How You Say What They Think

Effective communication is a hard skill to learn and maintain, but well worth the effort. Little details can easily blow up into a big miscommunication. One such problem is the wording of phrases people don't think much about.

For a while I wondered if there might be a connection between native language and how people think. Now I'm pretty sure there is at least one, but it is as much cultural as linguistic. Little phrases people normally don't think about can shape how they think. That's because each time reinforces the ideas without much care for accuracy. This works like the lesson every designer should remember, if you allow it to happen, somebody will do it.

A good example is an analogy gone wrong. Let's take the idea of school being like work. When examined that really isn't very true, but it is a common concept. Yet, there is some truth there that started the whole mess, because it isn't examined and understood. It is merely quoted and given half a thought.

When quoted incorrectly, and accepted it spreads. Each time it is accepted it is reinforced as correct. Yet each time it is passed like that it is not understood, and so the original meaning is lost.

Repeatedly reinforced and accepted incorrectly, the results become a part of how people think about the topic, such as school. While most of the time this isn't a problem, there are times where it can be. With school being like work, the deeper patterns that make them different are ignored. How many teachers a student has making schedules is not the same as having one boss. With that one difference, many problems of advice and reactions can occur. Then there is how people plan for those events.

Another example would be in electrical engineering. To make the math and logic accurately model electricity, electrons would be positive and protons would be negative. The flow of electricity goes opposite the direction drawn in circuits. Yet, since people are not forced to change it, the inaccurate but workable communications are used. The general concepts of positive and negative currently don't match with the way electricity is explained. This leads to confusing people who are trying to learn physics. I know that because it happens in my college physics class.

When such things are confronted, most of the time people will try to keep things from changing. There are plenty of reasons why, but the important part is what you do. Do you try to be accurate, or are you willing to say whatever is needed to get the desired result?

In both game designing and education, the important part is not the immediate satisfaction. When designing a game, the first workable solution is rarely the full wonderful solution that will make the game great. It's just like in education where just getting the right answer doesn't mean near as much as the understanding to properly handle yourself beyond homework word problems.

Personally, it is a matter of integrity. Respect for the truth, myself and my opposition, possibly those watching if there are any, motivates truthfulness in public. The more who properly understand what's being discussed, the better the world can be. In education and game designing, not looking for these sorts of unheeded assumptions and misunderstandings is something I would classify as selling out.

Rather than try for some snappy conclusion, I'll leave you all with a quote from the song "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor, "so many times it happens too fast you trade your passion for glory don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past you must fight just to keep them alive".

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan

How You Say What They Think

View Blog Reactions