Social Gaming

I learned a lot doing these articles groups. My favorite topic that I spent a lot of time researching was ARGs. I found an article called “ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES FOR DEVELOPING STUDENT AUTONOMY AND PEER LEARNING” by
Nicola Whitton. It included a case study about a project that developed an ARG for students at Manchester Metropolitan University. It talks about how some computer games that act as constructivist learning environments, allow students to create their own understanding of the world. Whitton says that students “have the facility to create a context for problem-solving experiences, allowing groups of students to work together to tackle real-life, multi-disciplinary problems. ” These games also allow students to work collaboratively to solve problems. I think a lot of people are too quick to label video games anti social, but in my experience, they require quite a  bit of social interaction and problem solving skills. In MMOs for example, a lot of time is spent in groups. These groups may be made up of people you know, or they may be total strangers you haven’t met, but either way you have to work together to figure out how to achieve whatever your goal is, whether it’s a quest to gather items, or killing a boss. Even if you play a video game alone, you may come to point where you get stuck. Often times players will search for answers or tips on online forums or videos that other have posted. Or they may ask their friends how they navigated the obstacle they are stuck on. Either way, most players rely on social resources when gaming.