Jane McGonigal - Gaming can make a better world

Nobody wants to change how they live, just because it's good for the world, or because you're supposed to. But if you immerse them in an epic adventure, and tell them 'we've ran out of oil', this is an amazing story, an adventure for you to go on. Challenge yourself to see how you would survive. Most of the players have kept up the habits they've learned in this game.

-Jane McGonigal

She says this here, as part of a somewhat interesting and amusing talk on how gamers can change the world.

I play computer games myself. (Don't play World of Warcraft; play Eve Online). I have my doubts over her proposed solutions to worldly problems. I don't disagree with the fundamental notion that gamers are a resourceful bunch of people. After all, a game is where one uses the resources at one's hands to either outsmart an opponent or to achieve some kind of goal in a limited environment. People who spend time on games probably develop ways of thinking or skills that can be applicable to some extent in solving real-life problems.

McGonigal's route is to do it the other way: define real-life problems in terms of a game. Gamers who play such a game would then either change their lifestyles or develop solutions in the game's context, solutions that would presumably be translated back to reality terms. At least, that was the gist I got. There's just something we would want to say here, but I can't quite place my finger on it. Maybe it's just the effect of it being a mildly bizarre, novel solution. Maybe there's some deficiency in doing things this way. In any case, I don't think going her route is necessary for me. All the motivation I get in wanting to do something good for the world, I get from an increase in knowledge of states of affairs, or in exploring the consistency of my behavior and thought.

Computer games are just like sports to me. Playing sports may give you a robust frame, and that may be useful in other areas of life. It may even be better for the common good. But to translate a real-life problem to sports, such that when people play this new sport, they are contributing quite directly to an improvement of the world, doesn't seem quite so attractive to me. I prefer playing games to solve problems I don't encounter in real life.

Kōan

I reached home at 430am this morning after spending 17 hours yesterday attending a reading of mine and 9 other plays produced from a playwriting class. This, despite the fact that I've got exams tomorrow and beyond. It kind of reminds me of the stayover I had at a friend's place the weekend before the A levels started, in which I ended up playing S11, a football console game with my friends, rather than revising. I was quite lousy in the game and I ended up losing more often than not.

It's nice to do things that are spontaneous, irrational. I suspect it feels nice to me because acting so reaffirms the notion that I am essentially a free person whose actions aren't easily predictable given any set of circumstances. Not even the circumstance of possessing a biological disposition to act in spontaneous, irrational ways - to transcend this determination I may on occasion choose to act in an obedient and predictable manner. Thus there will be some exams where I study, and some where I wouldn't mind going against the grain when opportunities present themselves. More on this, perhaps, another time.

For now I want to note that it was a pleasant 17 hours. The quality of scripts was good, and I generally like listening in on any congregation of like-minded people. Here's an excerpt.

***
SEPTIMUS is in his room alone, seated in his armchair. He is holding on to his watch.

Septimus The billowing wind stirs up hues of scarlet red. Infinite arcs twisting through us, flittering down, down, down, downwards, into the fissure. It stops there. Drawing inwards, the fading murmurs wait to be heard. Waiting.

Footsteps of a slow march can be heard.

Septimus Waiting.

The footsteps stop.

Septimus For you.

Pause.

Septimus Evans?

SEPTIMUS gets up.

Septimus Here you've arrived, bringing with you a deafening silence. Alongside, smothering darkness approaches, robbing my sight of colours, extinguishing the floating lamps of red and yellow flowers on the grass. Our minds remain muted, yet time creeps on, on, on, onwards, never looking back. You and I, continue on, never knowing that as our emotions dwindle - as we feel only complete void within, nothing remains.

Pause.

Septimus To love makes one solitary.

The footsteps start again, growing louder.

Septimus But no. I shan't relent. As the wind arrives, we shall seek brighter and clearer days. The swelling undulations shall carry away the stale monotony that weighed us down, cleansing and renewing us. As the wind gently tickles the precious chimes, the crisp and fresh tinkling will revive our deepest understanding of what needs to be done.

SEPTIMUS stares forward.

Septimus (energetically) I must speak to the Prime Minister. Let me speak to him; I must tell him the following: the supreme secret must be told to the cabinet; firstly, that trees are alive - they are alive and amongst us; second, there is no crime - none at all whatsoever; third, love, universal love - (all energy fades) what about it?

Pause.

Septimus Here I lie, my flesh melted off the world, my body macerated - only the nerve fibres are left, spread like a veil upon a rock.

Clearer distinct footsteps from an opposite direction can be heard.

SEPTIMUS turns to look over at where the footsteps are coming from.

Septimus Evans! Please, grab my hands and never let go, help me...stop me from falling down, down, down, down into the flames!

Bradshaw (offstage) My dear lady, please allow me to -

SEPTIMUS drops his watch onto the ground.

Blackout.

- Dalloway, Ng Zheng Yang (Zach)

: )

The new knuckleduster: constructing a fear of losing the good life

I went for a forum discussion yesterday. Topic: "Economic Growth: At What Cost?" Reform Party, Workers' Party and, of course, the PAP were represented. Today, by way of a school lecture, I saw a video of the "5th Singapore Forum on Politics: 'Singapore 2030: Views from the Ground' " held in 2008. The phrase "Views from the Ground", by the way, is important - this particular event could be seen as a response to a more elite conference held in the same year, on the same topic of Singapore in 2030, in which Lee Kuan Yew was a keynote speaker.

Having witnessed these two events I am now more convinced than ever Singapore is not bereft of interesting thinkers, though we may very well wonder how many we have already lost. I want to mention here Catherine Lim. She gave - I thought - a mesmerizing speech in the 2nd event, made all the more impressive because she had no notes at all. She was spontaneous, fluent, and though she lacked concrete facts and figures her language did a very good job in persuading me to her standpoint. I later found out that some, if not most, of the content were already fleshed out before: they can be found here. I don't think that degrades her speech significantly nonetheless.

I will give a quote from her later, a quote I found had a very nice rhythm. First, in less beautiful words, here is Chee Soon Juan:

The opposition is prevented from freely and effectively communicating with the voters (through restrictions imposed by the Singapore Broadcasting Act and Newspaper and Printing Presses Act); deprived of adequate funding (through the Political Donations Act); and kept from knowing the constituency boundaries in advance (through the Group Representation Constituency system)... And when there are allegations of irregularitiesin the electoral process, to whom do the complainants turn? There isn't even an independent body to conduct the elections. The Elections Department works out of the Prime Minister's Office and takes directions from the Government.

Elsewhere,

The most striking example of this occured during the 1997 elections when several PAP ministers had entered into polling stations to greet voters. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA), only the candidate and his/her officially appointed election agent are allowed into the polling stations. Unauthorised persons, including ministers, are prohibited from entering the premises and even barred from loitering within 200 metres of any voting centre. Yet election officials did not attempt to enforce the rules in the above instances.

When some opposition candidates complained to the police about this infraction, the Attorney-General defended the PAP actions by saying that the ministers were inside the polling centre - as opposed to loitering on the outside - and, hence, not in breach of any regulation.

Another incident happened in August 1996. The SDP had hung some bunting with salutary messages and celebrating the National Day at Bukit Gombak, a constituency which it had won. The Government quickly sent workers to pull down and confiscate the flags. In the meantime in a neighbouring constituency, PAP flags, without any reference to National Day, fluttered freely in the wind.

- The Power of Courage: Effecting political change in Singapore through Nonviolence

Catherine Lim:

If man does not live by bread alone, a nation does not survive in the long term by material prosperity alone. I’m going to risk being churlish and say that as long as Singapore’s leaders do not pay heed to the fundamental needs of the human spirit, they can never be called wise, only clever; and as long as the nation they lead is admired only for its material achievements, it can never be called great, only successful.

Such passages are the kind that make me unable to absorb anything else for the next ten minutes, maybe more, as the words echo in my mind over and over again, unable to extricate itself from the exquisite rhythm of the language. To make no mention of the fact that the content expressed is pertinent too.

I should also note I caught Volcanic Disco earlier, a play by students from a Theatre Studies module in NUS. I'm all for abstract, non-conventional theatre, so I was quite pleased when there were some music and dance elements. But the content of the vignettes I found not so pleasant: it didn't offer any fresh take on sexuality. A nice evening nonetheless. I always enjoy watching people being passionate at the things they do, be it debating about Singapore's future or acting in a play.

These two days aside, I've been getting a general sense that exciting things are going to happen in Singapore, and sometimes it makes me wonder what my role in them would be.