Doing homework when I don't even have school tomorrow, blah!
"You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired!" by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas
First I want to say that I think it is quite funny that this one page article took two people to write it. But other than that I thought it was fairly interesting.
Basically it talks about how online worlds such as the world of warcraft teach you valuable work related skills, such as: flexibility in thinking, more sensitive to social cues, leadership, and just general people skills. All very good and very true.
I liked the idea that it is learning by accident. I don't think so many people would be interested in the game if they knew it was teaching them to be better workers, especially those with a "screw the boss" mantality.
The leadership thing was a bit of a strech to me. It had valid points, but not everyone in the game has their own guild and leads people accordingly. Maybe a better thought would have been it teaches you how to follow the leader (or kill monsters depending on your job).
I think over all the article just needed it a bit more to it. I don't think a page totally convinces me that playing this game is making me a better person/worker. I think an interesting point they could have gone over was that of Thompson's, or better yet, Castronova (the whole economy idea). They could have said it helps teach economics.
Other than that, I don't really have anything else to say. I wanted to link to something like you suggested Tom, but I couldn't think of anything relavent. Maybe I just haven't turned my brain back on from weekend mode yet.
Jessica
1 comment:
As a case study, I think it is fairly provocative, but not much else. As mentioned in the Thompson article, the upper-echelon of skilled players in games like these are the ones devoting a huge amount of time to them. I think, although skills in leadership are important, they may not be fully realized in a digital environment where text-based communication is basically all there is (arguments for future technologies and the anomaly of voice communication aside). These vast conjectures seem to not take into account that non-verbal communication (i.e. body language, haptics, even dress) is much more pervasive than simple words. And for some reason I tie a sense of alienation to a person sitting physically alone in a room, staring at a screen to collect digital gold and items, however well said person can lead people to the slaughter of The Mighty Beast of Grorknock.
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