Mais um dia em Tyria

Ontem fui tentar caçar uma rainha (boss) numa party com mais três membros dos Black Skorpions (2 portugueses e 1 inglês). Não conseguimos. No caminho até à rainha, fomos dizimados várias vezes por uns gigantescos insectos mortíferos que protegem a sua rainha. No dia anterior, tinha conseguido fazer o mesmo caminho e matar a rainha com o auxí­lio de um dos membros e um henchmen (uma healer). Provavelmente, a Arena.net apercebeu-se que muita gente estava a tentar capturar a rainha e tornou tudo mais difí­cil. Apesar de ainda termos pouco hábito de jogar em conjunto, é pouco provável que 4 jogadores fizesse pior que 2 e um npc…

Tudo começou há dois dias, com uma actualização do jogo. No Crystal Desert, perto de Augury Rock, passou a haver um boss (está sempre no mesmo local, é fácil de localizar, o que é raro) que, segundo alguns jogadores que conversavam no jogo (verdade? boato?), dropava itens verdes (os mais valiosos). O que é um facto é que consegui dois itens gold (também raros e valiosos) em expedições atrás da dita rainha, não sei se foi sorte ou se há alguma intenção económica da Arena.net em tornar estes drops mais comuns. Rapidamente Augury Rock encheu-se de jogadores a tentar reunir parties para tentar a sua sorte… Vamos ver quanto tempo dura.

Entretanto, tenho uma armadura nova, topo de gama

Learning by Design: good video games as learning machines

Learning by Design: good video games as learning machines

by James Paul Gee

This article asks how good video and computer game designers manage to get new players to learn long, complex and difficult games. The short answer is that designers of good games have hit on excellent methods for getting people to learn and to enjoy learning. The longer answer is more complex. Integral to this answer are the good principles of learning built into successful games. The author discusses 13 such principles under the headings of ‘Empowered Learners’, ‘Problem Solving’ and ‘Understanding’ and concludes that the main impediment to implementing these principles in formal education is cost. This, however, is not only (or even so much) monetary cost. It is, importantly, the cost of changing minds about how and where learning is done and of changing one of our most profoundly change-resistant institutions: the school.

Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier

Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier

by Edward Castronova

In March 1999, a small number of Californians discovered a new world called “Norrath”, populated by an exotic but industrious people. Having just returned from a dangerous exploratory journey through this new world, I can report a number of interesting findings about its people and economy. About 12,000 people call it their permanent home, although some 60,000 are present there at any given time. The nominal hourly wage is about $3.42 per hour, and the labors of the people produce a GNP per capita somewhere between that of Russia and Bulgaria. A unit of Norrath’s currency is traded on exchange markets at $0.0107, higher than the Yen and the Lira. The economy is characterized by extreme inequality, yet life there is quite attractive to many. The population is growing rapidly, swollen each each day by hundreds of émigrés from various places around the globe, but especially the United States. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the new world is its location. Norrath is a virtual world that exists entirely on 40 computers in San Diego. The entire dollar-based economy is underground, since the owning company, Sony, considers everything created in the world to be its intellectual property. Unlike many internet ventures, virtual worlds are making money — with annual revenues expected to top $1.5 billion by 2004 — and if network effects are as powerful here as they have been with other internet innovations, virtual worlds may be the next step in the evolution of internet (and possibly human) culture.

Designing simulations to improve learner outcomes in ecological education

Designing simulations to improve learner outcomes in ecological education

by Robert M. Corderoy

The study of complex ecological processes presents many difficulties for learners including the time frame in which it may take place and the complexity of the relationships involved. The learning outcomes and level of understanding of the underlying relationships for students studying such processes may be effectively supported and improved through the use of carefully designed simulations which provide the learner with the opportunity to explore and test their ideas, knowledge and understanding without risk. The purpose of this study was to design, develop, implement and test the efficacy of a simulation tool designed to simulate algal bloom in a river catchment environment in terms of its potential to produce improved learning outcomes and understanding of relationships for the learners.

There has always been a suspicion amongst some educators, particularly those who have limited computer literacy, that the platforms of the information technology revolution are simply new toys in the hands of resource developers and researchers, and that the outcome is simply an application of such technologies in the misguided belief that such delivery systems for educational experiences provide some sort of advantage over the more traditional methods. This study is based on two assertions with regard to the educational effectiveness of simulations in educational environments. First, that to be effective simulations need to have been designed in accordance with contemporary theoretical principles in terms of both pedagogical and user interaction issues with regard to modelling the real world effectively so as to provide an authentic environment in which the user may construct knowledge and understanding of complex processes. Second, that students using such simulations will have better learning outcomes and develop a deeper understanding of the relationships between the variables involved than those who are exposed to a more conventional approach in terms the representational media adopted, available resources and teaching methods.

In summary, the study was designed to test the efficacy of the assertion that with careful design, interactive simulations which mimic complex ecological processes can provide the opportunity for improved learning outcomes and the development of a deeper understanding of the underlying relationships. The experimental materials used in this study comprised the software package Exploring the Nardoo and the algal bloom simulation tool embedded within it. The package is an interactive multimedia CD-ROM based learning environment designed with a constructivist approach. It attempts to provide a realistic, risk free information rich learning space in which students may explore, test their understanding of specific issues, and develop solutions to authentic tasks.

The methodological approach adopted for this study was of a classic experimental design pre/post test and based in the Scientific Paradigm. Such a pure experimental approach was essential to testing the stated hypotheses, however in order to provide a more complete picture of the nature of user/software interactions, a hybrid quantitative/qualitative approach was used. The data set on which the analysis of the study was based was collected using researcher designed instruments; a Knowledge Acquisition Schedule KAS, a Cause and Effect Schedule CES and a User Perceived Value Schedule UPS. Subjective information in the form of field observation records and comments was also collected. Such an approach provided a context in which the research question could be tested and considered while maintaining the necessary research rigour. The operational population, third year pre-service student teachers, was chosen from the target population by the use of the technique of cluster sampling.

The data collected from the Knowledge Acquisition Schedule KAS indicated that use of the package Exploring the Nardoo resulted in significantly improved acquisition of factual knowledge for both the control and experimental groups. This was not unexpected as the overall design of the software was such that all students had access to extensive multi-format information on all aspects of algal blooms and the investigation was designed so as to be independent of the algal bloom simulation tool. The fact that the experimental groups KAS mean scores showed a significantly greater increase than those of the control group would suggest that using the simulation tool also supported factual knowledge acquisition. Analysis of the Cause and Effect Schedule CES data suggests that the simulation tool also facilitated a deeper understanding of the processes and the relationships between causal factors for the students who had access to the simulation tool. Examination of the pre and post CES mean scores data indicated that the students using the simulation tool not only improved their CES mean scores, but improved them by a significantly greater margin than those in the control group. This outcome adds support to the assertion that, when students have the opportunity to test and re-assess their mental models of complex systems, the processes and relationships at work, in meaningful learning environments and supported by appropriate tools, there is the potential for improved learning outcomes and the development of deeper understanding. The data collected from the UPS added support to these findings and issues relating to the design and function of the simulation tool. In summary, the overall findings suggest that, simulations which are designed in terms of contemporary theoretical principles with regard to functionality and pedagogical strategies, and are embedded within rich, multimedia based learning environments have the potential to provide the user with a greatly enriched experience by facilitating the review of existing learner knowledge and the construction of new learner knowledge.

Replaying History: Learning World History through playing Civilization III

Replaying History: Learning World History through playing Civilization III

by Kurt Squire

Digital games is an emerging entertainment medium that an increasing number of educators are examining as tools for engaging learners. Yet, few models exist for how to use contemporary gaming media in formal learning environments. A commercial historical computer strategy game such as Civilization III is an intriguing artifact to examine in classroom contexts because of its wide appeal, design sophistication, and unique affordances as a world history simulation. Civilization III represents world history not as a story of colonial domination or western expansion, but as an emergent process arising from overlapping, interrelated factors.

The purpose of this study is to explore what happens when Civilization III, a complex computer game developed in entertainment contexts enters formal learning environemtns. This dissertation presents three naturalistic case studies in which Civilization III was used as the basis for a unit on world history in urban learning environments. I examine how the game engaged players, the social interactions that occur, how understandings emerge, and what role game play serves in mediating students’ understandings.

In all three cases, engagement was a complex process of appropriation and resistance, whereby the purposes of game play was negotiated among students’ identities, classroom goals, and the affordances of Civilization III. Civilization III engaged each student in unique ways, and this engagement affected the kinds of questions students asked of their games, the kinds of conceptual understandings that arose through game play, and the interpretations they made about history. History and geography became tools for game play and successful students developed conceptual understandings across world history, geography, and politics. These cases suggest the potential for using simulation games in world history education, but also the significant, unsolved challenges in integrating such a complex game within classroom settings.

A Clash between Game and Narrative

A Clash between Game and Narrative – A thesis on computer games and interactive fiction

by Jesper Juul

It is a disturbing quality of computer games, that they always dare you to yet another attempt at scoring more points, at reaching the next level. You oblige, but from a literary point of view, it is not at all obvious why you would want to. Computer games seem senseless pastimes, devoid of any point or reason. It then follows that they can hardly be described as art in any common sense of the word, since a meaningful phenomenon is assumed to contain something that can be read from the work. Computer games seem not to provide any feeling of having decoded the meaning of the game.

As a reaction to these meaningless games, interactive fiction is claimed to create games with meaning, games that tell a good story. The obvious example of the 1990’s is the game Myst (Cyan 1993).

And it does sound like an obvious enterprise: To combine the two giant human activities of stories and games. Add to this that the computer games of today are largely catalogues of popular culture: fast cars, aliens, herds of monsters from hell. But this is possibly because the computer game for all practicality can not tell stories – the computer game is simply not a narrative medium. In actuality we are facing a conflict between game and narrative: They are two separate phenomena that in many cases rule each other out.

The main claim of this thesis is that the computer game and the narrative share some traits – both are temporal, for example – but apart from that are radically different: It may be reasonable to claim that the weight of the narrative comes from a sequence of past events, that have to follow, and that the end of every story gets is power from, if not destiny, then at least some causal logic and inevitability. Interactivity and games, on the other hand, are defined by that the reader/player can influence the events now. Additionally, the lack of a narrator in the computer game makes it impossible to use the novel’s interesting devices in the tension between narrator and the narrated. Computer games are interesting for different reasons.

The idea of an interactive narrative has its problems. As the starting quote suggests, I am not the first person to draw this conclusion. I can not claim any originality in this; the value of this thesis is rather that I undertake a detailed examination of the relationship between game and narrative, an examination of how and why they are hard to combine. This also entails an examination of the computer game as a phenomenon on its own.

This thesis is in five parts:

* The history of the computer game is a brief history of the computer game and the rhetoric of interactive fiction.
* Theoretical introduction introduces previous research on non-linear texts.
* A theory of the computer game is the central piece of this thesis, and examines the computer game from two angles: The structure of the game describes the structural properties of the computer game with a special emphasis on time. The player and the game is an examination of the relationship between game and player; a more reader-oriented angle. This leads to a theory of the computer game as phenomenon and a list of parameters for the examination of computer games.
* Readings uses the theory developed to examine five different games to shed light on the construction of the games and how they construct their game worlds.
* Conclusions is a summation of the results of the thesis, as well as some historical and theoretical perspectives.

Beyond Edutainment: Exploring the Educational Potential of Computer Games

Beyond Edutainment: Exploring the Educational Potential of Computer Games

by Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen

Computer games have attracted much attention over the years, mostly attention of the less flattering kind. This has been true for computer games focused on entertainment, but also for what for years seemed a sure winner, edutainment. This dissertation aims to be a modest contribution to understanding educational use of computer games by building a framework that goes beyond edutainment. A framework that goes beyond the limitations of edutainment, not relying on a narrow perception of computer games in education.

The first part of the dissertation outlines the background for building an inclusive and solid framework for educational use of computer games. Such a foundation includes a variety of quite different perspectives for example educational media and non-electronic games. It is concluded that educational use of computer games remains strongly influenced by educational media leading to the domination of edutainment.

The second part takes up the challenges posed in part 1 looking to especially educational theory and computer games research to present alternatives. By drawing on previous research three generations of educational computer games are identified. The first generation is edutainment that perceives the use of computer games as a direct way to change behaviours through repeated action. The second generation puts the spotlight on the relation between computer game and player. Computer games become interesting because they are believed capable of offering a variety of ways to learn with varying degrees of difficulty. The third generation includes the context of computer games and how they facilitate learning environments with peer-collaboration, constructions of knowledge, new teacher role and a changed student role. These three generations all become part of the framework for educational use of computer games avoiding a narrow focus on a few popular elements.

In the third part the main empirical study is laid out with the purpose of examining the actual use of computer games in an educational setting from a 3rd generation perspective. The empirical study was conducted at a Danish high-school involving 72 students and two teachers. The study examined the use of a commercial historical strategy game (Europa Universalis II) in a 2½ month history course where the computer game played a significant role. The empirical study aims at examining some key findings around the barriers for educational computer game use, the scepticism towards the historical understanding of computer games, the problems related to linking of experiences with computer games to other domains and the effectiveness of learning from computer games. It is found that we can benefit from looking at teaching with computer games at three levels: Appreciation, exploration and linking with each level having its own problems. Students progressed through these levels with the appreciation as a prerequisite for exploration and linking. The appreciation caused problems for many students as they did not have the necessary knowledge of history and computer games to identify the relevant elements in the game experience. When relevant elements were recognized students failed to explore due to distrust of the value of the game experiences. Finally the linking between the game experience and other areas rarely happened.

The last part presents the general framework for understanding educational use of computer games, where the ends from the three previous parts meet. The theory extends from an experiential learning approach, where concrete experiences are the starting point that can be transformed through reflection, instruction and active experimentation. In this process computer games provide rich concrete experience that can be manipulated in the game universe providing more handles for the student compared to other media. It is concluded that in ideal educational use of computer games the student is playing and constructing knowledge through interaction with the game universe. Slowly building on top of existing knowledge from previous experiences arising from inside the game universe and other spheres of life facilitated by instruction. It is an experience-based hermeneutic exploration in a safe rich environment, potentially scaffolding the student while maintaining student autonomy and ensuring a high emotional investment in the activity.

Cognition & Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games: A Critical Approach

Cognition & Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games: A Critical Approach
by Constance A. Steinkuehler

This dissertation consists of a collection of articles based on a two-year online cognitive ethnography of the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) entitled Lineage. In the first chapter, I outline why we ought to research MMOGaming culture (Chapter One, Part One) and present a theoretical framework for how we might go about such investigation (Chapter One, Part Two). Next, I apply the suggested theory to selected data, demonstrating both its applicability and explanatory power (Chapter Two). In the remaining four chapters, I address specific research questions that are prompted by the theoretical lens used: how identity is constructed in such environments (Chapter Three), the nature of learning in MMOG cultures (Chapter Four), the literacy practices that constitute participation in such environments (Chapter Five), and finally how the virtual worlds of MMOGs bear on other worlds beyond them (Chapter Six) at both the micro level of individual experience (how MMOGs function in the everyday life of those who participate, Part One) and the macro level of broader economic, legal, and social forces (how MMOGs are a “mangle of practice,” Pickering 1995, of corporations, designers, players, and in-game currency farmers, caught up in the tensions of an increasingly globalized world, Part Two). I have chosen to keep the citations organized under separate headings for each chapter for ease of reference. All tables and figures, however, are compiled together at the end.

Videogames of the Oppressed

VIDEOGAMES OF THE OPPRESSED – VIDEOGAMES AS A MEANS FOR CRITICAL THINKING AND DEBATE

A Thesis by Gonzalo Frasca

This thesis examines the potential of videogames as a medium for fostering critical thinking and discussion about social and personal problems. This analysis focuses on simulation as a representational form, which unlike others such as narrative, creates models that not only display the characteristics of the source system, but also reproduce its behavior by means of a set of rules. Therefore, videogames have the potential to represent reality not as a collection of images or texts, but as a dynamic system that can evolve and change.

After studying how the process of interpretation functions in simulations, I propose to adapt the basic elements of the work of drama theorist Augusto Boal into videogame design. Boal created a set of techniques for participative theater that raises the spectators’ awareness about their reality and encourages personal and social change.

I propose two examples of how these goals could be attained by using videogames. One is based on a popular videogame that simulates suburban life. By modifying its design, I suggest ways for players to deconstruct the simulation’s ideological assumptions and discuss alternative constructions that reflect their personal opinions. The second, uses videogame design in order to allow players to present their personal problems as unresolved simulations that will be shared and discussed among peers.

Actualização

Maria Nafergo

Total de tempo jogado: 191 horas e 18 minutos (últimos 3 meses – suponho que desde que instalei o jogo… tenho de confirmar isto)

Maria Nafergo – 148 horas e 16 minutos (últimos 3 meses) – fundou guilda Black Skorpions

Sonnel Nafergo (v.2)- 20 horas e 56 minutos (últimos 48 dias)

O tempo que sobeja (diferença entre tempo total e tempo dos personagens) diz respeito ao primeiro personagem de todos (eliminado poucos dias depois de começar e substituído pela Maria Nafergo) e a outros dois que duraram poucos minutos (experiências…).

Guilda Black Skorpions – fundada em 5/12/2005 (data de nascimento de Maria Nafergo). A primeira versão da guilda tinha o mesmo nome, foi fundada pelo primeiro personagem que criei (Sonnel Nafergo). Depois, ainda sem membros, decidi acabar com o Sonnel (não estava a gostar de jogar como Ranger), criar a Maria e refundar os Black Skorpions.

Sonnel Nafergo (v.1)

Membros – 20 (maioria portugueses mas tem vários ingleses, 1 escocês, 1 dinamarquês, 1 norte-americano, 1 romeno)

Cheguei a Droknar’s Forge

Cheguei a Droknar’s Forge e já completei 18 das 24 missões. Agora já posso adquirir uma armadura “topo de gama” (depois de arranjar o dinheiro e os materiais para a mandar fazer…

Droknar’s Forge é um local especial no jogo. Para além da fama das suas armaduras (julgo que são as mais resistentes de todo o jogo), é o início de mais uma zona de exploração (Southern Shiverpeaks), da penúltima zona do jogo, é o início do último terço da história (o mais difícil…). Além do mais, é suposto conseguir-se bons loots/drops nesta área…

Em Droknar’s Forge já sabemos que fazemos parte dos Chosen da profecia, que somos especiais… É claro que há alguns que chegam aqui por atalhos (é possível contratar um runner em Beacon’s Perch – Northern Shiverpeaks) mas esses não desfrutaram do jogo, esses não são especiais, ainda não fizeram as missões.

Imagens e mapas de Tyria

Decidi incluir imagens de algumas das cidades/refúgios mais importantes e 3 mapas globais com informação que ajuda a compreender a dinâmica do jogo. As imagens estão aqui, no álbum de Tyria.