Chapter 5, Telling and Doing: Why Doesn't Lara Croft Obey Professor Von Croy?, begins with a juxtaposition of overt learning and "immersion in practice," an idea Dr. Holmevik introduced in class yesterday (immersive learning). Students/learners, Gee asserts, need a certain balance of both overt information and immersion. Throwing a player into a game with no direction or guidance at all will only frustrate the player and cause a meltdown or something similar. Overloading a learner with huge chunks of overt information (sound like public school, anyone?) also turns the student away from learning because there is no practical application. A method of providing only overt information will prevent the student from being able to visualize (apply) the material.
Gee focuses on three video games to explain the necessary balance of immersion and overt information: Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and System Shock 2. All three games introduce the player to the controls using a mix of virtual and real-world language to help them learn the game but remain silent on some issues to allow the player a stake in the learning process. For example, in Tomb Raider Professor Von Croy, the vehicle used by the game to teach the player the necessary controls, tells Lara to stay close to him, but it is only through exploration and “disobeying” the computer that the player finds certain elements, like the golden skulls (that turn out to serve a purpose in following episodes). The blend of statements like “Press and hold forward” (to jump) and the freedom to discover the game environment in a less challenging, more exploratory sense is the balance Gee desires for all learners.
Another idea Gee covers in this chapter is the idea of “transfer,” when one strategy, method, or generalization does not function within given contexts and other strategies must be transferred from another location (in the brain). Here he explains the method he typically used to kill Nazi Super Soldiers in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and how this method failed for the “boss” character. He needed to “transfer,” and then tweak/invent, a method from a game he had already played (Alice).
System Shock 2 is the focus of the last half of the chapter, a game that reminds me of the Bioshock series (probably because they both have “Shock” in the title). Gee uses this game to explain how earlier episodes of video games are easier because the player needs to learn the controls and create “fruitful patterns and generalizations” (138).
Here's a screenshot of System Shock 2. Kill the zombies!
And here's a shot of Bioshock. With an update in graphics, a change of scenery and slightly different looking enemies, it could be the same game. Goal: Kill the zombie-like creatures, often using a shotgun-type weapon.
Chapter 6, Cultural Models: Do You Want to be the Blue Sonic or the Dark Sonic?, introduces the idea that "content in video games either reinforces or challenges players' taken-for-granted perspectives on the world" (146). Like all other chapters, Gee discusses several games, starting with Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, where the player has the choice to play as the blue (good) Sonic or the dark (evil) Sonic look-alike, Shadow. Even though the player associates the character he/she uses to play the game as “the hero,” the character in the game world may be identified as “evil.” When the player is given a choice between, for example, good or evil, the player is simply asserting their real-world perspectives and beliefs.
Gee continues the chapter with a look at the controversial (in the United States) game called Under Ash. The main character is a young Palestinian named Ahmed, whose mission is to kill Jewish enemies (occupation forces, settlers, and soldiers but not civilians) and support the Palestinian/ Islamic cause. This is an appropriate cultural model in the Arab/ Middle Eastern community because it is in line with their accepted belief system, but in the United States, this game was extremely controversial because it went against the accepted parameters of a war-based video game.
The author contrasts two “war-based” video games to see how “real” these games are. Return to Castle Wolfenstein grants the player a super-human like strength, the ability to take a large amount of damage from bullets and other weapons without dying. On the other hand, the game Operation Flashpoint is a much more “realistic” portrayal of war. One bullet is usually enough to kill you (the player), and the pace ranges from largely uneventful and slow to a huge adrenaline rush. A game like Operation Flashpoint is often not as popular as Return to Castle Wolfenstein or Call of Duty: Black Ops because players are already vulnerable to things like bullets in the “real” world (even if they don’t come in contact with them often) and these games are a way to fell more powerful and in control.
Gee concludes Chapter 6 with 3 useful learning principles of good video games that relate to cultural models.
Sources for photos:
http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/html/screenshots/screenshot_03_xl.jpg
http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/pc/system-shock-2
Chapter 6, Cultural Models: Do You Want to be the Blue Sonic or the Dark Sonic?, introduces the idea that "content in video games either reinforces or challenges players' taken-for-granted perspectives on the world" (146). Like all other chapters, Gee discusses several games, starting with Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, where the player has the choice to play as the blue (good) Sonic or the dark (evil) Sonic look-alike, Shadow. Even though the player associates the character he/she uses to play the game as “the hero,” the character in the game world may be identified as “evil.” When the player is given a choice between, for example, good or evil, the player is simply asserting their real-world perspectives and beliefs.
Gee continues the chapter with a look at the controversial (in the United States) game called Under Ash. The main character is a young Palestinian named Ahmed, whose mission is to kill Jewish enemies (occupation forces, settlers, and soldiers but not civilians) and support the Palestinian/ Islamic cause. This is an appropriate cultural model in the Arab/ Middle Eastern community because it is in line with their accepted belief system, but in the United States, this game was extremely controversial because it went against the accepted parameters of a war-based video game.
The author contrasts two “war-based” video games to see how “real” these games are. Return to Castle Wolfenstein grants the player a super-human like strength, the ability to take a large amount of damage from bullets and other weapons without dying. On the other hand, the game Operation Flashpoint is a much more “realistic” portrayal of war. One bullet is usually enough to kill you (the player), and the pace ranges from largely uneventful and slow to a huge adrenaline rush. A game like Operation Flashpoint is often not as popular as Return to Castle Wolfenstein or Call of Duty: Black Ops because players are already vulnerable to things like bullets in the “real” world (even if they don’t come in contact with them often) and these games are a way to fell more powerful and in control.
Gee concludes Chapter 6 with 3 useful learning principles of good video games that relate to cultural models.
Sources for photos:
http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/html/screenshots/screenshot_03_xl.jpg
http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/pc/system-shock-2
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