I missed class this week, but I got caught up with the Joykadia activities. I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable in Joykadia. I suspect that this is probably due to my inability to get to our class meeting, but the thing that I'm noticing is that this all feels very solitary. I realize that that is part of the reasoning behind having us come in and do some of these tasks with one another. But the truth is, even if I were doing these tasks with another person in the photo, there's very little collaboration involved (and I think it would be difficult to have it any other way with our level of gameplay). I'm sure this is different in games like WoW, but in Joykadia, it's tough to see how this could change. That, to me, is frustrating. A big part of these games is the idea that they bring people together and I don't really feel that right now.
I read, as part of this week's reading, a case on border patrol officers from O'Driscoll. What was interesting was how focused the case was on the technical issues of solving the problem. This is the sort of thing I would like to see in action with Second Life and it makes absolute sense to have students run simulations. What I only wonder is how well they could actually simulate border control issues. I understand that this is a logical exercise, designed to train people so well that when they're confronted with the issues and are reacting on emotion, their instincts are to make the logical and rational decision. But that ignores all the rest that I imagine comes with working at a border crossing. This is all to say, that while I could see this as a basis for training border officers, it hardly seems like it could function as anything more than that.
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