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1 FINAL PAPER Exploring and comparing the satisfaction of intrinsic needs in learning to play guitar through traditional learning methods and Rocksmith 2014 by Émilie René-Véronneau ETEC660 Dr. Steven Shaw Concordia University

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This paper explore how the motivation theory of self-determination applies to traditional learning methods of learning guitar and the Rocksmith 2014 video game

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  • 1FINAL PAPER

    Exploring and comparing the satisfaction of intrinsic needs in learning to play guitar through traditional learning methods and Rocksmith 2014 by milie Ren-Vronneau ETEC660 Dr. Steven Shaw Concordia University

  • 2Who hasnt, at some point of their lives,

    dreamt of taking the stage and per-

    forming their favorite rock songs with

    their awesomeair guitar? Aspiring

    rock stars may believe that the oppor-

    tunity has passed, as scientists have

    long upheld the idea that the mastery

    of a musical instrument was only made

    possible by learning early in childhood.

    However the lack of research on adult

    subjects makes this evidence unsub-

    stantial and mostly stems from a lack

    of subjects. (Marcus, 2012)

    Obviously, properly mastering a musical instrument requires an extensive investment of time. While it is pos-sible that adults would be unable to commit to this endeavour because of their busy sched-ules, a 2013 report by the Television Bureau of Canada states that Canadian adults from 25 to 54 years old have been exposed to 24.1 hours of television and further spend 22 hours online on a weekly average. On the other hand, it is commonly accepted knowledge among guitar teachers that mindful and deliberate practice for as little as 20 minutes per day can be suffi-cient to start acquiring proper guitar technique. Indeed, the classical guitarist John Williams, famous for his exceptional technique, only practiced 30 minutes every day, but did so always under attentive supervision from a teacher. (Andreas, 2005) Therefore, if aspiring rock stars allocated a little over 10% of the time they spend on viewing media to practicing the guitar, they could inch towards making their unresolved ambition come true.

    Setting time aside to practice is a good first step but one also needs enough motivation to persist. The fact that children can handle their time and attention differently certainly gives them an advantage in learning experiences; they can tolerate many more repetitions than most adults are able to and are often more open minded to enter unknown territories.

    Learning to play guitar is hard work. First-time guitar players are often surprised by the amount of pain caused by the strings digging in the tender flesh of their fingertips prior to the formation of calluses. Hands and fin-gers also need to develop strength, dexterity, flexibility and speed in order to play chords properly. With regards to cognition, massive rewiring is required in multiple parts of the brain in order to develop, among other skills,

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  • 3increased motor ability and tactile sensitivity, perception of pitch and timbre, mastery of time, tempo and rhythm, coordination of the muscles as well as memory. (Marcus, 2012) Needless to say, undertaking this challenge requires a hefty dose of determination and motivation.

    The following paper will explore how the theory of self-determination can help shed light on motivational issues in traditional gui-tar learning and learning through Rocksmith 2014. I will first briefly introduce elements of the theory of self-determination as well as both methods of learning, Rocksmith 2014 and non-formal traditional music lessons. Next, I will use the theory of self-determination as a framework to analyse how both learning methods address intrinsic needs in learners. Finally, I will discuss the different implications brought to light by this analysis and how both approaches may be reconciled to enhance the learning experience.

    The self-determination theory investigates how people are more likely to remain engaged in behaviors which satisfy their innate needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness. In real life, these needs are usually fulfilled in unpredictable and inconsistent ways. However, in games, these needs can be addressed in quick, consistent and substantial ways through careful design. (Rigby & Ryan, 2011) Could a game effectively address potential motivational problems in guitar learners?

    In the past decade, the video game world has seen the birth and development of a variety of new controllers which have partly contributed to the rise in popularity of the rhythm game genre. Where previous rhythm games, such as Guitar Hero, used controllers mimicking gui-tars, the Rocksmith franchise took the rhythm game genre to the next level by allowing players to use a real guitar. The RealTone USB cable provided with the game includes a small sound card which converts the sound outputted by the guitar to digital input for the software. Finally, the computer outputs the sound of the guitar over the backing track, adding necessary effects as needed and assessing if the player has executed the right sound at the right moment.

    Even if many famous guitarists went on to become famous without taking lessons, they should not be viewed as the norm. More com-monly, people will seek to learn guitar through non-formal music lessons. Therefore, I will assume that traditional non-formal learning involves collaborating with a guitar teacher through non-formal lessons. Moreover, it must be emphasised that teaching guitar does not require specific credentials and that novices may not be knowledgeable enough to care-fully pick out a proper teacher. For the sake of drawing a fair comparison, I will also assume that traditional learning involves only good teachers. They should be patient and help troubleshoot students weaknesses by assigning appropriate exercises to overcome obstacles. Additionally, they should give supportive and constructive feedback and help nurture the stu-dents motivation to reach their goals.

    In the following section, we will explore how each need is met through traditional means of learning to play guitar and how they fare against learning through Rocksmith 2014.

  • 4The need for competence

    In order to satisfy their need for competence, people must be provided with a clear and seem-ingly attainable but challenging goals as well as clear feedback pertaining to how their actions are bringing them close to that goal. (Rigby & Ryan, 2011)

    In traditional learningWhen learning guitar, established guitar learn-ing methods provide clear and scaffolded goals that teachers can use to target a course of action in accordance with the students skills. Although teachers are not likely to be able to providing real-time granular feedback to every note a student is playing, they can set goals in specific phrases of a song and debrief prob-lems that students are encountering after the fact. Most importantly, teachers can witness problems that Rocksmith cannot, such as how their students hold their instrument, if their nails are cut properly or even assess the instru-ments itself. This type of feedback is extremely important in the long run as players can pick up bad persistent habits which can impede future progress. At first sight, the learner may not be able to fully appreciate the value of this type of feedback as it may not make an observable difference in the present moment.

    In between lessons, students must be able to self-discipline to practice their exercises and properly heed their teachers feedback to make sure their skill will have improved by the next lesson. The only feedback received by students in these moments is their very own perform-ance. When starting out, the gap between ambi-tions and reality can be quite disheartening and a supportive teacher will be able to help put this into perspective.

    In Rocksmith 2014Upon starting the game and creating a new pro-file, first-time players get an initial start-up les-son from Rocksmith 2014 including how to tune their instrument and a simple walkthrough of the game concepts. They are offered differ-ent missions that provide clear and attainable goals. As players venture in different sections of the game, goals are usually straightforward to grasp and quite specific. For example, the player may be requested to attempt a new song, successfully hit a streak of 50 notes, raise the mastery of a song to a specific percentage, and more. The goals for each song also scale from simple to more complex as the player progresses.

    The most commonly used feature in Rocksmith is the note highway (fig. 1), a con-cept also encountered in other rhythm games such as Guitar Hero (fig. 2). Visual feedback is displayed for each note crossing the fret board. Depending on the players performance, the notes and frets will shine if the game considers

    FIG. 2 Guitar Hero World Tour Note Highway

    FIG 1 Rocksmith 2014 Note Highway

  • 5the note was properly played. Corrective feed-back is displayed almost instantaneously and directly on the note in case the note was missed or late. If players have played the wrong note, Rocksmith will display an arrow letting them know in which direction they should move their hand to play the correct note.

    While this is a great technological accom-plishment, it is not without flaws. For example, if a player presses too hard on the strings, thus causing the pitch to shift to the wrong note, Rocksmith will falsely assume that the play-ers hand was not in the right place confusing the player even further. Also, whenever a lot is going on at once such as strumming chords using most strings, or in some instances of subtle expressions like playing harmonics and mutes, Rocksmith can experience problems figuring out if the players have performed cor-rectly or not. Players could therefore be misled to believe they are able to play the part while their actual playing is sloppy at best.

    When learners are playing complex pas-sages at high speeds, cognitive abilities are highly solicited and they may not even be able to notice that granular feedback as they alter-nate between looking at the screen and peek-ing at their instrument. Using the Riff Repeater tool (fig. 3) allows them to slow down specific phrases and self-assess their own shortcomings.

    When it comes to developing musicality skills, Rocksmith is severely limited in terms of feedback. Session mode (fig. 4) allows play-ers to simulate a jamming session and includes some visual feedback which reacts if a player strikes notes outside of the selected scale but the game is unable to provide overall feedback on the quality of expression and rhythm.

    One of the great pulls that players experi-ence while playing Rocksmith is the audio feedback they gather from their own perform-ance. Although songs are simplified to adapt to the skill of the player, if the player strums the right notes, the auditory outcome sounds almost like the real version of the song since the track is playing in the background. Unlike practicing in the context of traditional learning, the players using Rocksmith are already per-forming in the virtual venue placed in front of their eyes, quickly satisfying their competence needs; while their budding rock star dream comes true after picking a few notes. While this takes place in a virtual world, it still allows

    FIG 3 Riff Repeater Tool

    FIG 4 Session Mode Tool

  • 6for players to engage deeply with the game and will likely incite them to play much more fre-quently and put a lot more time on task, one of the determining factors of successfully learning a musical instrument.

    Rocksmith 2014 also gathers a certain amount of data in order to generate a debriefing at the end of each song. The game narrators verbal feedback: Masterful performance! (fig.5) is adapted to the players cumulative skill; if a player is currently mastering only 20% of the notes of a song, he will still get positive feedback if he managed to hit 90% of these notes. This feedback could gain by being more nuanced in certain cases. For example, the software will not consider if a player hasnt practiced a song in a long time and will keep the bar at its pre-vious performed level. Also, all songs are rated on 100% in spite of their overall difficulty. Therefore, a player who manages to perform 80% on the Ramones Blitzkrieg Pop is treated to the same feedback as a player who manages a similar performance on Lynyrd Skynyrds Sweet Home Alabama, even if the latter is much more difficult. These small discrepancies take some of the authenticity out of the feedback.

    In terms of satisfying the need for competence, traditional learning is able to set a wider variety of goals and provide more nuanced feedback aligned to acquiring proper technique that will reap benefits in the long run. However, Rocksmith provides learners with an engaging experience that is likely to draw them to put in more practice time.

    The need for autonomy

    Autonomy needs are fulfilled through the abil-ity of building ones own identity, choosing opportunities to pursue that are meaningful and aligned to ones values as well as being able to pursue these through different means and feeling compelled, and not contrived, to do so. (Rigby & Ryan, 2011)

    In traditional learningIn traditional learning, attempting to give the impression of being better than one really is will likely be short-lived as teachers assess students skills in the first lesson. Players ability to choose their own path will likely be very variable depending on who they are being taught by. A few lucky learners may have found a particularly inspiring and dedicated teacher who will manage to find material that is both appropriate and meaningful to them.

    As a general rule, traditional teaching meth-ods are often dated and may not use music that is appealing to the learners. Beginners may feel contrived if they first have to tackle a nursery rhyme instead of playing their favor-ite rock songs. In fact, many of the exercises prescribed in traditional learning are likely to include warm-ups, scales and diligent practice with a metronome. It was mentioned earlier that investing as little as 20 minutes of mind-ful and deliberate practice per day can allow learners to acquire proper guitar technique. Mindful and deliberate practice involves work-ing on ones weaknesses which is not always as gratifying as practicing things one already

    FIG 5 Post-performance feedback

  • 7excels at. Students will likely have to conform to a certain amount of structured exercises, possibly undermining their motivation.

    In Rocksmith 2014Rocksmith puts much more emphasis in addressing learners autonomy needs. Any time they wish, players can switch roles between lead and rhythm guitarist or even bass guitar. In fact, the game doesnt even require to own a real bass as it can emulate bass from a regular electric guitar.

    While Rocksmith 2014 attempts to influence learning by suggesting goals to the learner based on past performances, players are never contrived to follow them in order to play the game. Missions are provided to influence what the players will work on and incentives are provided in the form of unlockable features such as customizable inlays, equipment skins, venues and songs. Songs are a rare and highly valued item (Elemenohpenc, 2013) but other items may not pack quite enough punch to draw players to truly follow recommended mis-sions (Dquizzle, 2013). Also, while players may wish to complete missions in order to unlock these items, many of them dont require a true productive effort from them. For example, if the game suggests rehearsing the chorus of a song in Riff Repeater, merely entering this sec-tion of the song in Riff Repeater will confirm

    achievement on the goal even if the player quits before picking a single note.

    As learners progress in the game, venues are unlocked and grow in size, contributing to the idea that they are becoming true rock stars.

    For many techniques, Rocksmith 2014 allows the learner to choose different learning approaches thus increasing available choices and further satisfying autonomy needs. For instance, Guitarcade offers mini games which focus on technical drills. Instead of practicing scales with a metronome, Scale racers (fig.6) allow players to control a car by fretting the proper scale notes. Scales can also be further practiced in Scale Warriors or, more freely, in Session mode. I would hypothesize that while adding narrative elements may push a learner to put more time on drills, the real benefits of drilling may be hindered by the cognitive load caused by the extraneous elements.

    Unlike a teacher, Rocksmith is available and ready to teach at all times and is much more affordable than regular lessons. From the start, players have access to over 50 hit tracks from the 1960s and up and can expand their collec-tion by buying additional content. Settings in the game such as error tolerance, can also be tweaked to make things more or less easy.

    FIG 6 Scale Racers

  • 8While Rocksmith definitely surpasses trad-itional learning in terms of satisfying the need for autonomy, one has to wonder if this is truly beneficial for learners. Being able to practice anything they wish is not likely to yield the same results as mindful and deliberate practice. However, the content provided by Rocksmith 2014 provides learners with content that is likely to be more compelling than traditional teaching methods and its sheer availability is likely to result in further engagement.

    The need for relatedness

    Creating meaningful connections to others completes the triad of intrinsic needs defined in the theory of self-determination. Relating meaningfully to others takes place when one is acknowledged and supported as well as aware of the impact they have on others. Relatedness needs can be further fulfilled within cooper-ation and even through constructive competi-tion. (Rigby & Ryan, 2011)

    In traditional learningThe intricacy of interactions with a real human being, and most specifically a good teacher cannot currently be matched by a games arti-ficial intelligence and will obviously feel more authentic than playing a game even if good

    teachers can have their bad days, which is not going to happen with a video game.

    A good teacher will be able to address prob-lems that a game would not be able to grasp and will adapt feedback to a wider variety of circumstances providing effective support for the learner. A teacher may also facilitate meetings with other learners and possibly the creation of a band. Positive interdependence among group members is likely to foster fur-ther motivation and is a great way to commit to learning a musical instrument as well as many more interpersonal and teamwork skills.

    In Rocksmith 2014While people may scoff at the idea of feeling related to fictitious characters in a video game, most have felt empathy for similar characters in movies and video games are no different in that matter. In fact, the feeling of relatedness is likely to be further exacerbated by the inter-active nature of the game.

    Throughout the game, the same narrator voice accompanies the player through video lessons (fig. 7), missions and post-performance feedback. If players perform well enough, the crowd will start dancing, filming the perform-ance with their smartphones, and throwing their fists in the air. A mediocre performance will cause them to stand around in silence but as players master new riffs for the first time, they will applaud wildly.

    Rocksmith 2014 offers a multiplayer mode (fig.8) restricted to local play, thus limiting options of connecting with other players. It is not completely clear if this mode serves a

    FIG 7 Lessons

    FIG 8 Multiplayer Mode

  • 9competitive or cooperative purpose. Both play-ers perform simultaneously at their own level of skill and end results are displayed alongside each other. Players can therefore define what their mutual goal is but it would be interesting to see how this could be developed further.

    Leaderboard challenges allow players to contest others scores but these are picked by the game through a wide array of member names and scores that feel inauthentic at best. Enabling players to communicate with others through the game would surely improve the players experience and may even prompt instances of informal learning among commun-ity members.

    In spite of these options, players learning through Rocksmith may eventually start feel-ing isolated and seek meaningful connections with communities of Rocksmith users outside the game. This can be accomplished through forums or Facebook groups but is not made obvious in the game. When it comes to con-necting with other players in real life, users of Rocksmith are on their own.

    While the exhilarating feeling of impacting a whole crowd of people can be a strong pull in playing Rocksmith, the need to relate in more authentic ways is likely to be felt after a while. Connecting with other local guitar players can enhance the learning experience and currently seems like the most viable option to further motivation to play guitar in the long run.

    Discussion

    Exploring how Rocksmith 2014 satisfies its users intrinsic needs in nearly immediate, con-sistent and dense ways compared to traditional learning methods shows that the motivational pull of the game as well as its affordability may make it increasingly difficult to ignore in future years.

    However, while Rocksmith 2014 may be a suitable game for someone who wants to have fun pretending to be a rock star while feeling the increased rewards of learning to play a real instrument rather than a plastic controller or even an invisible guitar, the game and the technology it uses also have some flaws and shortcomings that serious learners will need to consider. Players using solely Rocksmith 2014 to learn may lack in proper technique and find themselves resorting to the game as a crutch instead of facing their weaknesses and pro-gressing out of the game.

    Through the exploration of both approaches strengths and weaknesses, it becomes apparent they could potentially adapt to complete each other. Teachers could leverage content pro-vided in Rocksmith to add to their own material and enable players to practice their favorite tracks with the game at home while benefiting from the teachers weekly feedback. Teachers becoming familiar with the game could experi-ment with settings to strike a more appropriate balance between realistic competence feed-back and motivational pull, as well as making their students aware of the games potential pit-falls. Students could also film themselves play-ing Rocksmith for teachers to look for posture problems.

    As guitar students and teachers alike experi-ment with Rocksmith 2014, they will be likely to find various ways through which the game could foster greater motivation and bring even further benefits by inscribing it in a traditional learning approach.

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    ReferencesAndreas, J. (2005). The principles of correct practice for guitar: The perfect start for beginners, and the answer to the problems of players. (2nd ed.). Woodstock, N.Y.: Jamey World.

    Dquizzle. (2013, November 5). Does anyone else see no point in unlocking skins and venues [Online forum comment] Retrieved from http://www.reddit.com/r/rocksmith/comments/1q1z6b/does_anyone_else_see_no_point_in_unlocking_skins/

    Elemenohpenc. (2013, October 10). *SPOILER* How to Unlock Rewards (Normal/Uplay) and Full List of Rewards [Online forum comment #12]. Retrieved from http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/802338-

    Levitin, D. (2006). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession. New York, N.Y.: Dutton.

    Marcus, G. (2012). Guitar zero: The new musician and the science of learning. New York: Penguin Press.

    Rigby, S., & Ryan, R. (2011). Glued to games how video games draw us in and hold us spellbound. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.

    Television Bureau of Canada. (November 2013). Reach & Time Spent: Major Media Comparison. Retrieved from http://www.tvb.ca/page_files/pdf/RTSA/RTS13.pdf

    Figures FIG 1 Rocksmith Note Highway [Screen capture]. (2014). Retrieved December 5 2014, from http://static. trueachievements.com/customimages/020966.jpg

    FIG 2 Masem. (2008, September 20). Guitar Hero Slider Notes [Online image]. Retrieved December 5, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Guitar-hero-slider-notes.jpg

    FIG 3 Rocksmith Riff Repeater [Screen capture]. (2014). Retrieved December 5 2014, from http://www.discshop.se/img/rec_foton/rocksmith2014xb1_1.jpg0

    FIG 4 Rocksmith Session Mode [Screen capture]. (2014). Retrieved December 5 2014, from http://www.incgamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Rocksmith-2014-2.jpg

    FIG 5 Rocksmith Post-performance feedback [Screen capture]. (2014). Retrieved December 5 2014, from http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5522/ 10545841714_7d727282f4_b.jpg

    FIG 6 Rocksmith Scale Racers [Screen capture]. (2014). Retrieved December 5 2014, from http://static. trueachievements.com/customimages/034550.jpg

    FIG 7 Rocksmith Lessons [Screen capture]. (2014). Retrieved December 5 2014, from http://static. trueachievements.com/customimages/020968.jpg

    FIG 8 Rocksmith Multiplayer Mode [Screen capture]. (2014). Retrieved December 5 2014, http://static. trueachievements.com/customimages/034553.jpg

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