Chapter 8 – Leveling up in Life
Chapter 9 – Fun with Strangers
Jane McGonigal’s 8th Fix is: Meaningful Rewards When We Need Them The Most. It introduces a series of games and systems that are made for the purpose of awarding points to people for different accomplishments. “Compared with games, reality is pointless and unrewarding. Games help us feel more rewarded for making our best effort.”
Two examples are games made to be played at airports and on planes: Jetset and Day in the Cloud. The justification is that there are millions of people in the world who hate flying and airports because they are frustrating. These two games give a person something to do to pass the time. It seems fairly successful at taking their mind off the fact that they are in a place that they don’t enjoy. However, this solution might only be appealing to people who have difficulty flying. Adding a point system to every activity won’t do much besides giving certain people a chance to enjoy it more. For others though, it might have the opposite effect. This begs the question, where should this kind of system be a priority? Where will it have the greatest positive effect? Avatars are a slightly different story. We have an instinctive desire to please them and attain success for their sake. In essence, we are like their parent figures. When they are pleased with us, we can tell and seek to keep them happy. When they are unsatisfied, we are often driven to try and appease them. Like McGonigal says, it is more subtle then a direct points system but can be just as effective.
McGonigal’s 9th fix is: More Fun with Strangers. “Compared with games, reality is lonely and isolating. Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch.”
This statement seems a bit too extreme. It almost seems to imply that people can’t form social connections in reality anymore. Obviously this is completely untrue. Games do help people reach out to one another and it may be a little easier than approaching and talking to someone in real life, but striking up a conversation with someone in real life is by no means a lost practice. There are people who are called introverted, reclusive or antisocial and McGonigal’s examples may make it easier for them to form social bonds. But these people could just have difficulty in approaching others or be quite satisfied with their own company and the company of their existing friends. I don’t believe that some community games are going to make people wholeheartedly embrace the real world and emerge from a virtual seclusion that has proven to be so much more adept at helping people form social bonds.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
10/24 Reading Response 5.0
Chapter 6 – Becoming a Part of Something Bigger Than Ourselves
Chapter 7 – The Benefits of Alternate Realities
Chapter 6 brings us Fix #6: Epic Scale. “Compared with games, reality is trivial. Games make us a part of something bigger and give epic meaning to our actions.” (McGonigal, Pg 98)
This whole chapter focuses on the importance of the epic factor in game construction. The word “Epic” is used to define something that far surpasses the ordinary, with emphasis on size, scale and intensity. Is that all it is though? People, not just gamers, use that term often to describe or define something that is amazing or awe-inspiring.
The fact is, people are drawn in by things that inspire awe and wonder. Games are powerful tools that create incredible interactive fantasies that we wouldn’t otherwise find in our daily lives. That is part of the hook. Reality, in a way has become all too mundane. There are simply precious few opportunities for people to be a part of something that is truly overwhelming.
Games however, allow for people to constantly be a part of something greater. No longer just another member of the human race, gamers participate in these immersive epic environments and set themselves apart by their efforts. With each day, something new is accomplished and the players can observe the progress that they have made for themselves and for their faction/team etc. The feelings and experiences that we want to get from life we can now get from games. Now if only we could turn life into a game so that it was a appealing and satisfying as it should be. But that’s impossible right?
In actuality, steps have already been taken to try and make life as appealing and satisfying as it should be. Turning life into a game seems like an impossible venture but that is what is being attempted. An example of this is the game called Chore Wars. In essence, the game has a person create an online avatar that gains experience points and levels up depending on how many chores the player has done. Different amounts of XP are dealt out based on the difficulty and time spent on the chore completed. Many people have displayed an interest in this game as it takes care of a tedious part of daily life while providing satisfaction for the person at the same time. Chore Wars clearly proves that people can be just as enthusiastic about the tedious repetition of a daily life cycle as they can about an epic adventure in a video game.
This example is only one of many experiments in making reality game-like. Which brings us to Fix #7: Wholehearted Participation: “Compared with games, reality is hard to get into. Games motivate us to participate more fully in whatever we’re doing” (McGonigal, Pg 125)
Chore Wars is a prime example of an Alternate Reality Game.
Alternate reality games (ARGs) are games that are played in real life, meant to be just as satisfying as other video games, but with the added bonus that they aren’t about escaping your real life for a more pleasing virtual one. The primary goal of these games is to try to provide entertainment while going about the same tasks as one would in a normal day. This encompasses everything from work and school to life at home. At this point, it would seem like the challenge is in finding which alternate reality games best raise our overall happiness and quality of life. If the games end up being a hindrance or distraction rather than help, then we really are back where we started.
Chapter 7 – The Benefits of Alternate Realities
Chapter 6 brings us Fix #6: Epic Scale. “Compared with games, reality is trivial. Games make us a part of something bigger and give epic meaning to our actions.” (McGonigal, Pg 98)
This whole chapter focuses on the importance of the epic factor in game construction. The word “Epic” is used to define something that far surpasses the ordinary, with emphasis on size, scale and intensity. Is that all it is though? People, not just gamers, use that term often to describe or define something that is amazing or awe-inspiring.
The fact is, people are drawn in by things that inspire awe and wonder. Games are powerful tools that create incredible interactive fantasies that we wouldn’t otherwise find in our daily lives. That is part of the hook. Reality, in a way has become all too mundane. There are simply precious few opportunities for people to be a part of something that is truly overwhelming.
Games however, allow for people to constantly be a part of something greater. No longer just another member of the human race, gamers participate in these immersive epic environments and set themselves apart by their efforts. With each day, something new is accomplished and the players can observe the progress that they have made for themselves and for their faction/team etc. The feelings and experiences that we want to get from life we can now get from games. Now if only we could turn life into a game so that it was a appealing and satisfying as it should be. But that’s impossible right?
In actuality, steps have already been taken to try and make life as appealing and satisfying as it should be. Turning life into a game seems like an impossible venture but that is what is being attempted. An example of this is the game called Chore Wars. In essence, the game has a person create an online avatar that gains experience points and levels up depending on how many chores the player has done. Different amounts of XP are dealt out based on the difficulty and time spent on the chore completed. Many people have displayed an interest in this game as it takes care of a tedious part of daily life while providing satisfaction for the person at the same time. Chore Wars clearly proves that people can be just as enthusiastic about the tedious repetition of a daily life cycle as they can about an epic adventure in a video game.
This example is only one of many experiments in making reality game-like. Which brings us to Fix #7: Wholehearted Participation: “Compared with games, reality is hard to get into. Games motivate us to participate more fully in whatever we’re doing” (McGonigal, Pg 125)
Chore Wars is a prime example of an Alternate Reality Game.
Alternate reality games (ARGs) are games that are played in real life, meant to be just as satisfying as other video games, but with the added bonus that they aren’t about escaping your real life for a more pleasing virtual one. The primary goal of these games is to try to provide entertainment while going about the same tasks as one would in a normal day. This encompasses everything from work and school to life at home. At this point, it would seem like the challenge is in finding which alternate reality games best raise our overall happiness and quality of life. If the games end up being a hindrance or distraction rather than help, then we really are back where we started.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
10/16 Reading Response 4.0
Chapter 4 – Fun Failure and Better Odds of Success
Chapter 5 – Stronger Social Connectivity
In Chapter 4, McGonigal presents Fix #4: Better Hope of Success.
“Compared with games, reality is hopeless. Games eliminate our fear of failure and improve our chance for success.”
Apparently gamers find most of their satisfaction not from the complete victory of conquering a game, but by the numerous failures it takes to get there. I’m not sure I totally agree. The studies and experiments may reveal that our bodies and brains react in the same ways, but can it really be said that we relish the actual failure?
Like McGonigal says, the fact that the failure of a game has no bearing on our real lives would definitely make it less of a blow to our ego, but failure in a game is still failure and I personally find it just as unacceptable as I would a failure in real life. However, the fact that gamers are free to retry as many times as they want must be a factor. They also are usually able to feel deep down that they have gotten better. If it’s not evident in a progress bar or percentage (such as in Rock Band) then they will at least be able to see that they got farther. Perhaps they find joy in the realization that they have not actually failed, but merely been temporarily set back. They know instinctively that they will do better next time or possibly even achieve the complete success that they have been going for this whole time. I think it is these factors that accompany failure that really make it fun for gamers. They simply outweigh the negative feeling of defeat.
Fix #5: Stronger Social Connectivity.
“Compared with games, reality is disconnected. Games build stronger social bonds and lead to more active social networks. The more time we spend interacting within our social networks, the more likely we are to generate a subset of positive emotions known as prosocial emotions.”
It’s completely true that reality is disconnected. As life goes on, it becomes harder and harder to communicate and spend time with friends we’ve made over the years. They change classes, move away, and suddenly the people who have walked beside you all this time are somewhere else on the road.
Facebook put a change to that. It wasn’t completely successful on its own though, since people still had to put time and effort into reaching out to their acquaintances. Games were the final factor. They are interesting and allow for easy-going communication with just about anyone. The conversation might not even be relevant but it is still time that puts you both back on the same page, even for a moment. Having changed schools and moved any number of times, I can say that keeping in touch is hard. On a university student’s schedule, trying to match up your day to someone else’s in order to find time to meet up and kick back is damn near impossible. It is much easier to just meet up with friends in an online game. Facebook brought about the advent of games that could be played on a person’s own time. It no longer mattered if both people were in the room at the same time. But it is just as easy to play games with other online friends live in a game like Call of Duty, chatting and laughing through Bluetooth headsets. People I have met through online games like that have become very good friends, due to the endless nights spent working together trying to prove our superiority. Our friendship and trust in he other’s skills allows us to connect through other games too. Friends like that last, even if you hardly ever meet face to face.
Chapter 5 – Stronger Social Connectivity
In Chapter 4, McGonigal presents Fix #4: Better Hope of Success.
“Compared with games, reality is hopeless. Games eliminate our fear of failure and improve our chance for success.”
Apparently gamers find most of their satisfaction not from the complete victory of conquering a game, but by the numerous failures it takes to get there. I’m not sure I totally agree. The studies and experiments may reveal that our bodies and brains react in the same ways, but can it really be said that we relish the actual failure?
Like McGonigal says, the fact that the failure of a game has no bearing on our real lives would definitely make it less of a blow to our ego, but failure in a game is still failure and I personally find it just as unacceptable as I would a failure in real life. However, the fact that gamers are free to retry as many times as they want must be a factor. They also are usually able to feel deep down that they have gotten better. If it’s not evident in a progress bar or percentage (such as in Rock Band) then they will at least be able to see that they got farther. Perhaps they find joy in the realization that they have not actually failed, but merely been temporarily set back. They know instinctively that they will do better next time or possibly even achieve the complete success that they have been going for this whole time. I think it is these factors that accompany failure that really make it fun for gamers. They simply outweigh the negative feeling of defeat.
Fix #5: Stronger Social Connectivity.
“Compared with games, reality is disconnected. Games build stronger social bonds and lead to more active social networks. The more time we spend interacting within our social networks, the more likely we are to generate a subset of positive emotions known as prosocial emotions.”
It’s completely true that reality is disconnected. As life goes on, it becomes harder and harder to communicate and spend time with friends we’ve made over the years. They change classes, move away, and suddenly the people who have walked beside you all this time are somewhere else on the road.
Facebook put a change to that. It wasn’t completely successful on its own though, since people still had to put time and effort into reaching out to their acquaintances. Games were the final factor. They are interesting and allow for easy-going communication with just about anyone. The conversation might not even be relevant but it is still time that puts you both back on the same page, even for a moment. Having changed schools and moved any number of times, I can say that keeping in touch is hard. On a university student’s schedule, trying to match up your day to someone else’s in order to find time to meet up and kick back is damn near impossible. It is much easier to just meet up with friends in an online game. Facebook brought about the advent of games that could be played on a person’s own time. It no longer mattered if both people were in the room at the same time. But it is just as easy to play games with other online friends live in a game like Call of Duty, chatting and laughing through Bluetooth headsets. People I have met through online games like that have become very good friends, due to the endless nights spent working together trying to prove our superiority. Our friendship and trust in he other’s skills allows us to connect through other games too. Friends like that last, even if you hardly ever meet face to face.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Update
Originally Chapters 2 and 3 were supposed to be done together as one post. I started 2 earlier though and I simply had too much to say so I put each one as its own response.
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving
Reading Response 3.0
Chapter 3 – More Satisfying Work
The stats that McGonigal described concerning World of Warcraft in Chapter 3 were staggering in my opinion. Like all gamers, I am aware of the reputation that WoW has for being an addicting game. I am also aware of the massive following that it has. However, I was not prepared for the mind-blowing numbers that I read. The sheer concept of the human race spending 5.93 million years on a single video game is amazing. It just goes to show what an incredible system it is at keeping people interested and motivated. In the past having never played the game myself, I could only speculate on what about WoW drew the people in. Now, with McGonigal’s description, it is easier to see what makes the game so alluring. It produces a feeling of purpose and productivity like no other and most importantly, the feeling is lasting. Or rather, the game keeps its players working so hard, that the feeling seems endless because is constantly renewed.
Knowing nothing but WoW’s reputation and seeing people who spent the majority of their time playing it, I came to the conclusion early on, that I did not want to become one of many who were, in my view, a slave to the game. You could say I had a fear that the game would dominate my life like it had so many others. Okay that sounds incredibly dramatic, but I have experienced MMOs before and I know how addicting they can be. I even deliberately limited my exposure to the game so that I would not be compelled to find out more and satisfy my own curiosity as a gamer! In the end, after looking at the stats like McGonigal has shown, it’s hard to say I made the wrong decision.
There was also the monthly subscription to consider. I try to avoid subscriptions like those as much as possible. As a gamer, a player can find himself/herself completed engrossed in a game one week and then discover that they would rather spend the following days of the month sampling all the new titles that were just released. That kind of spontaneous change can lead to a spectacular waste of money and a large feeling of regret when you realize that you only spent 3 days in the month playing the game that you are paying for.
I don’t dislike WoW though, not by any means. It is a great success in the gaming world and I can appreciate how much hard work went into making it. It fulfills its purpose and is immensely rewarding which is what a game should be. If I ever try it, chances are, I will be enjoy it immensely and be swept away. At least until my trial ends.
The stats that McGonigal described concerning World of Warcraft in Chapter 3 were staggering in my opinion. Like all gamers, I am aware of the reputation that WoW has for being an addicting game. I am also aware of the massive following that it has. However, I was not prepared for the mind-blowing numbers that I read. The sheer concept of the human race spending 5.93 million years on a single video game is amazing. It just goes to show what an incredible system it is at keeping people interested and motivated. In the past having never played the game myself, I could only speculate on what about WoW drew the people in. Now, with McGonigal’s description, it is easier to see what makes the game so alluring. It produces a feeling of purpose and productivity like no other and most importantly, the feeling is lasting. Or rather, the game keeps its players working so hard, that the feeling seems endless because is constantly renewed.
Knowing nothing but WoW’s reputation and seeing people who spent the majority of their time playing it, I came to the conclusion early on, that I did not want to become one of many who were, in my view, a slave to the game. You could say I had a fear that the game would dominate my life like it had so many others. Okay that sounds incredibly dramatic, but I have experienced MMOs before and I know how addicting they can be. I even deliberately limited my exposure to the game so that I would not be compelled to find out more and satisfy my own curiosity as a gamer! In the end, after looking at the stats like McGonigal has shown, it’s hard to say I made the wrong decision.
There was also the monthly subscription to consider. I try to avoid subscriptions like those as much as possible. As a gamer, a player can find himself/herself completed engrossed in a game one week and then discover that they would rather spend the following days of the month sampling all the new titles that were just released. That kind of spontaneous change can lead to a spectacular waste of money and a large feeling of regret when you realize that you only spent 3 days in the month playing the game that you are paying for.
I don’t dislike WoW though, not by any means. It is a great success in the gaming world and I can appreciate how much hard work went into making it. It fulfills its purpose and is immensely rewarding which is what a game should be. If I ever try it, chances are, I will be enjoy it immensely and be swept away. At least until my trial ends.
Reading Response 2.0
Chapter 2 – The Rise of the Happiness Engineers
When McGonigal introduced gamer regret, I thought it was a silly notion. I have always thought games to be productive and on the contrary, I sometimes feel like I have wasted my time if I am not playing a game. This is the complete reverse of gamer regret, but being a member of the hardcore gamer demographic, I might not be the only one with this sentiment. As I stated previously, I hate being idle and I really do consider games as important to me as a job. I can’t even imagine feeling like I have wasted my time unless the game was monumentally crappy.
McGonigal next brought up the case of David Sudnow, the jazz pianist turned Breakout fanatic. In my opinion, it is not really surprising that his addiction subsided once he had effectively beaten the game. As a gamer, I take breaks to help maintain my focus lest I get bored with the game I am playing. Often I switch games every once in a while so as not to get put off the game completely. Whether I am switching to an online game to meet with friends, or to a single player game to get away from the intense environment, it’s important to not get too immersed in the game. When immersion is really high, people can start taking the game too seriously. This is especially true in the case of online games. There is more pressure to do well, and much more pride at stake. Rather than playing against a simple AI that can be defeated by good strategy, the player is now showing off the skills they have acquired to the whole world. Emotions flare and failure to perform to the best of one’s ability will inevitably bring about the ever common “Rage Quit”
Despite this downside, games are still valuable, and McGonigal’s words support this. Later on in the chapter, she identifies the 4 rewards that are most essential to our happiness.
First off, we want satisfying work, every single day. This is defined as work that is demanding but gives us a chance to see the impact of our efforts.
The second thing we want is the feeling of success. As McGonigal puts it, we want to feel the power that comes from showing off our skills and the knowledge that we are getting better.
Third, we want social connection. We want to share experiences and do things together with others.
Finally, the fourth thing we want is meaning, or rather “the chance to be a part of something larger than ourselves.” As McGonigal says, we just want to contribute and be part of something lasting that is essentially greater than ourselves.
Where can we find these rewards though? As stated, many in the world have been conditioned to try and find happiness through extrinsic rewards or external factors such as wealth, fame and beauty. In the end, the only group of people who seem to be unaffected by this, are the hardcore gamers. Gaming does not really benefit us in the material sense. As McGonigal says, gaming doesn’t pay us or help further our careers in any way. However, it does give us happiness and make our lives more rewarding. And in the end, that may be more important.
When McGonigal introduced gamer regret, I thought it was a silly notion. I have always thought games to be productive and on the contrary, I sometimes feel like I have wasted my time if I am not playing a game. This is the complete reverse of gamer regret, but being a member of the hardcore gamer demographic, I might not be the only one with this sentiment. As I stated previously, I hate being idle and I really do consider games as important to me as a job. I can’t even imagine feeling like I have wasted my time unless the game was monumentally crappy.
McGonigal next brought up the case of David Sudnow, the jazz pianist turned Breakout fanatic. In my opinion, it is not really surprising that his addiction subsided once he had effectively beaten the game. As a gamer, I take breaks to help maintain my focus lest I get bored with the game I am playing. Often I switch games every once in a while so as not to get put off the game completely. Whether I am switching to an online game to meet with friends, or to a single player game to get away from the intense environment, it’s important to not get too immersed in the game. When immersion is really high, people can start taking the game too seriously. This is especially true in the case of online games. There is more pressure to do well, and much more pride at stake. Rather than playing against a simple AI that can be defeated by good strategy, the player is now showing off the skills they have acquired to the whole world. Emotions flare and failure to perform to the best of one’s ability will inevitably bring about the ever common “Rage Quit”
Despite this downside, games are still valuable, and McGonigal’s words support this. Later on in the chapter, she identifies the 4 rewards that are most essential to our happiness.
First off, we want satisfying work, every single day. This is defined as work that is demanding but gives us a chance to see the impact of our efforts.
The second thing we want is the feeling of success. As McGonigal puts it, we want to feel the power that comes from showing off our skills and the knowledge that we are getting better.
Third, we want social connection. We want to share experiences and do things together with others.
Finally, the fourth thing we want is meaning, or rather “the chance to be a part of something larger than ourselves.” As McGonigal says, we just want to contribute and be part of something lasting that is essentially greater than ourselves.
Where can we find these rewards though? As stated, many in the world have been conditioned to try and find happiness through extrinsic rewards or external factors such as wealth, fame and beauty. In the end, the only group of people who seem to be unaffected by this, are the hardcore gamers. Gaming does not really benefit us in the material sense. As McGonigal says, gaming doesn’t pay us or help further our careers in any way. However, it does give us happiness and make our lives more rewarding. And in the end, that may be more important.
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