Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:2306] Re: Games and Emotions
From: Barry Kort (bkort@musenet.org)
Date: Wed 10 Oct 2001 - 13:38:34 MEST
From: Barry Kort <bkort@musenet.org> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:2306] Re: Games and Emotions Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 07:38:34 -0400 (EDT)
Marc Prensky writes:
> To Barry Kort's comments:
> Puzzles are a very interesting part of gaming, appealing to some and not
> others. It might be useful to try to classify game puzzles in terms of the
> varying skills they require/impart. Does anyone know of places where this
> has been done?
Puzzles call for various methods of reasoning. I am most interested in
those puzzles where there is a specific learnable method of reasoning
that most people in the population don't yet possess, and which solves
important problems extant in the culture at large. There are some good
books written for the lay audience which introduces puzzles and their
associated methods of solution. Martin Gardner of Scientific American
made a career out of organizing puzzles and their methods of solutions.
See also the books by Polya, de Bono, and Poundstone.
> You write "Emotionally, they generate Endorphin highs rather than Adrenaline
> rushes." Interesting -- are you being literal? If so, what is the evidence
> for this? Can we measure what is being produced as one plays?
I am being literal, although the elation that one experiences upon
solving a challenging puzzle (the "thrill of victory") is probably a
cocktail of the molecules of emotion, and not just Endorphins alone.
Without doing real-time blood chemistry, we have to rely on the visible
surface effects of the joy of finding things out. At the Science
Museum, where I staff the puzzle counter every Saturday, I've become
accustomed to observing and celebrating the euphoric elation that comes
with solving a hard puzzle. Nonetheless, it's quite palpable, and the
"high-fives" are genuine celebrations of emotional satisfaction.
> Based on NASA research one abortive company tried to use games get ADD kids
> to produce beta rather than theta waves in their brains in order to show
> them what attrention "feels like." (Unfortunately they ran out of funding).
> Much of the best research on games' effectivness comes from games used for
> helping kids with problems.
One time at the Museum of Science, a mother came in with her 11-yr old
ADHD son, whom she said had a 5-minute attention span at best. While
she was explaining this to me, I put a few puzzles in front of the lad,
observing his level of interest until I zeroed in on a puzzle that he
found most intriguing. Thirty minutes later, the mother was boring me
to tears with her non-stop babble about how her son had a 5-minute
attention span. In the meantime, he was totally absorbed in the puzzle.
Suddenly she realized they were going to be late for the Omni movie,
and she hastily pulled him away from the puzzle to which he had become
gainfully and productively engaged for the entire time she had been
putting me to sleep. As she dragged the poor boy away from his glee,
it occurred to me that it was good I wasn't carrying a gun, for I
fantasized shooting her in the back as she left.
Barry
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