Week 2 of Fate--HELP!!!!

Ever needed help achieving your fate? The following are actual images of me playing FATE this week.

 Okay, okay, it wasn't a table with minions losing to a demigod that I was pounding... but it was a desk ... and a keyboard. However, I am pretty sure this is an exact representation of what went down.

So, here I was, playing FATE and thinking, Man, this game is smooth! I'm accepting quests, getting experience and getting gold. Pretty soon though, I am going deeper and deeper into the dungeon to complete quests and encountering things I've never fought before and I start dying. Most of what happens is I get poisoned and my health slowly decreases. 

Which, in any other normal game, would warrant some mild panic and slight maneuvering to overcome. But in FATE, one of the only ways to heal (besides antidotes and potions, which can only be used once) is to return to town and meet this lady.

 But each dungeon is a maze (which, after time, regenerates with monsters), and I have to navigate through them, fighting and slowly dying, and this would happen.

So, after a couple days of this, and pushing my pride aside, I decided to look at online forums. This is an old game so I didn't expect a whole lot of relevant information. But I was surprised! This game is still enjoyed by a lot of people, and Steam provided a very helpful and relevant community forum.

After searching my problems and reading lots of helpful hints, I learned about what are called "Town Portal Scrolls", essentially, this scrolls open a portal to town from wherever you are in the dungeon! 

These frustrations, and my seeking resolutions for them, I contributed to the "play" that was occurring in some element during my time on FATE. Was it really worth the frustration over a game? The answer is yes because it has become an investment of time and entertainment and I feel that my play is a reflection of skill and understanding. How well I perform a task, or complete a quest, reflects how well I am doing overall. Play is like flow, in the fact that it immerses us into the virtual environment and culture in which we are playing, and the success and failures we experience are real. Sometimes though, we may not have that experience. As Van Eck, R. N., Shute V. J., & Rieber L. P. point out, "...one can watch and track their behavior or performance from beginning to end and even declare that one or more has won the game. However, these individuals may never have been “at play,” meaning that they never entered the conceptual cognitive or cultural space in which play occurs." This proves to be detrimental if the game is trying to attain any educational objective. Going through motions, without development, will have little affect in education or training.

Community seemed to be the educational value of the game this week, since it saved me (a few times actually!). While players in FATE cannot play each other, they can meet and discuss problems and provide solutions which serve an educational purpose. 

Another really helpful thing I learned from the forum, was about a button that reveals all the items that can be interacted with in the dungeons. It is helpful for finding gold, weapons, gems, and potential findings.

I am really looking forward to playing this week! I am feeling more confident in play and now in community.