Scott MacLeod's Anthropology of Information Technology & Counterculture: Orangutan - Sumatran (Pongo abelii): paper_185.pdf - "The Guardians ~ Unite the Realms" Gameplay (from MIT's Affective Computing Lab) ... and WUaS Programming, Gaming ~ Virtual, and Psychology (with academic paper) * * * * WUaS Gaming

"The Guardians ~ Unite the Realms" Gameplay (from MIT's Affective Computing Lab)

Ed,

This is an interesting video game for mental health from MIT, with an academic paper (co-authored by Craig Ferguson, game designer, and Robert Lewis, author ... and Chelsey Wilks, and MIT Professor Rosalind Picard). And it also collects data. Might it be an interesting model, for example, for Theo even?

May add some of this to the following wiki subjects at WUaS -

https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Programming

https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Gaming_-_Digital

https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Psychology

"The Guardians ~ Unite the Realms"

From MIT's Affective Computing group lead engineer, Craig Ferguson

The Guardians: Designing a Game for Long-term
Engagement with Mental Health Therapy
Craig Ferguson∗§ and Robert Lewis∗§, Chelsey Wilks†
, Rosalind Picard∗
∗MIT Media Lab; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
†Department of Psychological Science; University of Missouri-St Louis, St. Louis, MO
guardians@media.mit.edu
§Both authors contributed equally to this work. Craig as lead designer / developer and Robert as lead author.

https://ieee-cog.org/2021/assets/papers/paper_185.pdf

Robert Lewis - https://www.media.mit.edu/people/roblewis/overview/

Craig Ferguson - https://www.media.mit.edu/people/fergusoc/overview/

Guardians: Unite the Realms Gameplay Android | New Mobile Game

https://youtu.be/MUl1m1ynO2c

Most mental health apps don’t work as advertised. This one actually does—and it’s a video game - Modeled after an addictive video game, ‘The Guardians’ will hook you on taking care of yourself.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90666879/the-guardians-innovation-by-design-2021

This MIT app makes self-care as addictive as a video game
Collect cute monsters and make your brain feel better.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90497450/this-mit-app-makes-self-care-as-addictive-as-a-video-game

I found this here from MIT Prof Rosalind Picard

https://twitter.com/RosalindPicard/status/1440273273724420105?s=19

Craig Ferguson's website -

https://mooselion.com/

Behavioral_activation theory is a Skinnerian approach ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_activation -

What do you think?

I wondered how they found the "7,782 real-world users" - and how many of these were MIT students themselves - for one, and why, in this good paper, they didn't seem to say how they found these game players, regarding high retention rates.

The paper, or game, also doesn't begin to address questions of language, the unconscious etc.

How too could this and related emerge in a realistic virtual earth for gaming, for example.

Regards, Scott

May add to today's blog post too - as well as to a new related blog post for today (beginning with Sumatran orangutan ... )

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/09/borneo-orangutan-pongo-pygmaeus_072504751.html

- Scott GK MacLeod

Founder, President, CEO & Professor

World Univ & Sch (WUaS) - PO Box 442, Canyon, CA 94516

1) non-profit World University and School - http://worlduniversityandschool.org

2) for profit general stock company WUaS Corporation in CA - http://worlduniversityandschool.org/AcademicPress.html

(o) 415 480 4577 - sgkmacleod@worlduniversiryandschool.org

(m) 412 478 0116 - sgkmacleod@gmail.com

World Univ & Sch Innovation Research - scottmacleod.com

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization.

Ed,

Here's the new, and 2nd blog post for today, I just created, regarding this new MIT Game for Mental Health -

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/09/sumatran-orangutan-pongo-abelii.html

And here's the earlier one - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2021/09/borneo-orangutan-pongo-pygmaeus_072504751.html

A hike on the weekend, or when possibly might be good for you?

Cheers, Scott

Hi Ed,

I scrutinized some of the links I shared with you ... and am still a bit wary of Gaming- Virtual for mental health, and regarding the possible misuse ... It's Fast Companies' 3 articles that seem to offer the most 'promotion' of this ... and who might be 'behind' Fast Company ... and could such an App also be used for harm too in a number of ways?

I haven't found critiques of this game, and it would indeed take much knowledge to be able to critique it effectively ... Are we seeing a kind of 'scientism' in the 'academic paper'? WUaS would seek to perhaps take other approaches to psychology and gaming ... re even academic scientific rigor.

Sincerely, Scott

Furthermore there doesn't appear, for example, to be a focus on language, but rather behavior ... which would be a real deficit regarding data generation ... and what computing is doing well with, namely Natural Language Processing, and AI and machine learning. ... and even re language as information technology, re the potential for 'talk therapy' by MD psychiatrists to change brains through communication for example.

Regards, Scott