Video Game Awesomeness Post 9

Ok after playing so many video games FIFA is by far my favorite, probably because I have played soccer all my life and understand the game. Once the I understood how the controller worked, I have been pretty impressed with the plays I have been making. Funny enough I have been excelling at offense and getting lucky defensively. I find this amusing because even though I was a goal keeper I have always been better offensively at any sport, so for that to show even in a video game is pretty interesting. I do need to improve on my shot though because I either strike the ball too hard, or too soft. How I can improve on my controller skills though is by entering a tutorial domain where it is just me, the ball, and the goal keeper. After reading Gee I have realized that it was extremely foolish of me to just jump into the game with out entering the tutorial sub domain. Going into that domain slowed everything down for me, I did not have to worry about a player attacking me, or the time on the clock. Here I could use the concentrated sample principle as well as the bottom up basic skills principle. In this sub domain I have entered it is very controlled because I am the one controlling everything that happens. I can practice as much as I want, and learn the skills well before jumping into a game and anxiously start pressing buttons at random hoping it works out. Also these skills are basic and once I have the basic skills down , I can engage in more game and be unconsciously open to learning more advanced skills. Something else I noticed while reading Gee and continuing to play Xbox games was that the reason I was improving with the controller, was not due to constant playing of FIFA. I had only played it a few times and was actually pleasantly surprised with how my brain kind of knew what it was doing when I paced the controller in my hand. i improved so much because of what Gee calls the transfer principle. I had transferred what I had been learning about the controller in other games, and it caused me to become much more familiar with the controller so that my skills level in FIFA as well as Call of Duty went up! My next plan for FIFA is figuring out how to improve my defensive skills, and to eventually score a goal against my friend and FIFA opponent Tyler Zell. Once I accomplish that goal there is no telling what I will able to do in the FIFA world next!