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The article by Vikaros and Degand is primarily about using video games to benefit moral character as it puts people in situations that are “out of reach.” The paper explains “morality” and how it is developed in someone, including the different rates and stages during different parts of life. Schemata, such as social roles, contribute to the development of morality since they run decision making and reasoning. People behave immorally due to lack of self awareness and efficacy, which is changed due to choices given and potential outcomes of those choices. Ethics and narrative play also play a role in morals, which leads the paper to its point that video games can develop morals. They mediate social interactions and can be used for education, but the most important part is the social narrative, as mentioned above. Games that require different perspectives and negotiations of ethical dilemmas has been linked to moral development in a casual setting. The paper offers various design recommendations, including creating meaningful choices with consequences, focusing on socio-moral dilemmas, and knowing your audience when creating a game. The success of these types of games is already shown by September 12, a simulation about the war on terror. Adventure and RPG games have an influence on the morals as well. The paper’s main point is to get across the idea that future research and creation of narrative video games could lead to citizens achieving high stages of morality.

The simulation was similar to reading a grpahic novel, but in some panels, the reader had to make a decisions. There were answers as simple as answering a text, or responding to a man’s catcall. The end of the sim was very impacting, especially when Natalie was explaining her story. The first time I played, Luke and Natalie ended up leaving together, and he hurt her. The videos after this time were of Luke feeling moderately bad, but Natalie not even being able to talk to or see her friends because they “wouldn’t understand.” The second time I played, I stopped the situation which stopped that ending. At the end, Luke confesses what he knew he was trying to do and apologizes. He says theat he really does like Natalie and wants to be the “man she deserves.” Natalie thanks the player, states that she “doesn’t know what would’ve happened” if the situation hadn’t been stopped, and asks the player to continue to look out for her.. I am sure there are many other endings, but the main idea is that any choice you make has an impact and creates a different “story line.”\

When playing the game, it felt like every choice was almost wrong. It was important to see how they played out, but I was always anxious whenever I had to make a decision. I thought the game was good at showing the player that anything they do can change the events of a night or day. I found that confronting situations is usually the best way to fix things, espeically if you feel like it is the right thing. I have been in a situation where I have had to stop one of my girlfriends from leaving with a guy since she was too inebriated to make her own decisions. The guy was extremely sketchy and I had never seen him in my life, and as mad as she was in the moment that I stopped it, she was thankful the next day. I saw on Facebook that something similar was happening at a bar in Vacaville, where two men were carrying an almost lifeless body out of a bar. A lady and her friends stepped in to stop them and the men claimed that she was their best friend and they were just taking her home. The woman speaking to them asked to see photos of them together and they couldn’t provide any. While this was occurring the women unlocked the girl’s phone and called two of her friends to get her. It’s scary how real this is, and I think the videos with the actual people in them was a good point of that.

Have you ever been put in a situation where you had to make a decision that you didn’t know would have an impact in the future? Ever been in one where you knew what you did would make an impact?

As I continue playing, I have been focusing on the story line and completing quests while keeping my empire happy. I haven’t expanded much, so the continent map isn’t very large for me. It’s hard to navigate the continent map since it limits you on how far up or down you can go depending on how much land you’ve acquired. I like that each part that can be conquered has a name so you realize that is another empire where people rule and live; this makes it more impacting and purposeful. The map, from what I see, also includes many land types from flat and grassy to steep and mountainous.

The technology ages depend on how much research you have done. Currently, i am in the Bronze Age since I haven’t been able to play much. Technically, the age you are in depends on how many forge points you acquire or how long you are willing to wait for them to regenerate. The only way you can do research is through these points. This seems like another scam such as the different types of currencies and this is all a way to take money while keeping the player intrigued, because the more modern technology age you’re in, the better your empire is and the higher the ranking you have. Even so, each of these ages have specific buildings and levels in order to advance, which is interesting because it appears that they follow the types of buildings in the time this game is set. I hope I can advance to the next age soon and without spending extra money so I can achieve a better ranking and eventually be able to join a guild.

The Ted talk about manipulation and distraction was very interesting and extremely relevant to our day and age. Technology has become persuasive and enchanting, rather than educational, and the central question is how does this better our life? The speaker believes that our thoughts during the day are influenced by the screens we check everyday, which are crafted by various companies to shape the minds of users. The evolution of technology is not random, it wants to capture users and keep them intrigued in the specific app or product. The speaker hits three main elements that are new as technology progresses. First, there has never been a medium in the world that is so totalizing, and users are essentially “jacked into the matrix.” Second, this platform is social and technology has made it easy to show where certain people are and when. Lastly, technology is “intelligent” and “personalized,” such as Facebook (based on what you click on). He compares media to religion and governments, and how technology has more followers than both. Companies defend themselves by saying that if users have complaints they should just use something different, which isn’t easy based off of what your friends are using. We have to change the present so the future isn’t affected badly by the algorithms of technology. The internet has increased the spread of fake news and misinformation, which is explained in a Ted talk about how media is lying and manipulating users. It confuses the reader and causes them to try to figure out what is real and fake, and this skill gets worse and worse as time continues. Reporters are still trying to be accurate, but nowadays anyone that doesn’t agree labels certain news as #fakenews, and now manipulative news is taking over. Speaker Elizabeth gives a talk about how a man was convicted of rape all because some woman thought the man looked like her rapist, or so she thought, but then on the stand she said she was “absolutely positive.” Elizabeth states she said she got involved in the case after she heard this from the victim since she studies “false memories.” Her main point on this is that the mind can be easily convinced of things that didn’t happen through the manipulation of outside influences, such as media. In addition to the false memory, there is memory erasure within humans, as stated by Steve Ramirez. Memories are activated extremely quickly, but only those that are recalled easily in the brain through a trigger. Technology can fall into the wrong hands and create problems that bare false witness. Even if the technology is used correctly, there’s no reassurance that everything is real.

This podcast was extremely interesting, and related to a lot I have seen today. I thought it was intriguing that since the speakers were talking about media and the internet and phone screens, they made this talk an audio recording rather than a video, which seems fitting. I often find myself trying to determine what is real and fake news, and as much as I think I know about defining which is which, I realized that my ideas on “real” news could be completely false. Fake news looks more and more like real news and I frequently finding myself question what I know. In addition, I do find myself forgetting many memories, but now I wonder if this is memory erasure. Does the brain clear itself out of unimportant memories? I now am questioning and wondering what I don’t remember unless I have a trigger, because I have definitely had moments where I remember something random because of a visual or audio stimulus. The brain is crazy, and it’s insane that we can so easily be persuaded by any news source to believe what they want, especially through digital platforms.

Have you ever had a situation where you began to believe something that may not have even happened? Did you ever realize that these thoughts were “false?”

The game has very significant aspects when it comes to education, but some could serve to be better developed. I think in the area of research there could be some sort of module where you get to conduct the research or watch your citizens conduct the research to get a better idea of how easy or difficult it was in that age. In addition for other historical teaching, training men for an army could become a game, because it isn’t an easy thing to do. It would be cool if as a player, you could choose what you want to focus on such as expansion, building houses, making people happy, etc., and once you do that the parts of that area become more specific. For example, if you wanted to imperialize, buildings just pop up for you, but you can dive into the fighting more and see how it actually works with a full army. Along with the historical accuracy and education, moral education through the game could also be redesigned. I mentioned value and choice through scarcity, but I feel, especially during fighting and bargaining to get new land, sympathy could be played into. If a player could directly interact with the ruler of another empire, that would increase sympathy within the game and hopefully outside of it as well.

The game has a variety of currencies, the primary being coins. These can be used for almost everything to bring up your city, but once stuff gets too expensive or valuable, you have to start using diamonds or supplies. The thing is, you can buy more diamonds and supplies using coins since they aid you in buying more important things for your empire. The game also saps money from players through in-app purhcases like getting more diamonds and coins, because the fancy things can be bought without an obscene amount of money. Medals are the most valuable but are the hardest to obtain, and cannot be bought otherwise. I like these the most since they actually prove the players worth and must be earned, not bought. This keeps the game honest and makes the players actually want to level up their city to increase the number of medals and their ranking.

The first video I watched was that where Danah Boyd spoke on teenagers and her fascination with the gap between adults and youth. She explains that young people do value privacy but it is different from that of adults, that they are using innovation to achieve this privacy, and that parents/adults are what is stopping teens from getting the privacy they seek. They choose to be apart of society and be in public, but being public is different from that and young people are trying to find a separation from that. Online it is easier to make things public than trying to keep things private, which is connected to choice of medium. Privacy should be changed to be understood as the control of a social situation not information; this is what youth are navigating and becoming successful in. One of the biggest challenges online is “collapsed context,” and managing it depending on platform. Boyd goes on to explain multiple examples of “separating universes” and using media as a “real-time activity,” to prove to the audience that young people are trying to work around the “publicity” of media so it works for them. Youth connect differently than with adults, which she refers to as “social stenography” so only those “in the know” know where to look. Youth are accustomed to supressive adults in their lives, so they try and keep them from meaning but not content; youth are learning how to achieve their own privacy even in public (online or not). Adults are too obsessed with surveillance, and have limited youth from access to public spaces. The second video was a Tedx Talk by Sherry Turkle on how technology shapes modern-day connections and relationships. She believes technology is taking us places that we don’t want to go, and that it changes who we are. She explains that we remove ourselves from certain emotions and escape into technology, and that when people are together they’re still separate– being “alone together.” This is detrimental to self reflection and personal connection to others. People nowadays believe face to face conversation because it’s “raw” and you can’t control what you’re going to say, but over media you can retouch everything. She states that now we “expect more from technology and less from each other becuase it appeals to us most when we are most vulnerable,” like a shield. Loneliness isn’t a bad thing,because the more you fear it, the lonelier you will be– you have to be comfortable just being with yourself. This will increase self-awareness and self-reflection, and we need to redefine human connection and just listen to others entirely.

I agree with some of the points Turkle made, in the sense that personal connection is much less rare now that technology is reigning in the world. It hurts to see that people would rather use their phone than talk to people, which is something I personally try to defer from. Even so, I love meeting people onilne or in person, but in person is just different. Meeting someone face to face and having a conversation is so important, because you get to fully connect with someone through vulnerability and “realness.” I often say the I wish I lived in the 80s when my parents were in their 20s, because I wish it were the norm to call someone on their house phone or meet people in person to speak with them. That raw connection is what I seek when I make friends or meet new people, because behind a screen it never feels real enough. Yes it’s convenient that we can text and snapchat and significant connections can be made over media platforms, but being with someone in person is so much different. I do admit that I use my phone when I feel “alone,” like she states, but I have been trying to fix that. At the same time, it’s hard to not be on my phone as much because it’s normal to be online all the time, which makes it feel like a job. I think that her point of self-awareness and vulnerability is significant because we don’t need to stop using laptops and phones, we just need to know when and where to use it.

Did anything in the Tedx video resonate with you/ was there something stated that you realized you did? Does this make you want to change how you use technology and interact with others?

There many educational opportunities within this game. First off, you learn about “making it on your own,” through work in the form of research or spending money to make money through buying buildings and then getting profit from them. Decision making is a very important skill in this game, as you have to first decide what’s best for your empire, but also if you want to follow the quests/story line or not. These decisions are made through amount of supplies (or lack thereof). Value is another important skill, it also depends on what each played chooses to value higher, whether it be the happiness of citizens or expanding the empire. I think through the game you get to run the empire exactly how you want, and by having the control it helps you learn new things about yourself internally. This serves for great discussion and critiquing of the game. The phone version of this game is primarily large for a phone and takes a while to install. It is a little harder to navigate than the laptop since the screen is smaller, but I find it easier to “tap” icons rather than “click” them with a mouse. Even so, the laptop seems like a better platform and it keeps me from draining phone battery and storage. The phone does make it mobile, which makes it easier to keep up with your town and make sure you’re maximizing on profits by checking building production as soon as it’s finished.

This weekend I played and discovered new worlds in FoE, while additionally changing my avatar and adding players online. I explored the avatar choice menu and it was extremely interesting. First off, I immediately noticed there were less women than men, but it is also difficult to tell what they look like since we only get the pictures of the faces not the bodies. This game is set in an earlier era and has a Scandinavian feel to it, so it makes sense that there is only one apparently “ethnic” avatar choice. The ethnic lady also seems to be of a lower class than the other avatars provided, as they are wearing jewels but she is wearing “rags.” I believe the main point of the avatars is to show different occupations of people in the time and the empire being created. Lastly, I see a woman who is a knight, which is interesting, since it brings up the masculinity in women and how it was accepted in the past. She does look created to look more manly rather than womanly. In terms of the GUI, the mouse is mostly used to interact with the game: people, buildings, fighting, research, etc. I haven’t experienced much use with the keyboard in the game, but I think there must be a way to use it to play. The game is mostly easy to navigate, it’s just hard to remember where everything is. This is aided by the story/ mentor that you receive quests from. Most menus pop out with many options, most I haven’t unlocked yet since the game is still fresh. I hope to keep playing to complete more quests and gain more land, people, and buildings.

My username is gigiibond since it is easy to remember and conveniently is also my Instagram username. The name of my city is gigiibond’s city because the site is being very slow and not letting me change it as of now. I am in Mount Killmore, which I found when I reopened the website for the game again (I honestly have no idea if this is the world or not). Having a tutorial at the beginning of the game made is very convenient to understand how to do things. So far, I am in the Bronze age, my citizens are happy, and I have made around 6 buildings. I have additionally gained new land by fighting and previously researching how to fight and make spears.

The study on Political Internet Games begins with an intro on other studies about the positive effects of video games in the classroom. The background describes “hard” and “soft” news, digital games for serious purposes, and their use as an expressive medium. The study consisted of interviews of political game developers, which were followed by the interviewing of players of these games. Both of these griups had to play political games and respond in a questionaire about how they felt playing. The developers all had different aims for creating games, but the most significant was creating an impact on their players. They wanted the players to learn something, and they also their gmes to be persuasive and engaging. Part of the process of creation, the study states, is the involvement of the audience. The players obtained new knowledge and formed new opinions after playing the game of their choice, and this incited the players to act politically. The games incited individual and social facilitation, but future research should be conducted to see how games affect the “political-self.” The paper by Mary Flanagan describes the game put together by psychologist Csikszentmihalyi, wherin a large-scale real- life collaborative game was constructed throughout New York. The paper includes pictures of students playing the game. An important point of the game was to include diversity and tolerance, and teach the players of their importance. The game offered collaboration, inquiry, and problem-solving skills through interaction with groups of new people. The conclusion of the paper states that “playing” a game shouldn’t be viewed as an unimportant past time, it is apart of growth, and allows the expression of a new world or a parallel universe, bringing up many new skills including imagination.

I have personally experienced a “real-life” video game, but not as large-scale as one conducted throughout New York. One class in high school (which I was no apart of), hosted a large “video game” on campus at school. This consisted of me and a group of peers going on an adventure to find the hidden “treasure” the school had. We received clues that we had to decipher and we were also provided with a map of the school. We had to collaborate and navigate our way around to be the first group that got to the treasure. In addition to these two resources, we were able to stop at different checkpoints to get supplies to “recharge” us or “boost” us. It was almost like a giant board game and scavenger hunt mixed together. This experience was super cool and allowed me to meet people I never would have met outside of the game.

Would you participate in a campus-wide “video game?” If you were to design it how would you do so? Why?

In the article by Gloria Ladson-Billings, she attempts to illuminate not only “good teaching,” but teaching that is “culturally relevant.” She begins by offering background in linking school and culture and how students who aren’t white and middle-class need more assistance to get comfortable in school and succeed. Gloria defines the culturally relevant pedagogy as one that consists of three parts and is committed to collective empowerment. First, students must develop academic skill regardless of inequalities, since the first step to being empowered is having academic and literate competence. Second, students must retain cultural integrity and teachers must use culture as a vehicle for learning. Lastly, beyond the individual qualities of the first two points, students must become critically active in order to broaden consciousness locally and globally. She finishes by describing types of teaching, and how each teacher used extremely different methods. She interviewed them later and found the style wasn’t what she should focus on, it was how they structured social relations in and out of the classroom (fluid relationships). Finally, she concludes with the thought that this study and paper should implicate further study on the subject of cultural relevance in classrooms. The second article, Teaching Social Studies with Video Games, begins with a history of video games, and how they have migrated from blocks on a screen in an arcade to interactive stories on devices at home. This is to emphasize the accessibility of video games to today’s youth. The aritcle advocates that using video games in social studies classrooms will allow teachers and students to not only engage in the digital age of the 21st century, but to also learn new ideas from the device and each other. This keeps students interested and develops inquiry and problem-solving skills. A teacher used Age of Empires II in a history classroom, where it correlated with the study of the medieval age and all of the civilizations within it. Each student had their own copy of the game and as they played they were required to answer questions about class so they drew out the important parts of the game. Overall, using the video games was effective and the students performed well in class and thoroughly enjoyed the process.

During my high school career, I never considered using video games for academic purposes. I believe video games get a bad rap, espeically from parents since they think media distracts their children from more important things. Parents of students in my age group never grew up with the digital innovation we have today. I think since my parents were so harsh on me about using my phone or playing video games, I always connotated them with distraction and failure, since I continuously heard “get off that thing and study or you’re going to fail.” Now, especially after reading articles like we have in class, I understand the potential video games. There are so many that are educational, and even if they aren’t so many provide significant skills for adult life. If parents read articles and studies such as these, I think they would realize how big of an impact video games could make in classrooms. With students who already are invested in the digital age, it makes sense to integrate media into the “traditional” mode of studying. I think that video games in classes could be a game changer for the better.

Do you think parents have an influence in why media is not used often in classrooms? How do you think you would change that (specifically with your own parents)?