The Sims 3: Final Thoughts

I have played The Sims 3 all semester.  I have learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of doing.  I have enjoyed expressing my thoughts on video games and integrating them in a classroom setting for learning.  I believe this would be a great game to use to teach about life's lessons.

I started out with two characters and saw them progress from being housemates, to romantically involved  to engaged and married, to becoming successful in their careers, and becoming parents and seeing their children grow up to have careers and children as well.  These are things that we experience and see every day of our living lives.  We embark on challenges and overcome them.  We learn traits and skills and apply them to our daily routines.  We see families grow together and grow apart.  We see friendships develop and friendships fade away.  There are so many bad things that can happen in life, but there is always a way to get back to the good.

This game has allowed me to experience life through different eyes.  I have seen a family start out with little and gain a lot and all of this was done by making the right choices in life.  So this is the lesson that is learned from this video game.

This is the home they started out in.

As they progressed in their careers they moved into this home and got married.

After having their first child they moved into this home and started building their family.

This is another house they moved into once their family got larger.   

This is the final home they live in now to accommodate two parents, four children and one grandchild.  

This is a picture of the city they live in, Sunset Valley.

A night view picture of Sunset Valley.

A grand view of their home which is valued over $380,000.

The Sims 3: Everyday Life

The characters in The Sims 3 do things that people do in the real world.  They spend quality time with each other, go on dates, visit different buildings throughout the city, hang out with their friends, visit each other's homes, ride to school on the school bus, take their cars to work.

They fish, go grocery shopping, have children in the hospital, cook, eat, play computer games, watch television, make their beds, disagree, take baths and showers, brush their teeth and wash their faces.

 

The creators of this video game did not leave anything out as far as keeping this game as close to reality as possible.  They have traits the we have in real life.  The son paints, the daughter cooks, they write novels and short stories.  There are a lot of things that a person playing this video game can relate to on a daily basis.

This is a picture of the son painting; he is a Master of the Arts and Music.

This is a picture of the family swimming in their swimming pool.

The fireplace caught on fire one day.

This is when they had their first child and the father was teaching him how to walk and talk.

The Sims 3: The Working World

My Sims have completed their goals as teenagers and are now ready to grow up, pick their careers, and start working.  The Sims, just like in the real world, the characters get to pick their career goals.  The Sims that I have chosen to play with each have different lifetime goals.  The parents chose to a become professional athlete and a executive power broker.  The mother rides to work in a limousine every day.

The dad wears a tuxedo to work everyday, unless he has a game to perform.

The children chose to become a five star chef, international super spy, world renown surgeon, and master of the arts and music.  Each child reached their lifetime goals and continue to work everyday reaching higher raises and promotions.

They chat with their co-workers and bosses, and do well on their jobs, just like we do in real life.  

The Sims 3: The Transition from Baby to Young Adult

I have been playing The Sims 3 almost every day now.  My Sims have multiplied to a total of six, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, and twin daughters.  They started out as babies, being taken care of to toddlers, learning how to talk and walk, to adolescence going to school to teenager.  The four kids were in school attending Monday through Friday every week.

There are responsibilities required of the teenagers as students.  They have homework to complete every day before the next school day.  The homework completion and/or negligence affects their moods.  The majority of the time when the students came home from school or went over to a friend's house, they got started on their homework, unless one of their moods were low, such as energy, hunger, or hygiene.  The students' life spans as teenagers lasted as long or short as you desired to control them.  I started out with their lives' spans lasting up to a little over 200 days.  But as the students came home from school, doing homework began to tie up a lot of their free time.  Neither teenager worked.  They only had time to do their homework, take showers and/or baths, eat, and sleep.  They did not have enough time to socialize with their peers.  The parents were making enough money so the kids did not have to work.  I focused more on building up the skills of the students and deciding on their lifetime goals.  So, after spending enough time on them as teenagers, they grew up to young adults. 

This is a picture of the school they attend everyday, do schoolwork and meet friends.

You can see in the picture above the son is working on homework and his homework skill is improving by the symbol above his head.  The picture below shows all of the children and a friend working on their homework after a full day of school.  

The teenagers have grown to another stage of the Sims life.  They are now young adults on their ways to developing and redefining their skills towards their lifetime goals.  I had picked goals for each child.  The older son, Chevy, has a lifetime goal of artist/musician.  They second child, Nissan has a lifetime goal of becoming a world-renowned surgeon.  Acura, one of the twin daughters has a lifetime goal of becoming an international spy, while her fraternal sister, Toyota has a lifetime goal of becoming a chef.

Free Games Friday Frog Fractions

Frog Fractions
I enjoyed playing Frog Fractions because it is educational.  I had to utilize my hand-eye coordination.  I also had to keep my focus on what I was doing with the frogs and the insects.  This game will help with teaching students their colors and fractions all wrapped up in fun.  I would recommend this game for the lower elementary students.  I give this game high rankings for the sake of education!

Atticus and Boy Electric
I did not understand the concept of Atticus and Boy Electric.  I do not know if I had to read the scripts to advance in the game.

Flipping Dead
This game is hilarious.  Flipping Dead teaches respect for others and facing consequences.  I would like this game in maybe the Kindergarten through 2nd grade classes.  I played both as the good guy and the bad guy.

Organicraft
I appreciate this game.  Organicraft helps with memorization.  I would like to use this game for educational purposes.  It is also rewarding when you complete one level and move on to the next.  Each level in this game gets more difficult, which means exercising more skills.

Free Games Friday Minimalist

Snazzle
I enjoyed going back to my video game roots with these games on this free Website.  I started out playing Snazzle which I thought was fun.  It reminds me of the video game that I have played numerous times on my old Nokia cell phone, Snake.  I was able to move up quickly through the levels until reaching level 5.  I was confused as to how to move back and forth to clear the white squares.  I tried to complete this task about three times before moving on to the next game.

Lud Wig von Beatdown
Playing Lud Wig von Beatdown would be fun if I did not lose as much as I did.  One thing that I did not like is how I had to press on the keys of my laptop.  I was more worried about damaging my laptop than actually enjoying the game.  This game is not as memorable as the other four games. 

No, Birdie No!
I feel the same as I did about Lud Wig von Beatdown as I do about No, Birdie No!  I did not like having to hold the keys down on my laptop because I was in fear of them getting stuck.  But I did have three scores of 650, 558, and 612.  I did not see any other high scores, so I do not know if those were good scores or not.

Too Many Ninajs
 This game reminded me of a childhood game I would watch my brothers and cousin play, Ninaj Gaiden.  I wanted to keep playing Too Many Ninajs more than the other four games.  This game has a very basic concept, especially because the player was not able to move around.  I learned a trick while playing which was to hold the sword and the items the ninajs were throwing would reflect off of it and hit them.

Typing Karaoke
I was not able to play this game because it would not load on the computer I was playing on.  I will try to play this game on a different computer.  

Chapter Seven Blog

This chapter touched on some good areas pertaining to education and involving students in learning.  It is important to design video games that are educational and keeping up with the fast-changing field.  It is interesting to study video games and incorporate that in learning.  Some of the skills taught in school systems are needed in understanding video games such as visual arts, computer science, cognitive psychology, architecture, and animation.

Learning from play of video games give students and teachers the opportunity to gain knowledge freely.  It opens avenues for teachers and students to come to one accord about information that will one day be applied in their every day lives.

Good Video Game Design

I located an article pertaining to good video game design on USM's library article database, Academic Search Premier. The title of my article is Pac-Man Meets the Minutemen: Video Games by Los Angeles Latino Youth.  This article caught my attention because it is based on Latino youth reconstructing the basic game from the 1980s, Pac-Man to tell a story of their surroundings.

This article starts out with informing my that the youth attend an after-school animation class, a part of the Open Play project at the School of Cinema and Television at the University of Southern California (USC).  USC collaborated with the Learning Games Initiative to study pedagogical and cultural uses of computer games.

I learned that Katynka Martinez used the basic video game design of pioneer video game to help guide students to learn about geography, power relations, and the allocation of resources in their neighborhoods.  These students were growing up during the age of GTA and Guitar Hero, among other video games.

Martinez started out having the students draw maps of their neighborhoods and surroundings.  The students went into detail about life's experiences they had faced growing up in these neighborhoods.  Then he incorporated the video game he once grew up placing into this study.  Martinez also spoke about the video game Grand Theft Auto with the students because it can be compared to the neighborhoods they lived in in Los Angeles.  These students created a newer version of Pac-Man.

Martinez also discussed the demographics of races in current video games and asked the students how they felt about being stereotyped in these video games.  Surprisingly, the students description of these racially biased video games were remarkable.  One student talked about the skylight of one video game that some would be offended by because of the background and objective of the game's play.

These students used the lack of backstory in Pac-Man to turn it into a vivid story telling of the things they had and would face living in urban, densely populated neighborhoods near MacArthur Park.  The students chose music their were familiar with for backdrops, the maps drawn in the beginning of the article for the maze, and their lives for the narratives in the text boxes.

Martinez then goes to conclude the article stating "it is essential that today's youth learn to deconstruct and read video games as they would a novel or poem in school."  Also, I agree with Martinez about engaging We can use this to keep a student's interest in learning while keeping it fun with their input.  We need to learn what we can give to video gaming that students can take from it.

There is also a website where we can view the games the students created.
http://iml.usc.edu/laproject/ 

Top 50 Video Games for Gamification

Study media conversion and how to design games for learning.  Professor Henry Jenkins discussed with James Paul Gee about learning and trusting each other with game development and collaboration.

We need to consider the learning environments and integrating games in school curriculum.  Schools block avenues students find easier and relaxing for learning.

I think it is great for students to work together to gain knowledge and work on exams.  I have experienced working together with my classmates on assignments and how we each pull together to find answers showed progress and hope in learning systems.

Chapter Six Blog

I agree with the student, Andrea in the beginning of this chapter.  Most basic school subjects (K-12 and even the first few years of college) are generically taught.  We as students are being taught what someone wants us to know, not what we need to know.

I agree that understanding the "why" is just as important as knowing the "how" of things.  I have always been the type of person eager to know why things are done.  I really did not appreciate anyone giving me a reason without explanations.  Show me proof to your "truths."

When Andrea was interviewed about why her friends decided to leave the group study, I understood where they were coming from.  I felt like that when I first started playing Rome: Total War.  It was not as easy to understand as other games I have played and I wanted to give up.  But I am pushing forward and desiring to learn more about this game.

Playing a game with a common interest does bring about new friendships.  The day we were dismissed early from class brought about discussion for our current video game play.  We stayed in class and talked about our gaming experiences and what each other could do to make their experiences of video game playing better.  Video games do bring about communities for discussion and social interaction of peers and professors alike.

I enjoyed the rest of this chapter, reading how the students opened up to learning and discussion.  I also liked how they had learned so much from playing Civ.  The video game sparked the interest in these once rebellious students.

Gaming Devices

I played a version of the Civilization game on the Ipad. The handling on the Ipad was easy, but grasping the concept of the video game was more difficult.  We have talked about the game Civ before in our class literature so I would have thought I would have been more familiar with how to play it, but I was wrong.

I played a Mario Bros. game on the Nintendo 3DS.  I grew up playing Super Mario Bros. so this game was a breeze to play and was enjoyable.  Super Mario Bros. would be good to use in an elementary classroom setting because students can learn basic educational tools such as their colors and simple motions and controls.

I played a baseball game on the PS Vista.  I like the Play Station console and was a little familiar with the PS Vista.  I also played baseball games before because my younger brother is a fan of the sport.  If I would have played this game more I would have progressed farther.

James Paul Gee on Video Games, Learning, and Literacy

I am glad that Dr. Beedle is introducing us to the people we are learning about in our chapter book.  It is always good to put a face to a name.  I will briefly touch on subjects that Mr. Gee talked about in his video on video games, learning, and literacy.

I agree with the subject of attention spans in learning and teaching.  It is sometimes hard to keep someone's attention in most areas of life, especially with learning.  I was working with a student today and she was learning how to get information from charts and graphs and use it to answer questions.  Her attention was focused, until reaching vocabulary words that she did not know how to pronounce.  She is a second grade student attending a public elementary school.  She repeatedly said, "I give up!" but I would continue to push her, telling her she was doing a good job and she could do it.  This is mind-puzzling to me, the fact of keeping a student's attention while learning.  The program this student was using is animated and it even reads the passages to her.  I believe if I was not there to edge her on, she would have given up.  But I showed her how to take her time, pronounce the words slowly, and to keep going until she reached the goal of answering the questions correctly.  So this leads me to the question of what can we use as facilitators to get and keep a student's interest in learning.

I have noticed from a young age that trouble-shooting and figuring out things with hands sparks interests in students.  I remember once during a Christmas holiday, my younger brother received a remote controlled racing car.  Instead of him putting batteries in the remote and racing the car, he decided to break down the car, completely.  He did not stop there, he actually, after taking the car completely apart, put it back together.  That was the highlight of one of his Christmas presents.  I had always thought that he would take that new found interest and use that to fuel a desire of career.  I believe if he had someone that would have paid attention to him and motivated him, he would have went on to a career of car building or mechanics.

I agree that students need an opportunity to apply what they learn from school.  I appreciated and gained more knowledge from courses that were hands-on than a lecture course.  Learning about the Legislative Process and the inner workings of Congress was an interest of mine.  I researched a Member of Congress and also learned how to write up a bill and go about getting it passed.  But if we did not get the opportunity as students to do this activity actively, it would have been a bore being told to me.

This brings me back to the question of what can we use as facilitators to get and keep a student's interest in learning.  I know that life is evolving towards technology.  People of all ages use some sort of technology, whether it be a cellular phone or computer.  Technology has the attention of the majority of everyone.  Tutorials, blogs and forums, and video games help with teaching and learning.  Technology helps us stay in touch.  And why not use technology to stay in touch with our students, young and old, and keep learning and teaching vibrant and engaging.

The Sims 3: First Incident

I have been playing The Sims 3 during my Fall Break from school.  I played all day Saturday and while I was playing, the game started to freeze and move in slow motion.  This is the first time this semester this has happened.  I was wondering if maybe it was due to leaving the game in my laptop.  So when this happened Saturday evening, I logged off and gave it a rest for a while.

Sunday's play time is better than the day before.  My cousin came over to my apartment and we talked about our Sims experiences.  She has a newer version of The Sims that I have never heard of.  I asked her a few questions about my experiences so far.  She said she has  never glitches in her game.  So I suggested that for future references, I will take the game out when I am not playing it and put it in its case.

I also asked her about activities that my Sims have been assigned and I have not accomplished them yet.  She explained to me where to locate the objects and how to achieve the assignments.  So I am looking forward to doing them now.  There were a few other things we discussed about the game.  She told me during her play time with her Sims games, once she reached a certain amount of money status, she would delete the game and start a new one.  She told me she has reached the $300,000+ margin before a few times while playing The Sims 3.  I have barely scratched the $100,000 mark.

I did say that I was going to allow my teen Sims to get a part-time job while in school.  But I have noticed that between his homework, interacting with his parents and friends, and maintaining his household duties, a part-time job is out of the question right now.  Controlling three Sims at times become difficult.  And now they have moved into another home and had another child, a girl named Nissan.

This is a home they moved in temporarily to accommodate having a teenager.  But after finding out the house is tied with other homes, as far as the swimming pool being a community pool, they decided to move.  The purpose of moving into a larger home was to make Chevy's living more convenient for him, having his own bathroom.  The reason that is important is because if a Sims has to go into a room, i.e. to use the bathroom or take a bath, if there is a Sims occupying a room, another will not enter.  

This is a screenshot of the new home they moved to.  It is a three bedroom, three bathroom, three story house.  I am learning to maneuver  around this house with three stories.  There is always something going on on each level, each angle.  My cousin advised me to find an angle where I can see everything and take care of the needs of the Sims.  I am looking forward to more play time.  

The Sims 3: Next Phase

Today has been a long play day for me.  My Sims characters have moved to a new home, married, and had a child.  The male Sims also achieved his lifetime goal in his career and now has a promotion that is paying more than the female Sims.  This is an okay home, but I think I am going to create one from the ground up like I mentioned in a prior blog post.

It has been pretty easy controlling two Sims, but a third has been giving me a run for my money.  I really have to pay attention to detail.  It seems as if the needs of the three Sims are speeding up.  The baby Sims is the hardest to keep up with.  I do not have children, so I can sympathize with parents.  It is easier with two Sims taking on the load of feeding the baby Sims, changing his (it's a boy named Chevy) diaper, playing with him, and maintaining their household.  

The graphics are amazing in this game.  The Sims had their wedding at home and the detail the creators put into this game are truly visible.  The controls help with moving the camera view and angles to take great pictures for posting.  I am able to zoom in and capture good pictures.  

I am looking forward to the progression of my play to see how little Chevy grows up and starts school.  He will also have a part-time job and soon move into a blossoming career.  He only has two traits so far, so that will be a part of the deciding factor of what his career aspirations will be.  

I have been looking over the options for this game which are included and found out things that I was confused about.  I did download a new town as an add-on, but I have not been able to see it during my play.  I was able to download this add-on when I logged on and signed up for the Sims community.  It was okay to play online, but after awhile, I prefer to play offline.  I will give it a try again later on in my play.  

The Sims 3: Next Phase

I have been playing my two Sims characters to build up their status' at work and at home.  My two Sims have now become engaged to each other.  My goal is to get their income up so they can move to another home or build a new one from the ground up.  I have aspirations of building my own home when I become successful in my future career(s).  So this is why I am focused on doing the same for my Sims characters.  My male Sims has started getting more income, so he is contributing more to the household now.  I also added a room to the home they are living in now so he would be able to workout more to improve his skills in his work trait.

It was fun adding on to the home.  It took about an hour to come up with a simple floor plan and color scheme.  I just chose the most basic concept as possible.  I would like to create a home for them once they get married.  I would do research on floor plans of homes to get an idea of what I would want for them.  Right now they are in a two bedroom.  Later on in this game they will have children, which will call for more bedrooms and extra activities for them, such as a swimming pool, study for homework, and larger living room for  family time.  The controls for adding this workout room were easy to use.  My main concern was looking for colors and changing graphics in the tile on the floors and for the walls.  

I am going to log on to the Sims website and see about gaining free items for my current game.  

Will Wright and the Creation of Spore

I have a new look at the video game Spore.  I was given the pleasure of playing Spore during this course.  I also learned some background information about the creator of Spore, Will Wright.  I learned that Will Wright takes topics that he is interested in and research them.  After much research, he then turns what he finds into "toys."  I agree with Will when he talks about learning from the Montessori method of teaching.  I agree that trial and error develops better learners.  I like the idea of incorporating games for learning in schools.  Video games are viewed as being so interesting that a person would be thinking about their next moves even when they are not playing them.  The research that Will used in creating Spore shows in the video game.  I believe Spore would be a great resource for teaching students about evolution.

Chapter Five Blog

The author Kurt Spire has made reasonable points about video games and learning thus far.  In chapter five, he talks about using games to teach and redesigning video games for educational purposes.  He collaborates with new colleagues to come up with great ideas that have been successful.

One that stood out to me while reading this chapter was the point of entertainment products being reappropriated for learning. Video games being played on student's leisure time has proven to be a source of sparking interests of school subjects.  I have a friend that played around with computers as a child and teen ager for fun and turned it into a successful business.  He also researches and utilizes many forums and blog posts that pertain to keep him afresh with what is evolving the world of electronics and technology.  With that being said, who knew that hobbies could turn into something so magnificent as professions and learning tools.    Playing the Spore Galactic Edition video sparked an interest in me about Science that would have been a big help during my undergraduate years studying Biology.

Using games to teach takes research.  I agree with using multiple prototypes for testing game ideas.  This way the creators can send them out and get as much feedback as possible.  When creating games for multiple use, there have to be many hands-on involved.  This shows where money should be spend and scaled back.  We also should consider what catches the eye.  Art is constantly changing and this is vital when coming up with concepts for new games or shifting things around in old games.  And it is always good to test things out before producing a final project.

I learned from reading this chapter that we have to move with the times.  We need to be involved and accept input from all angles.  We should be open to criticism (good and bad) because it at the end of the day, helps improve situations, and with education, it will help with teaching and learning.  Criticism helps teachers know how to handle certain students, and with students, it helps them be able to relate to where their instructors are coming from.  Like Kurt mentioned in this chapter, we learn from play and use, like the designers of social media sites learn how to change layouts and functions of them to best suit their users.  And the more we use something the more we find ways to make them better.  We need to continue to come up with ways to keep learning fun.

Budget Buster Game

The Budget Buster game online taught me some things about myself and some things I already knew.  It gave a different outlook on the decisions our government has to make dealing with the budget.  I learned about how the budget impacts debt, the budget bust, and the size of government.

I already knew that I am good when it comes to budgeting and making decisions for myself.  It was a huge task having to make decisions for an entire country.  The decisions I made pertaining to some of my beliefs did bring the country's debt down by a large margin.  My three main focuses were

1. Safety Net

• Helps the needs of the people

1. Efficient Government

• Trim the federal spending

1. Energy Independence

• Wean dependency from foreign sources of oil

My policy choices helped accomplish some of my goals.  Something that I have learned about this game is making a difference in the lives of dependent citizens takes time.  I also learned that the government should make decisions for the good of everyone, not just a specific group or class of people.  I would like to continue playing this game.  I would have also liked to have known about this game during my career as a Political Science major.

Chapter Four Blog

I agree with Kurt about learners needing a community to organize for participatory learning.  With these communities, learners are able to speak their minds about topics and gather together for a greater good of teaching students to be themselves.  I notice that with learning new information I need an environment I feel most comfortable.  I want to be able to hone in on my passions and refine them.

I like the idea of having an open platform for individuals to express their opinions and meet others that feel the same as they do about topics.  When multiple people come together with a linking topic, there are endless possibilities.  Using a blog or forum to discuss gaming possibilities for learning allows everyone with that same interest to see how others feels about what is important to them.

One thing I have found troublesome in my efforts of improving a community through education, development, compassion, and group efforts is some are not willing to put up the fight to make this community better.  I am now using knowledge I am learning from our course and applying it to make my efforts more concrete.  It is a pleasure to have a passion for something.  It is even better when others get on board to make the dream come to life.  I have also learned that accomplishing goals, especially as big as the task I have taken on, requires more than one person's efforts.

The Sims 3

I have played for a little over an hour today.  I am really enjoying the graphics in this game.  Their actions look like real life activities.  But the handling is not as easy to use as I thought it would be.  I do like that once I installed this game to my PC it set up its own folder in my Documents.  It is also easy to find the screenshots when I am ready to apply them to my blogs.
This game is pretty much like a person's every day livelihood.  My two Sims are now establishing their careers and skills.  I am still learning how to get my Sims to do things around their town.  My male Sim is working in the athletic field and my female Sim is working in the business field.  I have noticed that she is making more money than her male friend.  She is receiving better promotions and raises.  The male Sim is not offered as many opportunities to make raises and earn extra income.  Both Sims incomes are combined.  They have been fixing things around their home too.
But I am seeing that in this beginning stage of establishing themselves it is hard to do any other socializing outside of work.  They are both working hours opposite of each other.  My female Sim works morning hours and my male Sim works evening hours.  This is known in some reality households.  This can be said for reality as well.  I can compare this to my own life because while I am establishing and accomplishing my college career, I have little time to socialize outside of school, work, and church.  But I am, just like in my Sims world, trying to incorporate socialization with family and friends, whether it is catching a movie or having a quick lunch.  Socialization is a vital aspect of our lives.

This is a screenshot I took after both my male and female Sims came out of the movie theater in their city.  Right afterwards they went to have dinner together.  Then they headed home to get ready for another week's worth of work.  

The Sims 3

I have been playing this game for about a little over a week now.  I have set up two characters and they are friends/housemates.  I have started each Sim with a job.  But right now, they are both living as some would call it, ordinary lives.  My two Sims are working to build friendships with each other and other Sims in the community.  But I can say it is a little difficult for them to interact with others outside of the household because taking care of their needs is a huge responsibility.  They are building skills as well, such as cooking and socialization with their coworkers and bosses.
I am including a screenshot of my male Sim in the house eating before it is time for him to go to work.  My woman Sim is already at work, meeting her coworkers.

Chapter Three Blog

I am more and more getting on board with the author Kurt Squire about incorporating video games as a part of curriculum in schools as educational tools.

Reading Chapter Three brought me back to the article that I brought in during our last class period.  Video games are captivating the youth in today's society.  As statistics show, more students prefer to play video games over students and completing class assignments and homework.  As Kurt mentions in the interest-driven learning section of this chapter, video games can be a motivator.  I believe it is becoming more important to be relatable to our students.  I have even used this technique of talking about the video games of my students' choice during our after school leisure hours to find out more about them.  This is an avenue that leads to many directions of learning and developing structure in our classroom settings.  Just as I learned in my prior article, some students who enjoy playing video games go on to becoming creators of video games.

I believe if technology and video games became a primary source of learning in school systems, what the institution of school stands for would diminish.  I agree with Kurt when he stated that school is already built on learning what the system wants us to know instead of what we need to know.  I have first-hand experienced this scenario while completing my first undergraduate degree.  By having so much material to "learn" I lost sight of learning and accomplished enough to pass.  I thought the purpose of attending school was to learn and be able to apply this knowledge to our everyday lives.  From my experiences, the institution of school is based on a grade, a number, passing and not actually learning and applying the material.  This is why I am appreciative of my Instructional Technology major than any of the other degrees I currently hold because I am actually able to apply what I am learning in this major to my everyday life.

Video Game Blog (Beginning)

My video game selection for IT468 is The Sims 3.   

I am looking forward to learning more about this game, its functions, graphics, and details of how it was created and what can be done to improve it.  I am also looking forward to what I am going to learn about myself playing this video game.  

When I first purchased the video game, it took about an hour or so to set up on my laptop.  Once it was installed, because I was connected to the internet, it updated the version on my laptop as well.

So far I have set up a couple of housemates, one male and one female.  It took much time to select facial features, clothing, and personal traits for them, because I pay attention to detail.  I wanted to created the characters around myself and a friend, just to see how things will pan out.  I am going to create maybe two more households later on into my playing time.  I want to see how different the scenarios will turn out.

I would say I was on my laptop for about two hours just to start the game up.  I am relieved that because I chose a DVD-ROM software, I can play anywhere I choose as long as I bring my personal laptop.  I am not restrained to one place unlike some people who are playing video games on a console. Playing on a console has its ups as well.  If I was playing a game on a console, I could bring the game (along with the console) to whomever's home I visit.  But the only dilemma would be the person(s) not owning a television.  So playing a video game on my personal laptop has its perks.

Chapter Two Blog

Chapter Two in "Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age" by Kurt Squire touched on good points about what makes a "good" educational game.  I like how Kurt mentioned playing games for leisure brought out talents he later tapped into during his college life.  He was able to go on to study fields of interest that pertained to the games he played and actually received degrees from them.  When I was younger and I played video games, my favorite were the game show video games.  I would play "Wheel of Fortune" or "Double Dare" while my brothers and cousin would play the "Mario Bros." and action/adventure games.  I would watch them play those games and be as excited as they were when they completed a board or level and moved on.  I would try to play their video games, but would get frustrated when I was not able to complete a board, and if I did, it was by pure luck.
As mentioned before in my prior blogs, video games are educational because they help people pique and explore talents whether hidden and/or apparent.  I learned early on that I was not the athletic type, so playing sports video games did not interest me.  My older brother would invite me to play them with him because I was not as hard to beat, unlike playing against the computer.
We pick up on or play video games that come to us naturally, gives a challenge to the play, or so we can learn something from them.  Video game designers have to research topics within their games and/or bring in outside sources of knowledge.  For example, using Wikipedia for a source is not credited, but I am able to take from it and add to it for research.  I really like the aspect of video games being educational more than ever now because I have nephews that play video games hours upon hours.  If something has their attention more than studying and reviewing schoolwork, I would at least like them to learn from their distraction.
Video games whether for leisure or educational purposes bring about discussion.  There are no right or wrong responses because video games are built around choices.  I have learned from this course so far that video games bring about great debates, which is another great educational tool inside and outside of the classroom.

Education and Video Games

I agree that using video games with education is important in the way society is evolving.  Having an idea of the audience(s) video games are targeting is important to know as well.  Each person that plays a video game gains something different.  Even when creating video games and including educational key factors can turn a player off.  I notice with some of my students who attend the after school program where I work, they tend to get bored with the reading program they have to participate with everyday.  It is good to get vital feedback from everyone that encounters the video games, including parents and their children and facilitators. 

Chapter One Blog

I agree with some things Kurt Squire touched on in Chapter One about why should we study video games and aren't they a waste of time.  We can learn a lot about the creativity of video games and their players.  I have realized that some lives are drafted and crafted around media and electronics.  Some people watch television and base their lives around the sitcoms and reality shows they watch.  Some people bring what they see out of the television screen into real life.  Some people play video games and want to bring their lives into the games they play.  People live out fantasies in video games.  One thing that Kurt wrote that stood out was the systemic thinking and school systems.  I don't understand why not use the systemic thinking approach used in video games in the classrooms, especially since this is a skill required outside of school.  There are many things we can learn from video games.  There are things we can give and also take from creating and playing video games.  There is an ultimate goal.  Video games allow its creators, players, and spectators to branch out and interact socially with others, whether it be through blogs, forums, tournaments, search engines, and/or magazines, which ultimately bring people together.  Another thing that stood out to me about this chapter is the great levels of difficulty of some video games.  Are they created to show how versatile the creators are to make them difficult or to make each player work harder to gain their satisfactions of beating or winning the game?  But at the end of the day, video games open avenues for its creators and players to tap into talents they possess.  By studying video games and their reactions opens avenues for creators to think outside-of-the-box when creating new or improved games which require more skills and knowledge sometimes only learned from observation.