Gee Chapter 6 - Cultural Models
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Contents |
Worlds and Perspectives on the World
Gee suggests that video games can be so powerful to the psyche that players can inherit the avatar’s identity or identities. When players take on their avatars identity, Gee believes the player’s perspective of life/reality can be affected one of two ways:
1) The game can reinforce current belief structures or ideas.
- A player who believes that going to war is honorable or heroic; Castle Wolfenstein would not disappoint the player’s preconception that war is heroic.
2)The game can challenge the players’ current beliefs system.
- Games can transport the player into a virtual world that brings some aspects of real life to the consciousness of the player that s/he would not ordinarily be cognizant of in a safe environment. The player must then confront these new ideas or concepts by incorporating them into the player’s psyche or dismissing them.
- The game Medal of Honor Pacific Assault can deflate a player’s rosy beliefs about what war is really like.
Sonic the Hedgehog and Cultural Models
Gee introduces the game Sonic The Hedgehog to the reader:
- Backstory – Sonic Adventure 2 Battle:
- The evil Eggman finds the evil hedgehog, Shadow; it is the counterpart of the good hedgehog, Sonic.
- Dr. Eggman and Shadow work together to take over the world by creating a WMD, the Eclipse Cannon.
- The government cannot distinguish the two since Shadow and Sonic look alike.
- The government ends up arresting Sonic thinking that he is Shadow, the evil hedgehog.
- Sonic escapes from the government to save the world and clear its name.
- Game feature:
- Players can play the game as Sonic (the good hedgehog) or Shadow (the bad/evil hedgehog).
Having to choose Sonic or Shadow posses an interesting concept especially for young gamers. One can fight for “good,” or one can fight for “bad/evil.” Some games promote only the bad side of society for example, Grand Theft Auto 2.
As these games and Gee suggests there are two models gamers can choose from in order for them to be or do “good:”
1) Shadow’s Perspective:
- The player must “act, think, and value from this perspective, a perspective that makes Shadow “good” or “the hero.”
2) Sonic’s Perspective:
- “What counts as being and doing good is determined by a wider perspective than just a character’s own goals, purposes, and values, as these are shared with…” a common good. (p. 148)
Gee defines “models” as:
- “’everyday’ people’s conceptions” (p. 148)
Two types of Models:
1.Group Model:
- The player is “acting like a good person when [s/he is] acting in the interests of some group of which [s/he is] a member and which [s/he] value[s]” (p. 149)
2.General Model:
- The player is “acting like a good person when [s/he is] acting according to some general conception of what is good and bad, a conception that transcends [his/her] more narrow group membership” (p.149)
[JA]There is a scene in Star Trek II when Khan is about to destroy the starship Enterprise, but at the last minute Mr. Spock sacrifices himself. As Mr. Spock is dying, he tells Captain Kirk, “…logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Gee seems to suggest that we can choose to be part of a group that promotes social altruism or we can take part in social selfishness. Neither of the two is mutually exclusive though. This dichotomy also brings about what one considers “evil” and “good.” One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter is a saying that is used to express this idea of relativism.
The six year old, playing Sonic the Hedgehog, can safely explore these two dichotomies without committing to one or the other. Players can explore the different perspectives that can’t be done in reality.
Gee defines this concept as Cultural models:
- “Images, story lines, principles, or metaphors that capture what a particular group finds ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ in regard to a given phenomenon.” (p149) They are like theories of human behavior that we take for granted.
- Cultural models are created by only important information stored in the subconscious that helps us deal with the daily issues of life. Without them, we would not be able to function or work in an efficient manner.
- We pick up Cultural models by being an active participant of our society (and other societies).
- [JA] It seems to me [JA] that if a person does not have functional cultural models, we would label him/her as OCD or ADD. They spend a “great deal of preplanning and conscious thought” in order for them to get through the day.
Gee believes that since Cultural models are of the subconscious, it takes something, some force to confront the person’s chosen model and perhaps change it. Gee suggests that video games can force a conflict between a person’s cultural model and another cultural model be it a group or another individual’s cultural model.
Gee ends this section asking: “Are cultural models ‘good’ or ‘bad’?”
- Good:
- “They allow us to act and be social in the world without having to constantly reflect and think.” (p 154)
- Bad:
- “When they operate so as to do harm to ourselves or others but go unexamined” (154)
Under Ash
Gee introduces the reader to the idea that video games can have and force players to have different perspectives by discussing the game Under Ash. Gee feels that by taking on its virtual identity and a projective identity (see ch.3), the player would be able to sympathize/understand the game designer’s (or his/her affinity group’s) cultural model.
Going To War
In Under Ash (previous section) Gee discussed the macro / external / social implications of choosing to play a video game. What is “good”? vs. what is “bad/evil.” He believes that a player can put his/her feet in another person’s shoes by choosing an avatar with the opposite cultural model. In this section, Going to War, Gee focuses on the micro / internal / personal issues of gaming. That is to say, now that you have chosen a video game (and thus a cultural model), now what? Is there anything else the gamer can learn? Gee believes there is:
Gee begins the section comparing / contrasting Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. Although they both have similar features and mechanisms to control movement, Gee argues that they are different in regards to reflecting reality and thus a players decisions and learning experience is more realistic.
Castle Wolfenstein:
- Only 1st person shooter game
- Set in WWII
- Gamer is B.J. Blazkowicz: Recruited into Office of Secret Actions.
- Given the sole task to annihilate Heinrich and his posse
- It can take many bullets (the like) to kill B.J.B
- B.J.B can replenish his health by finding health kits
- Funky / esoteric weapons
- The player tends to feel like a hero
- Fighting / war is romanticized
Operation Flashpoint:
- Multiple perspectives: 1st and 3rd person
- Set in Cold War
- Rogue Soviet military group seized control of an Island and *NATO forces
- Gamer is Private David Armstrong
- Move up in ranks to become commander
- Realistic
- Bold textOne bullet can kill or maim
- Enemy can shoot from any where
- Enemy can shoot from places that are hard to see (traps).
- No health kits
- Only few medics and must be found
- Can die from a bullet with unknown origin
- Rambo style fighting will get you killed
There is extreme ambivalence in deciding what to do or where to go; it’s total chaos and confusion. There is a sense of helplessness. Gee also wondered if following orders from his commanding officers was the best decision, which would lead to his or other officer’s death.
There is a personal element to these games. Where do I go? How do I get to where I want to go? Should I listen to my superiors, some other officer or should I decide to go on my own.
In contrast to Castle Wolfenstein, Flashpoint gives the player a non-romanticized perspective of what war can be. Based on playing Flashpoint, Gee came up with some cultural models about war (P. 165):
- War is…boring
- Soldiers must move in a paranoid fashion
- Although war is exciting, it is also confusing
- Following orders is a vexed matter
- Things don’t always work out the way you want
- Situations on the ground don’t resemble people’s generalities and #plans about them.
- No one really knows what people at the top know and whether they really know what they’re doing
- The guys next to you on the actual battlefield often do know what they’re doing. It’s hard to know what you can take credit for as an individual.
- “Manly” behavior often gets you dead quickly, Rambo-type behavior even quicker
Cultural Models in School
Gee assert, “cultural models play a crucial role in school”(p 166). Gee uses physics as an example. He shares students’ discussions about how/why a ball would continue rolling at a constant speed.
Gee asserts that what is important in learning about physics is explaining change and how / why objects resists change. Physicists tend to want to explain nature at its most basic, universal elements by creating equations to explain the world around us. Gee suggests that physicists are able to create these simplified equations by leaving out details that would otherwise create confusion. It is only after the physicists develop the most basic understandings of the phenomenon that they will add the details to the equation.
Gee believes this is the same way cultural models are formed; we leave out minutia to create generalizations. In scientific models, we form such models at the conscious level, though very deliberate actions / experiments that follow a specific process. The difference between scientific models and cultural models is:
“Scientific models…explain how some aspect of the world works as an answer to a formal and consciously formulated question, and sometimes the aspects of the world that they deal with are not ones we experience in our everyday lives”(p. 169). Cultural models are formed subconsciously “to help us get on with our ‘everyday…’”
Gee ends this section by making it clear that students come into school with many cultural models, some of which conflict with scientific models and it is the teachers responsibility to recognize these conflicts as well as have the students become aware of these conflicts to that “true” active and critical learning can take place.
Cultural Models of Learning and Video Games
Gee assert, “cultural models play a crucial role in school”(p 166). Gee uses physics as an example. He shares students’ discussions about how/why a ball would continue rolling at a constant speed.
Gee asserts that what is important in learning about physics is explaining change and how / why objects resists change. Physicists tend to want to explain nature at its most basic, universal elements by creating equations to explain the world around us. Gee suggests that physicists are able to create these simplified equations by leaving out details that would otherwise create confusion. It is only after the physicists develop the most basic understandings of the phenomenon that they will add the details to the equation.
Gee believes this is the same way cultural models are formed; we leave out minutia to create generalizations. In scientific models, we form such models at the conscious level, though very deliberate actions / experiments that follow a specific process. The difference between scientific models and cultural models is:
“Scientific models…explain how some aspect of the world works as an answer to a formal and consciously formulated question, and sometimes the aspects of the world that they deal with are not ones we experience in our everyday lives”(p. 169). Cultural models are formed subconsciously “to help us get on with our ‘everyday…’”
Gee ends this section by making it clear that students come into school with many cultural models, some of which conflict with scientific models and it is the teachers responsibility to recognize these conflicts as well as have the students become aware of these conflicts to that “true” active and critical learning can take place.
CULTURAL MODELS OF LEARNING AND VIDEO GAMES
Gee argues that video games can make students confront their assumed cultural models about learning. Gee labels the current way our schools are teaching as a “baby-boomer” model. The “baby-boomer” model can be considered as the traditional, 19th century, linear, sit-down, be quite pedagogy. Gee argues that video games can break the “baby-boomer” philosophy by “offer[ing] alternative views of learning to baby-boomer models,” such as Metal Gear (p. 172).
Gee’s first model to play the game was to head straight for the building, shooting. Gee soon realized that he was not getting anywhere and had to rethink his strategy. By playing games like Metal Gear, Gee realized he had some cultural models that conformed to the baby-boomer style of learning (p. 173):
- The final goal is important, defines the learning, and good learners move toward it without being distracted by other things.
- Good learners move quickly and efficiently toward their goal.
- There is one right way to get to the goal that the good learner discover[s].
- Learning is a matter of some people being better or worse than others, and this is important.
Gee iterates that these models are linear, skill driven, competitive and tends to label students putting them in stupid group and the smart group.
Video games, Gee argues, looks down on such models. Video games focus both on linear and non-linear movement (thinking). Players must explore the territory in a way that is contradictory to current schooling practices. Time is of the essence and students who do not “get it” are usually left behind. Players can take their time to learn the ropes. And unlike a one size fits all practicum, gamers have multiple ways to accomplish his/her goal(s).
Learning Principles
1) Cultural Models about the World
- Students are able to think consciously and reflectively about the world without denigrating the students’ leaning models as well as having them confront their cultural models with new and sometimes controversial models.
2) Cultural Models about learning Principles:
- Learners are able to bring their learning to the conscious level and reflect on their own cultural models without looking down on their identities.
3) Culural models about semiotic domains principle
- Learners can think at a conscious level and reflect about their subject matter (semiotic domain) they are learning in school without dismissing their cultural models and have the learners learn new models of their domain.
