Prizes for the evening included a free growler, a t-shirt, and a slab of meat –bacon, I believe. Unfortunately, our team did not win any prizes
What do you believe to be the most motivating factor in Trivia? The need to be right (competitive) against other teams, or the actual prizes for the evening?
I’ve also seen similar groups like Geeks who Drink
I have participated in trivia via GWD at Blake Street in Belmar, and The Pioneer off of University many years ago. It was such fun every Tuesday night.
People who live in the area
Is this an actual prerequisite? Must you live in the area?
earn how to work (quickly) with people while under pressure
I think this is the next biggest mechanics of timed trivia. Other than knowing the actual knowledge.
This makes trivia challenging however, I think the real challenge is working together to agree on a final answer.
Did anyone take the lead in the game to be the "final answer" person? Switch off rounds to be the final say? Or was it a majority rules approach?
player’s previous knowledge and requires collaboration / cooperation from the entire team
Would there be any instances where a team would have a particular advantage over another team? Does a team with 5 players versus a team with only 3 players have a greater chance of winning?
community networking event
Did a lot of community networking take place by-way of trivia?
Telling a story over the course of many dozens of hours is a huge and incredible feat unto itself, and by virtue of both well-written characters and the amount of time a player spends with the characters
It is safe to say that this series of games could be condiered a franchise? Do you think other players of the game, have been enticed to play the other editions in the series, like yourself? Longetivity is a huge success, especially when there is an abundance of games.
That narrative momentum, that sense of awe and mystery at what will happen next—it plays into the deeply human trait of storytelling and pulls you along through all of the hours of gameplay.
This is a great takeaway regarding recent games, especially because most games do not have a very deep storyline. But I agree the greater the storytelling aspect, the better the game, because you are pulled in to not just learning the mechanics, but rather interacting in a more meangingful way.
both in dialogue and in action
Is there a benefit by only reacting via dialogue or action, or vice-a-versa? Or is it best to have a combination?
This personalization is a crucial part of Andromeda, as the player makes the choice of how their character responds—both in dialogue and in action—to a huge number of difficult decisions.
Do you select how to which they will respond within the game only in the beginning, or can you modify as the game progresses?
I have perhaps 40 hours into the game, and I’m probably not quite at the halfway point yet).
What is the milestone or metric, that you can say you have not even reached the 1/2 way point? Is it from the number of levels in the game?
I’ve been looking forward to this game for almost five years now.
Did it take you 5 years to play the game, or was this edition just recently released? How did you originally learn about the series?
The game I’ve played this cycle is Risk of Rain from Hopoo Games
Was this the first time you had played this game?
collaboratively discover tricks and best practices and to actively exchange and adapt that information with other players, just as Stevens et al describe in two players exchanging ideas to progress through a different multiplayer platformer game
Great coorelation and inference to our course readings.
While the game is relatively “constrained” in the way that levels have consistent design and layout between playthroughs, the game also contains a great number of potential upgrades,
Great job identifying the nuances between the perceived constraints versus the open-ended upgrades customizables.
Risk of Rain is intentionally difficult
How can you confirm it was created with the difficulty level intentional? Or is it a by-product of the complexity of the game and the metagaming to whcih you refer to later?
a two-student team from the University of Washington
I like this attribute. But I am a sucker for backstories of products, games.
on Playstation 4 and PS Vita
I am not a Playstation user, but I was surprised that it is played on that console giving the graphics of the link I clicked in the beginning of the journal. Moral of the story....don't judge a game by a click.
of the game to become a successful player.
So one can advance in the game, but not necessarily be considered "successful" without the tacit rules? In your opinion, what is the incentive is being successful versus just playing?
tacit
Word Porn!!! Level up.
focus on “learning to learn”
This is a good take-away and coorelation to our course readings. What changes could be made to the game to reduce the "learning to learn" attributes?
ol’ Google Play Store
Do you typcially download Google game apps on a regular basis? Or is this atypcial?
Yet I see this game advertised ALL THE TIME
I wonder how much they spend on advertisements. Or the cost to acquire one player. I'm assuming from your journal, that the game was free. Is there bonuses or items/tasks that you can unlock through purchase? $$$
Without a clear objective to Family Farm, I fail to see how intuitive learning can take place
I think this statement is pivotal to your assessment of the game. It definitely sounds more like an edutainment game, rather than a strategic game. More of a time-killer, busy-work game than complex.
There is a path for progress but to what end? Is the point to just build a farm, make money, and keep growing the farm?
What mechanics are included in this game? Is it 1-player VS the game, or is there an opportunity to play versus other gamers? Are you part of a farming community?
I became immediately frustrated because that is not how I want to learn a game.
I agree. A few apps that I have downloaded have used this tutorial strategy as well. I, too, am not a fan. I would rather have a 20K foot view of the game play and not how to click and drag a particular item. To me that's no more instructional than how to slide your finger across your screen.
There are also some unfinished tasks (such as building a dock or opening a fruit stand) that are available after unlocking later levels.
So you can see the progress in terms of what has been completed, and what has not? Is this their way of incentivizing continued game play?
This game caught my attention not because I’m interested in it but rather the opposite – I’m not interested in it.
I can relate to this thought process. I like your style.
In this play journal I will be playing Kodama: The Tree Spirits!
Any particular reason you decided to play this game? Or did you happen to just come across this game by happenstance?
It was all our first time
Do you think there would be an advantage to this game if you had been a seasoned player? (played > then 2+ times)
Cues help us define patterns and find ways to better interact with current or future events.
What, if any, real-world take-aways did this game provide for skill translations? i.e., what similarites could you see this particular style of game play mirrored in an everyday activity or task.
neural plasticity
I think I have heard this term before...now where could that have been? Let me think! :)
pruning bad bets
Is this the strategy I was asking about in my previous annotation? Pruning bad bets...as in your own bad bet or is this a strategy to improve your odds of winning?
Kodama primarily operates on taking cues from the Kodama on your trunk card as well as the bonus cards you’ve been given.
Was there much strategy to game play, in addition to game rules? For example, can you block your opponents next move? Or cause them to make an error?
difficult
Other than it being your first time, what other difficuties arose during game play, and if not for you, did your 2 game mates mention any difficulties they experienced?
Far from freeing the mind, the approach habituates us to the tidy mechanisms of effort and reward, to established paths, and to prefab narratives.
I don't agree with this statement. I do think with solid learning objectives during the development and design of the gamification module, one could have an outcome ore than just following the established paths or arranged narratives.
when we imagine real tasks as quests, is tuning out. Rather than moving through the world, attentive to its logic and form, we’re following a story created by someone else.
This is an interesting perspective. Following a story created by someone else.
She cites a study in which kids who played at least nine hours a week showed high dopamine levels, and more gray matter in their reward-processing centers, than kids who didn’t.
I wonder if the same effects of raised dopamine would be present if the kids participated in physical activity and not video game play.
people had collectively put into World of Warcraft was 5.93 million years, which is roughly the time since our ancestors first stood erect. Imagine, she suggests, if that level of engagement had been turned to real-world problems
That is an astounding number. 5.93mil...I agree, what if we were more productive with our time spent, as not to escape our life/problems, but actually on real life.
“living gamefully,” and, according to her, it’s a regimen that has the power to fix almost everything that aspirin can’t
I like this term, "living gamefully" seems to empower the person to own their own gaming & life. And it is true; a game a day, helps keeps the doctor away.
bridge the gap between video-game culture and what is now called happiness research
I definitely see the coorelation
The point of the game is not to capture the most pieces as in Chess (with the goal of capturing the King) or even Checkers but to control the most territory on the board itself.
Interesting game focus shift. Usually when it is PVP on a game board similar to this, capture is 50% of strategy.
The game I played was “Go” an originally Chinese strategy game that is played throughout Asia and worldwide.
What was the motivation for selecting this game for your 1st play journal?
it almost is a situation of excessive freedom becomes a challenge itself.
This is an astute assessment. Excessive freedom does impose a challenge in game play, unless you are a decisiveness individual (I am not).
The game is meant to be self-led and self-paced with no firm direction except that of the gamer and the motivation to provide for the fictitious citizens of the Sims town.
Isn't there an instance where you can have interactions with other people/characters from external sources, such as people entering your town? Or maybe that function doesn't exist on the FreePlay version (or at all, as I am not familiar with the game, thought I remember hearing something about that tho)
The learning potential, I imagine, gained from the Sims would be a fuller understanding of cause and effect; however, this would be a rudimentary lesson at best.
I believe that the SIMS game/franchise has been under scrutiny regarding some instances of the game prompting an outbreak of bullying. Cause and effect could probably be better gained elsewhere.
Control is a base desire in human nature and Sims FreePlay failed to provide adequate control of freewill to the player.
Do you think this was do to your version being a FreePlay version? Other than cost, did the paid version offer any additional features?
my experience felt mechanical
I, too, have experienced this in some game play situations. It is easy to lose interest. I have never played SIMS, however, I remember playing SIMCity a LONG time ago (probably 25 years ago). But I have never been enticed enough to play SIMs - popular or not.
first task in the tutorial: add a toilet and have your character relieve themselves. Really??
First things, first. Ha.
Overall, I found the game dull, overly complex with a mindboggling number of icons and options and void of any emotional draw.
Good assessment. With simulation games, there needs to be an emotional draw to maintain motivation. Add in cumbersome options...with minimal to no emotional appeal...that is a recipe for dullness.
single-player experience, or on PvP (player vs. player) servers
So single player - the game constraints are hunger/thirst & survival from animal predators, -VS- PVP where you have to consider the play of other characters such as attacks and looting? I suppose you could practice & explore in single-first?
There were some buggy moments design-wise
Could you explain a bit more...buggy moments, as in there was some lag in the game because of the servers? Or just some glitches overall? I watched the first 10 minutes of your video. (it may have explained later)
It is Lord-of-the-Flies-esque
Definitely or I was thinking, Battle Royale, which is a Japanese film that was released in 2003, I believe. Or definitely The Hunger Games.
encourages cooperation to survive and as with any population competing for resources, breeds competition.
Insightful assessment. This game would indeed encourage cooperation to survive, but of course there is an element of competition. Survival of the fittest. Kill together, until you're on the chomping block.
The game has the potential for creativity in approach.
Do you feel as though it allows for true creativity or just challenges you with your level of resourcefulness?
You have to gather resources like wood, stone, fiber and food. As you are scrounging around for stuff, you will level up.
Sounds like there is a hierarchy of play. Prioritizing your efforts. Gather, collect, build, protect, which to do first?!?!
Learning academic varieties of language and thinking in school is now “old.” It is (for most people) important, but not sufficient for success in modern society. People must be ready to learn new specialist varieties of language and thinking outside of school, not necessarily connected to academic disciplines, throughout their lives.
Knowledge is different than education.
The human mind works best when it can build and run simulations of experiences its owner has had (much like playing a video game in the mind) in order to understand new things and get ready for action in the world.
This statement is so true. That is why intentional play whether it is a video game or board game, is great for problem-solving and critical thinking.
We would be wrong, however, to see this as a simple binary: youth whohave technological access and those who do not.
Digital divide (or gap) runs rampant.
Our focus here is not on individual accomplishment but rather the emer-gence of a cultural context that supports widespread participation in the production and distri-bution of media.
This is the premise that Facebook, YouTube, and various other social networks were built upon. The production and distribution of media & content.
In less nurturing spaces, individuals place more of a premium on establishing their expertise in relation to other people in the space, and may vie to lay claim to the possession of unique knowledge or skills.
I am new to the term affinity space, and have only heard of it through this class. From this excerpt, it seems like an affinity space could be a synonym for an open source forum. Or at least a fancier word? Am I wrong?
In a sense, however, all games treat players as designers, as an inherent property of good games, in that players must figure out the game rules and interactions so that they can use these rules and interactions to their advantage to win the game. Players are, in that way, co-designers of the game, recruiting the rules (as well as taking advantage of flaws or bugs in the rules) in certain ways to customize their own play and, thus, their own game.
The key is taking advantage of the flaws or bugs in the rules. In my opinion, this is what separates the gamers from the winners. I have never thought of it in this context however.
For the rest, those of you who would consider that games can offer something different and greater than an affirmation of existing corporate practices, the business world has another name for you: they call you "leaders."
This last statement seems to contradict Ian's previous commentary on how gamifiication is "bulls**t." #ILT5320