I came across this wonderful TED talk as part of my gamification research for the forthcoming dissertation. It is absolutely fascinating stuff. The case is made by the wonderfully articulate Jane McGonigal that the ills of the world can be resolved by computer games. World of Warcraft to be particular. By playing these types of immersive, games filled with co-operative problem solving tasks, we are learning how to be social and developing our analytical skills.
This is a rather simplistic rendering of her talk, but it is a really interesting vid and I do recommend it. It did get me thinking though. My two games of choice in a desert island kind of scenario would be The Resident Evil series and Championship manager… I play these a lot, perhaps too much to be honest… And I am wondering what I am learning from these games.
I know that the T-virus is pretty bad news and that Mixalis Pavlis has the potential to be the most feared striker in Europe (for an anti-football 4231 formation) but is there any more than this…
Resident Evil has a really strong narrative that has developed since 1996 and this survival horror has even survived some really bad film versions. Champ man is really popular 442 magazine has a regular feature on young players from around Europe that you highlight potential talent.
I feel quite bad when your assistant manager informs you that you have had to let a player go. I do end up worrying about them! How will they get on… they have been at the club since they were 15… what will they do… the power is overwhelming yet a burden. I don’t know how Fergie does it.
There are things to learn from a lot of games I don’t know it can change the world ( I might do after this dissertation) but for the moment I can see that I learn a lot about myself… which might not be a bad thing.
For parity here is the exceptional Stephen Colbert asking the questions a lot of people would want to ask the ace Jane. Enjoy:)
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Jane McGonigal | ||||
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