Have you ever wondered what would happen if someone did their college dissertation on World of Warcraft?
When asked what specifically his thesis was about Chen replied,
"Basically, becoming an expert gamer in WoW meant getting enculturated to the norms of a player community that engaged in "expert" play and that these norms included ways of assembling, arranging, configuring, or drawing upon both social (friends, website strat guides, etc.) and material (add-ons, timers, game UI, etc.) resources to be successful. This is important to share with the education community because it turns the concept of expertise on its head: it wasn't necessarily about stuff you know in your head but more how you use tools and draw upon resources to get stuff done. This in turn has deep implications for our schools."
There is no doubt that World of Warcraft has become a culture of its own with a strong fan following, over 11.4 million subscribers. The players of World of Warcraft are part of a community, like it or not. We all understand references to things like "Leeroy Jenkins", "Threat" and "DPS".
Its reach is far beyond the game world with a multitude of websites, videos, podcasts conventions and strategy guides all dedicated to World of Warcraft.
Its kind of like the day I got my cell phone and programmed all my phone numbers into it. I stopped needing to memorize phone numbers at that point.
Today we live in an amazing time and we have more information ready at our fingertips with smart phones and computers than ever. Let me ask you a question. What is more important? Knowing a fact or having the ability to find the answer in the palm of their hand?
Mark Chen, University of Washington student wrote his dissertation on World of Warcraft. No, he isn't a game designer; he is a student of the Collge of Education. You might be wondering what World of Warcraft has to do with education other than it distracts millions of teenagers from doing their homework. As it turns out Chen wanted to draw a corollary between learning in World of Warcraft to learning in the education systems of today.
"Basically, becoming an expert gamer in WoW meant getting enculturated to the norms of a player community that engaged in "expert" play and that these norms included ways of assembling, arranging, configuring, or drawing upon both social (friends, website strat guides, etc.) and material (add-ons, timers, game UI, etc.) resources to be successful. This is important to share with the education community because it turns the concept of expertise on its head: it wasn't necessarily about stuff you know in your head but more how you use tools and draw upon resources to get stuff done. This in turn has deep implications for our schools."There is no doubt that World of Warcraft has become a culture of its own with a strong fan following, over 11.4 million subscribers. The players of World of Warcraft are part of a community, like it or not. We all understand references to things like "Leeroy Jenkins", "Threat" and "DPS".
Its reach is far beyond the game world with a multitude of websites, videos, podcasts conventions and strategy guides all dedicated to World of Warcraft.
Over time players of World of Warcraft have become adept at using the resources around them. If you become lost you can use your map. If you are unsure about the mechanics of a boss fight you can use the dungeon journal. At a moments notice a player is able to access an infinite amount of useful information without having to memorize it.
Its kind of like the day I got my cell phone and programmed all my phone numbers into it. I stopped needing to memorize phone numbers at that point.
No comments:
Post a Comment