PMOG as info lit gaming tool?

[Dana Longley]

Is anyone using or investigating PMOG (The Passively Multiplayer Online Game) as a tool for information literacy? It seems to have some good potential to merge gaming and info lit from what I can tell so far, but would be very interested in hearing others thoughts and experiences on this.

I've created a very basic proof-of-concept PMOG "mission" based around finding e-books on our site here (you need to have registered for PMOG and installed the Firefox plug-in to take part): http://pmog.com/missions/find_books_in_empire_state_college_library

There is also a good article on this tool and it's potential in libraries here:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6555546.htm.html

[Safety Neal]

Interesting suggestion. I use Diigo for bookmarking and web graffiti and this strikes me as similar, using the graffiti to create a game.

[Dana Longley]

Neal,

Interesting. What kind of games do you create with those tools?

The handy thing about PMOG is that it does all the game work for you - tracks everyone's datapoints, level, missions completed, tools collected, etc. and even comes with it's own "steampunk-style" background plot. It is sort of like a role-playing game. And students can then create their own missions, define their player archetype, connect with other players, etc. The downside is it requires a download, profile creation and Firefox browser, which can all be barriers to participation.

I could really see this used in an online info lit course. For example, task the students with creating a "mission" using relevant, scholarly sources on their selected research topic, journal about their resource selection process and mission organization/ordering, and then have their classmates go on each others' missions and rate them according to criteria you set. You could even have a prize for the highest peer-rated mission, which can be an incentive for participation, even outside a credit-course context.

[Greg Landgraf]

I've been experimenting with PMOG just as an exploratory tool. I don't know that there's anything that can't be done with other tools, but it is an effective interface and a nice environment for exploring. And even though the game element doesn't really do much, it is kind of a nice boost to go online and see that you've gotten an extra 200 data points because people have taken your missions.

I like your use of the tool, although there is the potential for pseudo-vandalism if a couple of people torpedo the mission rating. I think everyone's default setting is that missions rated less than three stars don't show up--so if a couple early takers of the mission decide to ruin it, they could rate it badly and make it not show up for others.

I'd put that under the category of "bridges to cross when you come to them," though.

A side effect of the rating system is that PMOG is more effective for more narrowly-focused topics. Put a mission on Google and you'll get rated badly just because it annoys people and they don't want to have to see it; more off-the-beaten-path stuff gets a more receptive audience, I think.

(Of course, it only got out of beta this week, so I doubt there are too many truly expertly informed opinions on it yet.)