Main focus is that if you are an expert in software doesn’t mean you are an expert in games
Ch I wanted to talk a little, you talk about your self as a hardware expert, you said software novice, although I bullied you into being competent, what software do you know how to use?
B you know, what everyone else knows how to use, word, frontpage, powerpoint, excell, spreadsheet things
Ch so it's interesting, games aren't really considered software are they? Emphasizing that games aren’t not his strong point
B they are -
Ch so you know lots of software but software is
B yeah, but it's just games (laughing)
Questions the difference between games and software, in attempts to get a better understanding
Ch so what kind of crossover did you find between learning the games and learning the software everyone needs to know? Obviously it wasn't real hard for you to learn, frontpage a little sarcastic
B I think it's because I had ah, background exposure
Ch what background? Tries to find out more detail
B Well, just in learning how to learn a program, I just see buttons, tool tips and ah I make a go at it, the scissors mean I can cut in here, and I can just cut and drag and drop - these a simple things everyone knows, I guess the only reason I can pick up learning a program is that I just have that knack, no other way to explain it.
Gaming as literacy
Ch that's literacy - you have the basic tools, the right basic set of assumptions for how to read, understand, interpret a program. And so what I'm looking for is the connection between all the gaming experience you have and your ability to do that with the applications - the academic applications
B well like a lot of games, in the beginning, there's menus. You don't just start playing. There's menus, you get to customize your decal your spray, clothes,
Laughing( lightening the mood by laughing) proving a point that because he knows a lot about software doesn’t mean he will know everything on the computer
It's not all playing the game it's a lot of process to prepare for it, there's like box, scripts, you practice it, and you're not playing with other people, you're just like fooling around.
Ch OK so all those things - same kinds of processes, same kinds of moves - so navigating menus is something you learned from games that can carry over - anything else?
Emphasizes that other knowledge of computer skills cannot really be used in a game
B I think that is the main thing, I can't connect a First person shooter with Microsoft word, that would be a real stretch
Ch how about file systems and gaming spaces?
B you know, you're right, because the game, the games are still software, and they're still files, so there are certain organization of a game that is different from regular files
Reasons why games can prepare children for certain things
Ch - so what's another thing - so playing those games when you were a little kid set you up to be able to disentangle that DOS system more easily than your stepfather, so what were you doing?
B like I was navigating through menus
Ch you got used to trial and error still had to learn the in’s and out’s of the game
B I wasn't being graded - there's no - all right man, let's pass this class you've got to
Ch so you're completely comfortable with messing it up and starting over.
B Oh yeah
Ch I think the print generation has a lot of hangups with that - what's something else
B there's a song by Natasha Ben ? I hear it on the radio - it goes like, she says in her song, that we're taught not to make mistakes; we really can't live that way
Discussion patterns:
Chandler is the one who leads the conversation. She directs it because she is the one asking all the questions. Brain could have and had the chance to direct the conversation in other ways but he kept his answers direct and answered the exact questions that chandler has asked him. Chandler tries to find out how his knowledge became so strong about software. Chandler learns through this interview that learning how to navigate through games becomes a learning tool to other programs.
Who takes charge?
During this interview Chandler takes charge of the conversation. She is asking all the questions. Chandler directs where the conversation goes as oppose to Brain who just answers what he is asked.
Questions this analysis may answer?
a. How to break down questions to get exactly the answer that you are looking for
b. If you interviewer seems unsure about what he is saying, you learn how to pull out what he is trying to say by asking a certain series of questions.
c. Reader can fully understand what is going on in the interview
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