From Wired News via Ludology
“The weird thing was that last night in my half-sleep, half-awake haze, I thought I was playing Katamari Damacy, too, and I kept trying to roll Kozy up in my ball,” said Dan Kitchens. “I think I got this just from watching Kozy play the game for hours.”
I only link to this because I’ve played KD. I’ve had no urge to roll over anything when I’m out and about but the game is curiously immersive. The music is also fantastic. I’m sure Susan Gibb will be tickled by this article.
And Coonce-Ewing will understand a little better the link between game immersion and the classroom and why I’m so interested in it. And if Jordan White’s reading, it’s for you too.
Hmm. I was afraid of this. But the phenomenon is real; I’ve done it myself in reaching for the keyboard, or once when I was a kid, I remember spending the night with a very strong feeling in my fingers of squeezing a worm to get the hook in after a long day of fishing.
Yesterday’s mail brought this from Amazon: “Narrative as Virtual Reality”, by Marie-Laure Ryan, subtitled, “Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media.” Should be interesting.
Meanwhile, with a day ahead of heavy dedication to fighting that conehead thing in Silent Hill 2, Narratives members should perhaps be wary at tomorrow’s meeting, and remember this quote from the article you mention: “I’d play it, then walk out into the office corridor and realize I was looking at my co-workers as potential targets,” said Taylor. “I was so used to killing anything that moved.”
I myself have never been so immersed in a computer game that I have retained it in the real world, perhaps I don’t let myself go enough.
I think herein lies the problem for a teacher looking to use the interactive narrative. Children are now conditioned to full visual immersion along with reflexive twitching to accomplish their task, the games promoting instinctual rather than cognitive responses. How can I compete against a visual cornucopia?
Students would already rather play with their Nintendo DS than listen to a teacher. How to then make my own work more interesting than playing the Sims or Everquest when they are given time at the computer?
So where do I start? Steve had posted a comment about the Cybernetic Teacher. Would that be enough to hold a student’s interest? I think it might work for a college student, especially one who was older than the fresh out of high school student.
Those entering college today have always known computers and gaming systems and have short attention spans that crave visual stimulus and immediate gratification.