Comments on: Future games to harness players' collective wisdom

That's what Jane McGonigal predicted in her keynote on serious games at the Game Developers Conference Tuesday.
Photos: The wisdom of game crowds

[Dr. B]

I'm not sure I want to be tought collective intelligence

Working together is all good and fine, but too much collective
intelligence isn't something I'm not sure I'm looking forward to. I'm
probably just paranoid, but for some reason, part of this article
made the borg come to mind.

[jjnk--2008]

amazon-turk

this would make school much more interesting. iv seen it happen in highschool classes, math in particular(calculus). There are some minds that work faster at one step, and others for different steps, but they all give lines to further the problem one after the other. collective intelligence cannot help you on a test, but for furthering specific intelligences for a certain need, is easier to accomplish. (follows suit with the article) http://news.com.com/2100-1007-5942800.html?tag=tb

[Blito]

First games now need to be intelligent

How do I trust a game industry that has dunbed down PC games so much in the past 10 years to now teach me about real life. Good idea but first they need to learn the basics about making more intelligent games.

[Blito]

Myst online

Also don't online games like URU online already do this pretty well?

[kevikens]

Shoulders of Giants

As a high school teacher I understand very well the concept of collective wisdom. And so did Sir Issacc Newton, whose discoveries of the laws of motion and gravity have made it possible for our avionics industry to be successful. When Newton said that if he saw further than others it was only because he was standing on the shoulders of giants, that is, his discoveries were only possible because of the collective wisdom accumulated, often at great cost,by a host of other great minds. What this collective gaming model offers us today in our educational institutions is the chance to pool our cerebral talents in ways that will attract contemporary students steeped in digital technology. Problems of global proportions require global participation and this gaming model offers us that chance. Institutions of learning should take a very close look at this potentiality.

[zgreenwell]

Two-Edged Sword

I played Final Fantasy XI online and there was very little instruction as to what you were supposed to do in the game and you often relied on the help of other players. This promoted a feeling of community that I really appreciated.

However, there was pretty much no major accomplishment on the game you could do on your own and at times had to settle for less than adequate help.

The other problem is that you would not be able to do things on your schedule. When you logged on you would have to wait until you could organize a group of people. This would often take hours in itself. It makes a game be far more involving, but at the cost of your REAL social life.

Games the require collective intelligence move from time filler, what games have been, to time monopolizers. Most gamers, I believe, are not ready for that kind of commitment.