Hello Melanie,

I am glad that you found an affinity space that was so useful in supporting your teaching practice. Your presentation showed how committed you have become to the AS and was very well done.

You observed and shared that the subreddit was a great community. The users and moderators support sharing of best teaching practice. It seemed to be a useful space where you were able to learn more about interaction of games (or being playful) and learning without knowing at the time.

Your contributions stated out as solicitations for advice on how to better engage students in a topic. When your inquiry was answered I loved your decision to pay forward the good advice. You contributions evolved into reaching out to others and offering your own point of view.

The perspective that other users shared when they replied to your inquiry about math lessons gave you new ways to approach lessons. Approaches that could make the material more meaningful for your students. This common goal and willingness to collaborate with other members is a strength of your chosen AS.

I agreed with the the three connections you were able to make between the AS and Gee and Hayes: 1 The AS is not segregated by age - math teachers were of all ages and experience were members and were all seen as equals, with no discussion of relative levels of expericne. 2 Everyone can, if they wish, produce not just consume - easy to contribute in the space by creating post or commenting on the post of others, and members can contribute, without producing, by up and down voting.<br> 3 Content is transformed by interaction - best way to learn in this space is through commutation and interacting with each other.

Great job and think you for sharing,

Darren

Hello Benjamin,

I enjoyed your affinity space presentation. It is nice that you were able to take an interest you had in Magic: The Gathering and find content and information to support that passion. It would seem the tools for tracking a card's value would be very useful going forward for building on to your decks.

The number of sub-communities you discovered and highlighted within the MTG affinity space was a keen observation. The overall connection to a shared interest in the game brings members to the affinity space, but the freedom, within a digital environment, to branch off and follow interests into the many aspects of MTG keeps the AS engaging for users.

Your post asking for feedback on the tournament deck you created resulted in some very interesting responses. The community offered the responses that you asked for and expected, analysis of the deck with strengths and limitations highlighted. What seemed unexpected was the follow up responses aimed at determining how the deck had fared in physical world competition. Sharing the explicit knowledge of how decks perform gives other members a chance to develop tacit knowledge when designing decks for competitions.

These interactions show how learning in the MTG AS are social, collaborative, and contested. Users first share in the community the decks they are planning, Then other users collaborate on analyzing the suggested deck. Finally when completion results are shared uses develop new thoughts on how to create competitive advantages in future competitions.

The ideas you linked to from Gee and Hayes do a nice job of illustrating learning in the AS

1. The AS is build focused on a game with design at its core, so users are able to be creative and use the game as a platform to make their own content and take ownership in the game narrative.

2. The multiple sub-communities give users a chance to fill many different roles in the community, these options make the community engaging for user that want to try out new roles and the users that want to focus on one role.

3. The sharing of explicit knowledge encourage because with analysis of game play and decks used in competition users can construct their own new strategies and develop tacit knowledge.

Thank you for the share, great presentation,

Darren

Hello Mike,

I thought your project had great flow and that the title cards did a wonderful job of keeping concepts organized.

You shared about how the affinity space you joined is run by the company that developed Terraria and that this decision on the part of Re-Logic shows commitment to user/consumers ensuring that they get a fulfilling expericne through interactions with each other and expanding the Terraria narrative. This discussion will help build excitement for new uses by promoting cooperation in creating new ways to play in the sandbox.

Also you pointed out the large membership to the affinity space, 70,000 registered members members, and thousands more guest who visit without signing up. At the time of your presentation there was about a 1:15 ratio of members to guests, if the ratio holds there could be up-to 1,050,000 active guests in this community.

I can see that your first contributions to the community were to illicit information from the seasoned Terraria players. Part of the information your were looking for was the correct places within the affinity space to ask game play questions and find corresponding answers. I think this brings up a good point that there needs to be an understanding that new members in a AS will need support for navigating the space as much as they may need the endeavor based information.

You share many strengths and some weaknesses for the Terraria AS. The strengths included that the community was moderated by game produces driven by their commitment to maintaining positive play experience by users, that the community was safe for all users - with rules and guidelines posted in every forum. The safety of the space, however, leads to one of the glaring limitation in that the safely removes some freedom of expression from the contributions users want to make.

You made three great connections to Gee Hayes:

1 Common endeavor - The game play of Terraria inspires passion in its players and the connection to the AS, through the game producers, gives users, even new players, a place to share their passion. 2 The AS is not segregated by age - Players who become members to the community do not need to share their ages because experience in the game is the central requirement for status in the community. 3 Newbies and experts share space - The forum's posted rules state that all members are there as equals and need to treat each other with respect.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and analysis, Great job!

Darren

That seem to be the case with your gaming group, if you have been playing for two years persevering your way to a perfect win on the hardest level, congratulations!

Cool, I love it when games come with neat little figurines.

The different skill set of the characters let learners have strategy discussions around economics, specifically division of labor and absolute advantage.

Wow this game is not afraid to get get real.

Discussion is always a awesome feature to promote learning experiences.

Great intro! Have you thought about writing promotional material for table top games?

I have no confidence in my spelling for this or Scrabble, but at least the fast paced nature of Bananagrams makes it fun to watch, and you are correct I learn a lot more words. Just don't necessarily remember how to spell them.

I think these kind of active participation rules build a little ritual into the game and participating in the ritual helps expand the game culture love for the game.

I loved finding, at my grandparent's house, my parent's old versions of the games that my brother and and had at home. It was funny to think of my parents as kids.

I like to watch Bananagrams, even when I am playing Bananagrams all I do is watch. My spelling is not good for that game.

Great point! Skills need to transfer form the game environment to new environments. Discussion of what was learned in the game is a great opportunity to transfer learning into a conversation.

I hope you are successful with integrating this game into your practice. Thanks for sharing your analysis.

Having students record the incorrect problems and solutions and then reviewing them with a teacher/peer is a good way to reflect on what was practiced and reteach misconceptions.

This is also what I like about video games for math facts. The practice can be repetitive but if is fun then motivation is increased.

I think math video games are good for practicing math facts. I have mixed them in for homework options or as a math station.

New teaching challenges are great for time for trying new methods, best of luck to you!

Did you given a chance to share your imput?

It definitely helps to continue the suspended disbelief if the tutorial is woven into the narrative.

As a non art teacher I know I would participate in an event like this and know many others would to.

It is so important to know what to do to keep joy in your teaching.

This seems like a fun idea, support the educators with a creative outlet and give students a chance to see their teachers as artists.

This sounds like a interesting sections of the article. Where there any particular examples from that you could share?

No reason to give up on making learning more playful but just redefine how you approach the looking for solutions.

I find myself drawn to the application areas in Games and Learning.

I agree and I think that having the action cards and the element of luck, so that a victory is a mixture of both skillful card play and some luck of the draw.

I always fall asleep if I watch a movie on a Friday night. Sometimes it is better to keep the brain active and play some games, sometimes I want to zone out and go with the movie.

Wow, I would be surprised to - Uno was a staple in the homes of my family and friends.

Just keeping the game 2 denominational has limited the movement in-game significantly, from 3D games that are becoming the norm.

This makes good use for communication to share and explain tactics and develop a good mix of items to support roles on a team.

Watched the trailer for this game - seems like communication would be key as enemies seem to atack in swarms.

Interesting twist, I like that the idea that staying alive longer comes with enemies that are harder to kill and deliver more damage.

I think that when there is a little consequence for not being successful the game lends itself to experimentation more and has less of a need for tutorials because determining how to play is part of the fun. Where as if the consequences of failure are higher, like starting over at the beginning of a level, it is frustrating to not know all the rules beforehand.

My partner works late evening early night shifts and basically goes to bed when she gets home. she loves calming low key puzzle games to refocus her mind away from work so she can go to sleep. Do you think I should suggest this game?

This seems to tie into the discussion of vision in action video games from the Bavelier article this week, but I like the contrast of how non action games can tie into vision in a similar way.

Is this in the virtual world or build it in real life?

Meeting the student where she is at.

Cool, I did not realize there was a spectator mode, what a great way to observe how others are playing.

This seems to encourage the development of a skill set to use in many situations, rather than memorizing what buttons need to pressed to pass a level.

Also a chance to reflect on how these behaviors helped the player be successful.

Cool, that presence make the interaction more meaningful.

I think that there is huge potential with augmented reality, along the lines of Pokemon Go. Museums, schools, libraries and other learning institutions could set up "hot spots" thought out a city and connect with users at those points to share content.

It seems like scenarios could be developed in a story mode where real life inspired problems need to be addressed and solved.

These games give a low threshold for accessing the basic concepts from the fields they represent.

I think this fits with the idea of employing simulations to scaffold student learning.

This is a great refining question to delving deeper into ideas raised by the In-Game, In-Room, In-World article.

Seems the acceptance you felt in the community is giving you more reason to stick with the game.

Good question, different devices seem to have a large affect on mobile game play or aesthetics.

seems like a great entry into the online community.

I have always been suspicious of the game play of mobile games where I play against another person but not in real time. I feel like I am playing a bot of some sort that is masquerading with a user's profile. Interesting that this game has made the play real time, feels more authentic.

Could you look for other articles for the next cycle that look at more recent t recesses of The Sims and do some comparing and contrasting of the results?

My brother had a Sims console game in the early 2000's and it blew my mind that he would barely worry about the main game missions to just create and expand his world. This was my first exposure to game modding as game play.

Have you seen any evidence of this "traditionalists" in your explorations of the your Sims affinity space.

This charitable attitude seems to be a good way to quickly become a valued member of this LBP community.

Wow great personal experience to help reassure use newcomers to game level design.

I am so bad in the affinity spaces I inhabit. Always reading never contributing.

I don't have an active hyperlink here. I don't know if you had intended for this to link to the article or not.

Reflection could give these gamers a chance to think about how these skills could be transferred to debates in different settings.

Shows that there is passion in these players and that passion has empowered them to participate in discourses.

I like this is a very cyclical list, when you get to explore it is trime to re-engage.

It is good to see the educational thinkers applyed in discussions of learning tehcnologies. Something I don't do enough. Thank you for the example.

Gotta learn something new everyday!

Quicker strategy games are nice becuase it makes for quicker turn around for trying new approaches or honing old ones.

I love games where I know what I have passed to the next player. Such a great way to add a new level of strategy. Now I need to think not only about how to maximize my returns but inhibit the next player with what I pass to them.

My always cheated so it could be that.

We were a big board game family too.

In the free sandbox mode, you suggest, how could interest in the free version be leveraged into encouraging the consumer to buy the full version? In my head maybe previews of skills that could be unlocked or maybe the promise of a large online community.

The Gee reading in Cycle 1 would say it had become more of a puzzle then a game.

I would bet that that is exactly what the creators wanted you to conclude, that having more control to be creative in the design of the town would lead to greater enjoyment - SO go buy the full version with that creative freedom. The free version is probably a little flat by design - if it is too engaging what motivation is there to spend money on the full version.

I see the desire from the developer to make this simulation are real as possible but I agree that there could have been a better approach then to start with characters using the toilet. Do you think providing access to food or shelter from weather would have been more appropriate?

I also have not done much online gaming and was excited to use this play journal a a chance to test out the online gaming waters.

Go seems to be more focused on finding and controlling tactical positions.

So interesting the number of possibilities form a seemingly basic game. I found some calculations of the number of possible legal moves in a game on a 19x19 board at Sensei's Library, an affinity space for Go players. They report that there are 2.082 × 10^170 leagal moves, for me that is mind blowing.

Easy to learn; hard to master

I has thought Go was Japanese, thanks for the heads up.