for SCTCS Plugged In 2012 http://www.sctechsystem.edu/sctcspluggedin/

1. John Seely Brown: I would rather hire a high-level World of
Warcraft player than an NBA from Harvard. Why is a game, a
massive multiplayer game that has maybe 12 million people
or more playing it like the World of Warcraft, so important at
both the individual level and maybe at the corporate level?
http://bigthink.com/ideas/45592

2. World of Teachcraft

3. What is an Epistemic Game?
• “Authentic Professionalism”
• “Explicit instructions to specific contexts and
situations”
• Include Communities of Practice, reflective
practice, and epistemic frames
Source: Shaffer, D.W. (2004). Epistemic games. Innovate.

4. What is an Epistemic Frame?
• Includes targeted community’s
practice, identity, interest, understanding, and
epistemology
• Different communities have different
epistemic frames
Source: Shaffer, D.W. (2004). Epistemic games. Innovate.

5. Communities of Practice
• “Communities of practice are groups of
people who share a concern or a passion for
something they do and learn how to do it
better as they interact regularly.”
Source: Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral
Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

6. Affinity Group
• “A group of people associated with a given
semiotic domain” (p. 27)
• Examples: Lawyers, Educators, Gamers, WoW
players, Olympians, etc.
• Can be large or small
Source: Gee, J.P., (2007). What video games have to teach us
about learning and literacy. Palgrave McMillan, NY.

7. What does all this mean?

8. Brief History of Games

9. 1st Person Shooter
FPSs are distinguished by a first person
perspective, that renders the game world from the
visual perspective of the player character.
You will typically not see your avatar in an FPS, unless
there is a mirror or cinematic transition between
levels

10. Third Person Shooter
Third-person shooter (TPS) is a genre of 3D computer and
video games in which the player character is seen at a
distance from a number of different possible perspective
angles.
Common angle is looking over character’s right shoulder

11. MMORPG
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
(MMORPG) is a genre of 3D computer and video games in
which the thousands of players are playing online at the
same time. This genre of game typically includes a social
interaction requirement to complete certain activities.
Common angle is looking over character’s right shoulder

12. MMORPGs #1
World of Warcraft (WoW)
•41,007 hours of game play on June 14, 2012 by almost 10,925 Xfire players for an
average of 3.75 hrs / player (http://beta.xfire.com/games/wow)
•10.2 Million players worldwide (12/31/11)
http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=647732

13. What is World of Warcraft?
• Sword and Board Fantasy
• Players Choose Race and Roles for their
Characters
• Once in world, players progress by accepting
and completing quests

14. Terminology

15. NPC
Non-player character, a character, monster, or animal in a
role-playing game or video game that is controlled by the
gamemaster or computer, rather than by a player.
Some advanced players are blurring the lines
here, through the use of bot technologies

16. Mob
NPCs that are aggressive towards the player. Mobs may
be monsters, animals, or of similar
race to player.

17. Boss
Typically stronger than normal Mobs that present a more
difficulty fight for the player.
Bosses typically drop higher quality gear when defeated.

18. Guild
A group of players from the same side that collaborate
and pool resources in a group bank. This collaboration is
encouraged by game designers and is necessary in
multiplayer games

19. WoW Basics

20. Player Roles & Responsibility
• Tank

21. Player Roles & Responsibility
• DPS (Damage per Second)

22. Player Roles & Responsibility
• Healers

23. Cross Functional Team
• Gee video:
– Each person must have deep expertise in one skill
set, but understand the big picture. They retain
expertise but must integrate with the other
different skill sets to be successful.
– http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/jim-
gee-on-the-use-of-video-games-for-learning-
about-learning/

24. Cross Functional Team

25. Performance Driven

26. DPS Mage

27. Example of the Math
• Mastery for Mages
– Assumption:
• Mastery rating gives you 10% damage increase based on mana
• Your base is 10,000 dps
– Math in your head
• at 10% mana, 10,100 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage
value increased by 1% (10% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).
• at 25% mana, 10,250 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage
value increased by 2.5% (25% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).
• at 50% mana, 10,500 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage
value increased by 5% (50% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).
• at 75% mana, 10,750 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage
value increased by 7.5% (75% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).
• at 100% mana, 11,000 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage
value increased by 10% (100% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).

28. Sounds Easy….
Right?

29. Now..
• Which do you choose?
– Increase Mana (Intellect)?
– Increase Mastery?
– Lower Hit rating to increase Mastery?
– Lower Critical Strike Rate to increase Intellect?
– Oh what about those pesky new patch notes… :D

30. Optimizing Play Styles
• Websites:
– Ask Mr Robot
– Elitists Jerks
– Icy – Veins
• Add Ons:
– Curse Client
• Others?

31. Resources

32. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/

33. http://www.wowhead.com/

34. http://icy-veins.com/

35. http://g.a.m.e.shivtr.com

36. The Learning Continues…

37. Questions / Conversations