Diablogging about Games, Gaming, Gamification

I am curious to know what games you have in mind when you are answering these questions. I know that in some games, people do die and come back to life. But like in the Sims game people perform tasks similar to those in real life you cannot come back to life. In a sense I can see how this is a form of a fantasy world for people. Sometimes people can learn from games and are able to communicate these lessons into their real life. I think when answering these questions it all depends on what games you are thinking about. Maybe If we understood, what you are referring to we can get on the same page. 

I games and reality do not have to be separate at all. There are many practical uses for games from teaching chemistry to learning how to tell stories. I think purely thinking about games as methods of entertainment in the sense of video games is very limiting. If you think of games as a tool then they can become a technology that you use in your reality.

I agree that people tend to get hung up on hypothetical situations and this usually leads to unrealistic fears like worrying that video games will make the world more violent or believing that games can completely separate you from reality and society. These fears are just not realistic and could use to be done away with. If the fears associated with gaming were dispelled, what are some ways that you think games could be used to change the world?  

I definitely agree that games are changing the world, but not in a strictly positive or negative way. You make a great point about learning focus and decision-making skills. I would also add problem-solving, which is an incredibly valuable skill. While you make a point about violence as a result of competitive gaming, I'd like to look at social interactions more generally. I used to believe that more gaming meant a decrease in peer interactions. People would be sitting next to each other, not talking to each other, or looking at each other, or even really acknowledging each other. That person sitting next to you could then easily be replaced by a random, or even computer-generated, opponent. As I've been able to experience more gaming in a social setting, though, I've seen that it can be a social activity. Not necessarily the most social, but more than I had originally assumed. Players would comment on each other's actions within the game and participate in mutual banter, both of which would not be possible with an external opponent. I found out recently that gaming is becoming more popular on personal computers, and this is raising the same original concern. Is this new way of gaming social enough? Are players really interacting with each other?

I've also been wondering about this.  It seems to me that in some cases games actually can solve problems, and in others it is the ideas, values, and motivations that make up game-playing that could save the world.  Obesity and hunger are really good examples of issues that are hard to fix through games only because they are both physical problems.  Sitting in front of a screen isn’t going to feed anyone in need, nor will it help anyone who needs to live a healthier, more active lifestyle do so. 

For the obesity problem, though, there are video games which are not only played by sitting in front of a screen.  Wii Fit, for example, is a great way for players to be more active, and have fun doing it because of the game-style setup of the exercise.  (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-cara-natterson/wii-an-indoor-fix-to-chil_b_326044.html for the additional benefit of allowing children to be active indoors while parents are not available to supervise them outdoors).  As far as hunger, there is a game (which Besan also mentioned above) called FreeRice which is a quick trivia game which donates rice to those in need for every correct vocabulary question answered.  This game is productive in two ways: it allows anyone to help donate food to those in need, and helps user broaden their vocabularies and learn new things.  (This program is run by the United Nations World Food Programme. Here is their “about” page: http://freerice.com/about)  

So in answer to your question, I think it is games like Wii Fit and Free Rice which are based off of gaming ideas but accomplish more than just being entertaining that make people think that games can save the world.  We can use the ideas behind games that motivate people to play by making them feel empowered and desire to accomplish more by applying them to games that actually accomplish real things and solve real problems.  Maybe when Jane McGonigal talks about increasing the hours of playing games, she is talking about games like these instead of ones that don't really do anything for the physical world.

But now I have a question based on what you said at the end of this post: What does gaming do to social interactions?  Is there any way for games to take part in improving rather than causing a deterioration of real social interactions?

Hi Kyiera,

I think your point about violence in video games is interesting and important to remember.  I remember hearing about a study that found that after users played a certain video game (Grand Theft Auto?) they actually experienced much higher levels of uneasiness, dissatisfaction, and aggression than before.  

As you suggest, even the physical act of playing a video game is less-than-healthy.  During our last class one of the things we talked about was a fear of kids being stagnant--exercising their thumbs and hands instead of their entire bodies.  I think that is definitely alarming and I'm sure it's part of what's contributing to the obesity epidemic in American children.

But I also think we need to consider the fact that "gaming"--even "video gaming" or electronic gaming--means different things to different people,and has the potential to grow and change in ways we can't imagine right now.  What about games like the Wii fit that encourage users to move?  Also, it is great to spend time outside, but not all kids have access to playgrounds or yards.  Of course, not everyone has access to video games either, but at least when a kid is playing a game in his/her living room, it might be more convenient for a parent to supervise them there.  

I'd also like to talk about the phrase, "It's a lack of education."  Is there really such a thing as a lack of education... anywhere?  Is "not learning" an act?  Part of this goes back to "what does it mean to learn?" "What is an education?"  "What is the purpose of an education?"  Playing a video game might not make you memorize facts about the War of 1812.  It might not even help you with your multiplication tables.  But I think "education" and "learning" go beyond the walls of a classroom--what about all that we've learned as human beings?  What about all of the things we've learned that no one actually taught us?  Playing even the most banal  video game can teach you tons of things--hand/eye coordination; fine motor control; memory; logic--and can connect you to players--and, thus, cultures--around the world.

So my direct answer to your concluding question is:  my knee-jerk reaction is to say, yes, I would rather have my little cousin run around outside than lay on the couch, eating and playing games.  But I want to question the notion of what it means to do "something constructive" because I would argue that every experience teaches us something, even at the most basic level.

My question for you is:  do you think that video games provide us with anything that is "good" and "productive"? Do video games only "waste time" or provide us with entertainment/distractions?  Can users learn anything from video games?  How or how not?

I think what you said about failing in a game and then trying again is really interesting. It's completely true that in a game you can get another life, or just try again, but is that always teaching you the right thing? In some cases it does, by teaching you that even if you do something wrong, you can work harder to understand the problem and fix it. But in many other cases, you don't always get that second chance. I row, and my high school coach would often emphasize that in rowing, you usually don't get a second chance, so you should put all of your effort towards doing your best the first time. In rowing, particularly, you usually only face another team once a season, and the difference between winning and losing can be .01 of a second. Instead of knowing that you can try harder the next time, you should put your mind to doing your absolute best first. 

I can totally get why you consider gamming as something to do with your spare time. Gamming can be used as a distraction from everyday life responsibilities and as also a coping strategy with boredom. But I kind of disagree that games cannot help change the world. I think we have the ability to create games that can have great impacts in the world.

Many have made the point that games, especially violent games, lead young kids and teenagers to mimic violent behaviors and although this is not completely false I have seen gaming that do the absolute opposite. I have seen young boys and teenagers use gamming as avoidance of the "street life". Instead of being out on the street and engaging in not so legal activities I know of boys who decide to stay in their home instead and choose video games as their hobbies. I also think that gamming has the ability to strengthen critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills.

Gaming can do much good if we as people utilize them correctly. We can only get out of them what we put into them.

One of my favorite app games is unblock me, which is sort of like a critical thinking puzzle game and it’s really fun to play! Can you think of any other games that can potentially increase critical thinking or problem solving skills?

Hi, I agree that we should never neglect the ones we love for a video game but I think games can change the world. Everything on this world has two sides. A wonderful tool can harm people if it is used in the wrong way and a not-so-good tool may benefit us if it is used correctly. I think the most important thing is not what we are using but how we are using it. The mother addicted to a video game shows the wrong way to use video games. But there are also many people who love to play video games and benefit from video games. The way video games change the world may not be a sudden change, but I do believe if it is used in a good way it would make the world a better place. 

I agree with you that violence is a big concern.  There are many horror stories of children trying to reenact their gaming in real life and harming others. I don't think the way that people behave when new games come out is that different when new phones come out, but I'm not such a gamer so maybe more goes on than what I know about.  But there is definitely a lot of violence in many popular video games, and we know that this extreme exposure to violence, albeit virtual violence, generally isn’t good for people.

But what about non-violent games?  Do you think that those could change the world for the good?

It is very interesting to question about the life after abandoning all the games and to suggest what the kids would react. But how about we start from recalling the life before all of those games flourishing into our lives？It might be difficult to grab the sense of that picture since we have already gotten used to the life with overwhelming online gaming commercials and game-related terms and phenomenon every corner in the world. But I suggest that the changes that games brought to our life did not function that severe nor far-reaching. Games cannot change the world, though it can help change the world, to some extent. Everything has two sides and it is also true with games. If we, tried hard, to reminiscence the routine of the world before games take over a part of it, will notice that we may have more cosplay shows, added game entertaining commodities area in the stores, and plenty of online gaming commercials everywhere after this new by-product of the progress of technology. I agree that you were worrying about the negative illusions that violent and bloody games might bring to the youth but it will also be radical and impetuous to be in a rush getting rid of them all. Games are never new products or recent inventions of human beings. Games exist almost at the same time mankind started to live together as a community. Games, per se, are only one form of interactions and communications among the crowd. Games are meant to be played due to their nature, which is a time-consuming entertainment. People play the games, no matter the games were in vintage physical styles or in a fashionable online way, out of their desires of relaxing themselves from the secular world, in which they might have duties, obligations and unhappiness. What’s more, for what we should erase the existence of the games? We need to specify our purposes to have a second step. Would that be protecting the kids from negative illusions and bad life instructions? Games, together with their designs, theme descriptions, and character sett-ups, are just one product open for consumption. The proportion of games with violent or benevolent themes is, actually, decided by the demand of the market. I will not agree to blame the tendency, if there was one, of violence and evil thoughts to the games, per se. I insist that we have to consider the social backgrounds which nourished the market asking for more violent games at the first place. On the other hand, of course, those games’ negative influences on populace will definitely reflect back on the society. To break an angle in observing this circular phenomenon, we need to balance the status of education, which have influential effects on social ideology and games’ morality at the same time. So what will the kids react if the games were taken off the market? They might be disappointed for a while and continue their life with alternative entertainments. But the balance between flourishing the popular games under the capitalistic nature and establishing appropriate education for independent thinking individual should be the focus. Then what do you see the role of education play in the gaming culture or do you find education and games intertwined with each other?