Hw #1 - Gaming

Name: ___________________ Bailey HW #1 A few years ago, Constance Steinkuehler -- a Ph.D of gaming at the University of Wisconsin -- was spending 12 hours a day playing Lineage, the online world game. She was, as she puts it, a "siege princess," running 150-person raids on hellishly difficult bosses. Most of her guild members were teenage boys. But they were pretty good at figuring out how to defeat the bosses. One day she found out why. A group of them were building Excel spreadsheets into which they'd dump all the information they'd gathered about how each boss behaved: What potions affected it, what attacks it would use, with what damage, and when. Then they'd develop a mathematical model to explain how the boss worked -- and to predict how to beat it. They were using the scientific method. They'd think of a hypothesis -- This boss is really susceptible to fire spells -- and then collect evidence to see if the hypothesis was correct (evidence like – this boss always loses half of his power points when hit with a fire spell.) If it wasn't, they'd improve it until it accounted for the data they observed. Do you play video/computer games? If so which ones? What is the hardest game you’ve ever played? (video game, board game, sport, whatever) What skills or strategies have you used to advance in a difficult game? We will go over these answers in class tomorrow, so come prepared! Name: ___________________ Bailey HW #1 A few years ago, Constance Steinkuehler -- a Ph.D of gaming at the University of Wisconsin -- was spending 12 hours a day playing Lineage, the online world game. She was, as she puts it, a "siege princess," running 150-person raids on hellishly difficult bosses. Most of her guild members were teenage boys. But they were pretty good at figuring out how to defeat the bosses. One day she found out why. A group of them were building Excel spreadsheets into which they'd dump all the information they'd gathered about how each boss behaved: What potions affected it, what attacks it would use, with what damage, and when. Then they'd develop a mathematical model to explain how the boss worked -- and to predict how to beat it. They were using the scientific method. They'd think of a hypothesis -- This boss is really susceptible to fire spells -- and then collect evidence to see if the hypothesis was correct (evidence like – this boss always loses half of his power points when hit with a fire spell.) If it wasn't, they'd improve it until it accounted for the data they observed. Do you play video/computer games? If so which ones?

What is the hardest game you’ve ever played? (video game, board game, sport, whatever) What skills or strategies have you used to advance in a difficult game? We will go over these answers in class tomorrow, so come prepared!