KAM's Blog

To Game or Not to Game?

I like video games, to a point. I enjoy playing them, but real life responsibilities make time limited. It is hard for me to justify sitting for long hours in front of a computer making fake money and earning imaginary points when my dishes need done and my laundry is overflowing. So, I play when I want to avoid work, when I have no choice but to sit around, or when I don't feel well enough to get anything “useful� done. Some friends and I like playing lexulous through e-mail. It is an on-line version of the Scrabble board game. We take our turn when it is convenient, and it only takes a few minutes at a time. There is also an area to post chat comments. This simple game allows us to keep in touch and have fun in bite sized, manageable pieces. There are other online games that I indulge in from time to time. Out of Order is fun, and there are a few other games that I like. My strengths lay in the verbal arena, so that's where I enjoy challenging myself. Puzzle based games like Tetris, online trivia, Big Brain Academy and Brain Age for the Nintendo DS are little games that I can start and stop as time allows. My Game Boy Advance has recently been replaced by a Nintendo DS. It was a Christmas present because I have been to frugal (cheap) to spend money on it myself. The handheld games entertain me in doctor's offices and airports. It is guilt free to play video games when you have to sit around and wait for something away from home. Now that my adult game playing has been introduced, it will be easier to see why my recent journey into Eve has been such a leap.

All for Love

Up until the last few months, I've avoided MMORPG like the plague. The time involved and general lack of game format that I enjoy made keeping my distance easy. However, my boyfriend is a major MMORPG fan. When one does something completely out of character, doesn't the motive usually come back to a member of the opposite sex? The gentleman in question had been playing World of Warcraft for some time. The game never looked good to me due to the medieval flavor and extreme amount of micro-management. (That's another game feature that drives me nuts. Life has enough little details for which to keep track. Adding more is not fun.) Eventually new game features, updates, and upgrades changed the game enough to displease him. This took him to a different game, Eve.

Eve, Not Adam

Long story short, this game is set in the future and is in the science fiction genre. For more details, check the backstory. Instead of walking characters around, characters fly in ships. Avatar development involves picking a race, sex, and specialization. Sure I am oversimplifying a bit, that's what I do. A benefit to this game is that you do not have to enter combat if you choose not to fight. An avatar can be chosen to do research, industry, trade, mining, etc. Even if you choose to be a “pew-pew� player (combat) as they call them, you can diversify. Through skill training, that you can set and leave, there are an infinite number of skill combinations that you can strengthen. In addition to all of that, there's your ship. This is really what is seen of you outside of being docked in station. Your cute or not-so-cute face is not seen outside of chat. No physical characteristics are given below the shoulders. Much like cars in real life, price, purpose, and strengths vary from ship to ship. All of this can be read about, or you can just have your boyfriend summarize for you if you are short on time. Many of the characteristics of this game fall in line with gender neutral design as described in Genderplay: Successes and Failures in Character Designs for Videogames. The setting, ships, etc. are still very "manly" in decor. Although the game is not “pretty� it does have a wide range of choices for characters, skills, ships, jobs, and the like. It is appealing in the sense that no one is pigeon holed and your gender really means nothing in regards to your performance. There aren't any identifiable sex organs to ogle in either gender, either.

So...now I play Eve. I have joined a “corp� which is a small group of people who form a little community. There is not required level of involvement. For me, the most useful part is the corp chat. You get to know a few players instead of being thrown into a new room every time with thousands of new faces. Although I am one of the few females in corp, it hasn't been an issue. It's hard to say if that's because they all know that I am another corp member's girlfriend. It seems they are all as helpful to one another as they are to me. There is one female avatar who we haven't decided if she is a guy or girl in real life. When discussing gender and online gaming, my boyfriend explained that many female avatars are “G.I.R.L.S,� guys in real life. He shared a gender related article with me that he has run across in his reading. This study relates to World of Warcraft, but ties very closely with what our reading indicated. The corp members don't “stay in character.� Everyone talks about what is going on in game and in life.

This is a game I play because I can share the experience with my significant other. It's a good game. The amount of time that one can play in its never-ending storyline is a bit of a turn off. As a “finishing� addict, I miss the satisfaction that comes with winning a game. Instead I have to come up with little goals for myself to complete and find satisfaction. Eve definitely isn't my kind of game, but it does provide a common interest and it isn't going to kill me to spend an afternoon doing something that makes my boyfriend happy.

Games and Education

I'm fascinated by the Labyrinth article. On further inspection I found that it is now being called Lure of the Labyrinth. I have registered for a username and password, and I look forward to tying it out. Currently my school has a subscription to Study Island. It gears its questions towards the state standards for the specific state of the subscriber. Although it is a step in the right direction, it is still not as authentic and engaging as a real video game. This one is set up more like a multiple choice test in which you can choose different modes of celebration after choosing the right answer. If you get the question right, you can do a skateboard ramp trick, or a ski trick, or...whatever to earn points in the “game� part. There is also a way to block the games and just do the multiple choice questions. Teachers can monitor progress, direct students to a lesson on a given topic, and print out reports that summarize how students have been sending their time. It's not a shade away from a skill and drill program. Students do it because they have to play it. They recognize that there are worse ways to do things, but it is far from captivating. After I try out the Lure of the Labyrinth, I may pass the information along to a few co-workers and possibly use it with some of my gifted students.

Everything that was mentioned about teachers, time, and computer games was spot-on for my school. Each classroom has a scheduled time in which they may use the lab however they choose. If snow days, holidays, assemblies, etc. get the lesson plans for the week off track, that time is one of the first to go. I've been there, I'm guilty of it as well. The amount of paperwork, progress monitoring, and interventions that fill a school day require teachers to continually do more with less time. Teachers taking time to learn new technologies when their school is facing being taken over by the state due to low test scores is not an option. Regardless of the students that are entering schools, teachers are expected to get them to benchmark by test time. There's a lot of work to be done to get non-verbal kindergarten students who haven't been potty trained to know their letter sounds.

What does it all mean to me? As a teacher of students with advanced abilities, all of this means a lot to me. I have the ability to employ technology more than any other teacher that I know. Currently, and 8th grader who is interested in computer game design is working on Game Maker to design a few simple games. This application does not involve any program language knowledge. It has its own system built in. Before we started working with this, I introduced him to Fantastic Contraption. This game works on problem solving and provides players with the opportunity to share solutions and create new levels. This is a website I share with teachers and students at the elementary level as well. It has been interesting to see the variety of solutions for each one of the levels. The game has the ability to further challenge players to make their solutions meet certain criteria like, “The screen is absent of moving parts upon completion.� To educate children, we must first engage children. So, if we can, why not use the tricks that are earning video game makers millions of dollars?

On a Side Note...

I'm not sure how I feel about some of the issues discussed in “From Inside the Games Industry: Game + Girl = Advance.� Part of the logic seems circular. Females don't play video games because women don't help design them, and women don't help design them because they haven't been drawn into video games as girls. The job/gender issue can be seen in most elementary schools to this day. The elementary teachers, especially at the primary level, are women. A few men are scattered around. Many of those men are either coaches, administrators, or are working to become one or the other. Some are just male elementary teachers. I don't know what the solution to the women in the video game workplace problem may be. It may tie directly to the question of girls' interest in science and math in school. Even after many studies, a consensus hasn't been reached about why women are underrepresented in math and science industry in general. I also found that lack of "family friendly" hours could refer to a number of corporations and positions and are not exclusive to game development. Women make sacrifices in these areas when they choose. Overall I took issue with the article taking general workplace issues and trying to use them to explain the reasons for one specific arena. Maybe these are the reasons, but I'm not willing to take one person's un-researched word for it. Lastly, can you name one role model who you try to actively emulate in your workplace? I can't.