Gaming wikis & learning

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Gaming Wikis & Learning Matthew Barr, HATII @hatii_matt

Transcript of Gaming wikis & learning

Page 1: Gaming wikis & learning

Gaming Wikis & Learning

Matthew Barr, HATII

@hatii_matt

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Gaming & social media

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Gaming & social media

• Ever-closer integration

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Gaming & social media

• All of the large gaming platforms include their own „social

network‟

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Gaming & social media

• The future?

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Games & learning

• Prensky (2001), Jenkins

(2006), Gee (2008) and Squire

(2011) influential in establishing the

pedagogical value of video games

• Recurring theme that modern video

games are complex beasts: to play

them, players must get to grips with

this complexity, and develop an

understanding of the in-game

systems.

Hello, Lisa!

I‟m Genghis Khan.

You‟ll go where I go!

Defile what I defile!

Eat who I eat!

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Games as systems

• Kurt Squire suggests that we can learn „academic‟ content through

video games, including the in-game terminology, a range of strategies

and “the emergent properties of the game as a system”.

• That video games can help develop „systemic understanding‟, as

opposed to simply learning facts, is an idea echoed by James Paul

Gee (2005), who states that “what gamers learn is empathy for a

complex system”.

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Why wikis?

• The wiki has become the de facto online reference

medium for gaming.

• Community-spirited gamers meticulously document their

gaming experiences for the benefit of others, from simple

guides (e.g. weapon statistics, character biographies) to

complex theories and strategies (including maps and

video captured from the games).

• The best gaming wikis are highly structured, providing

multiple routes through the information, a variety of

appropriate media and a lively discussion element.

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WikiGeeks – Gaming and Collaborative Learning

• Always think carefully about your project title

• Interested in examining more closely the use of gaming

wikis, where players document their gaming strategies in

sometimes astonishing detail

• Some of the most tangible manifestations of gamers‟

pseudo-academic engagement with the gaming medium

• Made all the more interesting by the collaborative and

social processes that underpin the wikis‟ creation.

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Dwarf Fortress

• The Dwarf Fortress wiki

currently comprises

– 1742 articles

– a comprehensive system for

quality assurance

– a „Centralized Discussion„ area

Flowchart which encapsulates one

possible approach to attaining self-

sufficiency for the player‟s in-game fort

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Dark Souls

• Released by From Software for

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC in 2011.

• Popular action role-playing

game, renowned for its challenging

difficulty and distinct lack of in-game

guidance.

• More opaque qualities of the game

encourage players to consult or contribute

to online resources such as wikis, as they

seek to make sense of the world presented

by the game.­

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Research methods

• Interviews conducted with

contributors to the Dark Souls wikis

at http://darksouls.wikia.com and

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com.

• Interviews conducted within the

relevant wikis, with a one-to-one

interview using one wiki‟s built-in

chat system and a group interview

using the wiki‟s blog.

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Research methods

• The wiki-based group interview was structured by creating

a blog post around a group of related questions and

asking volunteers to answer these questions in the

comments.

• Linked to a digital copy of a standard consent form and

tried to ensure that all participants were aware of this.

However, there was nothing to stop wiki users from

commenting on the blog – at least one participant was

probably under 18 years of age, so his responses can‟t be

used in any publication, for example.

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Research methods

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Some thoughts on research methods

• I would use the wiki/blog-based approach to group interviews again

• I may still attempt to conduct an interview in-game, and capture the

video and audio to post on YouTube, but my feeling is that the

asynchronous group interview approach worked best

• Interviewees had time to reflect on their answers and view each

other‟s‟ responses

• As is often the case with using focus groups rather than one-to-one

interviews, this sharing of responses probably had the effect of

drawing out more from the respondents

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Some early results

• Those interviewees who actually participated were very

co-operative, and thoughtful in their responses. Some

recurring themes/observations:

• Standards are important to these respondents, not just in

terms of the completeness and accuracy of the

information contained within the wiki, but also with respect

to grammar and writing style.

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Some early results

• I might have got lucky with the folk at darksouls.wikia.com

– other wikis were approached and the response was

much less impressive.

• In other cases, early indications of willingness to

participate quickly evaporated, resulting in multiple

failed attempts to schedule a Skype interview with one

respondent and another asynchronous interview simply

petering out.

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Some early results

• For the most part, the motivation described by these

dedicated wiki contributors is almost entirely intrinsic:

they do it for the love of the game itself, and out of a

desire to support the community that has grown up

around it. Extrinsic rewards are of little concern.

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What motivates gaming wiki contributors?

• Wiki contributor „Brainwasher5‟ started work on the

wikia.com Dark Souls wiki after discovering that he could

not correct erroneous information on other wikis devoted

to the game:

“I came across this wiki, which was at the time

even more woefully undeveloped than it is now.

But the only important thing for me was that I

could edit it. Dark Souls is a very meticulously

crafted game, so it only makes sense that all of

its information sources be held up to the same

standards, and that‟s why I‟m here.”

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What motivates gaming wiki contributors?

“One reason I contribute to Dark Souls wiki that I hadn‟t

brought up before is the fact that there is so much in the

game (both lore-wise and gameplay-wise) that you can

miss at first glance. This is not a Michael Bay film;

things are not shoved into your face. Dark Souls is

much more coy when it comes to facts and lore, and it‟d be

a shame if busier or less attentive players play through this

amazing game and miss stuff. So I like to think that when

I‟m writing here, particularly about elusive or esoteric lore

or item facts, I am helping enlighten fellow gamers

regarding this jewel of a game.” - „Brainwasher5‟

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What motivates gaming wiki contributors?

• Fellow contributor „Ltpliers‟ agrees that the quality of the

game is what motivates him to devote time to the wiki:

“I contribute to this wiki simply because I enjoy the game

and, with the information I have, I feel that it‟s good to give

back to the community for such a great game.”

“A wiki I find is a very convenient source of

information that saves time and the more

extensive we can make our wiki and the more

convenient we can sort it, the better off it will

be for standard users to allow them to enjoy

the game as much as we have.”

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What motivates gaming wiki contributors?

“I feel that writing up the wiki is just as important as using it

as not only am I learning information myself but also giving

back to the community for such an excellent game.”

“Any time I have some free time I try to get some information

updated or try to fix up problems or formatting that we may

have missed so that others may find information more

conveniently and more thoroughly written.”

- „Ltpliers‟

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What motivates gaming wiki contributors?

• Some final thoughts from Brainwasher5 underline the

general consensus that contributing to a wiki – even one

devoted to something as apparently trivial as a video

game – is a worthwhile experience:

“I think that editing wikis can be a very rewarding

experience. Even if you don‟t learn anything

yourself, enlightening others is, to me, highly fulfilling. Hours

spent editing and creating pages on this wiki are worth it, as

long as people read them and learn something new. I highly

recommend ANYONE, not just gamers, to try out editing a

wiki and see what they can do to improve it.”

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Quick summary

• The intersection between games and social media

provides a rich seam for research

– Games are important!

• Social media is increasingly integrated into games, in

many different ways

– Not just about marketing

• If we can harness or emulate some of the enthusiasm

„gamers‟ have for social media, we are on to a winner

– What motivates gaming wiki contributions is a love of the topic

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Thanks!

[email protected] @matt_hatii

http://www.smke.org