Objective:
- Examine the role of technology as a force for cultural maintenance and change
Original Post:
This week’s topic on art, technology, and games was very interesting as I watched the presentation called Gaming can make a better world. In this presentation Jane McGonigal talks about how we as human beings can benefit from online gaming in attempt to help aid bigger real-world problems. As she continues her reasoning for harnessing this gamer power to solve real-world issues, the question of, “what exactly are gamers getting good at?” was brought to my attention (McGonigal, 8:09). According to McGonigal, these online games that we play are making us virtuosos or rather experts at urgent optimism, weaving a tight social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning. All of these things add up to establish gamers as being super-empowered hopeful individuals who believe they are individually capable of changing the virtual world, rather than the real world. After gaining a better understanding of how these characteristics and traits can be taken advantage of in the virtual world, I believe that we as individuals have the ability to harness this gamer power in attempt to solve more real-world problems.
This is a picture that Jane McGonigal uses in her TED talks video. I thought this was funny considering the fact that if you are a gamer then you definitely have made that face before!
Reflection:
This artifact was very interesting to me considering the fact that the topic had to do with art, technology, and online gaming which was an easier discussion to understand. After watching the TED talks video and going through the reading assignments for this unit I was able to really identify the role of technology as a force of cultural maintenance and change. As I listened to Jane McGonigal describe a unique set of key characteristics that seem to develop in the online gaming environment, I began to understand how technology can have a crucial role in our society. Technology has had a huge impact on cultural change alone and has influenced generation after generation to adjust in order to maintain a sustainable life. Look at how technological developments in communication have changed over the years for example. It really wasn’t that long ago before we even had cell phones and now kids at the age of five are getting iPads for christmas. Thats just how things are now because we continue to develop new technology that encourages our society to change.
Jane McGonigal specifically refers to technology as a force for cultural maintenance and change when she talks about those key characteristics that emerge through online gaming. Even though there are constant technological advancements and new forms of technology being created all the time, we still have major world issues and problems taking place. But instead of stemming from past solutions that haven’t solved these real-world problems, McGonigal presents an alternative solution by highlighting the role of technology to solve these problems. She identifies online gaming experts as super-empowered individuals with potential of changing the virtual world rather than the real world, but inspires us to use this potential to help solve real-world issues. This approach demonstrates how technology has certified the role as a force for cultural maintenance and change as we continue to search for answers.
Future Goals:
The future of art and technology alone is pretty exciting in itself and I hope that I can keep up with whatever change our community faces next. It will be pretty interesting to see how much farther we go in technological development, but it is certain that things will for sure change as the years progress. Maybe at a certain point we will have all the answers to our problems but for now we must keep searching.