Can RTSG's be used as a learning tool?
My research is based on many online games however my experiences while playing
http://apps.facebook.com/realmofempires/ has left an impact.I had a chance to interact with many players all around the world.
Why " Realm of Empires " and not WoW or a successful game for my research?
This game had just begun so I had the opportunity to build relations with players and understand them better. The most important thing is I did not have to play it for hours as in the case of other RPG's. An experience worth sharing.
Why do people play Real Time Strategy Games?
Bonding : In this mad world where sharing with near ones is becoming so limited that people often try to develop meaningful relationships with other players in the game - usually in the form of a supportive friendship or Emotional Support.
Fantasy : People have dreams and want to live a particular character.This desire to try out new personalities and roles brings them to this platform. They enjoy being in the company of other role-players. They build up a personal history and story for their characters.
Frustrations : Certain people who are not able to achieve real life objectives enjoy dominating other players by killing them on the battlefield, or by taunting and annoying them. They get immense satisfaction in destruction and enjoy the fact that they have been successful.
Emergent learning: People who dream to develop games play very extensively to get a hold of the aspects of such games.
Playing highlights the possibility of a kind of “emergent learning” where the pedagogy isn’t dictated as in traditional training software, but emergent in the sense that it occurs because of the rich system mechanics.
Achievement: The desire to become powerful within the construct of a game is what keeps some players to spend a lot of time in the game. They view games egocentrically—that is, they focus on their own position. The underlying theme is a desire to get bigger numbers. And the satisfaction comes from feeling powerful , authoritative and influential. Usually they never help anyone or are the first one's to cry and raise there voices if they lose.
Leadership: This factor measures the gregariousness and assertiveness of the player. Players who score high on this factor prefer to group rather than solo. They are often assertive individuals and usually drift to leadership positions when in a group. Because a group led by an indecisive leader often gets fragmented, the assertiveness of these players probably allows them to be effective group leaders in the game. They know the importance of focusing on others—namely, allocentrism. To look forward and reason backward is the motto they follow.
In groups within the MMORPG environment, leaders deal with both administrative as well as higher-level strategy issues, most of which arise and have to be dealt with spontaneously.
Administrative tasks include:
Role assignment and task delegation to run a group consisting of 100-500 players which is really challenging.
Crisis management is exercised when there is a war and quick decision making has to be exercised.
Logistical planning, and how rewards are to be shared among group members.
Higher-level strategy tasks include: motivating group members, dealing with negative attitudes, dealing with group conflicts, as well as encouraging group loyalty and cohesion. These issues are even more salient in long-term social groups, such as clans or guilds, which have formalized membership and rank assignments. In other words, MMORPGs provide many opportunities for short-term and long-term leadership experiences.
To sum it up:
Leadership skills enhanced from MMORPG experience.
Mediation: Resolving in-group conflicts. Reducing in-group tension.
Persuasion: Convincing the group to move to a different area, or change hunting tactics.
Motivation: Instilling loyalty. Providing encouragement.
Organising: For a guild or a clan to be successful it is very important for organising and working as a team.
Forward planning : To every action, there is a reaction. But, unlike Newton’s third law of motion, the reaction is not programmed to be equal and opposite in real life and neither in RPG's .
To analyze how other players will react to your move, you need to play out all the reactions (including yours) to their actions as far ahead as possible. You have to look forward far into the game and then reason backward to figure out which of today’s actions will lead you to where you want to end up.
The exploration and debate of whether individuals can learn leadership skills from their MMORPG experience is unending. It demonstrates that actual real-life skills can be learnt in virtual settings. It also allows educators and corporate training creators to think of MMORPGs as more than just games, and shows that MMORPGs should be thought of as potential educational mediums.
http://apps.facebook.com/realmofempires/ certainly has the perfect settings to be enjoyed by every genre.
