EDUC 6809 Chapter 5 Gaming

What surprised you, concerned you, or intrigued  you about students' engagement with gaming?

I was surprised to view the genres of gaming practice as killing time, hanging out, recreational gaming, mobilizing and organizing, and augmented gaming.  While reading this chapter, I was continuously making the real-life connections to my life, home life, and the content being discussed.  Where do I fit in? Where do my son and husband fit in? Where do my students fit in?   Also, the following statement, “-the most important benefits of gaming, if they are to be had, lie in a healthy social ecology of participation, an ecology that includes parents, siblings, and peers” (Bittanti and Ito 2010).   This is very interesting because the main focus is not on game content and design, which is what we typically read about.  Too,  (pg. 232) “Like gaming, sports are interest-based activities that are strongly gendered and focused on competition and performance; the difference is the that the identities and reputation cultivated in sporst translate to status in the mainstream friendship-driven popularity negotiations in a way the gaming identities do not (Edley and Wetherell 1997, Bittanti and Ito 2010).  Why does this view prevail?  Why does society look down upon gamers, if they participate in what is consider “violent” games, but will gather, party, and watch NFL Sunday, and Wrestling matches and idolize the players?

What aspects of your own gaming experiences were reflected in the case studies?   Personally, I’m a killing time and hanging out gamer.  I participate in Words with Friends, and  Draw Something, these games keep me in touch with my mom and sisters.   In addition, I have many games on my ipad, and android that I play when I’m waiting for appointments, etc…, can’t sleep, or just need a break from the real-world for a little while.   I’ve played a lot of video games with my son over the years, and still play some Wii games with him.  It’s interesting, on our vacation trip, I was reading this chapter and was reminiscing with my husband and son about playing video games.  It dawned on me that my husband played the more intense, war and sports games with my son, and I was addicted to Bugs Life, Frogger, Pac-man, and Mario. J   I was adamant while playing these games to complete all levels, score many points, and not give up until we conquered the game!  Do I view this as wasting time?   No, I felt that I was spending time with my son, in the way he wanted too.  And, I still expected him to participate in some exercise (unorganized and organized).   In the case study about Andres, a twelve-year old Mexican-American, I can relate to the cheat codes.  My son never viewed cheat codes as cheating either, it’s just part of the game.  You should have been around when I didn’t check his pants pockets for the papers with codes, and accidentally washed them!  He began leaving notes, “Do not throw away!”, and he became better at cleaning his pockets out! J 

Read the last paragraph on page 240. Do you agree or disagree with the comparison between sports and gaming and the benefits they offer children in terms of learning.  I agree with the comparison.  Personally, I’ve coached sports and my son has participated in sports.  I never felt the rules or the competitiveness was the most valuable learning aspect of  the sport.  The following concepts ; sportsmanship, teamwork , and the physical benefits of sports can be embedded in a broader social ecology.  Likewise, we do not have to explicitly focus on game content and design for learning outcomes.  We can view the healthy social ecological framework of participation.   Finally, even though outcomes may not be explicitly taught, it doesn’t mean that learning hasn’t taken place.