I found the video very interesting. I saw the conection, and was able to see how it conected with playing the online game. When playing WOW I noticed that we get to complete quests for someone to get back something they lost to a bad guy, or to help protect your people from those invading. In that way you are their hero, you are helping them in a way they can't do them selves. Being a hero is an extrodinary thing, for someone to be considered that way. As you grow up you have heros. I don't think that you have to do something extrodinary to become one, it all depends on how you look at it.

The Hero's Journey

I found Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth to be enlightening, I guess I had never given thought to how people arrive at becoming a hero before. I thought hero's were born that way. But now I see that sometimes it's unknown till that person is on a spiritual journey and faces certain circumstances that lead him to ultimately becoming a hero, sacrificing himself for the good of someone else, or having the courage to venture out of his norm for unknown territory to learn and have new experiences. He probably never thought he had that in him until he was faced with it. It wasn't till he brought up Star Wars that I seen the connection with playing online games like WOW. How we set out on a quest to help whom ever it is willing to offer us the promises of rewards and along the way find ourselves helping out anyone in need and feeling good that we are helping our "realm" in doing so.

Heros

I found it interesting, in the video, that a mother was considered a hero. She changed anothers life and gave it a choice so she is considered a hero. I think that mythology in reference to the video is very purtinant to the online gaming world. Each character has the chioce to accomplish something that makes them of worth and changes that game or each character stumbles upon something that makes them change who they are. This can be a battle, a challenge, a mission or just getting lost. Each of these things call for character adaptaion and that is what they talk about in the video as being what makes a hero. It can be by chance or it can be by will. I think that the who reason to engage in a game is to make something of the avatar that was created. Nobody wants to just create a character and have it be in the background. The whole point is to be better, to change and make a name for the character- become a hero. I think that the hero of many faces is right on: we all want to find something to believe in and those things change and take the form in which we believe them to be.

Deep Thoughts

So far this week we've really run the gauntlet and pushed the envelope in terms of what games can do. We've read the research on Ethical communities being formed online, Games as Learning tools, Psychosocial effects of gaming and the universal quest that underlies the heart of this genre.

Today we take a little break from the high and mighty realm of theories and analysis to reflect on our experience in general and share it with each other.

Before that I'd like to comment briefly on the reading. The brief article from the Higher Ed. website had some great insights and shed light on the other reading. Because we are studying these games and the people in them we are to some extent separated from them. I hope that some of you have had some genuine fun this week in addition to merely answering questions, playing and reading.

For next Monday please e-mail your completed journals. Also look at the assignment for Monday posted in the reading. I'll be away Fri-Sun. for my wife's two baby showers in central NY. If you have questions I'll try and respond to them Sunday night or Monday morning.

I'll leave you with a quote to ponder for next week.

"I am a person whose believes that there are some things in life too important for us to give up just because achieving them might make us uncomfortable."

Ethics.... If You Choose

As we have looked deeper into the different facets of the gaming world, we have learned that these MMORPGs' uses go far beyond that of simply entertainment. We have seen evidence of players fulfilling their need for social interaction and belonging in these games among other things. The readings today suggested--or denied-- that players engaging in MMORPGs are also developing their sense of ethics through the interactive play. This seems to be a reasonable claim, as long as the player has chosen to take the oppurtunity.

It is true that playing a game such as World of Warcraft may increase ones moral fiber if one is so inclined. If the player has chosen to play on the benevolent side these kind of games encourage and even require good communication and cooperation skills. These games also generally reward the avatar's positive behavior, which certainly would help convince a player to develop some sort of a code-- even if only to keep a supply of rewards.

On the other hand, if one chooses a game such as Grand Theft Auto, and bad behavior is that which is being rewarded, then the opposite may occur. This is not to say that playing such games may cause one to go on a car jacking shooting rampage. A regular player of such games, however, may not place as much value on ethics or morals, because they have had practice in the opposite direction. The players of the first group of games has had practice thinking and acting ethically while the player from the second group has not, and as we all know, practice makes perfect!

Education and Gaming

The digital world of gaming unarguably has great potential to as a developmental tool for young people on many different levels. We already established yesterday that if the appropriate type of game is used the social and team building components of a game combined with a system that rewards ethical behavior can be a very valuable tool in developing a stronger, more ethical character. Today's readings assert that with a few tweaks, games with sound moral content, such as WoW, may be used to help effectively teach students, who are living in a digitally--immersed world, a variety of invaluable subjects.


Students may study the expected schoolroom subjects, such as math, as well as social studies, science, and may even obtain valuable computer and digital social skills, which is vital for success in this day and age. As the readings mentioned, just as is usually the case, this emerging teaching tool is just that: a tool. It is not intended to replace a parent or teacher's guidance, and should be done as a parent or teacher/ student activity together. There is no teaching tool that could possibly match the human contact and attention that children require, and the student has much less of a chance to learn to their full potential without these things.

I happen to have to pre--teen sons who have been playing versions of RPG games-- not online until recently-- since they were four and five years old. When my son David started to play Age of Mythology he obviously did not understand certain aspects of the game, but with my help, he played the game for hours. (He still does on occasion.) As the years wore on, and he continued to play, his knowledge and appreciation of the game became more sophisticated, and he fully understands this game along with others such as Age of Empires. This particular pastime sparked an interest in history that spread to science and even math, and both of my children having reading levels that exceed many high school children and can tell me stories about Attila the Hun's battle techniques. It would seem that their gaming activity has had a very positive effect on their learning experience, and if used properly, gaming applications could become very useful in the classroom.

Games and Learning

I think that having online gaming, in school for maybe once a week or something wouldn't be a bad idea. It does help in ways, but I don't think it should be an every day thing, or that it should be done for long periods of time during the school day. I still think that other things should be done other than them playing a game to learn. It does help with hand eye coordination, learning how to help others, and you also learn how to complete things. Even though parts of the game maybe hard, you don't give up and you have people to help you. It shows you how to help and support one another. It would be benifitial in ways, but I don't think it should be a childs whole school day.