doof.com - integrating gaming with social networks

Gaming innovation - doof is an Interesting gaming concept, combining casual online gaming with social networking. Find out more below:

doof.com - Games, Friends & Fun!

doof is exactly what it says, the home of social gaming. A very impressive concept: a social network built around casual gamers all wrapped up in a slick interface.

It’s not the gaming you expect; doof is not centered around PC games, handhelds, or the three major consoles. doof is all about casual gaming and specifically revolves around its own online games and doof has plenty. From brain-caning puzzle games (Cascade, Roobix), to fast and frenzied action games (Columns, Titris) , to plain hilarious time-wasters (Golden Arrow, Tribe), doof.com is pretty much the only place you need to be for your daily fix of brain candy. Riveting and compelling, our online games exists simply to have fun with!

In addition to games, doof mixes up a variety of community features. Most notably each member gets their own profile page which tracks game achievements, play history, and can let you pull in your photos from Facebook. As you play games, you earn credits, which may be used in tournaments with other players, or to purchase “gifts” for your friends. The gifts are basically avatars of items such as frogs, jewelry, crowns and various other items for showing your “like” in a humorous manner.

But doof offers not just games and web pages. You cab also watch online videos, keep track of news, tournaments, and a rating system for players and content and much more. Its also offers Instant messenger and email features, letting you know when your favorite game partners are available and giving you the ability to contact them. Just click on the person’s username and you can chat while playing games.

Game Playing and Asperger’s

“Skewed coverage of academic report in the Dire Mail (sorry, Daily Mail) : Computer game addicts warned they could start behaving like autism sufferers. Of course the report warns no such thing, as discussed here at Spong: Daily Mail muddles cause and effect .”

Author: Daniel Livingstone, Learning Games Blog, 8th April 2008

Full article available here.

Virtual Chore Rewards for Kids

To be fair to Barbie Girls it isn’t the only virtual world for kids that worries me - with its not-so-implicit goal of training children to be good little consumers. Reinforcing the concept in children that rewards come from playing games, watching shows (themselves somewhat promotional, I’d guess) and from buying products does not seem a good one, and I was despairing of seeing a model other than this. So while I’ve yet to delve deeper, Handipoints appears to be the first imaginative alternative.

Author: Daniel Livingstone, Learning Games Blog, 7th April 2008

Full article available here.

A student not engaged is a student not learning

I believe technologies that engage and motivate students by offering opportunities for self-direction, inquiry, discovery, and creativity are the best way to meet the needs of all students. One of the most significant things I’ve heard said about 1:1 laptop programs is that when you walk into the classroom, you can’t tell who the Special Ed students are or who the GATE students are… because everyone is fully engaged and working at their own level.

Some technologies that might be readily available to most teachers and which might help provide this sort of individualized engagement include commercial off the shelf videogames with educational value (such as the Sims series, the Tycoon series, or the “Age of…” series of games), read/write web tools (such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts), and multimedia creation programs (for editing images, audio, and video). These things are nearly free and ubiquitous and ought to be used creatively in support of the base program.

Author: Mark Wagner, Educational Technology and Life Blog, 7th April 2008

Full article available here.

The Byron Review; Video Gaming Recommendations for Children

As we noted in our prior post, Dr. Tanya Byron, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, recently released an important set of E-safety recommendations, “Safer Children in a Digital World,” for children in the UK. Today we turn to her summary recommendations regarding video gaming.

Here again, the most compelling aspect of her research as well as her recommendations is the fact that she refrains from oversimplifying the matter. When it comes to the issue of video games, Byron calls upon the video game industry and parents to work collaboratively to ensure that children are provided access to games that are age-appropriate.Risk-Reward Nature of Technology
As was her methodology with Internet safety, Byron seeks a collaborative approach to children and the video game industry. In addition, she seeks to have assistance from the gaming industry to help restrict the access of games that are inappropriate for children. At the same time, she also calls on parents to do their part in the process.

In speaking about empowering children and keeping them safe, Byron turns to the following analogy. Noting that “children will be children – pushing boundaries and taking risks,” Byron offers, “at a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.”

Byron notes that technology offers extraordinary opportunities for children and young people as well as adults. As for video games, the researcher indicates that such games offer “a range of exciting interactive experiences for children.” At the same time, Byron specifies that some video games are in fact designed for adults.

Byron recognizes that the debate on ‘media effects’ and violent content in video games is divided. She also confirms the obvious, that Internet and gaming technology is moving so rapidly that it is not possible for research to keep up with the developments.

What is noteworthy about Byron’s work is she does head directly to the gray areas, the risks of potentially harmful or inappropriate content, that could have negative impacts on children. As we noted in our post about Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson and their research for Grand Theft Childhood, Byron is not ready to take a cause and effect position regarding video game play and antisocial behaviors in children. Byron states, “Overall, I have found that a search for direct cause and effect in this area is often too simplistic.”

At the same time the researcher does not give a free pass on the topic, stating that it does “not mean that the risks do not exist.” Byron then moves correctly to another key element, that we must use our understanding of child development to “inform an approach that is based on the ‘probability of risk’ in different circumstances.”

What is so remarkable about Byron’s review is that she recognizes the sheer complexity of this issue. “We need to take into account children’s individual strengths and vulnerabilities, because the factors that can discriminate a ‘beneficial’ from a ‘harmful’ experience online and in video games will often be individual factors in the child. The very same content can be useful to a child at a certain point in their life and development and may be equally damaging to another child.”

In addition, Byron notes, “Very few people are genuinely addicted to video games but lots of time spent playing can result in missed opportunities for other forms of development and socialization.” In other words, concerns must develop when these gaming technologies negatively impact children at the expense of other activities and family interaction.

Byron does list some of the prevailing concerns regarding video game play. She notes, “There is some evidence of short term aggression from playing violent video games but no studies of whether this leads to long term effects.” She also states, “There is a correlation between playing violent games and aggressive behavior, but this is not evidence that one causes the other.”

Her entire approach centers upon age appropriate gaming and reveals yet another critical element. “Games are more likely to affect perceptions and expectations of the real world amongst younger children because of their less developed ability to distinguish between fact and fiction (due to the immaturity of the frontal cortex).”

As for the interactive nature of games, Byron states the interactive nature may “also have a more profound effect than some other media, again especially amongst younger children (e.g. up to around 12 years old) who tend to use narratives to develop their values and ideas and who learn through ‘doing’.”

At the same time, Byron is not ready to castigate video games or refer to them as the source of all that is not well during adolescence. States Bryon, “These games offer new opportunities for social interaction between children and there are a number of potential benefits for children and young people from playing video games, including cognitive and educational gains and simply having fun. Interestingly the evidence to prove these benefits can be as contested as the evidence of negative effects.”

Ensuring Age Appropriate Gaming Opportunities
Byron calls for targeted efforts from the gaming industry to increase parental understanding of age-ratings and the available controls on gaming consoles. Byron recommends a new, hybrid classification system for games. She seeks to have the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Pan European Game Information, under the auspices of the UK Council for Child Internet safety, “work together to develop a joint approach to rating online games and driving up safety standards for children and young people.” She proposes that the new combined BBFC and PEGI logo be prominently placed on the front of all games (R18, 18,15,12,PG and U) with industry equivalent logos across all age ranges placed on the back of all boxes (ratings regarding violence, language, sexual activity, drugs activity, etc.).

Byron also seeks to have greater efforts to enforce age ratings at points of sale to ensure that children have access only to age appropriate materials. Byron suggests that games with ‘12′ ratings and up carry legal requirements that such games cannot be sold to someone under the required age. At the same time, Byron calls on both the video game and advertising industries to comply with age-appropriate message targeting that matches the video game age classifications.

In addition, Byron wants to see “console manufacturers work together to raise standards in parental controls on consoles, delivering clear and easy to use prompts and better information for parents on where console controls meet agreed upon standards.”

Parents Must Also Parent
The researcher notes that even concerned parents sometimes still buy adult games for their children. The rationale? “Either for a ‘peaceful life’ or because it is ‘only a game’.”

Byron notes that parents must be aware of the fact that some games are suitable only for adults. She writes of how many children she came across that had been allowed to play age 18+ video games despite the fact that some children were forbidden from watching films with that rating.

She further notes that parents must be educated about the parental controls available on game consoles. If the gaming industry is expected to produce consoles that provide specific controls regarding time of play, game ratings, et al, then parents must learn to engage the technology and enforce the use of that technology.

Lastly, there is no substitute for parental responsibility especially with respect to decision-making. We noted earlier Byron’s prophetic words, the “need to take into account children’s individual strengths and vulnerabilities. The very same content can be useful to a child at a certain point in their life and development and may be equally damaging to another child.”

Recognizing the differences in children is difficult. But ultimately that recognition will have to be the responsibility of parents, not the gaming industry.

Author: Tom Hanson, OpenEducation Blog, 2nd April 2008

Article available here.

Channel 4 sponsors Dare to Be Digital… Introduces education as a theme

Channel 4 has announced sponsorshop of the Dare to Be Digital summer game development competition. Announced here.

As part of their sponsorship (which apparently is for a significant sum of money to support the competition), a brief to develop games with an educational or serious ‘twist’ has also been provided.

Author: Daniel Livingstone, Learning Games Blog, 4th April 2008

Full article available here.

Grid 16: How Fast Can You Learn, Prioritize, and React?

OK…take 3 minutes and head over to Kongregate and try Grid 16. I don’t care if you’re a ‘gamer’ or not (whatever that means)…head over and see how you do…no instructions…just the admonitions to “Use Your Gamer Logic” and “Do Not Panic”….play it twice…did you get better?

Author: Mark Oehlert, e-Clippings Blog, 4th April 2008

Full article available here.

Nokia debuts mobile gaming system

Nokia expects to have about 60 games available by 2009 Nokia has lifted the veil on its revamped mobile gaming service known as N-Gage. Visitors to the N-Gage website can download software that connects their phone to the handset maker’s growing library of games. Nokia expects to have about 30 games available for playing on its higher end phones by the middle of 2008. The launch of N-Gage marks one of the biggest moves by a mobile maker into the content market. Author: BBC News, Technology, 4th April 2008 Full article available here.

Games, politics and media

Over at ScottishGames.biz, Brian Baglow has some prime examples of media and political distortion around games, crime and violence. First, a member of parliament who continues to assert that Manhunt had a role to play in a murder, even though the police claim there was no link (and the game was owned by the victim, not the killer).

Author: Daniel Livingstone, Learning Games Blog, 3rd April 2008

Full artucle available here.

Brain Teaser Puzzle Games - Happy Neuron

Scientific research shows that to stay fit and at the top of our game, our brains need exercise just like our bodies.

Happy Neuron online brain games are scientifically-developed to stimulate your brain in a challenging and fun way, keeping your mind fit at any age.

Happy Neuron CEO and cognitive psychologist, Dr. Michel Noir, designed these games to specifically target the five major cognitive functions of memory, attention, language, executive functions and visual/spatial. Increasing scientific evidence shows that actively participating in appropriately designed brain fitness workouts can help defer the onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Based on personal progress, Happy Neuron ensures individuals are making the most of their mind workouts. A personalized “virtual coach” prepares personal brain workouts based on player usage and performance. In addition to comparisons to the top 25 percent of players, users will see how they are performing in relation to the average score of their peers. The unique coach feature gauges mental achievement levels and progression based on other players of the same gender, age and education level. Each player is given insight into areas of cognitive strength and weakness and personal progress is charted for each function.

HAPPY NEURON Targets

· Memory - working memory (15 sec.), short-term memory (up to 60 sec.) and long-term memory

· Attention - hones the ability to concentrate and focus on critical information

· Language - exercises speed, strength and comprehension of verbal and written expression

· Executive Functions - strengthens the highly complex functions of logic, strategy, planning, problem solving and deductive reasoning

· Visual and Spatial –processing information in a 3-D world and interpreting visual information

HAPPY NEURON Features

· Offers 32 different online games and more than 1500 hours of game play – including unlimited access to one free game in each cognitive category

· Easy access – players can log in from any computer with internet access

· A “Virtual Coach” to track progress and compare results to other players of similar gender, age and education levels. Games are then recommended to improve an individuals’ area of weakness.

Happy Neuron games are available now at www.happy-neuron.com