It struck me right away that this wasn't a game, and when I saw Jane McGonical's TED talk, I knew my hunch was right. Well, it is a game in that there's a comic strip but this is no Superman storyline. We Agents know don't we. There's some serious stuff going on here.
But, try an explain that to someone who is not a gamer, isn't 'hip with that stuff young people do' so let's not call this a game anymore. Because when I try to explain what we do here, the majority of eyes glaze over.
You should see them when I try to explain what my avatar does in the virtual world of Second Life, never mind being an Agent going on Missions and Quests in Evoke. It's been a struggle to get my generation (60's) to try and keep up. They keep thinking I'm just playing silly games.
I was lucky with Evoke, my friend in Second Life was excited about it and I signed up right away when I heard this was a new way of learning, connecting and collaborating for the social good.
I believe we must stay current with technology if we are to reach the next generation, so it makes sense for me to be an Agent here once I realized we don't have to chase anyone. I didn't know there was going to be homework, I feel like I just took four courses for 10 weeks.
I learned so much about social innovation both from local and global perspectives. Most importantly, I learned more about my self; what inspires me, gets my creative juices going, motivates me to take action. To LEARN, to ACT, to VISION. That's what I've been doing here. I got sparked by Evoke. Go figure, at my age, I really am a gamer. That's exactly what the treasure was.
I was asked to identify my hero and from that I ended up walking beside her in my first ever protest march. Now that was a moment! I yelled as loud as I could because I understood what my hero was trying to change and now I want to as well.
Michael Schrange says in "Shared Minds, The new Technologies of Collaboration" (Random House New York 1990)
"The famous line from Sir Isaac Newton's letter to Robert Hooke - 'If I have seen further it is by standing upon the shoulders of Giants' was not false modesty but genuine insight. Even classical physics - Newton's eminent domain - was the progeny of collective genius, not the c**ulative sum of individual geniuses"
The social innovators, the educators, the people who want to bring good in the world have connected. This is just the beginning, a new movement to become one voice of many causes for the goodness in life for all.
One day, when they look back at this first Season of Evoke, as well as what's happening in the virtual reality side, I think they'll say it marks the beginning of global change.
That's why you should join us, to challenge yourself, learn to be a social innovator and help us make the world a better place.
The Network is alive, and this is no game.
(PS I wish I could find where I first read "the network is alive" it's a great saying!)
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