Gamification Questions

1) How has watching these two Ted Talks changed your perspective on the roles of games?

Watching these two Ted Talks has shown me that games really can be used for purposes other than entertainment and to have fun. In the video made by the Student about his video games experience he says, “Games are becoming more beautiful than reality”. This idea is interesting but not very appealing to me. I believe that games can show you a different look to things and take you places you could never imagine of going, but I do not think that they are more beautiful than reality. The student also mentioned in his video that he had driven more kilometers in all the car games he has played than in real life. This is shocking and kind of frightening. Games are becoming more realistic as more people study it and all the new technologies are making the graphics and game play more amazing. Many new games will have places that are imaginary but look so realistic you couldn’t even tell. I think that the example that Gabe explained with the Nintendo DS is very interesting and shows how gamification can work well in a classroom environment. It further proves that games can have other uses than entertainment. I believe that integrating games within a classroom can be very effective.

2) Based on the video's, how do you see games "changing the world"?

I can see games having success integrating with education and possibly training programs. I think that gamifing these activities can make them more fun and efficient. Games are great for entertainment and will continue to be. We can see many instances of gamification in real life situations. An example of this is soldiers in a war. Many keep a kill count and compare it with other soldiers, making it a sort of game or competition.

3) What concerns or doubts do you have about games becoming a dominant cultural force?

I think that games becoming a dominant cultural force could lead to some things losing their seriousness. Making a game of some things could lead to people getting out of hand or too competitive. In a classroom environment some students could feel left out or degraded if they did not achieve the same goal as another student. I think that after enough attempts and hard work games could be a dominant cultural force and will become a bigger part of our everyday lives. I think that they should and will always be a part of entertainment.

The Yes Men Documentary Review

The Yes Men is a documentary film directed by Dan Ollman, Sarah Price, and Chris Smith that exposes a huge worldwide organization and outline flaws in major corporations. The main characters are Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum. They are the Yes men and are the ones who set up the projects and stunts that take place in the documentary. The film outlines the flaws in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and exposes them to the public. By bringing these issues up to the public they are effectively getting the messages out there without having the organization come to them complaining or with any issues. This is because going to the Yes men would further exploit them and look very bad on their organization. There are other projects that make strong statements and have a strong meaning but the main focus is on the WTO. The film is chronological and there is a lead up to many of the events that take place. There is a lead up to the final presentation where the Yes men are sincere about the problems with the WTO and this is one of the most effective stunts.

The Yes Men is an expository documentary with some aspects of the observatory mode that gives us the prospective of the main characters, Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum. They use many of the conventions for the expository mode of documentary such as montages, composed somewhat like an essay, and has a didactic point of view. Although these techniques are used from the expository mode of documentary there are also some conventions from the observational mode. This includes observing life with little involvement, in terms of the presentations, and direct slice of life events. The Yes Men is in first person because we are seeing the views and the events that happened to the main characters Andy and Mike. The prospective of the film gave us a good idea of what they really wanted to accomplish and showed us their views on the WTO. It could be biased because we could be more informed on the actions of the WTO and what they are doing. But I think the film gives us a good perspective of the WTO.

The Yes Men is a great documentary with very innovative and intelligent filmmakers who got their message across very effectively. The projects that they outlined in the film when they were leading up to the WTO presentation were very well done and did a good job introducing the Yes men. I especially liked the stunt where they switched the female and male voices of the Ken and Barbie dolls. This was a very effective project and drew media attention to the Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO). This was when the Yes men first used visibility to make their case, working within the very organizations that they wanted to expose. This is effectively stealing identities not for criminal mischief, but for correcting them. Bonanno describes this action as “identity correction”. I am happy that this film was made and it is a great way to expose these corporations and organizations. I would love for this film to have more publicity and be more popular so that more people can get the message.

This type of film has a great impact on our culture in many ways and really helps us understand what globalization is doing and what the problems with it are. The awful things that these companies and organizations do are more often than not hidden from us and never shown to the public. For someone to do something as extraordinary as to bring out these secrets and show the public what these people are actually getting away with is very beneficial to society. This is what the Yes Men have done and I think that this has a positive effect and can have a big impact on what the public thinks about these corporations.

Cormex Presentation Review

Andrew Laing is the Head of Cormex, a Canadian media content measurement and analysis firm. Cormex has established itself as a leading media research resource in Canada. He was a political science grad and believed that he would pursue a career in law after graduating. Mr. Laing got into the field of media content measurement after about twenty-three years ago. He did not pursue a career in law and found himself interested in media and content analysis. In 1989 the firm Cormex based in Toronto was founded. The firm provides tools to both understand and communicate the organizations media profile. They do work for many major companies such as Visa Canada, Bell Canada, Rogers, and the 5 major banks.

The presentation informed me about many of the major projects Cormex has had and outlined the many steps to conduct an analysis. There are many jobs to be done and it can be a long process depending on the extent of the content. There are 5 basic steps to conduct a content analysis. The first one is coming up with a testable hypothesis. The second step is creating an effective sample of the different articles and documents required for the analysis. The third step is developing variables. The fourth step is to test if the variables are accurate and do they relate to each other. The fifth and final step is choosing a measuring criteria. This involves finding how many people have seen the article, and can be a difficult figure to obtain. In a typical analysis a coder would put in 20-40 hours a week. They generally go through 250 coding forms per hour. It is very important when creating an analysis to keep in mind the issues that are most important to the public. It is critical that the press and media are successful in telling readers and viewers what to think and what opinions to have. I was surprised and somewhat relieved to hear that Mr. Laing did not know what he was going to do when he graduated from university. He achieved success in something he was passionate about, and without knowing he was going to pursue a career in media. It is interesting to hear about someone’s career after they have established themselves.

I found the presentation as a whole very interesting and informative. The amount of work that goes into a basic analysis is substantial. To think that coders complete 250 forms an hour is astounding. I found the part where he talked about the press coverage very interesting as well. In the presentation Laing pointed out that the only information we obtain about the War in Afghanistan is what we hear from the media. We only hear about what they decide to tell us. This is the most unobtrusive issue. This is hard to believe and really makes you think that so many things that could be hidden from us. I am interested in media and a career involved with it is appealing to me. It is impressive that Cormex has done work with such big companies and amazing how much of an impact this work could possibly have.