OOMCast, as its known, can be found at http://www.outofmana.org

Enjoy!

Blizzard must have seen this one coming: Last night, we decided on a lark to attempt to spread the burn around a bit on our last Brutallus attempt. Typically this is not the type of griefing that I, or a lot of us would condone, but being exhausted from attempt after attempt and not yet having heard about this happening, we decided to see what was up. As it turns out, zoning out of the instance (via portal, at least – no one tried the banished pet method of Corrupted Blood origin) simply cleanses the debuff from you.

I suppose we could all say that we have been vaccinated by Blizzard against the spread of this new disease. If only non-virtual drug companies could see things coming, and work that fast to fix them. No one would ever get a sick day again. Hmm

One guiding principle that should always be followed when speaking to, or writing for, any group is making sure to clearly define what is being discussed. So the blame here can fall both on the shoulders of folks like myself, who blaze through comments in classes with “well when I was raiding, the dps meters showed that I was doing fine, but someone missed a sheep and we all died.” Anyone who doesn’t play, or hasn’t played an extensive amount of World of Warcraft will be completely lost by comments such as that, and rightly so. However, another important guiding principle is the ability to ask questions; inquiry is everything. When comments are made, people should be asking “whats a raid?” “wait, sheep? are you a farmer?” or “DPS? is that some form of cleaner or something?” Funniness aside, the ability to step out of that shell and say “I’m confused. I need some clarification, and some help” would greatly benefit a lot of people, both those who know and do not know what is being discussed.

As for the fear of doing, James Paul Gee in “What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy” says that it is both possible, and in fact, not difficult to learn to play and therefore understand these games. He says that through bringing prior literacies into new environments (in this case games) one can actively build an understanding of and therefore learn to play games. This “bridge building” as he calls it, requires three factors:

“1. The learner must be enticed to try, even if he or she already has good grounds to be affraid to try.

2. The learner must be enticed to put in lots of effort even if he or she begins with no motivation to do so.

3. The learner must achieve some meaningful success when he or she has expended this effort.”

What will motivate people to go through with the process? For academics, at least in a telecommunications department, there is already an enticement to try: The extensive amount of games research going on in thier own classrooms, in courses designed originally around other media, should be prompting them to try to become familiar with the subject matter. Not for themselves necessarily, but for the ability to continue to teach on the same level as before.

If the desire is truly to be able to learn to communicate with a new batch of students, or in some cases, I’m sure, to feel less self conscious in the classroom, the enticement to put in lots of effort exists. Those with no games knowledge or experience are quickly going to become lost or confused when it comes to a lot of what is coming up for the future. Perhaps Kuhn was right though, and I’m being optimistic: maybe dinosaurs really will die, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

Finally, because most games that can be played anymore are in the Gee sense “good games” (they encourage active and critical learning and therefore facilitate advancement on the part of the player in knowledge expandable to not only other games, but other domains of literacy in their own life), it should not be difficult to find something that peaks one’s fancy. World of Warcraft or LOTRO do not need to be starting points if the goal is for general literacy of the function of games. Gee played a Wellsian steam punk single player game to start with – which appealed to his own literary and academic fancies. One walk down the games isle at Best Buy can be almost dizzying in the choice of titles and genres available for play. There literally is almost something for everyone.

Closing the divide between game players, academics, and game playing academics is going to be an important part of the future in research in this area, and all of those involved must take active steps to facilitate this change. Until the vocabulary is built, and a general understanding is had, I fear we’re going to spend quite a bit more time talking but not communicating as words and phrases and information bounce off of, and fly past each other.

Click here and check it out.

 It has been said that games are viable as teaching tools (Gee), and I believe this can be true. Not every game teaches us something that can translate into our lives and careers, but some of them, such as World of Warcraft, certainly do. I would argue that any situation in which you must rely on a social network to increase personal gain and wealth can and will spawn life lessons.

How does this relate to management? As a player levels through the game, a portion of time is generally spent grouping with other players; Even if a player is not the group’s designated “leader” there are still plenty of aspects of management and leadership that each must go through, especially in situations where one is unfamiliar with the players surrounding her. This is directly parallel to entering a new workplace, or from a management perspective, gaining a new employee.

For some players, in raiding guilds specifically, the parallels are even more distinct. One cannot last in charge of 25-40 players in a highly charged and focused raid setting without being an effective leader. Time and time again guilds and groups fail due to poor management. Sometimes, however, regardless of a rough start, these poor managerslearn the skills to become effective ones, and prosper in future endeavors.

Studying this phenomenon implicates much further research. As an example: What are the impacts of differing levels of emotional intelligence (Goleman) on successful in-game management relationships?

As an example of an avatar, the image bar at the top of this blog, at the time of this writing anyway, is a picture of my mage from World of Warcraft. She’s just one of what I would consider my “avatar collection.” While she is, at this time, the one I most associate with as I’m “playing” her the most, I do have several other characters in that game, a presence in Second Life, a Puzzle Pirate, and a few other versions of myself running around in various synthetic worlds. While the vast majority of them are female, some are male (as I am IRL). That, however, is a less interesting story and not the subject of this post.

Every morning when we wake up, we go through a sort of mini avatar creation game. We chose how to clothe ourselves, and how to present ourselves: showered and pressed, smelly and sloppy, all the shades inbetween. We even chose, to some extent, what role we will be playing that day. “I am going to seal this deal and make this sale!” Vs. “I hate my job and I am going to sulk all day and be unproductive.” It is these descisions that effect how we are perceived by others in the world around us. To literally be our own avatar, or to conceptualize each day that way, requires not only a bit of imagination, but a break in the predominant view of what “adult” life is all about.

As someone who participates in body modification (tattoos, piercings, etc) modified body image is a part of life for me. As I’ve stretched my ear lobes, gotten new piercings, and added tattoos, I’ve been working out the ways in which to customize myself, much like every time I create a new virtual version of myself. Sometimes in-game avatars are as far from reality as possible (again, see the mage above). Other times, like in Second Life, they are quite true to form. Every day, however, we can either choose to dress a certain way and create a steady image of who we are to others, or do something completely new.

Whatever your personal choices are, think about what it would be like if you decided to completely change yourself. What would the implications for your daily life be? What would your employer think? Your friends? A partner or significant other? Often times, unfortunately, I believe you will find that outside of virtual worlds, you may get negative responses to those questions. Perhaps someday we will all be as bold as to literally live our lives every day as though it were a chance to create our presence anew. In the mean time, however, we can continue to move towards a world where our presences, both analog and digital, move closer to being one in the same.