Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research

CityVille: collaborative game play, communication and skill development in social networks
CityVille: juego colaborativo, comunicación y desarrollo de habilidades en redes sociales

DOI https://doi.org/10.7821/naer.3.1.11-19
Published on: Jan 15, 2014
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María-Esther Del-Moral Pérez
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Oviedo (Spain)
Alba-Patricia Guzmán-Duque
Faculty of Management, Economics and Accounting, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia (Colombia)

Abstract

This paper has as its aim to analyze how CityVille, a videogame hosted on Facebook and oriented to the construction of a virtual city, can favor collaboration between gamers along with the exchange of strategies, equally contributing to learning transfer and skill acquisition. The first step consists in identifying the opportunities which the said game can offer in order to develop skills and promote learning formats linked with planning and resource management, after which a presentation is made of the opinions expressed by a sample of gamers (N=105) –belonging to the Fans-CityVille community– about the priorities established by them to communicate with their neighbors and the skills that they believe to have acquired playing this game.

85.7% of them state that they communicate with others to share strategies and expand their city. Unlike women, who value collaboration, men prioritize competition. Designing their city has enhanced a number of gamer skills in different proportions: creative skills (71.4%); organizational ones (68.0%); skills associated with decision-making and problem-solving (67.0%); and interpersonal skills through interaction with others (61.9%).

The CityVille game mode favors skill development and helps to create a ludic atmosphere of collaboration and optimal strategy exchange through communication between neighbors by strengthening their mutual relationships. Its formula moves away from the often-criticized competitive practices of other games.

 

Se analiza cómo CityVille, un videojuego alojado en Facebook, orientado a la construcción de una ciudad virtual, puede propiciar la colaboración entre jugadores y el intercambio de estrategias, favoreciendo la transferencia de aprendizajes y la adquisición de habilidades. Primeramente, se identifican las oportunidades que éste ofrece para desarrollar habilidades y promover aprendizajes ligados a la planificación y gestión de recursos. Además, se presentan las opiniones de una muestra de jugadores (N=105) —perteneciente a la comunidad Fans-CityVille— sobre sus prioridades establecidas para comunicarse con sus vecinos y las habilidades que consideran haber adquirido jugando.

El 85.7% declara comunicarse con otros para compartir estrategias y expandir su ciudad. Mientras las mujeres valoran la colaboración, los hombres priman la competición. El 71.4% considera haber potenciado sus habilidades creativas al diseñar su ciudad; el 68.0%, las organizativas; el 67.0%, las vinculadas a la toma de decisiones y la resolución de problemas; y el 61.9%, las interpersonales al interaccionar con otros.

La modalidad de juego de CityVille favorece el desarrollo de habilidades y propicia un ambiente lúdico de colaboración e intercambio de estrategias óptimo mediante la comunicación entre vecinos, afianzando las relaciones entre éstos. Su fórmula se aleja de las criticadas prácticas competitivas de otros juegos.

Keywords
NETWORKED GAMES; COLLABORATIVE LEARNING; COMMUNICATION; ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS; INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
JUEGOS EN RED; APRENDIZAJE COLABORATIVO; COMUNICACIÓN; HABILIDADES ORGANIZATIVAS; HABILIDADES INTERPERSONALES
Issue
Vol 3, No 1 (2014)
Section
Articles
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