playr.co.uk - Zilch

playr.co.uk - Zilch

I know I've written about this before.

Zilch is a game that UNDERSTANDS badges and achievements in the game format.

A badge / adward can't be too broad. A thru F in school is the DEFINITION of too board achievement. As a measuring device, maybe. It works for the school, somehow, I'm sure. But it doesn't work for the student.

...rant starting...
How much stuff goes on during a school class? A $hit ton! And, you want to sum it up in a single Letter. And you can go screw yourself with a A- or a B+. Thanks, but no thanks!
...rant ending...

What this tells me is that the A-F group has no idea what is going on -ACTUALLY - going on in the classroom. The way your reward and motivate directly relates to how you see the subjects / users / students. Your perspective of learning and the internal life of the students.

Are they having a rich, multi-faceted, emotional, whole being experience? Or, are they holding there breath and not rocking the boat focused on the grade?

One last story. I play(ed) golf. Golf is a game and there is a score. And, as a beginner golfer - I got pissed alot, because I couldn't score like Freddie Couples (the Dominating player at the time - They call him BoomBoom because he hits it a mile and never loses his cool).

One day I got super pissed and (in front of some friends and a stranger partner) lost my shit. I yelled, threw my bag, I threw my club - and nearly destroyed it when it hit the cart path 20 yards out.

Here's the thing: I want a badge for that. I want the "Total meltdown - missed a drive"... There's a series of "Total Meltdowns" ... missed putt, lost a match, go in the trap, go in the water, out of bounds...

Here's the thing:
The game IS NOT the score. The game is the game, and you can see it from MANY perspectives.

On the positive side, you can chose to not count the strokes the same way. I started to play better when I only recorded the putts, or the GIR (Greens in Regulation).

So, Zilch has 100 different achievements. Great, much better than school which has basically a handful per class (assignment grades and a final grade - not the same, but similar).

But, would it be cool if we - the non-designers, non-teachers - created our own badges our own achievements? I bet we could do it...

One last thing before I publish. There is alot of talk about badges and I feel I need to put down my thoughts about it. Speciffically, what I like about the movement - Peer created, Peer adwarded, variable scope, easily transfered/displayed/ researched. And, what I see as pitfalls - just recreating the same system, which will happen if you only get simply re-name a certificate / diploma / degree with the term Badge or Patch.

Listen up Instructors and Course Designers!

Let's Have a Serious Discussion About the New Masteries - Page 8 - League of Legends Community

Let's Have a Serious Discussion About the New Masteries - Page 8 - League of Legends Community

I've been playing League of Legends to keep my gamer cred up. It's important if you want to work with dude's like Lucas Gillispie and the gang at Cognitive Dissonance Guild. Point being, games have something to teach us about motivation and learning- and - in order to learn from them you have to play them... okay, i'm rationalizing a bit here.

LOL is fun to play!

Anyway, they just re-did the masteries or there Talent Tree (in World of Warcraft terms). It's causing a ruckus because now you have to pick out new skills. I would figure most people are like me and pick talents based on what more advanced players have worked out and published. Some dudes are WAY into this - serious calculator nerddom going on there.

Here is the tree that I used with my Champion (toon or Avatar) Ashe:
http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=4134

But the new masteries are totally different. For instance, there is no Perseverance (which increases Mana and Health regeneration) in the new Utility tree.

Here's what I picked for Ashe:
1/1 Summoner's Wrath
3/4 mental force (+3 ability power- Ashe's is Focus, increased critical strike chance after 3 seconds)
4/4 alacrity (+6% attack speed)
2/4 deadliness (+2% critical strike)
1/1 weapon expertise (+10% armor penetration)

I'm going for Crits and attack speed here.

and for my other Champion, Kayle

1/1 Summoner's Wrath
4/4 mental force (+3 ability power- Kayle's is Holy Fervor, target loses 3% armor and magic resist for 5 sec)
3/4 alacrity (+6% attack speed)
2/4 deadliness (+2% critical strike)
1/1 weapon expertise (+10% armor penetration)

Bump that ability power and attack speed.

Okay, now I'm ready to play. I may or may not talk about this in more posts but I wanted to comment on the goings on.

cheers!

university as open platform - Google Search

university as open platform - Google Search

Facebook wins because it is a 'platform'. By that I mean, it's a ... central point, hub, portal. A place that ... A service that others services connect. You can' get away from it, it wins and will continue to win.

Facebook is open because it allows anyone to create services that connect to it.

now to uni

Universities won (past tense) because they were a platform. A central point where learning and research and innovation happened. Not so much, now.

Universities are not open because ... they don't understand they are a platform. Hiding under a rock. Are concerned about security. Perhaps.

conclusion

If I were a University I would try to become a platform like facebook(private) or RSS(open).

Post influenced by: P2PU, seth Godin, Fleetly, RSS, and Facebook Platform. And, of course, Uncle Dave Winer, What is RSS and I deleted my Facebook account.