Presence and the Potential of Collaborative Play
There is more to being present online than just having a web page or a facebook account, or posting videos on youtube or seesmic. Those are all actions that take place while present online. To truly be present we have to live online as though we’re living in life, without differentiating “online” and “offline” or “real” and “virtual”. To truly be present we have to understand that the internet, the web, social networking sites, and whatever else we’re doing online is causing us to exist in a multitude of ways and places simultaneously. 100 people could view my facebook profile and cause me to exist in 100 different places at the same moment. But in order for that presence to be a true representation of me, it needs to be an active representation. To exist online, we have to actively exist online. In other words, in order to be present online, we have to update. For example, I haven’t used my Xenga account in nearly seven years, my friendster in five years, myspace in two years and its been a few weeks since I’ve looked at my facebook. Although each one is still an open account and still exists and is present on the web for all to see, does it mean that I am present? In a manner of speaking it does, but that is not the real me, it doesn’t represent my present presence. Our physical presence is still limited by our real time selves and not to sound too poetic but as we age and mature we may only show a shadow of our former selves. But online that presence can be preserved timelessly. That is why I say that in order to be truly present we have to understand that our online selves exist in a very real sense. In order to truly exist and be present we all just need to update our profiles. So, in short there are about six Henry McDonnell’s floating around in cyberspace because I never bother updating or deleting my old profiles.
I think one of the most important ways to engage students online or off is with play. Gaming promotes collaboration. I’ll try to answer two question with one answer here. We had reading this week about Collaboration and on the World of Warcraft… I’m almost ashamed to admit that I have wasted a great number of hours in the past playing that game and have first hand experience with its collaborative potential. In the game there is a type of grouping system called a guild, which is a hierarchically based organization of players who help one another in the game. The purpose of a guild is to share resources, information, and manpower for more difficult parts of the game. In fact, the creators of the game designed the most difficult, funnest and most rewarding parts of the game to be only accessible by large groups of players. Many guilds form specifically to access these portions of the game. A guild is formed organically by normal players, one player finds ten other players to sign a charter, and the guild is formed. From that point, the players can all invite new users. However, guilds have a command structure with a clear leader (the original creator of the charter or another player designated by that user), the guild leader then assigns ranks and manages memberships within the guild, providing privileges to those who actively participate in the guild and revoking memberships to those who do not participate. One of the main functions performed by the guild is an in game support group for newer users. In my experience, guilds generally have a mix of newer users and veteran players. Veteran players will most often assist their newer less experienced members with helpful information or resources they need to learn the game. This collaborative necessity is a not a recent development though. In the golden age of arcade gaming (I miss the 80’s.), there was a game called Gauntlet, it was an action adventure game that became so difficult as one progressed through the levels that it was impossible to beat with out assistance. It was a four player game with each player taking on the roll of a different type of character (wizard, warrior, elf and valkyrie) each with different strengths and weaknesses. As an arcade game it was open to anyone who wanted to place in a quarter and start playing, and four complete strangers would often be paired up and working together to accomplish a common goal.
The lesson learned from collaborative gaming is that collaboration can be fun and differences can be overlooked because a common goal is being achieved, Highsmith talks about the importance of the latter. This can easily be transferred into an educational environment, both online and in the classroom. The wonderful thing about video games is that they are constructed experiences and no matter how much freedom is given to the user (like in World of Warcraft), the core experience and content can still be manipulated by the designer/programmer.
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June 28th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I think you’re absolutely correct; finding an effective way to translate learning into gaming is the best way to reach people and retain their interest over the long term. It’s also the one of the biggest motivating factors for people to constantly update and “live” their online presence. People playing collaboratively online shows the strongest degree of online interaction in a real-time environment. You mention WoW as an example, which I think is very fitting. People genuinely live their lives in that game; they spend enormous chunks of time developing their characters and building relationships with others, which I think is a foundation of establishing presence as we’ve discussed in our reading for this week. That being said, the hardest thing to do is developing useful and beneficial games that can have some positive influence on society or promote a social cause. I think that collaborative play and online gaming has enormous potential to reach out to people, increase awareness of social issues, and drive people to make positive changes. Online gaming draws people into the virtual environment to a greater extent than any other platform, and the more people have imprinted their selves into an online world, the more invested they become in the issues that arise in that environment. A real success would be to merge the issues in online social environments with those that exist in real life, and doing so in a gaming format to capture and retain people’s attention.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:55 am
The networks and the on-line games help the people to participate in a new kind of experience that allows the participants to explore an alternative virtual environment where they can develop friendships, relationships, discover and establish new worlds and therefore it is also a new level of existence. People live in the virtual space and spend a long time exploring the possibilities of the games.
Playing is one of the most effective ways to learn and to develop skills by experimenting and practicing. It also allows the players to interact and share which is a very important aspect of interactive networks. Collaboration, communal and social exchange and formation are achieved as a result of this multilayered cyber experience which is independent of geographic space which is a very critical advantage and an amazing opportunity.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I found “Being There” very interesting. I was very much enlightened by it and the ideas discussed in “Being there: Heidegger and the phenomenon of presence in telematic performance” by Marthy Ladly helped me understand quite a lot about virtual education environments.
I realized the connections between cognitive and constructive learning experiences and the virtual platforms. It is a very challenging aspect of the matter because the retention of information and the transfer of knowledge which depends on interpretation becomes clearer in such a context.
On one hand we can relate to the concept and description of “Da-sien” (Heidegger 1962) to the virtual existence and presence of the individuals who participate in the virtual reality of the artificial environment and on the other hand we also can depict the interesting situation created by the technological developments which enable the mind of the participant to experience an entirely different mental state of mind separate from the actual physical reality.
Learning is I believe very much about transferring the experience into thought processes which is generally called ‘transfer’ therefore I believe that the advancement of the new cyber, simulation and virtual presences / worlds have and will contribute a lot to the educational practices and systems.
I do not know how we should consider the inequality between the people who have access to high technology for advanced learning. It is amazing that the devices and technological opportunities are developing so rapidly and effectively yet it is also a very important issue that not everybody can use and learn with these new technologies. Therefore in a way as everything else in the capitalist system, the education systems are also a very big resource and a market for companies and that is why the computer and the other equipment for education also create a vast market which does not provide the same level of education to all socio-economic classes.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:36 am
I don’t know that collaborative gaming is just as amazing as this article has stated, and while I see there is some application, I don’t know that the majority of the students I have worked with would always find this manner of learning to be truly effective.
The skills garnered in online gaming often have less application to real life situations–especially when considering the ideas of permanence and attachment. Relationships that are fostered in online communities have a limited sense of context. While the author nods to families that now “game together” and have found new ways to bond, one can’t help but wonder whether there was ever much of a bond there to begin with… or whether there was already a lack of contextual and family bonding.
While I am not a fan of online gaming, mostly because I barely have time for my first life, I regularly consider the effects of internet communications on my two year old daughter, who lives 800 miles away from both sets of her grandparents. The majority of the time spent with them is over Skype… and at least that is something that she can have both visually and sonically. Now that we are in Chicago and she can play with them in person, there is some more of a foundation than there might be…