This was a rumor that happened almost entirely by accident. My friends simply had difficulty keeping track of me in-between classes with me zipping around, and with their overactive imaginations, teleportation was the obvious explanation. Obviously. Mostly I just let it happen because of how amusing it was to me, but every once in a while I would pull a little stunt to keep it interesting.

It was passing period right after lunch and I was standing in the hallway with one of my friends, chatting about what the cafeteria had that day and how boring gym class was going to be that day. I remember stretching my arms upward, feeling the slightly worn fabric of my shirt rub against my skin as the weight of my overly stuffed and heavy backpack shifted. And suddenly, I had an idea. I quickly shrugged my heavy backpack off my shoulders and before it had hit the ground I had already sprinted through the shuffling crowd in the hall darting between the idling students like a wasp avoiding drops of rain, not stopping until I reached the other side of the hall. I whipped my head around to where I was standing, and I caught the amusing view of my friend's jaw hanging open, looking around for me in confusion. The crowd acted as a smokescreen, obscuring my movement. As they shuffled around like ants I could keep an eye on my friend without them catching sight of me, which I used to my advantage to circle back around to where my friend was standing. I tapped them on the shoulder and they jumped in surprise when they saw who it was. "Jeez man, where did you go?" I shrugged. "I dunno" 

I wonder how much of our lives are dedicated to maintaining or trying to dismantle the various rumors and stories about us. How often do we alter our behavior to account for how we are perceived by others, either for our own amusement like in my story or for our own benefit or survival. 

Even though I'm a filthy zoomer, I'm still old enough to remember Blockbuster, and that's where this all started. The location we went to at the time was trying to get rid of old inventory, and they were selling off game discs and movies. I was digging through the bins when I eventually found a game disc for Lego Star Wars. At the time I really didn't know what Star Wars was, but I knew I liked Legos, so it ended up coming home with me! And through the blocky aesthetic of Lego bricks, the mumbling dialogue of the characters, and the tongue-in-cheek humor of the Lego games from that era, was the first time I dipped my toes into the world of Star Wars. I think it speaks volumes about the power of these stories, that even though I essentially experienced a parody of what are often considered the worst movies in the series, it was enough to hook me for life.

This particular game also sparked another interest of mine, graphic design! The copy we got from Blockbuster was missing its cover, which really bummed out younger me because all of the other games had cool art and designs on them. But my mom had an excellent suggestion

"Why don't you draw your own?"

Being young as I was I probably said something to the effect of "WHERE ARE MY CRAYONS" before getting to work crafting my own cover art. I still have this copy of Lego Star Wars to this day, and every time I look at it, it reminds me of how big of an impact the game had on me. I wonder if I ever would have gotten as into Star Wars as I am now without it, or even graphic design, which I am now studying at FRCC.

We would sit at the circular tables in the lunch room like King Arthur's knights and wolf down the cardboard pizza and stale fruit before getting out our decks of cards and trying to cram a game into the small amount of time the lunch break afforded us. the games sounded a bit like a rhythmic drum beat in the early rounds, as the various players draw their cards and assemble their strategies. "I drew my cards and I'm gonna play two lands, pass." followed by a knuckle tap on the table, and the next player's turn, "I'm gonna play three lands, pass." another tap, and the next player. It was like a collaborative performance as the focus shifted to each person and their actions in the game, except the audience is studying your every move to figure out the best possible way to stop the performance from going as planned. It was a special way to escape from the humdrum of high school. For that 30-45 minute period, we weren't students. We were tacticians, warriors, and powerful spellcasters. 

After that group of seniors left, the Magic The Gathering scene pretty much left with them. There were a few other people that kept playing, but that special energy was never quite there again. And now with COVID, it's been years since I've had a game of YuGioh or Magic The Gathering that felt that fun. I wonder if I'll ever experience that again, or if it's was simply something I had to be in the right place and time for. I also wonder if I should even try to chase that feeling, or if that will ultimately leave me feeling disappointing.

Overstreet, Kristie, director. What Doctors Should Know about Gender Identity. Kristie Overstreet: What Doctors Should Know about Gender Identity | TED Talk, Sept. 2017, https://www.ted.com/talks/kristie_overstreet_what_doctors_should_know_about_gender_identity?language=en. Accessed 22 Feb. 2022.  

In the study Motivation By Gamification: Adapting Motivational Tools of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) For Peer-To-Peer Assessment In Connectivist Massive Open Online Courses (cMOOCs), the author István Danka explains some pitfalls of self-guided online learning, and how maintaining motivation and engagement is a major issue. He highlights that enrollment in online learning programs is often very high, but a high dropout rate goes hand-in-hand with that number. Danka also describes a problem of registered users exhibiting a “lurking” behavior where they simply observe the goings-on of the class without engaging in a meaningful way with the material,  an issue in learning environments where a majority of the learning is intended to be collaborative. Danka states that a major goal moving forward with virtual learning needs to incentivize completion, not merely enrollment. Danka then explains some of the elements of MMORPGs that allow players to get invested in the games and explains how they could be used to enhance a virtual learning experience. The three main elements Danka brings up are:

Danka explains that Character Generation is engaging in games because it allows a player to flesh out the identity they want to perform in the game, and not only defines what the character looks like but what skills and abilities the character possesses. Danka then elaborates that in the context of online learning a similar system could be used to express skills, preferences, and levels of comfort regarding different areas of study, and also to record and reflect a student’s development over time. These profiles could also be used as a tool to encourage diversity, as in-game characteristics are usually divorced from real-world characteristics. Danka then moves on to the Leveling Up topic, explaining that in games, Experience Points are not only a way of monitoring progress but a resource that can be spent to gain opportunities, as characters can level up to be more powerful. Quest systems with multiple small objectives that reward the player with Experience points help divide up what could otherwise be an overwhelming amount of work to complete and give players a sense that no matter what they do, they are always moving forward. This feeling of forward progress and accomplishment is useful to retain engagement. Danka then elaborates on the third item, explaining how in games players are often incentivized to form groups with other players whose skills complement each other in order to tackle challenges that would be difficult or even impossible to complete alone. This natural incentive for collaboration would be very useful for online learning as it would increase communication, and democratize the learning experience

It was fascinating to see the way this author broke down the mechanics of MMORPGs and how they could help solve some issues in online learning. I was able to relate partly to a lot of the issues presented as I have been learned at least partly remotely since the second semester of my junior year in high school. Staying motivated and engaged can be very difficult, and I had to sort of take a crash course in staying sane while working from home. Even though i found a way to succeed and even excel in a virtual learning environment, having resources like the ones described in the paper would have been a game changer (pun intended). I would to try and push this information further, and learn more about how game mechanics can aid immersion in both tasks and storytelling.

In the article The Effects Of Human Factors On The Use Of Avatars In Game-Based Learning Customization V.S. Non-Customization by Zhi-Hong Chen, Han-De Lu, and Ching-Hu Lu, the authors explain how learners interact with gamified education systems, and how engagement is effected by including a customizable avatar into the learning software, and how previous experience with video games changes the effectiveness of gamified learning. In the research they had two groups of learners, one given character customization and one without. The students were allowed four categories of customization: Gender (male or female), Appearance (skin tone, hair, eye color, etc.), Profession (Think class in D&D), and an Animal Companion.

The group with customizable avatars overall showed an increased level of performance, even among those with a lack of previous video game experience. As the authors explain, the students see the avatar as an extension of themselves causing the avatar to anchor them to the virtual learning experience. This allows the learner to get into what they call a “Flow Zone”, allowing them to get fully immersed in their tasks and begin enjoying them. By using the avatar as a tool for self expression they can communicate preferences in a direct and quantifiable way. As the authors explain, differences in avatar appearance tend to relate to differences in behavior in students, with examples being that taller avatars are more commanding and more attractive avatars tend to be kinder.

It was interesting to see this topic covered in more detail here, I was left with some questions about this detail from the first source, and seeing this getting tested firsthand answered most of them. I would still like to learn what makes character creation systems work, and what makes them engaging. I will have to do more digging!

I successfully completed the Gatekeeper.

I left comments on my Research Team's Padlet posts.

Ted Talk Notes: 

 C: Currency, when was it made?

 R: Reliability, can you trust them?

 A: Authority, are they qualified to speak about it?

 P: Purpose, what was the goal?

Lateral reading:

The NASA webpage about Pluto was recently updated, coming from a reliable source with the authority to talk about Pluto (because it's NASA) and has the purpose to educate.