Virtual Peace/Patrick Herron

I thought Patrick Herron's lecture was really interesting and his work with Virtual Peace was really intriguing. I was kind of unclear at first about the purpose of Virtual Peace and what kind of impact it has as a virtual space, but after hearing the lecture and other points Mr. Herron brought up I think it's a really good idea. Mr. Herron's explanation/thoughts on simulation vs. reality were also interesting (a little confusing at first) but he did make good points with good evidence to back up that convinced me! I think that having simulations like Virtual Peace, that are educational but still engaging and still "games," make them more appealing. I also think that they are better than the paper-based version like Mr. Herron was saying, because it allows students to get other input and ideas, interact, and not just have set instructions, rules, and thoughts on paper. 

The fact that it can provide the future generations, but also adults now, with ideas and real-life situations on issues in the world can really help for future conflicts, so I think that's a big plus. I think having more conflicts and issues other than one focused on Hurricane Mitch, but for other current problems today as well as past ones would really be beneficial to learning. It might be cool to maybe try a more broad-based simulation that can accomplish this, for various conflicts, which would allow everyone around the world to interact and get all sides of the conflict involved, for example with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or the War in Iraq. The problems of time and money come into play too with this however, so I don't know how realistic/plausible it would be. 

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Playing with Virtual Peace today was pretty cool, but a little different than I expected. I guess because we were just playing around with it and not using it for the "intended" purpose exactly, but I still thought it was a cool idea. If I were to play it for a class it would be a lot more interesting and engaging, and I think I would really learn a lot along the way. It is definitely much more engaging and fun, especially for our generation, to learn through simulation, and actually doing, than just reading and listening. It was funny to play that and then Second Life right after, seeing how the overall "world" compared to this simulation for a conflict in the world. It was also cool to see how everyone was interacting and how they recreated themselves in this virtual world, whereas in Virtual Peace it was a very professional and preset. Overall I thought that using both simulations was a cool exploration to show where the digital culture is shifting and becoming more user interactive, 3-D and influencing future decisions.