Gaming in health
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IntroductionSee also Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) and Second Life Gaming refers to structured activities involving a game surface (online or offline), players and rules that govern the game. Gaming also implies participation; in gamer subcultures, gaming refers to diverse activities that are not solely electronic such as:
Game studiesThe focus on "game studies" in academic circles is a return to critiques of video games from the 1980s. The negative impact games have on the lives of players continues to be a source of some scientific debate. With video games usage in libraries, librarians are required to evaluate games from the point of view of collaboration, sportsmanship and learning. Academic librarians whose instructional and information literacy goals include games are few and far between but there are early adopters. The popularity of gaming on university campuses in North America has created new potential for librarians hoping to tap into using games. One aspect of the gaming community is the inclination to share knowledge and collaborate over transnational boundaries. Games are used as educational tools for students, pilots, soldiers and surgeons, schools from k-12 (and beyond) and even businesses. Gaming should be taken seriously; it requires players who construct hypotheses, solve problems, develop strategies and learn the rules of "in-game worlds". Gamers also learn how to juggle tasks, evaluate risks and make decisions. Gameplay is a form of preparation for the 21st century as some forward-thinking firms are already starting to realize. Gaming in librariesThe flow of information in the digital age is having an impact on research as new media are assimilated into scholarly processes. As academics take on virtual identities, social norms are renegotiated as are the rules for non-virtual interaction and engagement. One area identified as specific to the online world is the development of virtual economies where fictional items used in games are bought and sold on eBay (Steinkuehler, 2005). Incredibly, virtual currencies are at work in our real world; this alone seems to indicate the importance of paying attention to the influence of video games in our society. The power of video to teach is also well-established; scholars say that peripheral and accidental learning behind the scenes engages learners with interactive media. But caution is needed; educators who espouse the potential of edutainment, for example, should remember that it is not a panacea. Given the idea to use games is not new, why go down this road again? One reason is that new generations are using technology differently (Prensky, 2001); they are born gaming and educated with a preference for active engagement. They have become intolerant to traditional teaching. The potential for building a video game to incorporate information is appealing to educators. Librarians with an interest in promoting learning in training modules will find the idea of library instruction in a video game compelling. It's one way to get beyond the boredom that students often associate with library instruction. In the past, educational video games struggled to prove their effectiveness. There are reasons why the first wave of excitement about using video games failed to produce results. Companies could not sustain the hype and compete with large gaming companies. As the complexity of video games grows, there is interest in analyzing the learning that results from game play. The success in the commercial gaming market encourages the educational community to re-examine the ways that technology can be used in teaching to reach learners in innovative ways. Digital games in healthDigital games in health
Examples of use:
Library researcher: the gameSeveral variations on the following been done as small, in-house projects:
There is, apparently, no large-scale version of this available yet (Walt Scacchi, UCgamelab).
Learning theories and gamingWasted efforts will be the greatest fear of educators and librarians involved in game development. In all likelihood, the pedagogy of the game itself will not be the major flaw in a failed game - it will be an inability to find an intrinsic fun factor or ingredient that motivates learners to play. Users need to find games fun or addicting in order for them to be successful. Creating a successful game is the most difficult task for educational game developers. Given that game studies programs are becoming very popular, they will help to direct well-trained gamers on campuses in their gaming explorations. The next wave of commercial game development is moving into player design where players actually build the games they want to play (Borland, 2006). This will build in usability testing as gamers become articulate about why they find certain games to be useful. Another benefit of games as learning tools is that players can go at their own pace. Games can be built to adapt to varying skill levels to make them interactive. As gaming becomes more popular, players begin to move into the building mode. Librarians can eventually tap into these skills and encourage participation in any library game building. Involving student gamers in game development is important. However, developers need to be passionate about teaching and reaching students at different levels not necessarily measurable in traditional ways. Finding ways to measure game design will be the next difficult task for educators. Understanding common learning patterns will be important. For instance, learners do not try out new games by reading manuals. Most prefer to learn basic moves and begin exploration on their own. The learning is completely interactive and immersive. The unknown and the discovery factor in learning and playing games are a big part of their appeal. Being thrown into a new environment and learning to survive is half the fun. If students viewed learning how to use the library in the same light as they do learning how to navigate around a new world in a video game - we might be able to teach the skills of information literacy more efficiently. If librarians can borrow techniques from video games, we might be able to teach more than we realize. What's happening cognitively?
See "The Gaming Generation & Libraries: Intersections" by Constance A. Steinkuehler. HistoryGaming has become extremely sophisticated, moving well beyond simple notions of "destroy the aliens" or "beat the opponent". Now gaming involves players in interactive environments in which cooperating, building, and interacting take place in virtual worlds. One of the first complex interactive games was SimCity. The goal of the game is to build and operate a city populated by Sims, as the little virtual people are called. Players must deal with zoning, utilities, budget, water, power, land values, tourism, crime, disasters, pollution, and other issues involved in running a city. They need to set up industrial, commercial, and residential zones with various density levels and then supply transportation, power, and water. The city must be a good place where people want to reside. When this goal is accomplished, the Sims will flock to the city to build houses, businesses, factories, airports, and so on. Tax revenues must be collected, and money must be carefully spent. Every imaginable factor, no matter how small, can cause Sims to be happy or sad. The city can be a shining citadel or a run-down slum, depending on the Sims. The popularity of interactive games has led to the creation of many types of simulated games, which have evolved into multiplayer online environments. Hundreds and even thousands of people from around the world pay a monthly fee to log on and maneuver their way through virtual social worlds. They choose a character (avatar) to become; design the character's appearance, personality, and skills and guide the character's life, relationships, and career in this simulated environment. Characters encountered in the multiplayer version are created and controlled by real people who are also online and playing the game. Finally, interacting online has also taken on new meaning with wireless games that use cell phones as the medium of interaction. A multiplayer chase game called Can You See Me Now? is played simultaneously online (by the public) and in the streets (by assigned participants). Navigating through a virtual city as well as through real cities, participants mix reality with the virtual in an interesting way. A chat interface allows real-world and online participants to send each other text messages. Background
Gaming thrillsFuture video games could routinely monitor players' vital signs and emotional state to ensure a truly exhilarating experience. This includes an accelerometer that measures the G-force their body is subjected to and an ECG monitor that keeps track of their heart rate. In addition, a helmet-mounted camera will film their facial expressions as they ride the machine. Information will be beamed in real time to a computer via a wireless link. As each volunteer is hurled around the rides their measurements will be reproduced on several public displays. Physiologists and psychologists will also discuss how thrill, anticipation and fear are affecting them. Booster was developed from apparatus originally created to train fighter pilots and astronauts. Despite being wrenched around at 60 kilometres per hour, and pulling up to 3 g in acceleration, this correspondent's heart rate hardly changed: it went from 66 beats per minute (at rest) to 72 bpm at the end. But I could certainly feel a hormonal buzz, probably adrenalin, after disembarking from the ride. Booster - to measure the physiology of excitement and thrill; a ghost train, to measure fear and anticipation; and a ride called Miami Trip, a gentler ride designed to explore pleasure. 'Ere Be Dragons - a player is hooked up to a heart sensor and a GPS device, and walks through the real world while exploring one created on a pocket PC. The twist is that their experiences of the PC world (such as the discovery of treasure or encountering monsters) is influenced by the player's physiological state. Summary
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