Self-Knowledge, amplification of input, multimodal, and Discovery principles

This week i didnt get as much gameplay in as i would have liked to but, nonetheless, i increased my level by 3 and ive began to perfect and organize my general gameplay as well as my combat skills. ive figured out that the best way for me to grow levels fast is, first and foremost, to stay on task during the hours that i play. next, i have found that if i am completing quests while leveling, it is best to complete several quests without turning them in for experience and once you hit the next level you can turn them all in at once and then you are already between a quarter and half way to the next level. it gives the impression that you are leveling much quicker than you actually are and it seems to be much more efficient.

i also have been leveling recently by fighting through dungeons. it seems that in the dungeon i gain more experience at a rapid rate and the bosses yield a large amount of experience. Blizzard has installed an aspect to the dungeons that has increased the motivation to pursue multiple dungeons in one sitting, or at least increase the total number of dungeons completed. there is a tool called the dungeon finder that will put your character into a queue to either join a specific dungeon or a random dungeon. this makes finding a dungeon group effortless and it can be done while you are completing quests. a great motivational mechanism that was installed in the dungeon finder was that if you have no preference as to which dungeon you enter then you can queue for a random dungeon and when you slay the final boss in that dungeon you are rewarded with an item called a satchel of helpful goods. when you open this satchel there is a rare item that is often a radical upgrade to your characters gear.

before i took notice of this aspect of the game i would run dungeons often leaving with little to no "loot" and almost never came out with items that drastically improved the stats of my character. since it seemed like i was wasting my time in these dungeon i entered less. this reward guarantees you a solid item at the end of the dungeon thus providing excellent motivation to enter as many random dungeons as possible.

in Gee's self-knowledge principle, the gamer learns about the domain and him or herself as well as their current and potential capacities. i would say that to an extent you will learn about the domain if you so choose. a player can go through the game doing minimal exploration simply racing to the level cap. if one wishes, you could spend an entire month running through the 4 continents exploring the various environments and topographies and unique properties that correspond with each. what i think Warcraft does not accomplish is having the gamer learn about themselves. in a sense you do learn about the capacities, current and potential, of your created character but there is no point in which you will discover your own personal capacities in the "real world" besides maybe how fast you can click the mouse haha! this is mostly because the game really does not test any of your abilities as there is no need for math, history, science, or any other subject for that matter. in a select few occasions you may be required to use logic or reasoning skills but not very often. dont get me wrong, this does not reduce the quality of the game or my desire to play....... just pointing out a quality missing from WoW that James Paul Gee values in a good quality game.

another Principle that is often poorly expressed is the Amplification of input principle. there are virtually no instances, besides maybe very early gameplay, in which a small amount of input yields a large amount of output. WoW is a difficult game that requires dedication, hard work, and many hours to play and perfect.

now that is enough World of Warcraft bashing. the simple fact that the game is an MMORPG along with the intricate game design as well as the multiple routes principle, makes it an excellent example of number 20 multimodal principle. there are eons more to WoW than just text. there is virtual environments, player versus player combat, player versus environment combat, dungeons, multiple story lines, and so much more. in fact, there is so much stuff that i could probably write a novel about it all. unfortunately i dont feel like writing a novel so im not gonna go too deep into it. all you need to know is that World of Warcraft takes gameplay light years past simply text.

as i discussed earlier, you could spend days exploring the various continents in WoW. Gee's discovery principle allows the gamer to explore their new environment. the game provides guidance so that your gameplay can be organized and not chaotic. but the way in which the information and guidance is provided allows the gamer to explore and learn how to do things for themself. its a solid system that provides you with enough information to complete your quests or other endeavors but doesnt write it out step by step so that you have to figure out the best way to complete it.

i recently discovered battlegrounds, which are a haven for player versus player combat. so far i can enter two different battlegrounds. the first is called Warsong Gulch and it is essentially an extreme version of capture the flag. you attempt to capture the other teams flag and in order to make the flag carrier drop the flag you have to kill him. the other battleground is called Arathi Basin. the Basin is a collection of 5 camps or bases that include the mine, stables, blacksmith, lumbermill and farm. the goal of this game is to gain control of as many of the bases and then protect them. when you have control over a particular base it will start to create resources for your team. the first team to gain a certain amount of resources wins the game. of course there would be no reason to play these games if there were no reward. when you win a game you are awarded 3 tokens from that battleground and when you lose you are only awarded 1. each game you also get an amount of honor points based on both your performance and your team's performance. these honor points and the tokens can be used to buy special items and pieces of gear.

Practice, Probing, Multiple Routes, Incremental Principles

hey guys,

so here i am a level 23 Rogue now! ive began to notice the increased difficulty level in the game play and have come to thoroughly enjoy the challenge of more difficult monsters. last week i talked about a few of Gee's Principles and how they presented themselves in World of Warcraft as well as some of my personal game play experiences that i wanted to share with you. this week i would like to do the same but addressing some different principles. Gee's 12th principle, the Practice Principle, is one of the reasons why World of Warcraft has such a wide age and skill range. his practice principle states that gamers get lots of practice in a context where practice is not boring and gamers spend lots of time on task. the amount of time that you spend on task, fighting monsters and completing quests is entirely up to the gamer in this game. if you wanted you could spend days messing around with in game professions and PvP battlegrounds instead of progressing through quests and dungeons. at the same time though, for those ambitious players that enjoy staying on task and reaching the highest level the practice principle is exhibited quite well. a player that is efficiently grinding out experience and levels will constantly be in combat mode, fighting monsters, and gaining knowledge on how to improve and eventually perfect their skills. in other words, most of the game play, although it may be productive and working towards something, it is also practice. this also, in a way, ties into the Incremental Principle in that in the beginning of the game you start with around 3 moves that you can do and you get to practice with those 3 moves for a level or two. then as you gain levels you learn more and more moves and once again you practice with those moves for two levels. eventually you have a whole arsenal of probably more than 40 moves that each do different effects. so the gamer goes from learning the purpose of 3 moves and learning to organize the use of those 3 moves in order to defeat monsters to memorizing over 40 different moves and their uses in organized combat when the highest level is finally reached. to me that is quite an achievement and definitely shows learning.

I have learned that much of this game is about trial and error and due to this Gee's 15th principle, Probing, is clearly present. throughout the game, the player must occasionally take chances and risks because they do not know the physical capabilities of an opponent or they are unsure of how a specific quest or other aspect of the game must be played out. fortunately for the gamer, many of the more confusing portions of the game are detailed in the quest tab of the user interface but there are occasions when no such description is available. in these circumstances the player must formulate a hypothesis of how a certain choice in the game will play out then run tests in the field by attempting the planned out attack or movement. sometimes this will work and other times it wont and through this process the gamer will learn from his or her mistakes. the beauty of this game is that if all else fails you cannot die for good and there are always other players online that can offer you the help and guidance needed to complete any task thrown your way. this directly ties into Gee's next principle, Multiple Routes. the fact that every action in this game is completely up to the gamer means that the game is based on a series of choices. you come to a fork in the road, literally or metaphorically, and you are forced to decide right or left and the game plays out based on your own unique decisions. what i mean is there is not just two choices one can make in each instance. there can be hundreds of choices for one decision. take the number of moves each character can potentially have and consider all the different combinations you can make without even considering what will be best against a specific monster or best for the group you are in. you see, every moment that you play World of Warcraft you are constantly making choices and learning from those choices. a phenomenal aspect to this game is that since the whole game is based on your decisions and almost nothing in the game is permanent, you can test out multiple routes or choices if previous decisions seem to play out poorly for your character.

i guess i will continue the same pattern as last week and end my post with a bit of information on how my personal game play is going. well i grew 5 levels since my last post and ive moved on to a different town where i am continuing to complete quests. i also entered a couple other dungeons called stockade which is in Stormwind Keep and Ragefire Chasm located in Orgrimmar. ive learned to coat my weapons in various types poisons in order to do more damage and i also learned to ride a mount at level 20 which allows me to move at a quicker pace which has helped greatly in my ability to complete more quests. i have two professions, the first is leatherworking ,which allows me to create various items made of leather. my other profession is first aid so that i may heal myself when i have been injured badly. i hope to enter at least 2 more dungeons by my next post and maybe get some better gear. i am also considering trying out some of the battle grounds that are offered at my level. see you next week. BKap signing off.