playing games with Vygotsky

My friend Chris is over to "game" with me. He's lent me his old Playstation 1 and is showing me the ropes of TombRaider. It's an interesting thing to me, as I've never really played games before this semester. I don't know the discourse of them, so even watching him go through the levels helps me get familiar (s/he's in the hideout in Venice right now). The first few times I've played this week, I've had either him or my roommate Kerry sitting behind me as a mentor, offering advice that I'd either take or challenge (knowing full well that if I challenged it I'd probably die). Ah, Lev Vygotsky -- you and your zone of proximal development" -- pretty clever.

I've also been playing Kingdom of Loathing" on the recommendation of my gamer friend Alice. It's a casual adventure game, and I've gotten my character to level 8 (top player is currently level 69). In that game too, I'd never have made it as far (simple lack of interest) without Alice and others helping me along. After I started playing (I can call it research), my three roommates started playing, and we've been helping each other along ever since.