Game Based Learning: Aspen Trail

Prompt:

On the Aspen Trail, on past the Alder Tree, you realize you are walking downhill - moreover, to the left side of the trail, the ground drops away so swiftly that you see only the tops of some trees. There is a sign here angled across the top of a small small pillar. "Ash Forest" it says. a smaller sign dangles on eye hooks below the Ash Forest sign to say, "Forester is IN." That is when you realize the sound you have been hearing from down in the valley is saw being pulled slowly back and forth. You decide to go down (carefully) to investigate.

Ash Forest: 

More Satisfying Work from Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal 

Satisfying Insights

1. The amount of time spent paying World of Warcraft is equivalent to the age of the first record of of an upright human primate-5.93 million years. 
2. World of Warcraft is so successful because it attracts its users with ¨blissful productivity."
• Users are immersed in work that produces immediate and obvious results. 
3. Games provide clear missions and more satisfying, hands-on work; reality, in comparison, is boring and unproductive. 
• There is no "how-to" guide for life; there is no clear goal for the hours we spend in reality.  People are expected to find their purpose through trial and error, eventually they will find hands-on work that satisfies them. 
4. Satisfying work begins with
• Clear goals which motivate us how to act
• Actions steps which ensure that we work toward the goal immediately. 
5. Well-designed work (action steps) allow progress to be made even when problems arise. 
• Action steps guarantee productivity. 
6. Assured progress, in the form of motivation and reason, is the beginning of satisfying work. 
• Satisfaction is achieved through completion. Please are encouraged to complete a work when they receive immediate results.  Results must be as direct, immediate, and vivid as possible. 
• Visual results are satisfying because they reflect a positive sense of our abilities.
7. Feedback.
• In my final semester of my undergraduate career I read many articles on the affects of feedback.  Feedback can be positive or negative; in the classroom, positive feedback can help students achieve higher goals. 
• Feedback can be used as an individual or corporate motivator.  If you tell the entire class that they must quiet down or they will lose recess the students will be more determined to keep quiet and keep their neighbor quiet. 
8. Computer games give users the power of real agency: the opportunity to do something that feels concrete because it produces measurable results. 
• Furthermore, users have the power to act directly on the virtual world. 
9. Games help people feel less stressed.
• Office executives have reported that they take, on average, fifteen minutes to an hours to play games on a much smaller scale than WOW.  McGonigal refers to these games as "casual games."  
• Causal games only require one player and they are designed for the user to achieve their goal quickly.  
• The office executives also reported that the time they spend on causal games helps them feel less stressed. Some reported that these games helped them feel more productive. 
10. Playing games can give users a taste of individual agency and impact in a world where the work they do may be challenging and sometimes feel fruitless. 

Review: 

     It is mind-blowing how often we seem unsatisfied in our daily lives.  We may be challenging ourselves but our work appears fruitless.  Gaming allows people to escape reality and put their efforts to a good cause, immediately.  McGonigal makes eye opening points about the effect of feedback in video games that we lack in reality.   People continue to play games because they receive feedback about their progress.  Even when the feedback is not what they were looking for, helps them to achieve their goal.