Multiple Personalities

In general, I am your average, mild-mannered graduate student.  I'm pretty low-key, good at keeping my emotions in check, and my daily life can be characterized as a drama-free zone; however, when I put on any kind of team uniform or athletic gear and being my preparation for an athletic competition or training session, I become a totally different person.  I'm intense, aggressive, and fiery, and while I have a lot of respect for my opponents, being friendly is the last thing on my mind.

For me, the context of athletic competition definitely results in elevated levels of aggression.  The Gentile (2007) article brings up the idea of cognitive cues sparking certain emotions based on the associations the brain makes with these cues.  Just as my athletic preparation gets my blood going, for a gamer, picking up the controller, flipping on the console, and beginning to play can have a similar effect.

Even though this idea is used to support the notion that video games lead to violent behavior, I would argue that these cues compartmentalize the increase aggression within a specific context and, in doing so, prevent this violent or aggression behavior, in most cases, from being transferred to the real world.

Jen mentioned last class that it's never just one thing that is the cause of either good or bad behavior.  Many factors need to be taken into account.  There isn't any one thing in my pre-game ritual that creates a sudden spike in my adrenaline level--it's a combination of factors, which, together, cue my brain to get fired up.  Similarly, a person getting ready to play a video game probably doesn't experience any kind of emotional rise until a combination of cues has helped him or her "become" the in-game character.  

So, while I do agree that certain cues, both inside and outside of video games, can lead to elevated levels of aggression, I also feel that, in most, cases, any increase in levels of aggression stay safely within the word in which those cues exist.

**Now, to completely contradict my argument, here is a Nike commercial that Caleb and I were discussing in class last Tuesday during the break.  This is actually a single cue that gets me fired up every time I see it (although I should also note that it hasn't caused me to violently attack anyone...at least not yet.)

The #1 reason why I love the 80s...

It's not the hair






it's not the clothing





and it's not the Coreys (Feldman was way cooler than Haim!)















It has to be the movies!!

This one has it all (see trailer below)--a flying Delorean, creatures from another planet, a wise old man, and a kid trying to follow his dreams by getting out of "this dead-end town" while simultaneously trying to get the girl who is also being courted by the meat-head with the nice car.

Most importantly, this particular movie answers a very important question--can video games prepare us for things that we do in real life?

Bioshock and Ghost Recon Trailers

Here are the trailers for the games that I mentioned in the previous post.

Bioshock:

Ghost Recon 2:

Success...and boredom

After the most recent session of The Movies, I'm happy to say that I was able to climb from 10th place (aka last place) to the third spot. In addition, I received more than half of the rewards at the last ceremony, including the best actor prize (not bad for someone who hates dealing with the talent). As exciting as it was to pull myself out of debt and rise up through the ranks, I must admit that I'm getting a bit bored with the game. This is pretty surprising, considering that I'm generally focused until the objective is met, but at this point, I'm not too concerned with getting to that top position.

I think part of the reason has to do with the fact that I've been exposed to so many other games throughout the course of this class, which seem a lot more interesting than the one I'm currently planning. Similar to Anne, I think this has a lot to do with some of the things that I uncovered throughout the course of my interviewing/investigating for the gamer paper.

Although I live in graduate housing, where you wouldn't normally expect to find the game systems that were so prevalent in the undergrad dorms, there are quite a few gamers who remembered to pack their Xboxes and Playstations before making the move to Cambridge. While my objective was to study them as they got their game on, I also learned a lot more about my own gaming preferences.

First of all, I am definitely a narrative person. I like a game that tells a good story, and the story within The Movies just isn't cutting it. I observed one of my floor-mates playing Bioshock a few weeks ago, and the story actually drew me in even though I wasn't even the one playing. I also found that I prefer games where I actually get to do something...management is definitely not my bag. With Guitar Hero, for instance (I actually rocked out on Medium last week!!) I am in the band playing a song, with Ghost Recon 2, even though I do have to manage a small team, I'm still very much directly involved with defeating the rebel forces. It's very likely that if I reached a point in the game where I was promoted to major, I'd probably stop playing.

Since I'm a bit OCD about finishing what I've started, I will continue to play The Movies until I've written a happy ending by securing that top spot; however, come graduation, I'll probably be in line behind Anne and her SimCity game with something that's a little more my style.

Back in the Black!!

After slipping as far as 1.4 million dollars in debt, I am now happy to say that my studio is actually making money once again. The studio currently has about $20,000, and even though I am still in last place, I have high hopes for the future.

In case you ever find yourself playing the movies and your studio runs into trouble and goes into a severe debt...here are the secrets behind my miraculous recovery:

1. Downsizing-- I ended up having to sell half of my actors (yes, people have a market value in the movies) so I was left with only four. This didn't allow me to make as many movies, but I saved a lot of money by not having to pay a large number of actors' salaries. This is yet another creepy way in which The Movies mimics real life.

2. Consulting --about two weeks ago, one of my floor-mates asked to play The Movies and got hooked. He is a Movies natural, so I had a conference with him, and he taught me his patented system for success (he currently has the top ranked studio). Basically, he has his writers constantly producing scripts. He sells some of them and produces the others. This is a genius idea since the writers never get stressed out or complain about having too much work to do (insert writers' strike joke here). He also stressed the importance of caring for the talent, and explained how he has established a pattern of providing makeovers, new trailers, fancy dinners, entourages, and pay increases to the actors. It was a very balanced plan, that will make it a lot easier to manage the talent once I really get the hang of it.

3. Getting my hands dirty -- I also found that I can quickly make scripts, which I can sell, using the movie making tool. It's pretty easy to make scripts that will receive the maximum asking price just by throwing as many scenes as possible in them. Normally, a script with 20 different scenes would take forever to shoot, but since I'm selling it, it doesn't really matter.

So, this was the main plan that brought my studio back to a somewhat respectable position. Hopefully I'll be able to start moving up the charts.

I would have to say that collaborating with my fellow Cronk was the main reason why I'm making money once again. Interestingly enough, one of the main ideas that I took out of this week's readings was the idea of virtual environments as places that support collaborative learning. This week's reading for my Online Learning class also dealt with how to foster and facilitate collaborative learning in an online environment. Although I would initially think that a face to face environment would be the best way of supporting collaboration, the Online Learning readings seemed to suggest that online discussions tend to allow more people to get involved. Moving a step further, it seems like virtual environments, such as Quest Atlantis or River City, might be even more supportive of collaborative learning, since students might be less afraid to make mistakes in a virtual world. This absence of any major consequences (although I'm sure some exist) might make students more willing to share their ideas and more receptive to the ideas of others.

Congrats to Lisa

Congratulations to Lisa who was the winner of the 1st Brundageblog contest. She got all of the references except 1...PHENOMENAL!!!

Interesting Machinima and the 1st Brundageblog contest

I'd like to dedicate this week's machinima selection to Lisa...may she take joy in seeing WOW in a totally different light.

Contest: List the movies that are referenced in the clip.

All work and no play...

This week was supposed to be the week.  My studio had been climbing up the charts, I was on the brink of becoming the highest grossing studio, and then, in dramatic fashion, everything came crumbling down.  

It all started with my lead actress.  She was apparently so overworked, that she needed to spend her time in the bar to get herself through each shoot.  Eventually, this led to a severe drinking problem and a trip to the on-site rehab facility, where she was ordered to stay for 12 months.  So, shooting on one of my films was halted...not such a big deal.

Then a director went down.  Two of my actors were so angry about not having a quality trailer to stay in, so they basically showed up to the set whenever they wanted to.  So, as time kept ticking by, and none of my movies were being made, I began bleeding money.

Currently, I am over 1 million dollars in debt.  

Interestingly enough, I am not tempted to start my game over.  Do I smell immersion and engagement?  For some reason, I am fully committed to my sinking ship and determined to bring my crumbling empire back to it's former glory.  Everyone loves a good "underdog" story, don't they?

Thinking about this week's topic of gender, while I have generally been falling into the "boy" category when it comes to my gaming, one area in which I represent the ladies is with my need for advanced preparation.  When working on our presentation, Jonas and I had an interesting conversation about out initial interactions with the game.  I explained that before beginning, I read the game manual cover to cover...he seemed shocked that such a manual even existed.  (Odd how the boy scouts claim to "always be prepared.")  Joanne touched on this theme in her blog post this week, comparing her need to always know what is going to happen next with her (male) gaming buddy's love of the unexpected.  I found it interesting when connected this aspect to an emotional connection to the game.  I had never really thought of that, but in trying to pinpoint the reason why I felt the need to read the manual, I realized that it was because I was predicting that my satisfaction would come from doing a good job, not from exploring the game.  

Don't Pull That Scaffold Out From Under Me!!

I had big plans for my video game this week.  I finally unlocked the custom production office, which contains the game's movie-making tool, and I was ready to shoot my very own movie.  The Movies is really two games in one.  There is the "tycoon"game, in which you have to manage the studio and all of your employees in order to gain supremacy in the film industry.  Then there is the movie-making game, in which you have to write, direct, produce, cast the stars, and make decisions regarding sets, and costumes.

Last week's presentation on Halo 3 got me thinking about the scaffolding in The Movies.  The tycoon facet of the game does this very well.  When I first opened my studio, a guide helped me through the beginning stages, giving me advice on what buildings I needed to construct and tips for how I could help my studio get a better overall rating.  The help slowly tapers off, but my guide always speaks up if I am neglecting my actors or if I need to build another bathroom.

For the movie-making facet of the game, all of my dreams of seeing my ideas come to life on the screen were slowed (I am currently still in production) by a lack of scaffolding.  There are tutorials I can select, but it seems to be taking a long time to get to the information that I really need.  During the process of trying to make my movie--a process that I was really looking forward to--I could feel myself becoming disengaged with the whole thing.  It left me wondering why the creators of the game didn't just use the same scaffolding model that they used for the tycoon portion of the game.

I have not given up on the movie-making yet, though.  It seems like one of those things that will be a lot of fun once I get the hang of it.  Until then, production on "Negative Transfer" will be slightly delayed...I guess this game should get a few points for being true to life.

And We're Rolling

After spending a few hours exploring the world of The Movies last week, I decided that this week, I would officially open my studio.  Thus, the story of Cheep Chick Studios (note: the studio name is the result of a song that was stuck in my head and an odd logo on the game menu--it is not meant as an insult to the ladies) has begun.

While my start-up studio is still at the bottom of the charts, the hiring of two directors has allowed me to become extremely productive.  The studio is turning out movies at a record pace, although none of my movies have earned more than one star from the critics.  With regard to my video game persona, I have decided to cast myself as the aloof, thick-skinned, independent film producer, who doesn't care what the critics have to say.  At this point, I am mostly concerned with helping my actors, directors, writers, and crew members gain valuable experience that will help us dominate in the future.

As far as the game play is concerned, I am still not well versed in some of the "rules" that will help my staff make better movies.  For instance, when casting the male lead in an action movie, the ideal actor is over 30 and has a good physique.  With movies in the romance genre, I need to make sure that I cast an actor with a high "looks" rating.  As for the comedy, horror, and sci-fi genres, I have not yet unlocked the secrets to proper casting.  

My employees in the research department will soon unlock the features that will allow me to make my own movies, so next week, I think that I'll take a "stab" at directing my first film.  

Probing...On a Sunday Afternoon

My copy of The Movies came in the mail yesterday, and this afternoon I was finally able to crack it open.  While I know that academics get published because their theories are seen as acceptable and relevant to their field, I was still amazed at how closely Gee's probe, hypothesize, reprobe, and rethink cycle fit my first experience with the game.

I opened my studio, ready to take the movie industry by storm; however, after my first few movies were released, I found myself exactly where I had started--at the bottom of the heap.  Why weren't my actors giving better performances?  Why was my director always stressed?  How could I get my writers to produce better scripts?  To develop my next plan of action, which would hopefully take my little studio to the top, I began experimenting.  I looked to see what would happen when I gave my actors a raise after a movie or treated them to a makeover.  I took my director to the snack van after a hard day of shooting, and I made sure that my writers had adequate experience with a particular genre before making them churn out a script.  

I also uncovered a few details that will definitely help my studio: the news releases will let me know which types of movies will be popular with audiences (when the stock market crashed, people were all about the comedies!), and actor will get very jealous if everyone except him gets a pay raise, and too many trips to the snack van will result in a food addiction and require a trip to rehab.

After this first round of probing, I find myself wanting to start over to give my studio a better name...looks like my appreciative system (Gee, 2003) is in full effect.

I'm not wasting time playing video games...It's research

Originally, I thought I would have to force myself to play video games for one hour per week; however, last week, I played Diner Dash (1 & 2), the Chocolatier, and Guitar Hero, and I observed a few of my dorm-mates playing Call of Duty and Bioshock.  Needless to say, all of that took a little more than one hour, but my research trip to the gaming world, especially my interaction with gamers, was an interesting experience.

In my own game-playing experiences, and in my conversations with other video game players, motivation and engagement were common topics of reflection and discussion.  While in the real world I am an intensely focused person, when playing video games, I seemed to get disengaged very easily.  Diner Dash and the Chocolatier were fun at first, but after awhile, I got bored with the repetition.  I only had fun playing Guitar Hero when I was with a large group of people, when the challenge of trying to engage the crowd added a new dynamic to the game.  

I was also surprised at the wide variety of answers I got when asking people the reasons why they play video games.  For some, the idea of fantasy, stepping into a new world as a new person, was the biggest motivator, while others seemed to play in order to fully appreciate the music, sounds, and graphics of a well-designed game.  

I'm still not sure which game I will finally decide on, but I am excited by the possibility of finding something that will challenge my perceptions of video games and their relationship to learning.