One of our conversation points for the week is the kinds of social interaction that the arts — most especially film — might engender.
My inclination on Thursday is to talk comparatively about sports and religion. . . but this article suggests that gaming might be another interesting point of intersection:
And here’s the story of an interesting tech start-up looking to leverage the ways that folks build community through reading:
And — finally — worth thinking about the kinds of immersability that might be available through the blending of technology and the arts:
fa200fall2011instructor 
The Social Games and the Fun Test article is extremely interesting. The article makes a great deal of sense. Humans do like to feel like they are in control over their environment, and games obviously give them that control. Games also give them a virtual world to escape to that is free from the everyday stresses of the real world, so I can definitely see how gaming may help a person feel happy. It really isn’t any different than getting lost in a book or a movie and feeling like you’ve left the real world for a couple of hours. It really does help.
I loved this article because it is so true. We as humans need to feel like we have that control and games allows us to feel like we are in control of something. Games also allow people to get away from the world and enter of place of fun that is enjoyable no matter how bad their day is. This really does help people escape from the world for a little while.
I liked this article because i see it everyday. I have a younger sibling who loves games and I believe it is because they are like one of his play mates. He actually learned how to read some just from playing the games. Reading captions and everything. He knows he is good at them and he likes to win things. It gives him confidence and i believe it has increased his creativity to. Games are very impressive.
Games gives humans the sense of control and a sense of the social world as well. Even in simple games like candy land or monopoly, you have to compete against someone else, just like in the real world.
Games allow a player to do things in a realistic or made up world. They allow us to do things that we can and cannot do in real life. The capabilities are endless which entices a person to play longer. The article was accurate in it’s explainings as far as video gamers and the social areas.
I really liked this because I thought it was extremely true and I think the article hit it dead on. Everyone likes to feel in control, achieving a goal or overcoming obstacles is something that we as humans strive for. I think that is the biggest part of why games are so addicting and most people really enjoy them. Games give you an escape from the real world, accomplishing goals and getting to new levels makes people happy. It is so easy to get lost in them and I think thats why so many people around the world play games so often.
This article is awesome. I like it so much because i can relate to it myself. I never really understood why i could become so addicted to a video game, but this article offers an explanation. Being in control gives a sense of power and humans are very addicted to having power. Great article
I feel like this article is spot on. We as humans have a desire to be able to control everything. And gaming allows that. In some games we can control everything (like SIMS) and thats why those types of games are most popular. It is a common human trait and the gaming companies know this. So they make more and more games that allow you to control more things in your gaming world. Thats why so many more people are playing more video games and much more frequently.