Fix: 9-10

In my experience with settlers it has been an interesting one. I have become friends with one player from my guild at which every time he and I are online together we start a conversation whether it is about the settlers experience or life in general. It has been interesting seeing someone who plays the game not because they have to but because of the fun challenge the game provides. My sense of community has come from not only this experience but as well as others in our guild we have teamed up so to speak to make sure we all successful and continue to progress. I think this connects perfectly with the reading from this week. "Fix #9: More Fun With Strangers, Compared with games, reality is and isolating. Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch." (McGonigal, pg. 172) This explains perfectly the commodore we have built in our guild. Since I am one of the last to join the guild it is interesting how quickly we have band together to make sure we are all progressing whether its giving goods to each other or buffing buildings constantly we are working and asking for help to continue to progress. In my experience with happiness hacks would be with those in my guild like I explained before where they just look at your settlement and see whether you need a building buff or if your running low on a good they will provide it for you if they have the means to do so. I as well return the favor because it is only right since the game is not a competition we look at as being neighbors and lending a hand so to speak. In McGonigal reading she states, "Researchers have shown that sharing the same space for even just a few minutes a day with kind and friendly strangers makes us more optimistic, improves our self-esteem, makes us feel safer and more connected to our environment, and generally helps us enjoy life more." (pg 190) From my experience so far these thoughts as described in the quote are what I feel as I continue to work with those in my guild as well as communicate with others through discussion on the live chat. It opens our eyes to see what interest others have as well as meeting people who are willing to just lend a helping hand.

Fix 7-8

Since beginning play in the settlers online game I have grown interest tremendously over the past two weeks. I have found myself in my spare time logging on and seeing what quest I can work on in that short time I am going to be on. I think once I past level 10 and started seeing the true progress of the settlement I became more intrigued in the progress of the settlement. I was discouraged at first because I was not seeing the progress that I did want to see from the time I was putting into the game. Mcgonigal states in the book, "To participate wholeheartedly in something means to be self motivated and self directed, intensely interested and genuinely enthusiastic." (pg. 124) Now that I am at level 25 I want to keep progressing my settlement and claim all the sectors available. And essentially level as high as possible I have become attached to the game due to the success I have been having. And I think that is what drove me away from the game early because of the slow flow at first to level it was almost tedious as to when you'll level up but now it seems I am cruising with the progress I am having. However, from reading the forum I have come to see it slows down again of how fast the success of leveling up is going to be. The most meaningful rewards have been the success of my army in the game. And how I have dominated in the sense of claiming sectors and defeating the bandit leaders in those areas. From the book in chapter 8 I would like to state I feel differently about Fix #8. "Fix #8: Meaningful Rewards When We Need Them Most, Compared with games, reality ispointless and unrewarding. Games help us feel more rewarded for making our best effort." (pg 148) Although I enjoy games I do not find them more rewarding then my own personal success away from my multimedia life. I enjoy personal successes above any multimedia gain. Although success in games gives me joy I do not over look personal successes away from interactive games.

Fix 5-6

I befriended a person in my guild who is a level 42 on settlers online. He has helped me progress through the game as well as others in our guild. He has been playing this game for a long time jokingly not sharing the exact amount of time. It was a game that was introduced to him by his nephew who plays the game as well. He also stated he enjoyed the game because it is just different then other online games plus he also joked and said who wouldn't want to build their own settlement if the y could. At first he stated it was difficult for him to get going because he was not sure what to build or what quest needed to be done first however communicating and joining a guild is what helped him progress as much as he did. He said he played a couple other online games but not as much as he plays settlers. He mentioned that he keeps the tab for settlers always open and available on his browser and checks on it throughout the day but said in the beginning of playing he would play 4-6 hours straight on his days off.

Settlers online I have befriended a couple people in the guild I joined. It has helped me personally progress in the game buy trading for goods as well as having individuals willing to gift and buff my settlement. The guild is named LOA that I was invited to join. I don't think I have had a specific conversation with anyone but there have been two people I have received a lot of help from in the settler game and it has enhanced my own personal experience for lack of better words they helped me get over the beginners hump since the settlers game starts out kind of slow. My experience with the connectivity of people has been interesting because some play this game for fun but others I have come in contact with take this game very serious and seem to always be active in their settlement. It is interesting to ask questions to those who are playing settlers seriously. It is the way they answer questions when you ask them as if you should know how to play the game I guess in the guild I joined they have had some serious time played between the people who started the guild and expect the same from those in the guild as well. My most gratifying experience so far in the settlers game is being able to expand both population and sectors. Being able to see the progress of the settlement has been neat to see since I have started to put in alot of hours this week close to 12 hours this week. It is awesome to see it paid off. from the book I think what fits this week for me is this from (Mcgonigal 2011), "The term "naches" hasn't caught on in the gamer world the way "pwn" or "fiero"has. But Players in the study frequently described a kind of vicarious pride of playing over someone else's shoulder, and giving advice and encouragement-especially on games they themselves had already mastered." (pg. 87) I think this describes the connection with those who have taken me under their wing so to speak in the guild I joined.

Fix 3-4

Leveling Up: As of right now on the Settlers Online game I am currently a level 9. Which I feel is much higher then I would ever thought to have been when I started out a couple weeks ago. With that being said my satisfaction of leveling up is beyond measure. Since I am not much of an online game man for me it has been a struggle figuring out how it does work. I have had a hard time understanding of what materials are needed in order to build and grow the settlement. Clear goals and actionable steps: Since as of right now I am working to build the copper mine however I can not build it due to lack of material but I am not positive as to what materials are needed and/or enough working people to build the mine. So for me it has not been as clear of understanding as to how I can grow this settlement more then what I have already. Also understanding how the side tasks work to help the main task in order to level up so I am struggling as to how they all work together. But with that being said some of the task are pretty cut and dry as to what you are needed to do in order to complete the task. McGonigal (2011) stated, "Blissful productivity is the sense of being deeply immersed in work that produces immediate and obvious results. The clearer the results, and the faster we achieve them, the more blissfully productive we feel. And no game gives us a better sense of getting work done than WoW." ( p. 53) With the settler online experience I am having a hard time going back to it since my success in the game is limited I have been working at it only the limited time necessary for the class since my success is limited. Unlike with those who play WoW who find the success more often makes them want to continue to strive for more success. Feedback: I feel the feedback I feel is limited as to how or what exactly it is you have to do next. I think the feedback is limited as to how it can help so that you can succeed in the game and continue to level up. I may be the only one who feels that way but i think it is one of the flaws of the game. But again I have not been the type of person to play an online game so I am new as to how they work in regards to feedback. Mastery: The work in the game of building the settlement has been interesting and taught me how possibly things worked in a time where you built such a settlement this way. The thing I have learned most about this game is in the trade arena and how things can be bartered so that you can make your settlement better then the rest and build your people and business up. For me what has not driven me away from this game of course is that we have to play for our class but also that the failure is driving me more to succeed. Mcgonigal states (2011), "Fix #4: Better hope of success, Compared with games, reality is hopeless. Games eliminate our fear of failure and improve our chances of success." (p. 68)