This Thursday morning I went to Jane McGonigal speech. It was really an interesting seminar. She gave me a new point of view of game: using game to solve problem and to learn thing! This is really interesting. Usually people always stressed that game is something fun that we can use to kill time or to suppress stress. She, however, sees game as a method to solve problem.
She gave us an example: ReMission, one of her game for children in leukemia treatment. Study proved that game shift the physiology of the kid and those kid who played game during their treatment showed a better improvement. Kids going to surgery can also get rid of their depression by playing video games. Again, playing games proved to help improve the effect of their treatment. Gamers with autism also showed increased social intelligence.
Why? A group of scholar did a study to see how the brains work while we are playing game. They saw more active caudate, hippocampus and thalamus brain activity while people playing game. These brain area turns out to be the area that effect motivation. In clinical trials, casual gamers also outperform pharmaceuticals for anxiety and depression.
She also said something interesting: "The opposite of play isn't work - it is depression." So, work is not a depression. Well, it depend on whether you like your job or not, right?
She argued, game player has a super power. When playing games, we experienced 10 positive emotions: joy, relief, love, surprise, pride, curiosity, excitement, awe and wonder, contentment, creativity. This positive emotions will not only something we experienced during playing games. It also effect after playing game. There are some articles she mentioned that proved her argument: "Video gaming children 'more creative'". Even violent video game, she said, boosting the creativity of achieving high score. It is more about the skills developed than the effect of the game itself.
Interesting enough, she also mentioned that gamers spend 80% of the their time failing. They volunteer to be failing on game to get better on gaming! Games, she said, make us resilient.
Back to the gamer's superpowers she mentioned. She said gamers has three superpowers:
These are her suggestion to us:
Her short opinion about currently hot topic, violent game: Violent game vs strangers and competitors created more aggression. Otherwise release anger, learn how to manage difficult emotion, had fewer nightmare.
Lastly this is the link to her speech: http://www.kuer.org/post/hinckley-forums-gaming-and-future-higher-education
She gave us an example: ReMission, one of her game for children in leukemia treatment. Study proved that game shift the physiology of the kid and those kid who played game during their treatment showed a better improvement. Kids going to surgery can also get rid of their depression by playing video games. Again, playing games proved to help improve the effect of their treatment. Gamers with autism also showed increased social intelligence.
Why? A group of scholar did a study to see how the brains work while we are playing game. They saw more active caudate, hippocampus and thalamus brain activity while people playing game. These brain area turns out to be the area that effect motivation. In clinical trials, casual gamers also outperform pharmaceuticals for anxiety and depression.
She also said something interesting: "The opposite of play isn't work - it is depression." So, work is not a depression. Well, it depend on whether you like your job or not, right?
She argued, game player has a super power. When playing games, we experienced 10 positive emotions: joy, relief, love, surprise, pride, curiosity, excitement, awe and wonder, contentment, creativity. This positive emotions will not only something we experienced during playing games. It also effect after playing game. There are some articles she mentioned that proved her argument: "Video gaming children 'more creative'". Even violent video game, she said, boosting the creativity of achieving high score. It is more about the skills developed than the effect of the game itself.
Interesting enough, she also mentioned that gamers spend 80% of the their time failing. They volunteer to be failing on game to get better on gaming! Games, she said, make us resilient.
Back to the gamer's superpowers she mentioned. She said gamers has three superpowers:
- Solve the unsolvable. For example: Fold It. This game was developed as part of an experimental research project. The researched of University of Washington had already has a supercomputers to help them in protein folding research. However, they were wondering if the extraordinary of online gamers can be used to find more protein folding. And they did! Online players solved protein mystery that baffled AIDS researchers for years. Read article: Gamers unlock protein mystery that baffled AIDS researchers for years
- Save the real world. For example: Evoke ~ If you have a problem, and you can't solve it, evoke it ~. This game was developed by World Bank to teach people in South Africa to feel engage to solve problem.)
- See the future. For example: Find the Future the Game. This game was developed by New York Public Library to solve their problem where young people doesn't come to the physical library. At their first launch, they invited 500 teenagers to the library and locked them from Friday 6PM to Saturday 6AM. Within this period of time, they had to write a book and they did! Now the game was available online.
These are her suggestion to us:
- Use narrative to tell player what they can achieve
- Think of the problem in environment that you want to resolve
Her short opinion about currently hot topic, violent game: Violent game vs strangers and competitors created more aggression. Otherwise release anger, learn how to manage difficult emotion, had fewer nightmare.
Lastly this is the link to her speech: http://www.kuer.org/post/hinckley-forums-gaming-and-future-higher-education
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