Final Paper-Overall

The Sims: From Virtual to Reality

In a college course, teaching playing video games goes beyond just sitting in front of a game console connected to a television or to a computer screen.  I have seen family and friends playing The Sims 3 before and did not know what they were gaining from it.  The graphics, functionality of the character’s daily activities, and traits in The Sims 3 are realistic.  I wanted to know what was so amazing about this game that it captivated their attention for hours upon hours.  I visited my cousin and she would sit in the same room with her friend and they both would be playing The Sims 3 on their laptops.  But I wanted to learn more than just the play aspect of the game.  I wanted to know what I can learn about myself as an adult and student playing this game and if learning occurs.  I found forums and blog sites for The Sims 3 that allowed me to share my thoughts with others.  I could play The Sims 3 online and keep track of my game play and even report different things I did to my social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  I will analyze why The Sims 3 is intriguing to audiences of college students and those in the workplace, whether or not it can be incorporated in classroom settings for teaching, and what can be learned from this game in general. 

The Sims 3 is a strategic life simulation computer game designed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts.  The Sims 2 is a predecessor to The Sims 3.  These games were big hits when first introduced to the world and have made millions of dollars for Electronic Arts.  This game is usually sold in stores and online.  The installation of The Sims 3 is less than an hour, roughly thirty to forty-five minutes.  It holds about 5.53 GB of space on my laptop.  The Sims 3 was based around the same schedules we have in real life.  There are days, Sunday through Saturday and twenty four hours in each day.  There were also the options of speeding up the time and slowing it back to a regular pace.  This is something that humans cannot control.  I learned about time management and practiced it while playing The Sims 3. 

There was options of playing either online or offline every time I turned on The Sims 3.  Playing online allowed me as a player the opportunity to register my game and keep my version updated.  Playing online also offered me chances to earn Sims Points to go towards making purchases of new items such as attire, building and buy modes, and new cities.  I tried playing online, but I preferred to play offline.  I also chose to play The Sims 3 on my personal Toshiba laptop.  I chose to play offline because at times it would be an interruption in game play with an internet connection.  This game engulfed my attention and being interrupted was not pleasurable.  Sometimes while I played, an email or an alert came through and interrupted my game.  The screen closed out and I had to go back in.  I also understood it was good to keep up with the memories of game play, but sometimes it became too tedious and aggravating logging every single thing my Sims characters did or accomplished.  Keeping records of accomplishments are important to some people in real life, so they would appreciate this quality of The Sims 3.  And the worst thing that happened was working and building for a long length of time, not saving the progress, getting kicked out of the game, and having to start all over.  Saving game play periodically was a good idea if I thought I would be playing for long time. 

There were many decisions to be made when first starting my game play in The Sims 3.  There were the options of how many Sims I would play with, choosing genders and races, their names, clothing, and hair styles, and personal features such as body build, traits, and relationship statuses.  My game started out with two players, a male Sims and a female Sims and they both lived in the same house.  Naturally, they were both of African American characteristics, because I am.  We had discussed before in class about our thoughts on the racial aspect of video games.  It was natural for me to pick characters of my own skin color and physical features.  I had asked questions to my interviewees and one had played characters of other races and characteristics than herself to see how the genetics would turn out for the children.  It does not bother her to play roles of other ethnic backgrounds; it is actually more interesting for her to play as different characters such as being a male. My other interviewee played with Sims the same race and gender as she. 

Race and gender were not as important in virtual worlds as they are in real life.  Race and gender is a beginning to a long life ahead of me.  Before my generation, race and gender were defining factors in how well you lived and where you lived, how you worked and where you worked.  One thing I noticed while playing The Sims 3 is those were not major factors in this game.  There was no racial tension between characters.  Males and females alike worked together and played together in Sunset Valley.  African American characters worked side by side with Caucasian and Chinese characters.  The Sims 3 is a video game where what color you are and what gender you are did not promote or hinder you as a character.  I learned that no matter what race or gender a person may be, working hard and staying happy is traits to obtain when reaching for your goals.  One of my interviewees did not focus on race or gender.  She was just happy to play and learn different things about each character’s progression in her game play.  She played each of her characters in different careers to learn how similar it would be to real life.

Establishing and maintaining careers and earning income are crucial in your survival in life, both inside and outside of a video game.  I learned in the real world, a person can get paid top dollars for creating video games, but in The Sims 3, that career was not an option.  The characters in The Sims 3 chose from many careers in the city of Sunset Valley.  Some of the career choices in The Sims 3 included but were not limited to Political, Law Enforcement, Medical, Athletic, Music and Arts, Catering and Chef, and Executive.  The male Sims’ career choice was becoming a famous athlete, or a superstar.  The female Sims’ career choice was becoming an executive power broker.  Each Sims started out at the beginning of their careers and worked their ways up to the highest positions possible in their lifetime career goals.  I saw that a difference in building careers while playing this video game, knowing someone does not get you moved along in the ranks of your career.  In real life, sometimes it is not what you know, but who you know that gets a person greater promotions and job opportunities versus in The Sims 3.  Each Sims started out at the beginning of his and her careers and either worked hard, took it easy, sucked up to their bosses, met and hung with their co-workers, and held meetings to gain raises and promotions on their jobs. 

Each Sims worked hard at his and her careers and reached their lifetime goals.  It did not take them a lifetime to reach their goals, because they were both still young adults transitioning to adults.  Some people in real life reach their lifetime goals when they become elders.  I learned working hard in both real life and in virtual worlds paid off.  Reaching a lifetime goal is just the beginning and it does not stop there in The Sims 3.  They continue to go to work and gained raises and promotions.  Each Sims was also given opportunities to make decisions, good and bad.  There were also consequences that followed those decisions.  I made good decisions the majority of my game play, but I also made a few bad choices as well, just to find out the outcome.  I have made good and bad choices in my real life and reaped the consequences as well, so this is not that far from the video game.  At the beginning of my game, my female Sims made more money than the male Sims.  One of my interviewees played different than I did.  Once her Sims reached certain money amounts, she started new games.  She said that there is only so much a Sims can do once they reach their lifetime goal.  But I believed that once a person, virtually or in reality reached those goals, they would want to share them with someone. 

The next options I made available to my Sims characters were to get married and start a family.  Obtaining the two are what some women, and men, look forward to in the real world.  Some people go about this differently as well.  Some people start out at early ages getting married and having children.  Some people have children before they get married while others get married before having children.  Some people want to establish their careers and finances before taking on the responsibility of parenthood and commitment.  Over the years of my life, I was told the morally correct thing to do in life is get married before having children.  This is the route I took in my video game because this is how I wanted my life to play out in the real world.  After my Sims established enough money to move into a bigger, cozier home, they got married.  They enjoyed their lives as newlyweds and went on dates with each other for a while before starting their family.  They also continued to work hard to get promotions as well.  They moved into different homes to accommodate the children as they had them until they built a house from the ground up.  I researched online for floor plans and built a six bedroom house with five bathrooms, a spacious kitchen with a breakfast nook, an enormous dining room, a family room, a great room, a living room, a study, an office, a three car garage, a workout room with on-suite bathroom, a swimming pool with an outside kitchen and grilling area, a playground, and a recreational area.  They spent lots of money on their new home and made it ready for new arrivals and the pitter patter of little feet. 

I learned there is lots of preparation for having children.  I do not have any children, so this was a learning experience for my future as a parent.  The female Sims took time off from work before and after having their children, just as in real life.  During this time, the male Sims started to earn more money than she did while out on maternity leave.  There were books for the parents Sims to read to prepare them for their new arrivals.  There was teaching the children how to walk, to talk, to use the potty, and feed them.  The first child my Sims characters had was a boy, then a girl, and finally twin daughters.  Each of the parents Sims spent time with them and taught them the necessities they needed to grow up.  The children Sims grew up and went from the stages of baby, toddler, and child to teenager.  My initial plan was for them to have only three children, but they went on to have four, which was not planned.  These are chances that real life families face, having more children and more than one at a time.  Now it was time for the kids to be kids and prepare for the real world.

There were “real world” experiences to be had while playing The Sims 3.  Each Sims had obstacles to face and overcome.  The teenage Sims had homework every day they had to complete before their next school day.  The teenagers also interacted with their siblings, parents, and peers.  They also had the opportunity to work a part-time job while attending school.  I did not choose this option for my teenagers because it would have been a larger task for each of them to maintain juggling school, building their personal traits, and a job.  They maintained good grades in school and stayed on the honor roll.  Their parents also helped them with their homework when they came in from school.   The parents were making enough money where it was not necessary for the teenagers to work.  In some real life situations this is true, while in other households the teenagers have to work to either help pay bills or buy things for themselves.  I basically played my game as the way I would like for my life to unfold and this gave me a glimpse of how it could possibly be.  The teenagers did learn traits while aging to young adults.  They learned how to fish and cook by watching television.  They also learned logic skills by playing chess on their home computers and outdoor chess set and writing skills on the computer as well.  They learned charismatic skills by talking to each other and practicing speeches in the mirror.  These skills were more important to gain at this age because they would be beneficial to them when they entered the work place as young adults. 

They finally grew up and started working towards their own lifetime career goals.  The teenagers aged to young adults and I picked lifetime goals for each one.  The male child Sims wanted to become a famous musician and artist.  He had reached his lifetime goal.  The older female child became a world renowned surgeon and reached her lifetime goal.  One female twin child became an international super spy and reached her lifetime goal.  The other female twin child became a five star chef and reached her lifetime goal.  They used the skills they learned as teenagers, hard work, and discipline to reach each of their goals.  They all worked their ways up their job ladders by practicing the same skills their parents did before and after they had children.  They all live in the same household and contributed to the bills in the home, keeping it clean and fun.  They threw parties for each other’s birthdays and just for fun to keep their relationships with their friends relevant.  One of the twin daughters married and had a daughter.  She will instill the same traits and discipline in her child as her parents did her.  Her husband also moved into their family’s home and is in route to reaching his lifetime goal. 

I learned that playing The Sims 3 is not as different as living my real life.  I chose things that I would or wanted to do.  There were many decisions to be made when I first started my game play in The Sims 3 and living my life.  I controlled everything they did, just as I control my life.  There were the options of choosing the genders and races of my characters, clothing them, and picking their personal features and traits, and establishing relationships for them.  The only difference in this video game and real life is I was not able to choose my race and gender upon being created.  I am able to choose how my life unfolds.  This video game taught a different set of morals that were not usually taught to me in school about home life of paying bills and keeping it clean, maintaining friendships with peers and relationships with co-workers, bosses, and family.  These were great lessons I learned throughout my game play of The Sims 3 this semester.  I learned that it took effort to accomplish goals. I did so by working hard in each of my classes and maintained being on the honor roll.  I learned that maintaining friendships was important in my growth as an adult and student.  I learned that venturing out and learning new skills was important to my life then as a teenager as it is now as a young adult.  This would be a great video game to teach students about all of the important soft skills we need to use to face every day head on with confidence. 

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.