EduBacon Starting Up

So, I've been posting about the blog event, but until now there's been little to show for it until now. Sure, there's plenty of work to do, but this thing is starting. With the Serious Games Jam happening next week, I have a pre-event for two weeks on getting things done that will be happening. That should be plenty useful in and of itself, but then there is the blogging/discussion event to come. Even self promotion can be helpful to this kind of event, so long as you have good relevant content.

Basically, I don't want to detract or compete with the Serious Games Jam. It's a great set of discussions on it's own. No point in holding my event at the same time. However there are plenty of reasons to put together a bunch of resources on getting things done before and during the event. If nothing else it is useful to those who are likely to participate in the Serious Games Jam.

So, here's the general plan. I'm going to be making posts on getting things done that have a bunch of relevant links in them. If you have some great, or even okay, links to such materials, please share them. Contributions will be noted. After that, the blogging event will get going.

Yet that's not the whole of this. While I'm posting useful content like that, you can do several things to get into the action. You can add your thoughts and comments to the mix of ideas. You can share the word about the blogging event. You can share great resources so others can use them. We're all in this together.

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

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Masters and Meditation

Normally people think of meditation as merely the clearing of one's mind, because those that teach it don't explain why to do it or what it leads to. Reminds me of the question about school subjects, "When am I going to use it in real life?"

Basic Mastery

This is the stage one reaches where they have learned and understand the craft/subject from it's point of view. This is what a lot of people think it means to be a master and expect the results of being a full master.

Intermediate Mastery

This is the stage where the person has gained a broader understanding from many points of view. These people are sometimes slower to answer a question, but they have a higher accuracy rate than the basic master, and they are also more flexible in their application of skills.

Full Mastery

This is when the speed comes back through experience and familiarity while also increasing the scope and flexibility. These are the "grand" masters people recognize as learning from all of life to improve their skills and understanding and then apply their increased mastery to the rest of life.

Meditation Mastery

First you learn to clear your mind during a dedicated time. This is a single application of self-control. To clear your mind you put worries, feelings and impulses in their proper place, that is under your control rather than in control. Most people have trouble doing this during quiet, still meditation. Even with moving meditation and other forms, many still struggle with this.

Second, you learn to clear your mind during other activities. Moving meditation uses a particular activity to help reach the calm state. The difference is scope. Moving meditation uses the one activity while this advanced form is to reach a meditative state, clear minded, during any and all activities. It becomes easier as you accomplish it with more activities. That is because you are able to compare becoming clear minded with different things to focus on.

Third, after identifying the meditative state, you try to maintain it. Being calm, open to possibilities and effective at all times is the goal. It's not that your mind is always without thought, it's that you can clear the useless and hindering thoughts from your mind when needed. This is generically useful and known as focus.

Today's Lesson:
There are different levels of mastery.

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

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Jeet Kune Do for the Polymath: Life Long Learning

As I've been pushing this thing now called EduBacon, I've been researching Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do. It's an interesting approach to martial arts that can be applied to teaching and learning of all sorts. This is very much my own personal style to learning, though I have absolutely no training in such a style. It is to study, learn, improve, refine, be honest, be aware and be flexible.

Polymath

Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath

A polymath is a person who has gone past the Jack of all trades. Rather than being a jack of all trades and master of none, they are a jack of all trades and master of some. People like , Einstien, Leanardo da Vinci and Archimedes were all polymaths, especially Da Vinci. Like the knights of the high middle ages and the romanticized versions, learning about social, martial, artistic, philosophic and scientific topics is expected.

Jeet Kune Do

The name translates to "Way of the Intercepting Fist".
Wikipeia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do

Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do Documentary
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4CVTq44icg
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDCyGHmGP2k
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lArIcs92rA
4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGkgQuYtqtk
5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07OurW8xllg
6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeEf6O3dsXA
7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itK_D7HxkLI
8) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg1VlaETzC0
9) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWrxFEEiB9k

This isn't a passive or aggressive approach, but rather an assertive approach. You move and flow with the events as they happen and when opportunity comes you flow into the opening. This is why the strike would be said to just happen instead of being done. You stay in a functional state of mind so that you are unhindered to express yourself through those things you have learned.

It is also a process of self improvement based on your current state. Absorbing those things which are useful to you increases your effectiveness. Rejecting those things which are useless makes you more efficient. Learn what you can from using that which is useful and grow. This is how you add your own touch to it. As you improve, what is useful and useless will change, thus you should not write something off because of it's current uselessness to you. Remember it, but do not be limited by it.

Wider Application

By taking the Jeet Kune Do approach and using it in a wider scope you can become a more well rounded individual. Whether or not the teacher helps you use this method, you can. When learning, they are not the important part, because they are merely the help for you to grow and learn. "Be real." Think AND do.

"It's not how much you have learned but how much you have absorbed in what you have learned."

"Man, he is constantly growing and when he is bound by a set of pattern of ideas or way of doing things, that's when he stops growing." Bruce Lee

I don't understand these concepts as something taught to me, but as something inherent to my way of life. I work on my body to work on my mind. I work on my mind to work on my understanding of life. I work on my understanding of life to work on my body. By starting in one area a person can learn about it in a narrow way. Having "mastered" it, they can apply that to other things they learn in a broad way. Then they can use the other things they have learned to gain a broader understanding of the first.

Learning Science Meets Game Design

"A few simple techniques well presented, an aim clearly seen, are better than a tangled maze of data whirling in disorganized educational chaos." Bruce Lee

This quote sums up so much of good game design and teaching. You give enough to learn without overwhelming. You make sure to properly share the concepts, ideas, with others. This gives the opportunity for the students/players to grow and learn through doing. This is where the knowledge gained through study meets the knowledge gained through experience. Those give the driven individual the ability to grow.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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Jeet Kune Do for the Polymath: Life Long Learning

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Misery By Choice

I like to look into the interesting connection and results of how people think about and approach life. Something that just occurred to me is a cycle that goes from choice to misery. It's understood by many that bad news gets better ratings. The choice to look for bad news means good news is ignored. After a while the bad news is primarily what is seen rather than the good news. Mostly bad news leads to a lack of hope and misery as all around people see the bad and not the good.

There are many little choices we make without thinking about the long range effects. Usually this is due to the immediate situation and sensations. This is but one example. Perhaps if this gets a decent response I'll post about others I notice.

Stimulation Addiction

This is the reason people prefer bad news, it gives them some sort of pleasent stimulation. The reasons vary, but the point is that the motivation is getting stimulation. In some way it makes the person feel better.

Reward Reaction

Like an animal being trained, the person who keeps coming back to the bad news keeps getting their reward. They look for the bad news because it gives them the reward they may not even know they are seeking. This behavior culminates in surrounding one's self with nothing but bad news.

Bad News Blues

The bad news is seen, heard and reiterated till the good is forgotten and ignored. With little to no good in a person's view of reality, hopelessness, despair and misery ensue.

Metaphor Meaning

In a way this is like a drug. Some people dabble with minor effects while others drown in their addiction(s). If the person doesn't want to get out of their lifestyle, there isn't a lot of hope. They have to see and understand the benefit and choose another way of life.

Parallel Application

A student who doesn't want to learn will not learn, and a player who doesn't want to live the experience won't. Truth is that these things are optional growth and the person must in some way "opt in". Games work by the principle of opting in, one of the keys to opening the doors of the mind, that can lead to motivation.

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

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Opt In Effort Design

If a person holds self back, they will not fully experience a situation. This is where the adage "You get out of it what you put into it." When living by fear you hold back on the chance that the experience is bad and so you don't want to fully experience it. However this means you will get little benefit out of anything.

Whether I am designing a game or learning situation I still count it as user experience design, and so it seems logical to design an opt in part.

What's This About?

It's not about the possible misuse.
It's not about the actions or results.

It's about practice and experience.
It's about learning and growth.

If you want people to do, then you should train them by having them do. There is plenty of things that are done in schools, but the real world doing is reserved for those who have proved themselves in some way. This doesn't make sense as a general teaching approach. You don't learn while memorizing. They are two totally different actions.

Where's the fun?

Depends on the fun you are talking about, but I think fun generally comes from DOing something. Maybe that's just me. By taking on new identities and not just memorizing what other people have done you can have a more full learning experience, but it takes more than a little opt in to get there.

Learning and understanding require knowledge and dedication of self. Many things are not fun without a decent amount of personal dedication, and the knowledge needed to DO.

It's like stepping up to the plate. Sure, you swing and miss only to swing and miss again, but then comes the time where after trying and observing you learn and understand. Stepping up to the plate you pick up the bat with confidense and determination. The results don't matter, because the effort is all that's on your mind. Without reservation you swing the bat. Even missing the first two times means nothing, except that you will have to swing a third time. This is the time where trying and testing really count, because it has meaning to you. If you miss the third time, it would be disappointing, but to hit the ball out of the park is the point.

Who's helping out?

Those charged with helping people learn need to look for those stepping up to the plate and use their feedback appropriately. Positive and negative feedback can be used to not only help people reach this point, but also to make the most of these times.

Sure, it's not easy, but it's worth the effort. Getting to know all those students and learning about each of them enough to build a quality relationship. Then cultivating their creativity, showing that they matter and getting them to continue to try all take effort. Sometimes though, it's as easy as stepping out of the way and watching the student shine. Knowing when to give an opportunity, to push them harder and/or step out of the way is as much a part of this as helping students get to that point. In fact it may be more important as being able to identify success makes it easier to see what contributes to it.

Where to now?

A classic saying that encapsulates the reasons for opt-in design is, "Fake it till you make it." Another is, "Practice makes perfect." The first is geared more towards the motivation side of things and the second is more inline with results.

One of the pieces of advice I've heard several times about getting a job is to already being doing the work. The motivation for learning is usually to accomplish some goal. Trying, failing, improving and trying again shows the improvement, or lack there-of. This gives a way to judge training effectiveness. Think about the two phrases and how experience mixes with knowledge to become learning.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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Opt In Effort Design

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Are Games REALLY the Problem?

I've never liked the view that media is the problem. That's not to say that there aren't problems with the media that's made, but rather that it's not the REAL problem that needs to be dealt with.

'As Sid puts it, “the player shouldn’t have to read the same books the designer has read in order to be able to play.”' - http://www.designer-notes.com/?p=119

This got me thinking along the lines of two previous posts. One is about improving the user to improve the system (Oops, I have to finish this one.) and the other is about what real serious game design. It seems to me that the problem might be a combination of people only wanting to play, as in the truly not being open to learning more or expending time and effort to improve, and that people expect the systems to make it so there are no consequences to the former.

Design Challenges

While reading a section of the post ( http://www.designer-notes.com/?p=119 ) called "One Good Game is Better than Two Great Ones" I found myself disagreeing with the tone, till I read the second half of the section. In the first half it talks about having two main concepts fighting for the top place in the design. The second half talks about mixing them to the benefit, rather than detriment, of the gameplay.

Seemed like designers saying we have to make the games simple to do it well, even though that isn't really what's meant in the post. I have seen this view before. First, this is due to marketing and business, not game design. Second, it's a matter of skill and creativity to get big ideas to properly coexist. Third, smaller games are easier to finish and produce. So, I do understand where some people are coming from. It's just not my preference most of the time. As stated in the post, "sometimes multiple games can co-exist in harmony with each other." ( http://www.designer-notes.com/?p=119 )

See, I find it insulting to be told as a gamer and designer that game should be simpler. As a gamer I expect to be pushed in games. Even something as nice and friendly as a farming game has consequences. Treating your animals and crops badly means you will get a small return. So, you are pushed to improve your farming and ranching skills and performance to get better results. I want to create such games that push the players. In the example game from the section, intense action and "an involved mystery-type plot" are put into one game. The action and clues didn't work well together in that game apparently. During the action the players seemed to have forgotten the clues and mystery.

This is the kind of thing I consider a design challenge. While it is true that you can settle for doing as mentioned in the post and tone down the action, there are other solutions.

Possible Solutions

Integrate them on a more granular level. How about having the mystery be a part of the action and the action be a part of the mystery? Where should you try to go during the action? What are the implications of the clue you just found or didn't find where it should have been? Where were the most guards? Why were they there? Could the opposing side have been misleading you? These are possible questions to present to the player to make the two play types work together. Mystery can heighten the action, and the action can provide clues to the mystery.

Make skill growth a major part of the gameplay. Perhaps you start off as a low ranking officer or agent. As you do better in the missions you get promotions. Higher ranked individuals get harder missions and access to more resources. By putting in clues and patterns into the mission generator. Maybe the mystery is optional, or even one of several. This goes into the realm of emergent stories and gameplay, but that could be a good thing.

Interesting Results

Both solutions suggested have educational results, based on assisted learning more than educating. Lots of people don't like to think. As odd a concept as that is for me, I've found it to be violently true. Feelings of security, pleasure and other preferred sensations usually take priority over things like logic, needs and reality.

The granular integration idea helps by blurring the lines. Rather than switching back and forth between thinking and doing, you switch which one is leading and which one is guiding. In the action sequences you are guided by the mystery and clues in your action choices. When the action is over, it takes a guiding role to the mystery solving. By guiding I mean advising. Which direction you go in the action sequences depends on the clues and mystery stuff. Maybe it's better to chase down the henchman, or perhaps the files and data is more important. What happens in the action is important to solving the mystery.

The job promotion and skill based growth idea goes a different direction. Instead of blurring the lines, it makes putting the pieces of the mystery together a part of determining the action. As you do better at remembering the mystery stuff despite the action, you get tools and resources that help you solve the mystery. In other words, it's a positive feedback loop. The fact that the player has trouble with keeping the mystery in mind fits the idea of being a new officer or agent. Meeting the challenge is as much a part of the gameplay as the intense action and involved mystery.

Obvious Fix

If people are having trouble remembering something, you could just remind them. Clue notebooks, communications, meetings and other options are available depending on the setting and plot. While this could mean the other ideas aren't needed, I waited to mention this know because I wanted to prove a point. There are ways to make an idea better without degrading the content. Even if the big solutions aren't available, there are usually simpler options to choose.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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Are Games REALLY the Problem?

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