Mediascape: Games & Digital Stories In A Digital World
We bumped into a number concepts over the past few weeks games, the introduction of a class project focused on a potential deep dive into a story-world, and where the digital world has taken us as a society and the concept of digital storytelling. It was a unit of thought provoking fun to be enjoyed from start to finish as it stretched my knowledge and vision in many ways!
I have my eyes on building a very complex music theory game to take the dull drum out of learning music theory for kids in K-12 who are taking private music lessons, so seeing where games can go even in their simplest form was interesting! Educational games that really work is what drew me to this program so I got a kick out of seeing and interacting with the games, and I did post a couple of social media Tweets on them which is pretty big for me. The more I read, see, and play the more I see how much there is to learn. Resonant Games has recently captured my attention, it really pulls you into what they’ve found to be effective in the gaming world!
The Story-World project was launched and the idea of creating an alternate reality is always intriguing, yet challenging. The concept totally captured my attention, although I wasn’t sure how much of an idea pitch was wanted in week one. So I threw some ideas out there, then the next week voted on the options, I have to admit I was a bit lost with where we were heading with this project. Well at least until this week, week seven when we were assigned to teams to pitch a full blown concept. Now I’m waiting to see what comes next!
Digital storytelling was next on the list. This was a concept new to me when it was introduced in week five, however it is where my choice for my second challenge stemmed from. I found the link between stories as they were told at the dawn of time, and even more recently in New Guinea, a really interesting concept when bumped up against the opportunity we have with today’s digital storytelling opportunity. The Web 2.0 offers a powerful tool from both a creative and a logical, problem solving aspect. I can’t wait to see if we have the gumption to latch on to it, and if so where we go with it as a society.
The reflection game was an interesting way to look back on the first few weeks’ and one I tucked that one away for future use, thanks for sharing it! I’m using Twine as a tool to write an interactive quiz story for new staff in conjunction with a required review of the safety policy at the Distribution Center Warehouse!
I could totally connect with your stream of consciousness reflection, for me it’s no longer about a spouse and kids but working, teaching piano, theory and taking classes. But, if I wasn’t busy I’d be bored, although sometimes I think that’s not quite a good thing. Focus and things pulling me off on a tangent as they capture my attention, as highlighted this week as well, have never been an issue for me, enough time in the day always has! I do marvel at how the world has changed since my childhood and proximity has taken on a whole new meaning. I don’t think proximity has anything to do with a physical location anymore, but rather a mental proximity as we become more comfortable being spread across states, nations, & countries and are still able to stay in touch and close to others if we so choose.
For me it was another few weeks of “eyes open” and looking into new possibilities, the best part is a lot happened! Here in this environment I get to dig in as well which is the best part. Stretching my vision with new knowledge, then getting to put I into play with coming up with a new challenge to work on and considering the story-world group project was likely the highlight of this unit for me.