Jesse Schell Lecture Questions

1. What do the major games console manufacturers feel about the idea of microtransactions?

None of them want to be the one that offers free games. Uncomfortable with no upfront payment of games.

2. What made the Wi-mote on the Nintendo Wii different from other consoles? Who were the intended target audience?

Aiming at those who don' t like complicated controllers (requiring simultaneous ambidextrous control). Appeal to casual gamers.

3. In the section called the "Curiosity Gap", Schell argues

c) curious people are rewarded by instant access, if you are curious, you are rewarded more quickly with answers

4. In the future, Schell predicts "building worlds that exist beyond the spectrum of media types will be vital for making people want to inhabit them.

c) building worlds need to focus on one or two media at any given time

5. While games talk to their audience, they can't listen. For that reason, Schell predicts that speech recognition will be absolutely vital to the coming gaming revolution.

6. Unlike "Nerds" or "Imagineers", Mundanes like things in the real world - theirs is the realm of activity, of physical sports. Schell pointed out that it seems noteworthy that no sport, not a single one, contains any element of fantasy in it? Do you think this is true?

Sports are activities with real rules but have players who use imagination. Sports can have fantasy. Martial arts contain a lot of fantasy and artistry.

7. He suggested that the real promise to OnLive is that it allows:

b) sharing

8. Schell suggested that we read Alfie Kohn's book "Punished by Rewards", which lists study after study that illustrate that the more people come to associate an action or task with reward, the more they

resent the task.

9. What does Schell say is going to be outcome of sensors, screens, systems and games coming together?

b) whole life tracking

10. Schell argues that our faces, our bodies, our locations, our likes and dislikes, our habits, our friends, our families, are being tracked. Do you think this is a good thing or can it improve our condition?

It is beneficial to business because it gives them metrics about our personal spending habits and styles. Privacy is a serious concern for many. Therefore, compromising someone's personal thoughts may be easily thought of as an unwelcome intrusion into their life. Tracking should be used with caution and sparingly.