Category Archive for ‘gaming’ at melanie mcbride online

Archive for the 'gaming' Category

Getting educational in Second Life

Published on March 22, 2008 in gaming, Classroom2.0, Education and Announcements. 7 Comments

Back in 2003, when Second Life arrived on the internets, I was not in a position to take part. My computer wasn’t fast enough and I didn’t have the time available. Since then, I resisted joining on the grounds that it seemed really materialistic and commercial. While there were indeed interesting things happening there, what I saw seemed too close to the social hierarchies of first-life.

Over time, and as I became more involved in education, I discovered the growing numbers of educators and world changers flocking to SL. This gave me a compelling reason to invest my time there. And I finally made the plunge this weekend - four years too late but better late than never. What I found there was indeed compelling.

So there I am in the image above (note: my avatar is temporary) enjoying a conversation with a few other educators in a professor’s virtual condo. Aftewards, Smartlak and I roamed around Eduisland, Athens and a few other places. Here are some photos I took of our first adventure.

Eternally grateful to Prentiss for help getting started. Great to meet Leigh, Mal, and Fred Special thanks to Knowclue for rollerskates and Leigh for the tour of your beautiful space. Hope to meet many more geeky big brains in SL and take part in some of the forward thinking education innovation taking place there.

Yours in-world,

Verdana Madrid

I do dog tricks: Educational and fun!

Published on February 3, 2008 in gaming, Inspirations, Learning and Classroom2.0. 0 Comments

I do dog tricks can be used to teach kids to type - amongst other things. Try typing in simple commands (nothing too crazy!). I tried “kiss” and got a heart warming result ;-)
(via Liam - thank you!)

This is second only to Fly Guy - one of the simplest and most beautiful little games EVAR.

Click the image below (or link above) to start then follow the prompts. Arrow keys help fly guy fly away from the dreary workaday world and into his dreams … (via Bryan Alexander)

Second Skin: a new movie about MMOs

Published on January 29, 2008 in videogames, gaming, Society, Identity and Classroom2.0. 1 Comment

Check out the trailer for Second Skin, a new documentary about massively multiplayer online gamers. As a gaming-positive educator, I was also excited to see my friend and colleague Tony Walsh, make an appearance in the film. From Tony’s blog:

“Since 2006, I’ve been following the adventures of the team at Pure West–filmmakers researching and journaling MMO game culture for a documentary which would come to be called Second Skin. The team’s blog gave a behind-the-scenes look at the trials of the documentarians and their evolving subject-matter, but I was fortunate enough to meet the filmmakers first-hand during one of their many journeys across the U.S., Canada, and overseas. These guys weren’t just trying to cash in on the swelling interest in MMOs, or exploit players as objects of curiosity or ridicule–it was clear their mission was to seek out and reveal some compelling human stories at the intersection of real and virtual worlds.

Admittedly, I’m a console gamer although I recently enjoyed playing Wolfquest (an educational game that teaches kids about … you guessed it: life as a wolf!)