Youth Voices

Includes a video of debate between Zynga and the press on the ethics of the marketing schemes.

Discusses how social games like Farmville make money.

"On the other hand, Smith said that any game developer trying to build a game that attracts audiences around the world would do well to concentrate on proper localization. Mistakes that have annoyed regional audiences, Smith said, have included one social game offering virtual goods timed for Christmas that didn't make sense to South Americans because they featured snow-oriented scenes. "

"Still, it may not matter whether developers consider social games to be bona fide games, Reynolds said. Rather, succeeding in the Facebook era may mean learning a lot more about social interactions than about game mechanics. "The magic is in the social interactions," Reynolds said. "And so we have to devise game mechanics that are very, very light...get the social right, and then work on the game mechanics."

"Anyone can join the game by following BackChatter on Twitter"

I spent my whole Saturday morning working with 5 of the best educators I know. We're bringing gaming into the classroom. Once Suzie Boss pointed me to Jane McGonigal, I became a follower. So yeah, can I put follow McGonigal for Act1 in Evoke? Why not? After all she says things like this: "In "EVOKE," you're leveling up in world-changing superpowers like creativity and resourcefulness. You're unlocking achievements by completing real social innovation missions. Even though much of the game material is real and important and serious, you get the motivational push of game dynamics and the rewards and satisfactions of making real progress. Plus, it's a social network, and once you start making friends with other players, there's all the social stickiness that involves." In this quote, you can see that McGonigal is attempting to bring together the power connective powers of social network with the addictive and motivational mechanisms of games. Plus it's all about doing REAL missions, missions in real life. I'm still not sure that my students will see the connections between their addictions and the learning/doing/re-wiring that McGonigal is aiming for in Evoke. I'm not sure, but I've been VERY impressed so far with how Evoke feels, and I've been seeing that the gamers in my classroom are the first to "get" this game. I want to learn more about McGonigal now, because it gives me more confidence that she is up to something with Evoke, that it has the power of a massively multiplayer online game and the seriousness of a political action social network.

Gamer blog

I wonder how helpful this will be for my students.

"Christopher, 15, has Aspergers Syndrome. Read this book and you'll misunderstand the world like him. He understands maths and science but can't get his logical mind around the science of human beings. He doesn't understand many emotions and he hasn't got the grasp of why people do what they do." I read the book. But that time I had no idea what this disorder was so I didn't understand the character very well. But now that I have a little idea about this disorder I understand why he was acting different.

""People with Asperger's have a special ability to remember a particular event in a detailed manner. But they don't understand the social context of the situation," says Dr Rajendra Barve, psychologist. " This stood out for me because we can't remember things in details the next day. But they can remember things clearly.

"Palestinians dressed as the Na'vi from the film Avatar stage a protest against Israel's separation barrier Protesters dressed as characters from the movie Avatar marchs in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah Protesters dressed as Na'vi characters from the movie Avatar march in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah"

"Earthquakes alone do not create disasters of the scale now experienced in Haiti. The wealthy nations have for too long exploited Haiti, denying it the right to develop in a secure, sovereign, sustainable way. The global outpouring of support for Haitians must be matched by long-term, unrestricted grants of aid, and immediate forgiveness of all that country's debt. Given their role in Haiti's plight, the United States, France and other industrialized nations should be the ones seeking forgiveness."

Don't know how much has been put here about this gentleman whom McGonigal cites.

This is pretty amazing. I'm just trying to figure out how and when to enter this world.

This is a great resource. New Yorker conference lecture is an eye-opener to why gaming is engaging and what games can accomplish in the real world.

It seem to be everywhere!