blog #6 Team Work Thorugh Video Games

     “Keep your eyes on that flank, there is a unit headed that direction.” “Don’t worry I got it covered. I am not going to let them get through.” At a quick glance this conversation can be deciphered as a conversation between a military commander and a trooper. However it can also be a conversation between two teenagers on opposite sides of the country. Team work is a skill that is skill that just about everyone needs. It is a skill that we try to teach our children early in their lives. The games of today have a very interesting method to help people hone those skills.

                I was playing dungeon defenders with my children and realized that it provided an interesting team building exercise. My daughter and I were playing on my X-Box down stairs, my son was on his in his room, and my daughter’s boyfriend was on his in Kansas. The X-box has internet connections, and headphones, which allowed us to talk as if we were in the same room. The game pits four players against an almost never ending horde of mythical creatures. At the start of the game there is a limited amount of resources to create blockades. We have to figure out were the best placement of these blockades, and which character’s style of blockade is better in that position. We then plan out the best starting position for our characters, and as the horde make their advance we keep each other informed on our status and our position. If one of starts to get overwhelmed we ask for some back up and one or more of the others can then move to assist.

                There are several games out that use this same type of cooperation, games like Halo, Call of Duty, Plants vs. Zombies, just to name a few. Everyone playing these games is working together to complete a goal the game provides. Usually this goal becomes more complicated as the players progress through the levels. The people who are playing these games are all over the world. This dynamic not only helps people practice teamwork. The internet provides some anonymity so the issues with age, race, religion, and sexual preferences are not even approached. Most gamers just want to have fun playing their game with the help from someone.

                With the games and technology of today, people have a fun way to practice the team work skills. To survive in the world you have to be able to work with anyone.

blog #5 Is This Where We are Headed

As I watch this clip I laugh at it’s over exaggerated view of how we can live attached to our electronics. Humans are one of the best at changing and adapting to changes around us. I can diffidently understand why there are those that can believe that this could very easily be our future.

However, people are unique and unpredictable, which means some people would be content with the life in the video, but just as many would rather get out, move, interact, and artists would feel the need to create.

 What resonates with me the most would have to be the fact that there is no one who stands out everyone is the same, and in our nature some have the need to be different. Take how our children change how they dress to be different than their parents. This sign of rebellion is in us all we would not thrive without it. However, it is the statement that is being made. It states that we had lost the rebelliousness and our scociety has become stagnant.

There are a lot of people in the world who are fearful that this is where society is headed. The people who are fearful do their best to inform the public that this future is not all that fictional. This movie is designed mostly as a warning to us. It is a fictional look at a distant future but it makes the point that if we don’t pay attention to what we are doing to ourselves this could very easily become real.