Hi everybody--
Viva Pokemon! This is an example of kids' culture and COP (i.e., Community
Of Practice) development in action. Adults' institutional reaction is also
interesting -- ban it! Sometimes because of good reasons -- it causes new
problems (we, adults, do not like new problems because we do not know how
to deal even with the old ones).
We (at Univ. of Del.) work with kids at Latin American Community Center or
LACC (see http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu/LaRedMagica for more details). A few
weeks ago LACC banned Pokemon there because parents got upset that their
kids' expensive Pokemon cards disappear mainly because of trading (but also
stealing). I couldn't believe that these extremely low income parents buy
such expensive cards for kids. It is a big sacrifice for the family budget!
In my view, it shows how much they love their kids.
We (La Red Magica project) decided to fight that greedy bastard called
capitalism using socialism gorilla tactic learned well by me in the USSR. We
got a variety of Pokemon cards from kids, scan them, print on a color
printer and gave each LACC kid a set of nine cards for trading (any
ex-Soviet will do that :-). He have such a success among kids, parents, and
LACC! My undergraduate students are learning how to play Pokemon from LACC
kids, which is not easy. We witnessed how second graders invented equations
in deciding which card is the strongest. It is interesting how quickly
Pokemon "experts," Pokemon "periphery", Pokemon discourse develop. Next step
for us is to introduce Pokemon books at LACC (probably by photocopying them
as well).
What do you think? If you have any creative idea for new Pokemon activities,
please, let us know.
Take care,
Eugene
PS Please, do not report on us :-)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Buzzelli, Cary Anthony [mailto:cbuzzell@indiana.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 3:22 PM
> To: 'xmca@weber.ucsd.edu'
> Subject: RE: RE: Pokeman ZPDs
>
>
> I have two sons who have become very involved in the Poke'mon craze.
> What I find fascinating and alarming and depressing about it is how the
> developers had the foresight (perhaps?) to build in 'scarcity' as a
> marketing ploy - that coupled with the 'theme' of
> 'Gotta get 'em all", I think has greatly fueled this phenomenon. My sons'
> schools have banned the cards due to fights, mysterious disappearances of
> cards, and older, wiser 'trainers' preying upon unsuspecting children with
> highly valued (e.g. scarce) cards.
>
> But, I mention all this in wondering about what it is that 'drives'
> this whole craze, and thus, may play some role in the development of a ZPD
> for poke'mon. One another level, I'm interested as others may be
> about the
> messages and meanings (Moral perhaps) that children make about this
> activity. I'm concerned that at the bottom of all of this, and
> what really
> drives it is - greed. After all, what is such a manufactured scarcity.
> And I fear this is one message that the children ( and us older folks) may
> or may not get.
>
> Cary
>
>
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