Upon my surfing this month, I came across an EA Sports website, a gaming portal that enables players to ‘paste’ their head shots onto the body of the player of their choice. The micro-site is called Game Face. It gives this personal “welcome” to the players: Create your EA sports avatar on the web and get to play as yourself in the games! Interesting concept I thought.
I am not hugely into sports gaming (which EA are known for) but I like the concept of personification: the users “see themselves” in the interactive zone they are engaged in. Perhaps, people tend to become more efficient in interactive games when they see themselves in it. The survival instinct kicks in: they don’t want to see their avatar lose or die right before their very eyes.
I remember at a game developers conference years ago a guy called Daniel Goldstein of Microsoft Research and this other guy from Stanford Uni, seeing if giving people vivid images of their older selves would change their spending and saving preferences on games. They took photos of subjects and used cool software to create digital avatars—half of which were aged with jowls, bags under the eyes, and gray hair but came across quite realistic.
From my experience, the correct and efficient use of avatars in story-based eLearning design is only part of the whole approach. To create the appropriate learning environment, designers should set a good story, an apt setting and environment and a realistic and natural script. This will create the right tension and draw the learner into the scenario not focus on the character look.
Sure, I there is the need for recreating real-life scenarios. And sometimes there are emotions and reactions involved. While we try to draw out the spontaneous reaction from learners, it is also as important to give them space to process their own learning.
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Published by theirishduck
I love the ability where I can plan, prioritise, design, develop and deliver blended learning solutions for a variety of markets. I love to consult and advise about the best use of digital learning and improve design standards in line with evolving ways of working. I also enjoy to keep up to date with, understand and regularly recommend emerging technologies and practice to improve individuals, teams and organisational capabilities.
With over 12 years digital learning experience and demonstrated experience in both instructional design and eLearning development, I have also a lot of experience conducting training needs analysis including how to leverage principles such as design thinking and root cause analysis to understand and address performance gaps. I also have led many facilitation workshops and even presented at iDesignX and Game Developers Conferences both here in Australia, Wales and in the United States.
I bring loads of coding experience in Java, ASM, C++, HTML, JavaScript, SCORM and xAPI, as well as proven capability using Adobe Captivate, Trivantis Lectora and Articulate Storyline 360 Studio authoring programs. Of course, Adobe Creative Cloud is also part of my toolbox which I also use daily. Being taught traditional and advanced 3D animation techniques, I love hand drawing and polymer clay sculpture, but can also use the Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya and Softimage applications.
With strong multimedia, training and programming backgrounds, I understand modern learner behaviour including micro and social learning, I am very familiar with most LMSes and app-based (XCode and Android Studio), adult learning models and e-solutions.
I also possess the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, whilst being pro-active in delivering work independently with minimal supervision, but enjoy working in teams.
I've been told I am a resilient, relationship focused guy which can manage and navigate conflicting views and stakeholders/subject matter experts.
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