Massively Mulitplayer

Massively Multiplayer refers to the vast amount of people that are simultaneously involved in this gaming genre. Online refers to the place where the game environment and all its players reside. MMOs exist “on and over the internet” [1].  As technology developed these MMO environments have become more responsive to the players and can hold a large amount of players at any one time.

The genre of MMOs is characterised not only by its vast amount of players, but by that these players interact in a “single, integrated, persistent gaming world.” [2].

There are several MMO game genres, of which Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games are the most popular [2]. Examples are World of Warcraft, Eve Online, The Elder Scrolls or Final Fantasy online. This genre leans heavily on avatar development and in-game interactions between gamers and between gamers and Non Playing Characters.
MMORPGs add physicality, social interaction, avatar-mediated play, vertical game play and perpetuity [1] to the persistence of any MMO.

All the players interact in a single and integrated world, where their actions have effect on other players, the environment or the overall narrative.  This brings in the technical challenge of tracking and supporting the massive amount of players and their actions and keeping the virtual world updated accordingly for everyone – in real time. To lessen the burden of such massive data traffic a game is often run split over several servers [2]. The persistent world of an MMO does not wait for any one player to start or stop playing, the narrative and development of the game world continues regardless.

These Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games
are make believe universes
in which real people interact with other real people
through digital representations of themselves;
millions of people participate in these worlds”
(Castronova, 2007)

MMOs have had much attention from researchers in the area of excessive online gaming, with concerns especially on addiction and mental disorders and rightfully so.
The pervasive and highly social aspects of MMO – as well as the multimillion player base – raised theories and research on the addictive nature of this gaming genre [4]. Time spent in this type of gaming environment sparked all sorts of concerns about social isolation.

However, research has shown that playing a MMORPG also increases social capital [5]. Players may be represented by avatars running around in fantasy worlds but the interactions between the players and the relationships forged are very real.

References
1. Chan, E., & Vorderer, P. (2006). Massively Multiplayer Online Games. In P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (Eds.), Playing video games: motives, responses, and consequences (pp. 77-90). Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
2. Chu, H. S. (2008). Building a simple yet powerful MMO game architecture, Part 1: Introduction. A simple, elegant implementation that delivers the functionality needed by any MMO game (pp. 10): IBM Developer Works.
3. Castronova, E. (2007). Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality: St Martins Press.
4. Kardefelt-Winther, D. (2014). The moderating role of psychosocial well-being on the relationship between escapism and excessive online gaming. Computers in Human Behavior, 38, 68-74.
5. Wellman, B., Haase, A. Q., Witte, J., & Hampton, K. (2001). Does the internet increase, decrease or supplement social capital? Social networks, participation, and community commitment. The american behavioral scientist, 45(3), 436-455.

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Solarpunk OBA Mercatorplein 14 september

We duiken in het utopische science-fiction genre SOLARPUNK en nemen dan een mentale tijdreis naar de toekomst. Hier maken we een kiekje van door onze toekomst te schilderen, tekenen, knippen, schrijven, plakken of alles door elkaar.

Kom ook meedenken en meewerken aan een eco-sociale toekomst.
Jongeren en volwassenen van harte welkom.

Meld je hier aan of kijk hier voor meer informatie

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Neem serious games ook echt serieus

Met Marjolein van Trigt sprak ik voor Binnenlands Bestuur over het gebruik van serious games door gemeentes en een aantal voorbeelden.

“Een serious game kan een effectief middel zijn om bijvoorbeeld bewustwording te creëren over cyberdreiging of zwerfafval. Het laten ontwikkelen van een serious game kost echter veel tijd, geld en aandacht. Dat loont alleen als het beoogde effect wordt bereikt.”

Lees het artikel hier https://www.binnenlandsbestuur.nl/digitaal/neem-serious-gaming-ook-echt-serieus

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Cognitive Reappraisal

Cognitive reappraisal is a change in cognition which allows for the interpretation of an emotion-eliciting situation in such a way as to alter the emotional impact it has [1]. It is using what you think to change what you feel. Cognitive reappraisal was found to increase cortisol reactivity in both a public speaking task and a cold pressor pain task, which suggests that cognitive reappraisal might even support greater physiological reactivity to acute stress and that it may increase active coping strategies [2].

One experiment showed the simplicity of cognitive reappraisal by announcing an anxiety-inducing math test as a “challenge.” This decreased the experienced threat of the test and improved math performance among both high-school and university students [3]. Cognitive reappraisal might also be an effective strategy for mitigating the effects of experiencing anxiety from health-related messages.

Health-risk information can be threatening in its nature and induce defensive responses [4], and health appeals can be interpreted as threatening as they confront us with disease and our own mortality [5]. The resulting state anxiety can drain working memory capacity, decrease self-confidence, harm task performance [6], and has been linked to a lowering in self-efficacy [7]. These processes are especially pertinent in a health environment, as on the one hand health information can elicit negative emotions, while on the other hand self-efficacy is known to play a role in achieving effective health behaviors [8].

part of The Effect of a Health Game Prompt on Self-efficacy: Online Between-Subjects Experimental Survey

  1. Gross JJ. Emotion Regulation: Current Status and Future Prospects. Psychological Inquiry 2015 Mar 09;26(1):1-26. [CrossRef]
  2. Denson TF, Creswell JD, Terides MD, Blundell K. Cognitive reappraisal increases neuroendocrine reactivity to acute social stress and physical pain. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2014 Nov;49:69-78 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
  3. Alter A, Aronson J, Darley J, Rodriguez C, Ruble D. Rising to the threat: Reducing stereotype threat by reframing the threat as a challenge. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2010 Jan;46(1):166-171. [CrossRef]
  4. van Koningsbruggen GM, Harris PR, Smits AJ, Schüz B, Scholz U, Cooke R. Self-Affirmation Before Exposure to Health Communications Promotes Intentions and Health Behavior Change by Increasing Anticipated Regret. Communication Research 2016 Jul 09;43(8):1027-1044. [CrossRef]
  5. Hastall M, Sukalla F. Multiples Framing in der Gesundheitskommunikation: Annahmen und Befunde. Medien und Gesundheitskommunikation 2013;201:219. [CrossRef]
  6. Eysenck M, Calvo M. Anxiety and Performance: The Processing Efficiency Theory. Cognition & Emotion 1992 Nov;6(6):409-434. [CrossRef]
  7. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: Worth Publishers; 1997.
  8. Maher K. The effect of youth diabetes self-efficacy on the relation among family conflict, disease care and glycemic control. VCU Scholars Compass. Virginia: VCU University Archives; 2014.   URL: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3495 [accessed 2012-04-12]
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Solarpunk de Buurt OBA De Hallen

Kom op “derde kerstdag” een kijkje nemen in jouw eco-sociale toekomst

We duiken samen in de eco-sociale utopia van SOLARPUNK met voorbeelden en verhalen. We bespreken de principes van een solarpunk toekomst en fantaseren over hoe onze eigen toekomst eruit zou zien. Iedereen maakt een eigen stukje van deze toekomst door deze te schrijven/tekenen/schilderen/knipselen. Als je wilt kan dit blijven hangen in de leeshoek van de OBA.

  • Woensdag 27 december
  • 13:00-17:00 uur
  • OBA De Hallen in Amsterdam-West

deelname gratis, materiaal aanwezig, 12 jaar en ouder, maximaal 20 deelnemers

aanmelden via https://www.oba.nl/agenda/dehallen/solarpunkworkshop.html

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ENGINEER DIVERSITY

A more diverse team has a better chance of coming up with innovative ideas and making your company more adaptable. Diversity needs to be made and maintained.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE DIVERSE

First of all, you should aim for a diverse engineering team because it is the RIGHT THING to do.

The path to becoming an engineer is not an equitable one. There is a good amount of white/male privilege that results in an overrepresentation of white/male engineers. You will have to put in some additional effort not to end up with a homogenous workforce. Just as those without privilege have made additional efforts into becoming an engineer. If you have the opportunity to make the playing field a little more level by offering scholarships or early educational opportunities and paid internships than please do so. Beyond helping society as a whole, most likely your company will benefit from this diversity infusion.

But you should also establish diversity to improve the QUALITY of work.

There are some famous misses in technology due to lack of diversity in the engineering team: coloured humans that are not recognised as easily by cameras and humans with breasts that are not accurately recognised by pose estimation software. Too many products are designed by and for a default white male option and this will continue to be so unless we deliberately change it. Gender blind technology is “any tech solution that has been created without analysing how a product might affect men and women differently “[source] and our world is filled with it. This ignores an amazing sphere of opportunity for innovation.

Now that AI and ML are becoming more prevalent, algorithmic bias also becomes more relevant. Algorithmic biases arise during the framing of the problem, during collecting of training data and in determining which variables you tell the algorithm to look at. All these steps in the AI / ML process are heavily influenced by human choice. Such choices include our unconscious biases. These biases are the established views that we do not notice in ourselves. The trouble of having a homogenous team is that the biases we do not notice in ourselves we will also not notice in a similar other. Diversity will show up everyone’s biases. 

Group think is a common problem in teams that stands in the way of innovation and adaptation. Group norms, behaviours and thoughts become self-affirming as they circle around in a group of likeminded individuals. Especially well-performing homogenous teams continuously strengthen their own group norms. Often above that of the company and civilised society. Cheating and bullying behaviour arise and are accepted. Teams in the grasp of group think do not take well to any change in their behaviour (less adaptation) and are not open to outside ideas (less innovation). Diversity can be a built-in mechanism against the whirlpool of group think.

And if you intend to operate internationally, a diverse team will also help you get beyond your national biases (of which you are likely unaware). Work cultures are very different around the world. This may seem obvious as a European company working with Asian companies, but we often already don’t understand a neighbouring country as much as we think.

BE THE DIVERSITY

Hiring practises are an obvious place to establish diversity: set your gender target 50/50, give bonus points for different cultural backgrounds and other aspects not currently present in your team of engineers. Consider how and where you do your recruiting and how you might reach potential candidates that you are currently lacking. Set a company-wide diversity quota, offer paid learning opportunities, support remote work or flexible work hours and provide benefits that apply to both genders.

You can start with your current engineering team by running a culture session. An open discussion of what the team culture is and what everyone wants it to be. Write down what is currently accepted behaviour and what is expected within the team. Discuss the process and consequences when desired behaviour is broken. This formalises the team culture.  When you first do this, you might see an increase in transgressions when culture-rules have been established because breaking them will be more obvious to everyone. Handling this is an opportunity to grow as a team and experience that pointing out differences is a learning opportunity. Smoothing the path for having a diverse team in which biases can be uncovered and inspected and different considerations are appreciated. When the diversity of a team changes (or has remained unchanged for a very long time) it is often valuable to run a new culture session.

Once you have a diverse team you want to keep them and for this you need to invest. Particularly on psychological safety so that the differences that exist in a diverse team can be openly discussed and valued as an asset, instead of becoming undercurrents of annoyance. To know the state of your team you must measure and attach interventions to the results where necessary.

Many of the things that improve diversity on paper, in practice only work when they are owned and lived. Perhaps at first by the founder, HR and management team and eventually by the entire company. Openly display the behaviour you want to establish. Cultural sensitivity can be learned and awareness of and reflection on our own biases should be standard practice in HR. Openness and transparency in management sets the tone for openness throughout the company. Model the appropriate cultural rules. Call out incorrect behaviour and openly reflect on your own behaviours and underlying biases. Challenge your peers.

To experience all of the benefits and minimal drawbacks of a diverse engineering team there has to be an environment of real appreciation of the differences brought to the bench.

Why diversity matters in STEM [source]

1. Different approaches to a problem are often key in solving them. People from different backgrounds often approach work and problem solving differently.

2. White men do not make for better engineers. There is the same potential for engineering greatness in any other human classification. This potential is not being realized.

3. If you are to avoid worker shortages, you should not ignore most of potential work pool by focusing on one category.

written for Elektor HR special in 2022

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