Fix #7-8

Wholehearted Participation

As this is the first, and most likely the last time I will ever be asked to participate in a game for credit in a college course, I overall believe the experience is aligned with the various lessons we have discussed in previous weeks.  As my style of gaming is not exactly the same as the common Settlers player, I have grown found of the challenge and the various levels that come with it.  As a few have mentioned that they only strive to reach level 40 – I may find myself trying to reach beyond that goal.  One reason is that I have already invested so much time, why quit at 40?  I do believe I will slow down and let the island build up necessary resources and may not dedicate as much time to monitoring my adventures, but I believe that the ultimate goal of 50 would be realistic as a casual gamer. 

This week, Chapter 7, “The Benefits of Alternate Realities” ventured into the concepts of Chore Wars, Quest to Learn, and SuperBetter. Starting with SuperBetter, I found this game a little hard to relate to.  To put it another way, I think it is a little silly.  Perhaps since I have never found myself in such a situation as McGonigal was with her concussion.  I am however curious, since my wife has been diagnosed with Crohns Disease, if this approach would be different from all of the other methods she has attempted to follow in order to deal with the pain.  Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to convinced that she would be able to pull off something such as this.  Moving into Quest to Learn, another concept that sounds too good to be true.  As gaming has its benefits in preparing youngsters for life, I believe that there is a time and place for games, and that an entire education based on gaming may not prepare an individual for the real world in which gaming is not always found.  As a specialist in manufacturing, there are limited resources that could be adequately taught through gaming. 

Now I seem to take the negative approach on many of these topics, but will admit that Chore Wars is worth the effort.  My family and I have begun our own quest in the game in hopes to teach our children that keeping a clean house can have more rewards then they know.  We set up our first mission, to rid the bedroom of the evil Trolls who mess them up.  My son has already begun to plot a few other adventures related to cleaning up his cloths.  It involves some type of blob or something that leaves a four smell in the laundry.  Kids!

Meaningful Rewards

McGonigal (2011) states that Fix #8 is that we find satisfaction in meaningful rewards when we need them the most.  As noted, it may not be a game, but a “gesture toward a game”. (p. 148).  I believe that the popular social network Facebook provides a similar gesture.  When an individual comments on a certain activity, situation, or belief, fellow social networkers can “like” a comment.  Other may “like” a graphic or video.  The feelings or getting a “like: can be somewhat compared to a plus one in social networking.  The more likes, the more positive one feels about their comment or shared post. For this, I agree with McGonigal from personal experience.

Now we move onto Jetset. As I read, I become more intrigued.  I fly a tremendous amount now with my new role – almost a new city each week.  As I do not fear flying, I certainly am frustrated with it (especially with Southwest and their ridiculous polices). However, I recently have used Settlers as my escape.  It certainly is more difficult to navigate the interface on a small Surface, but I can atleast send the armies out on an adventure or the geologist out for coal before flight to find them done with their mission when I land.  I however am going to consider Jetset for my next trip to Jacksonville in 2 weeks. 

To conclude my blog with a reflection upon Settlers this week, I agree that beyond the requirements of this course, I have found some intrinsic rewards in completing the levels thus far. I suppose the most meaningful rewards have been from completing the higher leveled adventures which offer a ton of great resources and experience.  As it takes time to build certain resources such as titanium ore and granite, winning an adventure often provides a nice quick set of these resources. To be honest with you, my heart races a little every time I send an army in – waiting to see the progress bar and hoping to breathe a sigh of relief.  It not only means you win – but that you made the correct strategic decision and in some ways makes you feel that your knowledge of attack methods has grown. Once you get have this understanding of the different attack strategies and the capabilities of your warriors, you gain a better sense of control – probably like a real general learning the capabilities of his real army.

McGonigal, J. (2011), Reality is broken, Broadview Press.