Fix 13

Shared Intentionality, the ability to follow another person's lead is critical for leveling up in Settlers. I think we must work together in order to be productive in the game. In our guild, we all swap resources to meet quest requirements, as I'm sure everyone in our course has experienced. i picked up the habits I have now by watching what my fellow guildies are doing and duplicating them. In the guild I'm in, we also help each other out by buffing when someone goes out of town for a few days, and by working with people in other coutries to keep up with buffing during the nighttime. That collaboration is really useful for production. We are also setting up times for our collaboration and adventures so we can play together even if there is a 12 hour time difference due to world location. Bottom line, we all cooperate to ensure success and "all the emotional rewards of a good game" (McGonigal, P. 272). Finally, my guildmembers swap links to game blogs that helps us to level up. there are battle and trading calculators among the many web resources written for the Settlers game. They are most helpful to minimize loss of troops during adventures, and to guide us to what is fair in trading. it is very easy to overspend on resources.

Today some guildies and I were swapping easter eggs to meet easter quest requirements and receive more eggs. More eggs = battle-hardened generals or savage scouts who are faster in the game than the usualy pay for coin generals. I wanted a house boat, aka floating residence. We can also receive more resources if we collaborate to meet egg quests. That way we can build more and level up, for free. We are using game blogs to find those as well. Many people in my guild are paying for gems and are also on a fixed income, so they are tightly budgeted for gameing. Easter and Christmas events As I'm sure everyone in our course has experienced, pique interest, brings in new players, and probably stimulates spending in the game some way.

Our guild founder qualifies as an extrordinary collaborators. He has problems with talking to and working with people in person, but is an excellent communicator in the game, and able to keep everyone's game fair and balanced in our guild. I have known a few disabled people who found communication with outsiders to be a challenge, but were excellent at game play. They pinged for games that they could excel in and enjoy. They also reach out to other excellent players, many of whom also have some sort of personal issue. They work very well together and are highly successful in the game. Sometimes too much in fact! They also time gaming so they can go on raids together. They have energensight because they do so well in the game, any game, but not so well at all in the real world. To me that is a pitty. So much talent wasted. Is this phenomenon caused simply by social norms? I believe so.

I love the Lost Ring collaboration game and the Sport of Olympia video! This is true gaming and online collaboration. Both videos make the game look like so much fun! The Sport of Olympia game itself is a great example of this week's reading and assignment. The point of it is to provide safety and guidance for the blindfolded person who is the runner  who has to trust the people they are collaborating with. I believe that this is so important for personal success.

I think the Olympia game is also a really important lesson for people with disabilities or those who work with them. The game is intentionally providing the safety and collaboration needed to reach the goal; to finish the game and bring the rings together. For disabled people the goal is also to overcome difficulties and also be successful. It is the same goal.

McDonalds Corp. was really smart to keep marketing out of this game. It would have been a huge turn-off. To be honest I am quite surprised that they backed this approach considering their previous girulla marketing tactics. Perhaps it will become a trend, and I hope so. Actually I heard that KFC sponsored a poetry contest to help offset claims that their chickens are fed steroids. The topic was "Don't blame the chickens". KFC didn't change the way they raise their chickens, but they did use the poetry campaign to distract the public and give them a warm fuzzy feeling! Crazy!

Not quite related to gaming, but interesting: Here is a link to an atricle I thought was very interesting. http://www.replicatedtypo.com/what-makes-humans-unique-iv-shared-intentionality-%E2%80%93-the-foundation-of-human-uniqueness/1552.html. As I read it I realized how advanced my son is... he is also an avid gamer at 13 years old. I remember when he was a baby, very young, like 7 months old. As a new mom, I had a two way mirror gizmo installed in my car so I could see his face when he was in his car seat. One day he caught my eye in the mirror... and started laughing! He learned in an instant how to play with me while I drove. It was amazing! Shared intentionality is definately what makes us human, allows us to evolve, and what attracts us to games!