, in this case), much like operating a robot at a distance, but in a much more fine-grained way.  This makes humans feel that their bodies and minds have actually been expanded into or entered that distant space.  Good games use this effect by attaching a virtual identity to this expanded self that the player begins to care about in a powerful way.  This identity can then become a hook for freeing people up to think and learn in new ways, including learning, or least thinking about, new values, belief systems, and world views, as the Army realized in building America’s Army.  If you stick with it, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind does this brilliantly and people play the game very differently depending on the different ways in which they have invested in their character.  We would do better at teaching science in school if kids really invested in a scientist identity.  But you have to make it happen, you can’t just say “preten.”

  13. Henry Jenkins – Director of Comparative studies at MIT • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INhOB9gWPiA

  14. Dr. Tanya Byron • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjPcpNuF3Fw

  15. SAGE for Learning • Potential of technology-based games for learning • Consider psychological factors and relate them to successful game characteristics

  16. Educational Games for Free • www.funbrain.com • http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/ • http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/gears.jsp • Let’s Play!

  17. Special Needs & Computer Games • Motivational • Entertaining • Colours & Graphics • Specialized • High Success Rate • Expensive! • www.do2learn.com

  18. Special Needs & Computer Games • Highly specialized games are good, but regular games can also be beneficial • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIB85VlDG88

  19. Games & Pop Culture Impact on the Consumer

  20. Highest Selling Games • Top 20 console games of all time • 1.Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green (Game Boy – 20.08 million) • 2.Nintendogs (DS – 18.67 million) • 3.Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES – 18 million) • 4.Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2 – 17.5 million) • 5.Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2 – 14.89 million) • 6.Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (DS – 14.77 million) • 7.Pokémon Gold and Silver (Game Boy Color – 14.51 million) • 8.Grand Theft Auto III (PS2 – 14.5 million) • 9.New Super Mario Bros. (DS – 14.16 million) • 10.Super Mario Land (Game Boy – 14 million) • 11.Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (GBA – 13 million) • 12.Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (DS – 12.98 million) • 13.Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 – 12 million) • 14.Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (GBA – 11.82 million) • 15.Wii Play (Wii – 11.51 million) • 16.Super Mario 64 (N64 – 11 million) • 17.Gran Turismo (PS1 – 10.85 million shipped) • 18.Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! (DS – 10.83 million) • 19.Mario Kart DS (DS – 10.45 million) • 20.Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES – 10 million)

  21. Highest Selling Games Cont… By Genre • Action-adventure – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 – 12 million) • Role-playing game – Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green (Game Boy – 20.08 million) • Fighting – Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN - 7.09 million) • First-person shooter – Halo 3 (Xbox 360 – 8.1 million) • Music game - Guitar Hero II (PS2 - 3.31 million in US) • Third-person shooter – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 – 12 million) • Platform – Super Mario Bros. (NES – 40.23 million) • Puzzle – Tetris (Game Boy – 33 million) • Racing – Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2 – 14.89 million) • Simulation – Nintendogs (DS – 18.67 million) • Stealth – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2 – 7 million) • Survival horror – Resident Evil 2 (PS1 – 4.96 million) • Traditional sports – Madden NFL 2005 (PS2 – 4.35 million in US)

  22. Highest Selling Games For Consoles Atari 2600 1977 • Pac-Man (7 million) • Pitfall! (4 million) • Missile Command (2.5 million)

  23. Highest Selling Games Cont… Nintendo Entertainment System 1983 • Total Nintendo Entertainment System games sold as of March 31, 2006: 500 million. • Super Mario Bros. (40.23 million) • Super Mario Bros. 3 (18 million) • Super Mario Bros. 2 (10 million) • The Legend of Zelda (6.51 million) • Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (4.38 million) • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4 million) • Dragon Warrior III (3.8 million in Japan) • Dragon Warrior IV (3.1 million in Japan) • Golf (2.46 million in Japan) • Dragon Warrior II (2.4 million in Japan) • Baseball (2.35 million in Japan) • Mahjong (2.13 million in Japan) • Family Stadium (2.05 million in Japan) • Tetris (1.81 million in Japan)

  24. Highest Selling Games Cont… Sega Mega Drive/Genesis 1988 • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6 million) • Sonic the Hedgehog (4 million) • Aladdin (4 million) • NBA Jam (1.93 million in US) • Mortal Kombat 2 (1.78 million in US) • Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (1.65 million) • Sonic & Knuckles (1.24 million in US) • Mortal Kombat 3 (1.02 million in US) • Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1.02 million in US)

  25. Highest Selling Games Cont… Game Boy and Game Boy Color 1989 • Total Game Boy and Game Boy Color games sold as of March 31, 2005: 501.1 million • Tetris (33 million) • Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green (20.08 million) • Pokémon Red (4.83 million in US) • Pokémon Blue (5.02 million in US) • Pokémon Gold and Silver (14.51 million) • Pokémon Gold (7.15 million) • Pokémon Silver (7.36 million) • Super Mario Land (14 million) • Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition (8.26 million) • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (6.05 million) • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (3.96 million) • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (3.96 million) • Pokémon Crystal (3.75 million) • Pokémon Trading Card Game (2.9 million) • Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (2.8 million in US)

  26. Super Nintendo Entertainment System 1990 Total Super Nintendo Entertainment System games sold as of March 31, 2006: 379.1 million Super Mario World (20 million) Donkey Kong Country (8 million) Super Mario Kart (8 million) Street Fighter II (6.3 million) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (4.61 million) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (4.37 million) Street Fighter II Turbo (4.1 million) Star Fox (4 million) Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (4 million) Dragon Quest VI (3.2 million in Japan) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (2.89 million) Dragon Quest V (2.8 million in Japan) Final Fantasy VI (2.55 million in Japan) Final Fantasy V (2.45 million in Japan) Super Mario All-Stars (2.12 million in Japan) Chrono Trigger (2.03 million in Japan) Super Street Fighter II (2 million) Highest Selling Games Cont…

  27. Highest Selling Games Cont… Sega Saturn 1994 • Virtua Fighter 2 (1.7 million in Japan) • Grandia (1 million in Japan)

  28. Highest Selling Games Cont… PlayStation 1994 • Total PlayStation games sold as of March 31, 2007: 962 million • Gran Turismo (10.85 million) • Final Fantasy VII (9.8 million) • Gran Turismo 2 (9.37 million) • Tomb Raider II (8 million) • Metal Gear Solid (7 million) • Tomb Raider (7 million) • Crash Bandicoot (6.8 million) • Final Fantasy VIII (6 million) • Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (5.17 million) • Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (5.16 million) • Resident Evil 2 (4.96 million) • Tekken 3 (4.64 million) • Dragon Warrior VII (4.12 million) • Rayman (4 million) • Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (3.5 million) • Frogger (3.37 million in US)

  29. Nintendo 64 1996 Total Nintendo 64 games sold as of March 31, 2006: 225 million Super Mario 64 (11 million) Mario Kart 64 (8.47 million) GoldenEye 007 (8 million) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (7.6 million) Super Smash Bros. (4.9 million) Diddy Kong Racing (4.434 million) Pokémon Stadium (3.871 million) Donkey Kong 64 (3.77 million) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (3.36 million) Star Fox 64 (3.325 million) Pokémon Snap (2.718 million) Perfect Dark (2.5 million) Mario Party 2 (2.33 million) Banjo-Kazooie (2.256 million) Pokémon Stadium 2 (2.15 million) Wave Race 64 (2.105 million) Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (2.008 million) Yoshi's Story (1.953 million) Mario Party (1.944 million) WCW/nWo Revenge (1.88 million in US) Highest Selling Games Cont…

  30. Highest Selling Games Cont… Dreamcast 1998 • Sonic Adventure (2.5 million) • Soulcalibur (1.3 million) • Crazy Taxi (1.225 million) • Shenmue (1.2 million) • Resident Evil Code: Veronica (1.14 million) • NFL 2K (1.13 million in the US) • NFL 2K1 (1.01 million in the US)

  31. Highest Selling Games Cont… PlayStation 2 2000 • Total PlayStation 2 games shipped as of March 31, 2007: 1.24 billion • Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (17.5 million) • Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (14.89 million shipped) • Grand Theft Auto III (14.5 million) • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (12 million) • Gran Turismo 4 (10.06 million) • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (7 million) • Final Fantasy X (6.6 million) • Final Fantasy XII (5.2 million) • Kingdom Hearts (4.68 million) • Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (4.44 million) • Madden NFL 2005 (4.35 million in US)

  32. Highest Selling Games Cont… Xbox 2001 • Halo 2 (8 million) • Halo: Combat Evolved (5 million) • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (3.005 million) • Fable (3 million) • Project Gotham Racing (2.5 million) • Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (1.601 million) • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (1.48 million in US) • Madden NFL 2005 (1.42 million in US) • Madden NFL 2006 (1.41 million in US)

  33. Highest Selling Games Cont… Nintendo GameCube 2001 • Total Nintendo GameCube games sold as of March 31, 2008: 208.47 million • Super Smash Bros. Melee (7.09 million) • Super Mario Sunshine (5.5 million) • Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (4.676 million) • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (3.07 million) • Luigi's Mansion (2.539 million) • Animal Crossing (2.321 million) • Mario Party 4 (2.003 million) • Mario Party 7 (1.86 million) • Pokémon Colosseum (1.806 million) • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (1.64 million) • Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (1.632 million) • Resident Evil 4 (1.6 million) • Mario Party 5 (1.505 million) • Sonic Mega Collection (1.453 million) • Resident Evil (1.35 million) • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (1.32 million) • Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (1.25 million) • Resident Evil Zero (1.25 million)

  34. Highest Selling Games Cont… Game Boy Advance 2001 • Total Game Boy Advance games sold as of March 31, 2008: 376.66 million. • Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (13 million) • Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (11.82 million) • Pokémon Emerald (6.32 million) • Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (4.079 million) • Super Mario Advance (3.738 million) • Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (3.598 million) • Mario Kart Super Circuit (3.468 million) • Namco Museum (2.96 million in US) • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (2.2 million) • Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (2.096 million) • Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (1.953 million)

  35. Highest Selling Games Cont… Nintendo DS 2004 • Total Nintendo DS games sold as of March 31, 2008: 369.61 million • Nintendogs (18.67 million) • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (14.77 million) • New Super Mario Bros. (14.16 million) • Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (12.98 million) • Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! (10.83 million) • Mario Kart DS (10.45 million) • Animal Crossing: Wild World (9.53 million) • Super Mario 64 DS (6.12 million) • Big Brain Academy (5.01 million) • The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (4.13 million) • Mario Party DS (3.62 million) • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (3.08 million)

  36. Highest Selling Games Cont… PlayStation Portable 2004 • Total PlayStation Portable games shipped as of March 31, 2007: 101.4 million • Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (4.5 million) • Daxter (2.3 million) • Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (2.177 million in Japan) • Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (2.15 million) • Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (1.956 million) • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (1.25 million) • Monster Hunter Freedom (1.15 million) • Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 (1.047 million) • Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee (1 million) • Tekken: Dark Resurrection (1 million) • Wipeout Pure (1 million)

  37. Highest Selling Games Cont… Xbox 360 2005 • Halo 3 (8.1 million) • Gears of War (4.7 million) • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (3.172 million) • Grand Theft Auto IV (2.6 million) • Forza Motorsport 2 (2.274 million) • BioShock (2.2 million) • Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2.08 million in US) • Guitar Hero II (2 million in North America and Western Europe) • Assassin's Creed (1.985 million) • Madden NFL 07 (1.72 million in US)

  38. Highest Selling Games Cont… PlayStation 3 2006 • Total PlayStation 3 games sold as of March 31, 2008: 71.3 million • MotorStorm (3 million) • Resistance: Fall of Man (2.5 million) • Grand Theft Auto IV (1.97 million) • Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (1.926 million) • Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (1.2 million) • Heavenly Sword (1 million) • Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (1 million)

  39. Highest Selling Games Cont… Wii 2006 • Total Wii games sold as of March 31, 2008: 148.44 million • Wii Sports (21.56 million) • Wii Play (11.51 million • Super Mario Galaxy (6.1 million) • Mario Party 8 (4.86 million) • Super Smash Bros. Brawl (4.85 million) • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (4.52 million) • Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (3.4 million) • Wii Fit (2.8777 million) • Mario Kart Wii (2.526 million) • Super Paper Mario (2.28 million) • Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (2.26 million) • Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2 million) • WarioWare: Smooth Moves (1.82 million) • Mario Strikers Charged (1.77 million) • Link's Crossbow Training (1.71 million) • Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (1.31 million) • Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (1.25 million) • Carnival Games (1.2 million) • Rayman Raving Rabbids (1.2 million) • Sonic and the Secret Rings (1.2 million) • Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (1.05 million)

  40. Highest Selling Games Cont… PC • Lineage 2 (14 million customers) • The Sims 2 (13 million) • World of Warcraft (10 million subscribers) • StarCraft (9.5 million) • Half-Life (8 million) • Myst (6 million) • Guild Wars (5 million) • Cossacks: European Wars (4 million) • Diablo II (4 million) • Half-Life 2 (4 million) • Populous (4 million) • RollerCoaster Tycoon (4 million) • Doom 3 (3.5 million) • EverQuest (3.5 million) • Theme Park (3.5 million) • Age of Empires (3 million) • Civilization IV (3 million) • Command & Conquer: Red Alert (3 million) • Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (3 million)

  41. The Evolution of Games in Popular Culture • What does this all mean? • What are some potential gains or negative impacts?

  42. Video Games Into Films • Theatrical Releases • Alone in the Dark (January 28, 2005) • BloodRayne (January 6, 2006) • DOA: Dead or Alive (September 7, 2006) • Doom (October 21, 2005) • Double Dragon (November 4, 1994) • Far Cry (August 1, 2008) • Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (July 13, 2001) • Hitman (November 21, 2007) • House of the Dead (October 10, 2003) • In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (November 29, 2007) • Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (June 15, 2001) • Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (July 25, 2003) • Max Payne (October 17, 2008) • Mortal Kombat (August 18, 1995) • Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (November 21, 1997) • Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back (July 18, 1998) • Pokémon: The Movie 2000 - The Power of One (July 17, 1999) • Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unknown (July 8, 2000) • Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi, Voice of the Forest (July 7, 2001) • Pokémon Heroes (July 13, 2002) • Postal (October 18, 2007) • Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (June 19, 2009) • Resident Evil (March 15, 2002) • Resident Evil: Apocalypse (September 10, 2004) • Resident Evil: Extinction (September 21, 2007) • Sabotage 1943 (2009) • Silent Hill (April 21, 2006) • Street Fighter (December 23, 1994) • Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (February 27, 2009) • Super Mario Bros. (May 28, 1993) • Tekken (2009) • Wing Commander (March 12, 1999) • Zombie Massacre (2010)

  43. Currently in production, pre-production or development hell Alice Area 51 BioShock BloodRayne III: Warhammer Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Castlevania Citizen Siege City of Heroes Clock Tower Cold Fear Deus Ex Devil May Cry Driver Earthworm Jim EverQuest Fatal Frame Fear Effect Gears of War God of War Halo Hunter: The Reckoning Kane & Lynch MechWarrior Metal Gear Solid Metroid Mortal Kombat: Devastation Nightmare Creatures Onimusha Rainbow Six Return to Castle Wolfenstein Silent Hill 2 Siren Soulcalibur Splinter Cell Spyro the Dragon Spy Hunter The Neverhood The Sims The Suffering The Unforgettable Warcraft Video Games Into Films Cont

  44. Virtual Reality? • Dance Dance Revolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2CCBZpQOcQ • The Sims http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkZruwayM8 • Wii Fit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3pfQdADxEs

  45. Online Gaming Communities Cont… • What makes an online game exciting, interesting, social or more fun than another game? Motivation evolves from sensory gratification, role-playing, personality, taste, adrenaline, sociology, immersive and engaging environments, and the element of fun. Games in general motivate ideas. Topics include life, survival, strategy, role-playing, and building relationships. • 2007 (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results of a global study into online gaming, showing the number of unique visitors to these sites to have reached almost 217 million worldwide – a year-on-year growth of 17 percent. • Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are the quintessential example of such communities. They share the same features as other game worlds with one important exception – they are played online, allowing individuals, through their self-created digital characters or “avatars” within the game space, to interact not only with the gaming software (the designed environment of the game and the computer-controlled characters within it) but with other players’ avatars as well while in-game.

  46. Online Gaming Communities Cont… • In a setting of wizards and elves, dwarfs and knights, people save for homes, create basket indices of the trading market, build relationships of status and solidarity, and worry about crime. • How Video Games Impact the Gamer’s Life: • Economics & Law • In economics, the value of objects does not depend on their characteristics or their components, but rather on their contribution to the well-being of the people who use them. Value is subjective, wholly created in the minds of people. If people in free markets determine that a shiny crystal called “diamond” is worth $100,000, economists basically accept the reality of that valuation. If the object in question is not a shiny crystal called “diamond” but is rather a magic sword called “Excalibur,” that exists only in an online game, economists would still put the value of the item at $100,000. Similarly, if people are willing to incur large time and money costs to live in a virtual world, economists will judge that location to be lucrative real estate, regardless of the fact that it exists only in cyberspace. The mere fact that the goods and spaces are digital, and are part of something that has been given the label “game,” is irrelevant. (Castronova, 2002)

  47. Online Gaming Communities Cont… • Sociology & Anthropology • Interpretive communities such as those found in MMOGs take up the symbolic, cultural materials offered them by media and the like to collectively create the form and substance of their own cultural worlds (Squire & Steinkuehler, in press; Taylor, 2002 ) • Psychology: Character Identity • MMOGs become the instantiated means with which individuals can think about and with a thoroughly postmodern conception of the self, one marked by “multiplicity, heterogeneity, flexibility, and fragmentation” (Turkle, 1995 )

  48. Online Community • http://archive.gamespy.com/stats/ • http://irc.netsplit.de/networks/top100.php

  49. Something to think about • “Technological innovation, no doubt beginning with the sharpened stick has createdchallenges for socialization of young or new members of communities. New technologymodifies community practices and understanding. Technology changes the repertoiresneeded for successful community membership. Socialization requires that humandevelopment be contextualized in the tool-environment of the community.” (Rivera et al. 2002, p. 181)

  50. How Can We Teach Through Video Games • Many children do not like learning mathematics. They do not find mathematics fun, motivating, and engaging, and they think it is difficult to learn. Computer-based games have the potential and possibility of addressing this problem (Sedig 2008). • The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) recommends the use of computer software in children’s mathematics education. Sedig (2008) argues that “despite the explicitness and difficulty of the mathematical concepts involved, children found the learning process fun and engaging through computer games. • Furthermore, children exhibited significant improvement in their knowledge of transformation geometry concepts” (Sedig 2008).

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