MUSE is like Minecraft

Do the children (or adults) in your life play Minecraft? My boys (7 and 9) are obsessed with this game. If you are familiar with it you know that the game has very crude graphics that look like something from the 1980’s. There is not a clear goal, you don’t really earn points or defeat the dragons. If you aren't familiar with it, come out from under your rock! Microsoft just announced plans to buy it for $2.5 billion. Yes, Billion. With a ‘B.’

Anyway, I have never grasped the appeal of Minecraft through watching my kids play it, but when I heard about the Microsoft deal I became even more intrigued about its popularity. I asked my kids what it is about this game that made them so interested. Both of them responded with the same theme – ownership. Although they actually said lots of other things, “I like that my world can be however I want it; I like to know that I made it myself; I like no rules in building; I like the flexibility and choosing how I play.” What they are really saying is they have ownership in the game. And that is what drives them there.

You are mine and I love you!

Mine!

Ownership is the ultimate motivator for someone to care. Do you take more care of a rental car or your own? When you have ownership in something, whether it’s an idea, a program, or a physical object, you think of it differently and value it more than if it’s not yours.

Ownership elicits feelings of pride, happiness, comfort and security.

So, in a few ways, MUSE is like Minecraft.  You think that’s a stretch? It’s not really, though. Listen friends, MUSE is yours. You have the freedom to shape it, to grow it, to develop it. You can log in and “build your world,” as Minecrafters would say.  Logging in to MUSE can mean attending a webinar, presenting a webinar, hosting a Community Peer Group, participating in a JAM session, going to the International Conference, or even just following the forum discussions.

With the newly launched website, you have more freedom than ever to customize your profile and utilize all the interesting tools. I will highlight one of those tools here because I continue to get questions about it. The forums, or discussion groups, from the old site are now called the MUSE Bridge. You can find the Bridge discussions by clicking on “Bridge Community Discussion Groups” under the Community tab. Like this:

Once you’re on the Bridge page you can view all the topics.

If you decide to post to a thread, you have so many features to help personalize your experience. You can view the posts if you are not logged into the website, but in order to post you need to be logged into the website. This security feature keeps folks civil and helps us to maintain a valuable and active community.

In the example below I am posting in the Patient Portal folder. As you can see, the forum allows me to upload a document, photo, spreadsheet, anything really that I want to include here. I can also include emoticons, if I were so inclined (which I’m not). You can also create polls if you have a situation where that would be useful.

So log in to the website and take a stroll through the cool functionality. Make this yours!

And, as always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments or ideas.

Take care MUSE friends,

Alicia