Thursday, January 29, 2009

Accelerating Developmental Growth through Video Games


One of the problems with Integral Theory is that it is hard to grasp without a lengthy explanation and the stuff that has been written about it is not easily absorbed. Ken Wilber has done somewhat better in talking about it and in video interviews at getting the essential points across but it still has a need for more concentrated attention than is widely attempted.




That’s why I figured that it could benefit a lot from a more graphical representation since animated examples and motion graphic diagrams would be more easily grasped and more quickly understood than the ways it has been presented so far.




There has been research done on how to design video games to help accelerate growth through developmental stages and I could make a video game that helps present the AQAL Map in a more entertaining way that people would be more inclined to pay attention to since it would also be fun.

Since parts of the theory require practice to understand from direct experience of the principles and concepts involved then a video game would be the most efficient way to motivate people to attempt those practices.

In addition to a video game that shows the Integral Life Practices in a way similar to The Wild Divine with biofeedback. I could also have a integral role playing video game that shows the journey of holons from the first basic manifestation through every stage to the highest and have players take on the a role to guide them through the stages that evolve in different ways depending on how they play the game.








I should have the goals of the RPG show how each state awakens to make the subject of one stage becomes the object of the next stage so that what starts out as identity of the body goes to identifying with the mind and then to the spirit until it reaches ever present witness and also goals the go through the stages of perspective from egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric and cosmocentric.

In one part of the game I could have some practices of meditation and how to illustrate the breathing techniques that focus on extending concentration by being mindful of your inhalations and exhalations then every time you get distracted by other thoughts, feelings or fantasies bring your attention back to your breathing. It could accelerate the learning curve on how to help stay focused by pointing out the benefits and the main concept to keep bringing your attention back to your breathing.


The video game should include puzzles to pass each fulcrum and sub-phases that require successful tests of how to identify, differentiate and integrate each fulcrum.





If the video game catches on among the gaming community with anything near the level of Warcraft then that could make a substantial difference in the amount of the population that are going through further develpmental stages and change the dominant mode of discourse of the society to the more inclusive stages.

Just having a change of administrations in the goverment from the traditional values of Bush to the more pluralistic values of Obama raises the dominant mode and the people that play the video game could use the momentum that the change in the Dominant Mode
which is already occuring to help accelerated the progress in their own transformation to make more headway in solving problems than in a generation.


That way when the technological singularity is achieved then the horse race of whether or not an ethnocentric or a more worldcentric society will use it will be won by the more worldcentric because more of the population will be at higher stages of development from playing the game so that the dominant mode of discourse of the society will be able to handle the technological advances for the benefit of all instead of just the profit of the few.

In order to reduce the average time of five years for transformation from one developmental stage to the next, it could help to combine the video game with other techniques like float tanks. It could help foster more intense form of deeper concentration and remove the distraction of the internal dialogue to make it easier to transcend the subject of one stage to make it the object of the next.





If I make some money on that treasure hunt DVD then I could invest it into hiring an actress to do some work in narrating and demonstrating the practices for the video game. Also to help in illustrating some examples of the concepts and principles in applying the AQAL Map

It would be very useful in having an actress in showing the methods necessary for an Integral Life Practice in order to have a demonstration as part of a business plan to show to investors since having a pretty face is always an advantage when attempting to sell something and that would go a long way to get the funds required to produce the video game.

It could also have a transformative effect on the actress that I hired to help produce the video game by her going through the practices in order to demonstrate them and illustrating the examples of the principles behind them it could train her into raising her center of gravity to more inclusive developmental stages. Since we both would be sharing the experiences by working on the demonstrations and illustrations that were contained in the video game then we both would have a foundation of understanding the concepts produced in the transformation to the higher stages of development and could produce a bond through the shared experiences for us to grow closer from it.

Since that bond was built at a higher stage of development if it included the Essential Ingredient then it would be stronger since it had a more solid foundation because it included more perspectives and more options in dealing with more states. That would give it a lot better odds of lasting longer.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Hopefully a marketing idea for a more popular DVD


When I went down to the beach my mom was watching episodes of the “Lost” TV series on DVD and the designs they had on the menus of the DVD were very inspiring. They had landscapes of the island and jungle with 3D text in different 2 point perspectives opposite to each other so that it looked like the text was nestled in to fit the image.



It looked very cool and I was thinking that I could use that as a concept to make a DVD menu for my portfolio.

Maybe a better DVD menu for my portfolio would be to do one of that idea I had about the contest for “The Writer’s Nightmare” that had a treasure hunt in it. It probably would be a lot better seller than the DVD I have there so it might be more popular on Create Space. It would be a way to get a practice with original marketable material in a different kind of DVD setup.

That way I could have a more professional DVD menu design to show in my portfolio but also a marketing idea that has more of a motivation for people to be interested in buying the DVD since they are more likely to go for the challenge and profit of a treasure hunt.

In keeping with one of the themes to story in “Nightmare” I could have the treasure hunt revolve around gathering parts to build the GyroTwister and have clues relating to where to find the parts that could be hidden on web pages, maps to locations even products on Café Press and Zazzle.







I could have the clues on the DVD be easier to lead to some of the parts and then have them get harder to lead to clues more complex in more places to be able to put the parts together and solve the riddle. Some of the clues on the DVD could be in that extreme typography with animated text made from Adobe After Affects like in those videos on You Tube and some could be screen caps of the word clouds from the Wordle web page.

Since it is a journey to find the parts and solve the puzzles maybe I should put it in a framework of growth through the stages also or at least a heroes struggle against impossible obstacles to make it challenging. Tying in the theme of the Gamemaster from the story would be a good way to give clues that relate to archetypes and the Akashic records so that the puzzles relate to overcoming selfish pleasure motivation and alpha pack dominance games.

I could have some clues relate to gyroscopes and roller coasters maybe even have one hidden at Great America and the Santa Cruz beach. Hiding keys to locks at different locations would help to making it more challenging and that way I could have clues in merchandise that can be unlocked to match the merchandise that was designed to be bought.

Since the theme is a hunt to gather items and a journey to reach a goal, I could also make it like the Fool’s journey through the Tarot with each item being a stage of consciousness along the way. I could use designs I did for The Naked Angel Tarot cards as symbols and clues for the different stages and put them on merchandise to find as part of the contest.

I could use the chakra system as a model for gathering items related to each chakra like jewels and lotus flowers and have practices that use motivations that go from egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric to cosmocentric in order to solve the puzzles.

For the clues on the DVD I could have them lead to web pages on my blog, Café Press, Zazzle, CreateSpace, Amazon, Lulu and Spreadshirt to merchandise that have clues to significant locations with items can be hidden.

The clues on the merchandise could be pictures of gyroscopes with coordinates from the Universe Cube on them hidden in the designs so that they point to stories in the plot summary that way I can have them relate to other clues in different places and follow the theme of building the gyrotwister and gathering parts of the Universe Cube.

I could do some storyboards to get the ideas for the clues and designs for the DVD together so it would be easier to collect so all it one place to keep track of it. I could use a flowchart with Smart Draw to keep track of all the clues and tie that to storyboards in Illustrator to give more details.