Another attempt to post: - earlier ones had vanished in the ether...
It occurred to me that the discussion on Pokemon consists, in fact, of two
topics:
The Pokeman Game, its Artifacts and the dynamic of the dialogue in the
Pokemon ZPD is one theme; the other theme is the marketing strategy and a
feeling that our children and us have been ruthlessly exploited.
I would like to make a few comments about each one of these keeping them
separate for the time being.
The Pokemon Zone
There are excellent observations about intricate aspects of communication
and learning which occurs in the Pokemon game. I think that it is worth
researching systematically - but we have already (as a research community)
lost a whole epoch of its introduction and the initial growth. There are so
many questions which could have been and, maybe still can be, answered
because of the fact that this game is bringing to the surface and activating
so many ZPD characteristics and events.
However, there is an obvious source of the whole Pokemon idea and a silent
participant or participants in this game that nobody has yet thought of
observing, interviewing, researching, approaching - whatever. If we
understand this game as a communicational and conceptualizational tool -
than the master expert is the creator (or a team of them) of the game. While
we try to figure out what's going on, there: there must be some people who
created the whole thing and are, in fact, the ultimate voice behind
everything in the game. I f we still think that learning activities n the
ZPD are conducted through a dialogue between the expert and the novice
(adult:child, teacher and learner) - then, with all the multiple little
dialogues between children, they are all, talking with and learning from and
creating emotional relationships to - those who created it. It is not only
cards, stuffed or plastic figures, board games, Nintendo games, cartoons,
etc. it is some adults talking to all our children, developing their own
ideas and feelings in our children and with them... And we must say that
they are experts. Maybe it is all based on their intuitive knowledge of an
expert player. They (the creators) would probably not know how to actually
explain what are they doing, using our CHAT terminology (or?), but their
knowledge is certainly very important in understanding the "moves" and the
"turns" in the game. In fact I think we cannot understand the phenomenon in
its entirety unless we understand its creation.
The second issue is the marketing and exploitation theme
Having in mind the fact that somehow there are expert players who know how
to engage children around the world in one big complex, long lasting game,
one is struck with the feeling of being sucked into something without
consensus. At least those adults and maybe children who are not
participating in the Pokemon Zone feel like that. They are not just
peripheral participants but out of the circle all together. It feels a bit
like not having control, like infringement and arm robbery. Someone is,
literary, intruding into the world of our children without our consent...
The only country which has a law that prohibits toy advertising - as far as
I know is Greece. (Or it was the case 4 years ago when I heard about it).
The law against toy adverting on TV and elsewhere was introduced based on
the support of teachers, parents and, believe it or not, Greek toymakers.
The last group was what tipped the scales in favor of the law. Ironically,
Greek toymakers were joining in with parents and teachers, not for high
moral reasons but because of the fear that they could never survive if they
had to compete in marketing with Nintendo, Tonka and other International toy
magnates.
This is a moral and an ethical issue, and various people have various
standards of dealing with it and different solutions: from ignoring it to
banning it to joining it... This is also an interesting sociopsychological
phenomenon - but we all (or most of us with children) are actual
participants in it and not just distant observers. The question is what
course of action will we chose - to act or to react, to ban it or to conquer
it?
Ana
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 11 2000 - 14:04:05 PST