Why do people play? - The booming gaming market | DW Documentary
发布时间 2023-05-15 00:00:04 来源
摘要
Whether it’s "Mario Kart" on the games console or "Catan" at the table: We’re spending more time at play. The market for games has been booming for several years, and it’s attracting mainly adults.
Why do people like playing so much? A question just as relevant now as it was in the Stone Age. Since play is first and foremost a fun activity, it doesn’t appear to serve any evolutionary benefits, superficially at least. But there’s more to playing than just passing the time. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors needed to acquire certain skills and explore their environment - and this all happened in a playful manner. Just like small children dig in the sand or put objects in their mouths, early man progressed though crucial developmental phases by way of explorative play.
The first board games appeared along with the emergence of the world’s first civilizations 5,000 years ago. By coming up with invented systems and rules, people didn’t just create nation states or currencies, but also games. This is how chess came to be created as a war game; and ‘Monopoly’ as an exercise in capitalism.
Meanwhile, the potential of games is being harnessed in corporate and educational settings. Emotions unleashed in those at play are thought to promote productivity. The gamification industry is a growth market. In schools above all, there are hopes that play can serve to break up hidebound educational approaches -- and achieve better results in the process.
But gamification is also controversial. As the number of gamers grows, so does the number of those addicted to gaming. Now that the WHO has recognized Gaming Disorder as a behavioral condition, researchers are discussing better ways to approach play. As expert Jens Junge explains, while games are on the one hand a primal life phenomenon, they’re not without risks. The key question is: where does the boundary lie between healthy and not-so-healthy play?
#documentary #dwdocumentary #gaming #games #videogames
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And, sir, considered hardworking creatures. Humans are too. Many people define themselves through their jobs. Hard work is seen as honorable. It's often glorified, in fact. But should work determine who we are? What do we like to do most in our free time? Play. Play. Play.
而且,先生,认为人是勤奋的生物。人也是如此。许多人通过工作来定义自己。努力工作被视为荣誉。事实上,它经常被美化。但是工作应该决定我们是谁吗?在我们的空闲时间,我们最喜欢做什么?游戏。玩。玩。
These days, we're playing a lot more than we used to. The board games market is booming. The video games market is too. Games have been integrated into schools and companies for a while now. Are we running from reality? Will we turn into creatures that play more than work? And if so, who's going to stack the shelves and collect the trash?
最近我们玩的比以前多了。棋盘游戏市场正在蓬勃发展,视频游戏市场也是如此。游戏已经融入学校和企业很长时间了。我们是否在逃避现实?我们会变成比工作更爱玩的生物吗?如果是这样,谁来堆放货架和收集垃圾?
Where did the idea of play actually come from? When did it start and why? Has it been of any benefit to evolution? Playing is fundamental. It's a primal phenomenon that we see in all areas of life. Animals play so it's natural that humans play too. When animals come into the world, their brains are not yet fully developed. It's the same with humans. We have to learn a lot from birth and we do that through play.
"玩"的概念实际上从哪里来?它什么时候开始,为什么会出现?对进化有没有好处?玩耍是基础,是一种原始现象,我们在生活的各个方面都能看到。动物们玩耍,所以人类也会玩耍。动物出生时,它们的大脑还没有完全发育。人类也一样。我们从出生开始需要学习很多东西,而我们通过玩耍来学习。
In the first seven years of life alone, our brain volume triples and it wants to be filled. Exploratory play is the term researchers use when toddlers explore their environment. They mostly like doing that with their mouths. They put everything in their mouth because it has so many sensory receptors. They're exploring and grasping things in the truest sense of the word. At some point, imagination comes into play. Objects are linked to stories.
在仅仅七年的生命中,我们的大脑容量增长了三倍,而且它渴望填满。研究人员用探索性游戏这个词来形容幼儿探索他们的环境。他们大多喜欢用嘴巴来探索,因为口腔拥有非常多的感受器。他们用完全的意义来探索和抓住事物。在某些时候,想象力也开始起作用。物品与故事联系起来。
And just like that comes a role playing. Or de Papi was, Daddy has to pretend to buy chocolate ice cream at the playground. Again and again and again. Then come the building games. They foster our desire to change the world, bring it under control and create something with intention. Exploratory play, role playing and building games are all things our ancestors did too. But back then it was more existential. Playing was vital training for survival.
就这样,角色扮演游戏出现了。或者像是爸爸必须在游乐场假装买巧克力冰激凌。一遍又一遍。然后是建筑游戏,它们培养了我们想要改变世界、掌控世界并有意识地创造东西的愿望。探索性游戏、角色扮演和建筑游戏都是我们祖先所做的事情。但在那个时候,游戏对于生存至关重要。
Making fire, making tools, courtship behavior, everything had to be learned through play. Like practicing on trees before facing off against a real woolly mammoth. And play had an even more profound purpose. We also find the first games of chance among hunter-gatherers. People use these games to influence and shape society. Some communities would use games of chance with pieces of wood, for example, to decide how to divide up the spoils from a hunt. Even though the hunters were the ones who brought the meat home, this meant the week in the elderly also had some power. This is play as a means of participation, a way to change power structures.
制火、制作工具、求偶行为,这些都需要通过游戏来学习。就像在面对真正的猛犸象之前在树上练习一样。游戏还有更为深刻的目的。我们还可以在狩猎采集者中找到最早的博弈。人们使用这些游戏来影响和塑造社会。例如,一些社区会使用带有木块的博彩游戏来决定如何分配狩猎战利品。尽管猎人是带回肉的人,但这意味着老年人也有一些权力。这是参与的一种方式,改变权力结构的一种方式。
These types of games help equip us with necessary life skills, or even compensate for inequalities in a group. But how do we explain the emergence of board games and card games? Lifting a game piece is hardly going to strengthen our arm muscles. And not every game of chance can be used to redistribute wealth.
这些类型的游戏有助于装备我们必要的生活技能,甚至弥补团体中的不平等。但是我们该如何解释棋盘游戏和纸牌游戏的出现呢?只是举起一个游戏棋子不可能增强我们的肌肉力量。而且并不是每一次的游戏机会都可以用来重新分配财富。
Been and amyzen have a natural instinct which tells them their position in the group. But we humans are so unconfigured that we have to painstakingly learn the culture and rules of society. Like, how do we get along with other people, including strangers? How to divide up labor? We have to make rules together on how we want to get along in a city, village, settlement, and so on. That requires unifying common ideas.
Been和Amyzen有一种天生的本能,能告诉他们在群体中的位置。但我们人类是如此不一致,以至于我们必须费尽心思地学习社会的文化和规则。比如,我们如何与其他人相处,其中包括陌生人?如何分配劳动?我们必须共同制定规则,以便在城市、村庄、定居点等地相处。这需要统一的共同观念。
And the first board games try to communicate these ideas. The oldest surviving board game is the royal game of Orr. It was played almost 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. The object of the game is to get all your pieces off the board before your opponent. At that time, unifying social ideas revolved primarily around the belief in higher powers, or life after death. Eternity is a theme of the classic Indian board game Pachisi from around 400 CE. Board games often have spiritual significance.
首批棋盘游戏试图传达这些思想。最古老的棋盘游戏是王室游戏Orr。它在近5000年前在美索不达米亚玩过。游戏目的是在对手之前将所有棋子移出棋盘。当时,团结社会思想主要围绕着对更高力量或死后生命的信仰。永恒是约公元400年前的经典印度棋盘游戏Pachisi的主题。棋盘游戏通常具有精神重要性。
Pachisi is an ancient board game that's still around today. This exact game principle is echoed in the German game, Don't Get Angry Man. You go around, get kicked off, get reborn, and the aim of the game is to arrive in pain-free, blissful Nirvana. Games like this reflect society. As we players have some light-hearted fun, complex ideas are seeping into our consciousness.
Pachisi是一种古老的桌游,至今仍然存在。这种游戏原理在德国的游戏“Don't Get Angry Man”中有所体现。你要绕圈子、被踢出去、重生,游戏目标是到达没有痛苦和幸福的涅槃。这样的游戏反映了社会。当我们玩家轻松愉快的游戏时,复杂的概念正在渗入我们的意识中。
So how are games used as a kind of medium or political tool? Let's take chess, a war game. Like armies on a battlefield, the pieces advance tactically. This game also tells us something about how social classes are being valued. The pawns are on the front line. At the very back in the middle are the king and queen. They're the most valuable pieces in the game. In SCAT, it's the other way around. The jacks are more valuable than the kings.
那么,游戏是如何作为一种媒介或政治工具使用的呢?我们以象棋为例,这是一款战争游戏。就像在战场上的军队一样,棋子会战术性地前进。这个游戏还告诉我们社会阶级是如何被赋值的。卒子在前线。在棋盘最中央的最后面是国王和皇后。它们是游戏中最有价值的棋子。在SCAT中,则是相反的。J牌比国王更有价值。
SCAT appeared in Europe just as certain social hierarchies were crumbling. Maybe that's why it was so popular in revolutionary circles in the early 19th century. In a similar spirit of revolution, Elizabeth McGee invented the landlord's game in 1904. This board game was a critique of the monopolization of land ownership. It inspired the best-selling game Monopoly, which didn't make McGee rich, but the Parker Brothers, to whom she had sold her patent rights in 1935.
在某些社会等级正在崩溃的时期,SCAT(一种纸牌游戏)出现在欧洲。这也许是为什么它在19世纪早期的革命圈子中非常受欢迎的原因。同样具有革命精神的是,伊丽莎白·麦基在1904年发明了房东游戏。这个桌面游戏批评了土地所有权的垄断。它启发创作了畅销游戏《大富翁》,虽然这并没有让麦基富裕,但她于1935年把专利权出售给了Parker Brothers。
Monopoly is a depiction of early capitalism. What function do all these games have in this day and age, other than entertainment? Games are made up systems regulated by ideas. We re-enact social rules with games and train ourselves to deal with the problems and conflicts that we experience in real society. So by playing Monopoly, we're practicing social Darwinism, preparing for a revolution with SCAT and war with chess, seriously.
《大富翁》是早期资本主义的代表。除了娱乐之外,这些游戏在现今社会还有什么其他作用呢?游戏是由理念所规范的系统。我们通过游戏再现社会规则,训练自己处理在现实社会中遇到的问题和冲突的能力。因此,通过玩《大富翁》,我们正在练习社会达尔文主义,用SCAT训练革命的能力,同时用国际象棋锻炼战争技巧,非常严肃的。
Playing games as survival training used to be necessary, but these days we don't fight mammoths or chase feudal lords with pitchforks. Do people these days play to fill the time that's been freed up through increased prosperity? Perhaps games offer us the experience of tackling challenges that no longer exist within the relatively comfortable lives we lead today. Or are we simply bored in looking to escape into fantasy worlds? It's not like we're stepping out of reality. The game is just another reality that we are in.
打游戏作为生存培训曾经是必要的,但如今我们不再与猛犸象搏斗或用草叉追逐封建领主。现在的人是为了填补随着繁荣增长而释放出来的时间而玩游戏吗?也许游戏为我们提供了应对挑战的经验,而在我们今天相对舒适的生活中这些挑战已经不再存在。或者我们只是厌倦了现实,想逃到幻想世界里吗?并不是说我们要走出现实,游戏只是另一个我们处于其中的现实。
While playing, I can take on a different role. I can harm someone else, as long as it's within the rules. I'm allowed to play mercilessly for my own benefit. I'm allowed to have a plan and not reveal it. I'm allowed to bluff. There are even games that I can only win by cheating. That's one advantage of playing games over watching movies in series. It's easier to slip into a different role when you're active in completing tasks yourself. That's why games became so popular during the pandemic. The game's industry has seen 20 to 25% increase in sales worldwide.
在玩游戏的时候,我可以扮演不同的角色。只要在规则范围内,我可以伤害其他人。我可以为了自己的利益无情地玩。我可以有一个计划,但不必揭示它。我可以进行虚张声势。甚至有些游戏只有通过作弊才能获胜。这是玩游戏而不是看连续剧的一个优势。当你积极地完成任务时,更容易扮演不同的角色。这就是为什么在疫情期间游戏变得如此流行的原因之一。全球游戏产业的销售额增长了20%到25%。
Why? Because it enables us to do something different to be successful even in times of uncertainty. Games give us this feeling that maybe we do have a handle on things after all. That's why sometimes we'd much rather play than go to work. That's when things can get problematic. When we start to feel so comfortable in the role of the game player that we start avoiding real life, is the thing that used to drive humanity's development forward now slowing it down?
为什么?因为它使我们能够在不确定的时期做出不同的成功之举。游戏让我们感到可能我们确实能够掌控事情。这就是为什么有时候我们宁愿玩游戏也不愿意去工作的原因。这时候问题就来了。当我们开始感到在游戏玩家的角色中感到如此舒适以至于开始回避现实生活时,曾经推动人类发展的东西现在是不是已经在减缓人类发展的速度了?
And if board games are the tip of the iceberg, we haven't even looked at what lies beneath the surface. Video games. They generate 12 times more revenue worldwide than board games. The trend is going up. We're seeing more and more gamers. So we haven't reached the peak yet. Within the video game industry, the market is shifting from offline to online games. So why is there a peel so much greater? There are so many more features to engage with. You can better connect with other people and play in groups. You also have more open worlds, where there's just so much more space to explore.
如果桌游是冰山的尖端,那么我们甚至还没有看到水面下的东西。视频游戏。它们的全球收入比桌游多12倍。这种趋势正在上升。我们看到越来越多的游戏玩家。所以我们还没有达到顶峰。在视频游戏产业中,市场正在从离线游戏转向在线游戏。那么为什么你可以获得更多的体验?有更多的功能可以参与。你可以与其他人更好地联系并组成小组玩游戏。你也有更多的开放世界,有更多的空间可以探索。
There's a large branch of research that deals with motos for gaming. And that's showed us that people play computer games for competitive reasons or to train their skills, as in they want to get better. Some people enter a spiral where they're spending more and more time online. They have the impression that they're improving at something and being successful, but they're no longer mastering tasks in the real world. So there can be too much of a good thing. Gaming can become a problem. Especially when a game becomes so captivating that we can't just walk away from it. Addictive behavior.
有一大分支的研究处理游戏用途的摩托车。这告诉我们,人们玩计算机游戏是为了竞争的原因或者为了训练自己的技能,即他们想要进步。有些人会陷入一个恶性循环中,他们花费越来越多的时间在线上。他们有着某种被成功和进步的感觉,但是他们不再掌握现实世界中的任务。因此,好事变得过多也不好。游戏可能会成为一个问题。特别是当一个游戏变得如此迷人,我们无法只是离开它。这是上瘾行为。
Not to be confused with gambling disorder. In 2022, there were at least 80 million people affected worldwide, and the trend is rising. In a game of chance, money is often at stake, and winning depends entirely or predominantly on chance. Gambling disorder has been recognized as a disease by the World Health Organization since 2001. And since 2022, so has gaming disorder and addiction to computer games. The numbers are disputed, but researchers estimate 1 to 3% of the global population is affected. That's many millions of people. In contrast, no one has ever been diagnosed with board game addiction.
不要将此与赌博障碍混淆。截至2022年,全球至少有8千万人受到影响,而且这个趋势正在上升。在博彩游戏中,经常涉及到赌资,而赢取胜利完全或主要取决于运气。自2001年以来,赌博障碍已被世界卫生组织认定为疾病。自2022年以来,游戏障碍和对电子游戏的上瘾也被认定为疾病。这些数字存在争议,但研究人员估计全球范围内1%至3%的人口受到影响,这是许多人。相比之下,从未有人被诊断出有桌游上瘾。
Let's use board games as a comparison, as another form of stylized play. The difference is there's no industry behind it that's making money off of me playing, don't get angry man, or some other board game 30 times in a row. But why don't people play board games 30 times in a row when they'll play 30 hours of World of Warcraft or Candy Crush?
让我们以桌游为比较对象,作为另一种风格化娱乐形式。不同之处在于没有利益驱动的行业在我玩游戏时从中获利,不会像某些桌游一样气得人心烦意乱。但为什么人们不会像玩《魔兽世界》或《糖果传奇》一样连续玩30次桌游呢?
One of the mechanisms that kicks in here is the endowment effect, which we know from behavioral economics. Say I'm building a digital form, and I develop a habit. I come back every day to harvest a few coins and continue shaping this world. This online world becomes increasingly important to me because I've already invested a lot of time. This endowment effect becomes stronger over time, and users find it more and more difficult to detach from this world or to delete the app.
这里发挥作用的机制之一是被行为经济学所熟知的损失厌恶效应。假设我在制作一个数字表格,我形成了一个习惯——每天都回来收集一些硬币,继续塑造这个世界。因为我已经投入了很多时间,这个在线世界变得越来越重要。这种损失厌恶效应会随着时间的推移变得更加强烈,用户会发现很难从这个世界中分离出来,或者删除这个应用程序。
We also know this from platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The more time you spend on them, the more followers you get, the more you post, and the harder it is to stop. The psychological endowment effect has you trapped. I believe smartphone games are mainly designed to operate triggers that extend time you play online. They want you to keep coming back, and they might even nudge you. That's the term we use in behavioral economics, to make an in-app purchase that you didn't really want.
我们也可以从Facebook和Instagram这样的平台上得知这个道理。你在上面花费的时间越多,你的粉丝数量就会越多,你发的帖子也会越多,停下来就越难。心理禀赋效应让你陷入了困境。我认为智能手机游戏主要是设计出触发器来延长你在线玩游戏的时间。他们希望你不断回来,甚至可能会促使你进行应用内购买,这是我们在行为经济学中使用的术语,指的是你本来并不想购买的东西。
The trick behind nudging is called the Zygarnik effect, named after a Russian psychologist. It's the idea that an unfinished task sticks in the mind more than a finished one. Game designers take advantage of this and build in levels that are almost impossible to complete, where players lose all their lives and are forced to pause. This binds the user to the game more emotionally than if they blasted through it in one go. And it drives them to buy additional lives instead of waiting.
“推动”背后的技巧叫做齐加尔尼克效应,得名于一位俄罗斯心理学家。这个理念指出,未完成的任务比完成的任务更容易在脑海中占据优势地位。游戏设计师依据此效应,设计了一些几乎不可能完成的游戏关卡,玩家会失去所有的生命并被迫暂停。这种策略在情感上更能让玩家被游戏吸引,比一口气通关更有效。同时,也会促使玩家购买额外的生命,而不是等待。
Game companies exploit our play instinct. They know that games can activate a particular quality in us, namely engagement. The game engages the player and provides an enjoyable experience. It makes the player overcome the various obstacles in the game with pleasure. But if games have such power over us, why can't that be harnessed elsewhere? What if you could get schoolchildren or employees to tap into their play instincts to help them succeed at school or work?
游戏公司利用了我们的游戏本能。他们知道游戏可以激活我们的某种特质,即参与度。游戏可以吸引玩家并提供愉悦的体验。它让玩家在游戏中愉快地克服各种障碍。但是,如果游戏对我们有如此大的影响力,为什么不能在其他地方利用它呢?如果您能让学生或员工利用他们的游戏本能来帮助他们在学校或工作中成功,会怎样呢?
By using the tactics of the gaming industry, learning could become much more fun. Gameification is the attempt to incorporate game elements into a non-game environment, so maybe turning something boring into something nice and exciting, to motivate people to become more engaged. One example is the App Habitica, which has had millions of downloads.
通过借鉴游戏行业的策略,学习可以变得更加有趣。游戏化是将游戏元素融入非游戏环境中的尝试,从而将无聊的事物转变成有趣且令人兴奋的事物,以激励人们更加参与其中。其中一个例子是“Habitica”应用程序,它已经被下载了数百万次。
Everyday tasks like taking out the trash, doing schoolwork or tidying up become a game. Users get coins for completed tasks, which can be used to buy objects in the game. This type of gamification works by rewarding behavior with badges, levels, leaderboards, achievements and points. Companies like Microsoft have experimented with game-based reward systems, initially with success. Many employees became more motivated to work. But it quickly became clear that the effect wouldn't last.
日常任务如倒垃圾、做功课或整理房间可以变成游戏。用户完成任务可以获得游戏币,用来购买游戏中的道具。这种游戏化的方式通过徽章、等级、排行榜、成就和积分奖励行为。微软等公司曾经尝试过基于游戏的奖励系统,一开始取得了成功。许多员工变得更有动力工作。但很快就清楚,这种效果不会持久。
The downside to gamification is the focus on extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is when a behavior is elicited through external stimuli, like money, praise or a treat. But why do the treats only work on humans in the short term? Because we humans are too intelligent. We see we've been employed the month for the 11th time, and that there's nowhere else to go on the level system. It's static, and they're just beating us into working harder.
游戏化的缺点在于着重于外在动机。所谓的外在动机是指通过外部刺激产生某种行为,例如金钱、赞扬或奖赏。但是为什么奖赏只在短期内对人类有效呢?这是因为我们人类太聪明了。我们会发现自己已经成为第11个月的员工,而且在等级系统中已经没有更高的位置可以上升了。这是一种静态的状态,他们只是强制我们更加努力地工作。
The sociology of work shows that as productivity rises, productivity standards also shift. So expectations and demands are higher too. So gamification can be used to exploit us, and it doesn't work on a long-term basis. This has also been shown by research into the Habitica app. While the users got better at the game, they were completing their tasks less often in reality. With software applications that only work with extrinsic motivation, people are especially quick to look for a way to cheat.
工作的社会学表明,随着生产力的提高,生产力标准也会发生变化。因此期望和要求也更高。因此,游戏化可以用来剥削我们,但在长期基础上不起作用。这也已经通过对Habitica应用程序的研究得到证实。虽然用户在游戏中变得更好,但在现实中却更少完成任务。对于只依赖外在动机的软件应用程序,人们会特别快地寻找作弊途径。
But if we're predisposed to cheat, is the idea of playing for increased productivity doomed to fail? There's a type of gamification that we call humanistic. It's aim is to boost development and awareness, and to improve working conditions. It uses more elaborate methods. Let's take math class, a notoriously unpopular school subject. To change that, schools have been introducing educational games, such as Manga High.
但如果我们有作弊的倾向,那么玩游戏以提高生产力的想法是否注定要失败呢?有一种我们称之为人文主义的游戏化,它的目的是促进发展和意识,改善工作条件。它采用了更复杂的方法。我们以数学课为例,这是一个臭名昭著的不受欢迎的学科。为了改变这种情况,学校一直在引入教育游戏,比如Manga High。
While it does use extrinsic reward elements like points and difficulty levels, it also has a sophisticated story with fun characters and complex missions. Good games are just like a good menu with lots of different flavors. Sometimes you have an extrinsic motivation, then an intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic elements often have something to do with a sense of community. Maybe you're the hero in a story, and you're meant to somehow save the world.
尽管它使用像积分和难度等级这样的外在奖励元素,但它也有一个复杂的故事情节、有趣的角色和复杂的任务。好的游戏就像一个拥有许多不同口味的好菜单。有时你有外在动力,然后是内在动力。内在元素通常与社群感有关。也许你是一个故事中的英雄,你的使命是拯救世界。
So with the right game design, gamification may work long term after all. When educational content is disguised as a game it's known as a serious game, and they're growing in popularity. But in terms of entertainment, they can't compete with commercial video games. They have the most money behind them, which often means better design and more fun.
因此,通过适当的游戏设计,游戏化可能长期有效。将教育内容伪装成游戏被称为“严肃游戏”,它们越来越受欢迎。但在娱乐方面,它们无法与商业视频游戏竞争。商业视频游戏拥有最多的资金支持,通常意味着更好的设计和更有趣。
Many schoolchildren are already familiar with them, so can they be used for teaching? Sure, because using games like this can bring more fun into learning. Educational researchers are currently testing whether Mario Kart could be used to teach probability. Age of empires is being tested in history lessons. We tend to learn emotionally if we're gripped by emotion, then the learning process is much more intense. Perhaps unsurprisingly the initial results show that most young people are enthusiastic, but motivation and engagement are not everything.
很多学生已经熟悉这些游戏了,所以它们能用于教学吗?当然可以,因为使用这样的游戏可以让学习更有趣。教育研究人员目前正在测试马力欧赛车游戏是否可以用来教授概率学。《帝国时代》正在历史课上进行测试。如果我们被情感所牵动,我们倾向于情感学习,那么学习过程就会更加强烈。也许并不令人意外的是,最初的结果显示,大多数年轻人都很热情,但动力和参与度并不是一切。
The most important question is, what's being learned in the process, what actually sticks. That's the real question, and it's also unclear which game design elements promote learning. There are still question marks in the research. So if a company or a school introduces a game to help people reach their peak performance, the user might just get good at the game and not retain the useful material.
最重要的问题是,在过程中学到了什么,到底记住了什么。这才是真正的问题,而且还不清楚什么游戏设计元素可以促进学习。目前仍有研究中存在疑问。因此,如果公司或学校引入游戏来帮助人们达到最佳表现,用户可能只会变得擅长游戏,而无法保留有用的材料。
The truth is, if you want to learn something, especially something complicated, you have to accept that it's sometimes hard work. Gamification elements don't have to be incorporated everywhere. People also need to learn there are certain things that just have to be done. Someone has to do the dishes, and someone has to clean the toilet. It's not always fun. We may have to accept that we can't solve all problems by playing games.
事实上,如果你想学习某些东西,特别是复杂的东西,你必须接受有时需要努力工作的事实。不必在所有地方都加入游戏化要素。人们也需要学习有些事情必须得做。有人得洗碗,有人得清理厕所。这并不总是有趣的。我们可能不得不接受不能通过玩游戏解决所有问题的现实。
And while the effects of gaming in different areas are controversial, their onward march is likely unstoppable. 70% of the world's 2,000 largest companies already use game elements to boost productivity. And more schools are introducing games into the classroom. Funding for game development is increasing every year. Game companies generate more revenue than Netflix, Disney, and all cinemas combined. We're certainly playing more. But is that good or bad?
虽然人们对于游戏对不同方面的影响存在争议,但游戏的进步势头很可能无法阻挡。全球最大的2000家公司中就有70%在采用游戏元素来提高生产力。越来越多的学校正在将游戏引入课堂教学。游戏开发的资金每年都在增加。游戏公司所创造的营收比Netflix、迪士尼和所有电影院的总和还要多。我们确实在玩游戏的时间越来越多,但这是好是坏呢?
We need to learn to think and behave in a flexible manner. Gaming skills can help us to adequately address the challenges of society in the future. So that's the good side of the coin. But is there another side that's not so good? Because if in addition to playing at home, we also play at the bus stop, at work, at school, at the doctor's office, during exercise, then aren't we all in danger of becoming addicted? What we are in Asia is that there's currently a much higher prevalence of gaming disorder in Asia. So I expect the sea and overall rise in gaming disorder and online addiction in the future. Asia tends to set technological trends so Europe could be about to follow suit.
我们需要学会灵活地思考和行动。电子游戏技能可以帮助我们充分应对未来社会面临的挑战。这是硬币的好一面。但是,还有没有不太好的一面呢?因为如果我们不仅在家里玩,还在公交车站、工作、学校、医生诊所、运动时都在玩,我们难道不都有成瘾的危险吗?目前,亚洲的电子游戏障碍普遍性要高得多。我预计未来游戏障碍和网瘾的普及率将会上升。亚洲往往又是技术趋势的引领者,所以欧洲可能也会效仿。
On the other hand, not everyone who plays a lot on the computer is addicted straight away to a computer game. Take the eSports sector. Those people spend a lot of time playing video games, but they're doing it for a living. That doesn't apply to very many people, of course. But for the rest of us, as long as we hold the fabric of society together, and can manage everyday tasks and play responsibly, and school and work don't suffer, then gaming is a perfectly acceptable pastime.
另一方面,并不是每个在电脑上玩得很多的人都会立刻上瘾于电脑游戏。拿电子竞技领域来说,这些人花费很多时间玩视频游戏,但是他们是为了谋生而这么做的。当然,并不是很多人都适用于这种情况。但对于我们这些其他人来说,只要我们能够维持社会的基本运转,可以管理日常任务并负责地玩游戏,同时学校和工作也不会受到影响,那么游戏是一种完全可以接受的消遣方式。
Take multiplayer games or eSports. What are those games about? They're about learning how to master complex societies, and complex societies need complex games. And so we've come full circle. Just as earlier cultures prepared for life and society through games, were still doing the same today, an interesting thought.
多人游戏或电子竞技是关于什么的?它们关乎于学习如何掌握复杂的社会,而复杂的社会需要复杂的游戏。因此,我们已经完全回到了过去文化通过游戏为生活和社会做准备的阶段,今天仍然如此。这是一个有趣的想法。
So, are we following in the tradition of our ancestors? Although our grandparents had to work more than we do, our Stone Age ancestors had to work much less. Through archaeology, researchers estimate that only two to three hours per day were spent hunting, gathering, and making fire. And the rest of the day was spent, what else, playing?
那么,我们是在延续祖先的传统吗?虽然我们的祖父母要比我们工作更多,但我们石器时代的祖先却要少得多。通过考古学的研究,研究人员估计每天只花费两到三个小时狩猎、采集和生火。而其余的时间呢,做什么呢?不就是玩吗?