DMS 302
Week 7
Collective intelligence. What is it? It involves a 'collective' of people with individual knowledge collaborating, and gaining 'intelligence' as a result. In short, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Theorists such as Joe McKendrick and Terry Flew have studied this concept in relation to digital and mass media. Looking specifically at videogames, scholars like Jane McGonigal have highlighted the importance of gaming as a tool for collaboration (e.g. educational games) as well as a good example of how collective intelligence is formed (e.g. web communities devoted to MMOGs). Ross Mayfield is also an advocate for the notion that as our 'collaborative intelligence' (ability to collaborate in/lead a group) increases through social media, so does the reach of our collective intelligence:
Figure 1: The power law of participation (Mayfield 2006, in Flew, 2008, pp 32)
What does it achieve?
The internet resonates with the core idea of Knowledge Work and provides the perfect platform for the Knowledge Economy. Why? Because the internet (especially with web 2.0) is a network, which allows interaction, which in turn encourages participation, which allows an exchange of the currency of the knowledge economy, which increases collective intelligence (Lévy, 1997). Thus, "Facebook is grooming us for our future in knowledge work."(Brand, 2010)
Terry Flew points out that with the recent explosion of networked ICTs and social networks, all this knowledge content finally has a place to come together, and become available to increasing numbers of people. (2008) One need not look further than Wikipedia to see this theory in action. Joe McKendrick has argued that with this mass melding of minds, it is inevitable that problems of the past, present and future will be discussed. As two heads are better than one, many are better than two at solving these problems, as the heterophilic nature of these groups bring a diverse range of experiences and ways of thinking to the table (2010).
What can it achieve in videogames?
Not only do online communities devoted to existing game worlds prove the perfect example of how much can be learned when people share their knowledge (WoWWiki the online open encyclopaedia of the World of Warcraft universe has 87,634 pages), but the game worlds themselves can also be looked at in this way.
The efforts of Jane McGonigal, PhD links the problem-solving notions posited by McKendrick and others to the world of videogames. McGonigal is an expert in the Alternate Reality Game genre1, and has long believed in the power of videogames, especially Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), to bring people together to solve the world's problems.
Figure 2: More from Jeff Rubin here - http://www.dorkly.com/article/1996/videogame-characters-solve-real-world-problems
She believes that videogames should be taken seriously as a platform to utilize collective intelligence for future problem solving, as they provide an incredibly encouraging environment, and so many people are already playing them. She states, "playing a game together actually builds up bonds and trust and cooperation"(2010) which encourages participants to share strategies, lend a hand to the less experienced, and collaborate together to form new tactics. Pierre Lévy agrees with this concept, and highlights the activity of in-game clans or guilds who work together to achieve group goals that wield rewards for all members (1997). This activity is easy to observe within MMOGs, but McGonigal has also created 2 Alternate Reality Games which bring thousands of participants together to solve the important issues of a world without oil (www.worldwithoutoil.org), and prevent the immediate extinction of humanity by our own hands (www.superstructgame.org). In both cases the test audience wielded extremely positive results, and more details can be found on the websites or in this video:
There are many advantages for the producers of MMOGs; they are difficult to pirate (servers are expensive, and millions of friends and enemies are hard to replicate), the players don't just buy the game once - they pay for a subscription , and according to J. C. Herz,
Essentially, customer support has been completely decentralized, because players help one another — and also market to one another. Buzz across the room sells broadband better than any targeted advertisement can. (Herz, 2002)
With these encouraging facts, and humankind's growing enthusiasm for online connectivity, it should be easy for game companies to connect the dots and take advantage of the power of MMOGs. With luck, some may even choose to use their power for good and harness the collective intelligence of gamers to save the world.
APPENDIX:
More amusing images of videogame characters solving real world problems:
How game worlds encourage collaboration and increase knowledge according to Jane McGonigal:
1 [J.W.]Gosney extends this issue of Collective Intelligence in videogames one step further in his discussion of Alternate Reality Gaming. This genre, he describes as an “across-media game that deliberately blurs the line between the in-game and out-of-game experiences”[22] as events that happen outside the game reality “reach out” into the player’s lives in order to bring them together. Solving the game requires “the collective and collaborative efforts of multiple players”; thus the issue of collective and collaborative team play is essential to ARG. Gosney argues that the Alternate Reality genre of gaming dictates an unprecedented level of collaboration and “collective intelligence” in order to solve the mystery of the game. (Wikipedia, 2010)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Brand, J. (2010, September-December). Digital Media and Society_302. Retrieved October 26, 2010, from Bond University: http://ilearn.bond.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_22350_1%26url%3d
Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction (3rd Ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Gosney, J.W. 2005, Beyond Reality: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming, Thomson Course Technology, Boston. In Wikipedia. (2010, October 6). Collective Intelligence. Retrieved October 26, 2010, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_intelligence
Herz, J.C. (2002, August 10) 'The Bandwidth Capital of the World', WIRED, accessed 26 October 2010 from: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/korea.html
Lévy, P. 1997 Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace,
Plenum Trade, New York.
Mayfield, R. (2006, April 27) 'Power Law of Participation', Ross Mayfield's Weblog; Markets, Technology and Musings, Retrieved October 26 from: http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2006/04/power_law_of_pa.html
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