John M. Quick

Because We May App Sale May 24 - June 1, 2012

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:03:00 -0700

A number of game developers are holding a simultaneous sale across several platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows/Mac/Linux, and Steam. The sale is organized by Because We May and runs from May 24 to June 1, 2012. The Because We May website includes a listing of all participating games across the various platforms, for example, iOS. I decided to join in on the sale and have discounted the following games.

Potions & Poisons for iPhone

Free until June 1! (regular $0.99)

Play Potions & Poisons.

Coordination for iPad

Free until June 1! (regular $0.99)

Play Coordination.

MooOOoo00!

Photo Explorer for iPhone

$0.99 until June 1! (regular $1.99)

Play Photo Explorer for iPhone.

Photo Explorer for iPad

$0.99 until June 1! (regular $1.99)

Play Photo Explorer for iPad.

On the App Store

You can always find all of my apps on the Apple App Store.

Genuine User Experience

Tue, 22 May 2012 06:50:50 -0700

There’s something magical about three simple words in Apple’s Mac OS X. On the rare occasion that I need to retrieve an archived file from my backup disk, I am called on an adventure. Or perhaps I’m mysteriously beckoned to follow along on a journey. Or maybe the time has come for me to fulfill my destiny. The feeling lasts for just a moment and is spurred on by merely three words. Enter Time Machine.

Sure, Mac OS X tries to build on this theme and literally take me there by warping me into a space supernova where my files await. However, these aesthetics don’t actually make the experience and occur after the feeling has already worn off. As it stands, Time Machine launches quite slowly and then takes even a bit longer to load my archives. By the time this happens, I’m firmly snapped back into reality and waiting impatiently to browse my files. It’s the upfront command alone, the call to Enter Time Machine, that creates the wonder.

This all makes me wonder how such a seemingly arbitrary and insignificant line of text can have such an emotional and experiential impact. Perhaps an Apple designer has some unique insight, although the text could have just as easily been placed as a joke or by chance. Nevertheless, I’m interested in how such a simple thing can have such a large impact on the user experience. Especially amidst the overwhelming talk of gamification, where the world is boiled down into hollow stimuli and reward systems, it seems that genuine experience and emotion comes from exciting a user’s imagination. This connection requires nothing tangible, yet powerfully engages the user’s mind. I feel that this sort of experience (not experiencification) could be created plainly and effectively, without any need for superficial systems, and would hold tremendous beneficial power.

Unplug: Personal Relaxation Assistant for iPhone

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:00:00 -0700

My latest iPhone app, Unplug: Personal Relaxation Assistant, has been released and you can download Unplug from the Apple App Store.

Description

Unplug is your Personal Relaxation Assistant. It is designed to help you improve your relaxation and meditation skills while you work towards your goals of stress relief, improved health and fitness, enhanced mental health, and inner peace.

Unplug is free to download and use. Once you begin a session, you are challenged to remain still and silent in your environment. This allows you to relax and reenergize your mind and body. You can set a personal goal and work towards improving your relaxation skills each session.

Technology

Unplug makes use of the iPhone’s accelerometer and microphone. Using the accelerometer, Unplug measures how much you move. With the microphone, the iPhone listens for any noise from you and your relaxing environment. A calibration feature can be found on the Settings tab. Through calibration, you can cancel out the effects of gravity and ambient noise, so you know that you are only measuring the movement and sound that you create. For the most accurate measurements, you should calibrate when starting a session in a new environment. It is recommended that you hold your iPhone in your hand(s), set it on your lap, or somewhere similar during a session. Your goal is to relax while being as still and quiet as possible. Relax in consistent ways so you can better track your improvement over time.

Additional Features

The in-app store contains additional personalization features to enhance your relaxation experience. At release, two items are available: the Settings Pack and Stat Tracking. Additional features for these packs are planned for future releases and new items will be added to the store over time.

Settings Pack

With the Settings Pack, you can personalize your assistant. At release, you can upload your own relaxing images to use during your sessions. You can also show or hide the session timer and set the text color for the session interface. You also have the option to hide advertisements. These options should help you to make your relaxation experience more enjoyable and personal.

Stat Tracking

With Stat Tracking, you can record your session data over time. Each session, you can receive up to 10 points for Motion (how much you moved during the session), Sound (how much noise you made during the session), and Time Bonus (the seconds added to your next session as you progress towards your overall goal). This information is visualized over time on an interactive line chart.

Time to Unplug

You can find Unplug: Personal Relaxation Assistant in the Apple App Store for the iPhone. I always appreciate feedback, ratings, and reviews from users, so do not hesitate to contact me. Relax…

The Complete Guide to Quitting Instagram

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 06:34:04 -0700

Amidst the Facebook-Instagram disaster, I have written a series of tutorials for to help former Instagram users transition away from the social network. In this post, I have compiled these tutorials into one complete guide.

Instafail: Tonight we Tadaa!

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:00:00 -0700

Now that you’re thoroughly disgusted with Instagram and Facebook, it’s time to move on and look into other options. After all, the point was never to pledge allegiance to a particular company or service, but to share and discuss photos with others. We owe it to each other to use services that will best allow us thrive the right way, on our own terms.

And for my next trick, I will make Instagram disappear… Tadaa!

I have looked into several options for former Instagram users, but can only recommend one at this point. While there are no perfect solutions, the past few days on Tadaa have left me very impressed by the apps’ capabilities and in admiration of the people who inhabit that network.

Features

Tadaa has some impressive editing capabilities and social networking features. While I cannot possibly list all of the positives here, I will share some insights that I discovered as well as those that Tadaa users shared with me. These should be particularly striking to those of you who can contrast them with your prior experience on Instagram.

Here are some of the great things about Tadaa:

Post any size/shape of photo - not just squares

Impressive editing capabilities - large selection of filters, frames, and fine tuning options - all for free
Apply multiple filters to a single photo
Apply filters by custom amounts/percentage

Save edited photos to the camera roll, as well as manage both edits and originals in-app
Like and reply to specific comments, like on a blog/discussion forum
Post captions/comments of varying lengths and with line breaks
Reply to others’ posts with a photo instead of text - great for contest/special topic submissions
Repost others’ photos and have your photos reposted the right way - the original poster gets the credit and attention.
“Awesome” page lists random photos, new users’ photos, and the most popular photos over the past 24 hours

No hash tags - save some time (but also no ability to easily find photos by topic)
No spammers, teens posting self-pics, people begging for followers, etc. (let’s keep it that way)
Pan and zoom photo posts to view them in detail
Rotate your device to view photos in portrait or landscape
Set quiet hours to silence notifications
Touch controls for navigating and editing photos
Stylish, professional user interface

Automatically provided with a photo blog online (example)
View photos in great resolution, but without eating up your data plan (I tested it over 3G and it somehow uses about 1% the data that Instagram requries)
Network of excellent photographers and digital artists who respect copyrights

Granted, Tadaa has been hammered with former Instagram users looking for a new home. Thus, its performance has suffered over the past few days. However, it looks to be the best alternative and has a very promising culture and application. I think it is worth giving Tadaa a chance to work through its growing pains, because if it is able to accommodate its new demand, it will by far be much better than Instagram was, even at its best.

Conclusion

I recommend Tadaa for mature adults who enjoy sharing and discussing quality, creative photography. You can find me under the username quick. I look forward to seeing you there and hope that we can continue to develop Tadaa into an excellent photo-sharing network.

Download Tadaa

More information can be found on the Tadaa website and the Tadaa app is available in the Apple App Store.

How to Delete Your Instagram Account

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:53:00 -0700

If you’re planning to quit Instagram amidst the recent takeover by Facebook, here is a step-by-step guide on how to make it official by deleting your Instagram account.

Using your web browser, navigate to https://instagram.com/accounts/remove/request/. Note that you may need to login with your Instagram username and password first.

Select a reason for deleting your account. In this case, Privacy concerns is a good choice. Ignore Instagram’s attempt to confuse and distract you away from your objective and click on the continue deactivating your account link at the bottom of the page.

Finally, enter your password and click on the I understand, deactivate my account button.

Once you see this message, you know it’s 4 REALZ!

Although Instagram says that several account items will be removed permanently, its choice of “deactivate” wording, rather than “delete,” makes me suspicious of the extent that it actually deletes accounts. However, this is the only account removal option at this point. I encourage you to find new social networks to participate in and to always protect your personal privacy and intellectual property online. Farewell.

How to Delete Your Instagram Photos

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 06:43:00 -0700

If you’re planning to quit Instagram amidst the recent takeover by Facebook, I strongly encourage you to delete each and every one of your photos, even if you also plan to delete your entire account. Deleting all of the photos puts you in a better position to protect your personal privacy and intellectual property. Below are the steps you need to take to delete a photo on Instagram.

From your Profile page, tap on the photo that you would like to delete.

Scroll to the bottom of the comments and tap on the … button.

In the pop-up menu, tap on the Delete button.

On the pop-up alert, tap on the Delete button.

This will remove your photo from your Instagram account. Though it can be a tedious process, it is recommended that you delete all of your photos if you do not want them to be in the hands of Facebook.

How to Save Your Instagram Photos

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:44:00 -0700

If you’re planning to quit Instagram amidst the recent takeover by Facebook, you may want to export and save all of your photos prior to deleting your photos and deleting your account. Below are the steps you need to take to export and save your Instagram photos.

Using your web browser, navigate to http://instaport.me.
Click on the Sign in with Instagram button.

You will be transferred to the Instagram website and asked to authorize the connection. Click on the Yes button. Note that you may need to login with your Instagram username and password first.

You will be returned to the instaport website. Select the Download .zip file radio bubble and click on the Start Export button.

You will be notified that your export is running. Note that this process can take quite some time, so it is recommended that you move on to other things and revisit the site later.

Once the process has finished, click on the Download Photos button to download your Instagram photos to your computer in a .zip archive.

Note that instaport is not functioning well due to high traffic following the announcement that Facebook would takeover Instagram. An alternative Instagram photo export app for Mac OS X 10.7 is available from developer David Smith.

You now have your Instagram photos preserved and can take them with you when you find a better social network to share them on.

Facebook Shatters Instagram

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:11:54 -0700

Some horrible tech news just hit today: Facebook has purchased Instagram. I’m not sure what this means for the future of the network or my participation in it, but neither can be positive. Facebook has a long history of stealing and selling its users’ personal information and intellectual property without permission. There is no reason to believe Facebook will behave differently once it takes over Instagram. On a network that is all about users sharing their best photographic works, intellectual property is a critical issue. This could be the end of the best social network I’ve seen to date. Perhaps there is another network where former Instagrammers can take refuge.

Unlock Hidden Siri on the New iPad

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:00:00 -0700

Much to the chagrin of consumers, the New iPad was announced last month lacking an essential feature. That’s right, the magical, revolutionary, incredible, useless Siri was conspicuously absent from the New iPad models. However, thanks to a little techno-chicanery, it has been discovered that Siri lies dormant within the New iPad. She need only be awakened to be at your every command. Here are the steps you need to take to unlock Siri on the New iPad:

From the home screen, tap the home button to reach the Search page.
Tap on the microphone icon near the bottom-left of the on-screen keyboard.
To make use of Siri, simply issue a command or question beginning with her name. For instance, “Siri, why did Apple hide you inside the New iPad?”

That’s all there is to it! Any time you are in need of her services, simply use the iPad’s on-screen keyboard and voice recognition to summon Siri.

See the video for a full demonstration of Siri on the New iPad.

R Tutorial Series: Centering and Standardizing with Scale()

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:12:31 -0700

R Tutorial Series: Centering and Standardizing with Scale():

I have added an article on centering and standardizing variables with the scale() function to my R Tutorial Series blog.

Oregontrailification

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0700

I posted some Tweets lately that I would like to summarize into a more cohesive point here. Amidst the gamification craze of the past year or two, it has become common to add the suffix -ification to almost any word. I did so jokingly when I heinously morphed the classic computer game, Oregon Trail, into the hashtag #oregontrailificaton. However, this got me to thinking about what oregontrailification might be if applied to business, politics, and education the way that gamification is being applied to those fields today. Here are a few examples that I came up with.

Oregontrailification in Business

Provide the employees in your organization primitive riffles with which they may hunt buffalo.

Oregontrailification in Politics

Ensure that at least one member of every household suffers from dysentery or cholera at any given time.

Oregontrailification in Education

Solve your supply shortage problems by teaching students to steal from the other wagons in the middle of the night.

Conclusion

Indeed, blindly applying game components to the real world is the key to success in business, politics, and education.

As you can see, a surface application of Oregon Trail to the real world, while potentially hilarious on paper, would certainly lead to disaster. Frankly, these examples are not a far cry from how gamification is being approached by marketers, managers, policy makers, and educators today. It seems that the tendency is to just take a fast glance at a popular game, abduct some salient features from it, and apply them to a real-world system. Unfortunately, this is most often done with out any understanding of game design, sociology, or psychology, which results in shallow, empty, and ineffective gamification.

Instagram Tip: How to Create Planet Panoramas

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:00:00 -0700

On Instagram, I often get asked how I create my planet panoramas. It takes just a few steps to create the image below, provided you have a panorama handy.

Steps

Start with a panorama, such as the one shown below. This is a 360 panorama, meaning that it captured an entire 360 degree view of the scene. Thus, the left and right ends of the image match up perfectly. This is the best type of panorama to use for making planets. The more congruent the images’ edges are, the better it will come together in planet form.

The next step is to stretch the panorama into a square by changing its dimensions. Since panoramas are usually wider than they are tall, this typically entails increasing the height of the image to match its width. For example, the image above is 250x78 pixels. To turn it into a square, I changed its dimensions to 250x250 pixels in Photoshop. Make sure to stretch the image, even if it looks strange, and not to resize the image by maintaining its original aspect ratio.

At this point, decide which type of planet panorama you want to create. If you want to create a sky planet surrounded by land, then keep the image upright and proceed to the next step. If you want to create a land planet surrounded by sky, then flip the image upside down.

The final step in creating a planet panorama is to apply a polar coordinates filter. The polar coordinates system is a different way of plotting points than what we are used to seeing (called the Cartesian system) and has the effect of transforming our traditional landscape into a spherical shape. Personally, I use Photoshop for this step. With the image open in Photoshop, the effect can be found in Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates. Once selected, a window will open with more options. Make sure the Rectangular to Polar bubble is checked, then click on the OK button to apply the filter. This step leaves you with a completed planet panorama.

These planet panoramas are always square, which makes them easy to post to Instagram. Before posting, you might consider rotating your planet to see which orientation makes it look best.

R Tutorial Series: Citing R with EndNote

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:17:15 -0700

R Tutorial Series: Citing R with EndNote:

I have added an article on Citing R with EndNote to my R Tutorial Series blog.

App Updates for iOS 5

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:00:00 -0700

Apple broke ‘em and I fixed ‘em. I have updated several of my apps for iOS 5. If you already own any of these, please be sure to update to the latest version. If you’re seeing these for the first time, take a look in the App Store.

Potions & Poisons for iPhone

Minor updates and improvements for iOS 5 have been made.

Play Potions & Poisons.

Photo Explorer for iPhone

Minor updates and improvements for iOS 5 have been made.

Play Photo Explorer for iPhone.

Photo Explorer for iPad

The in-app store is no more. That means your one-time purchase includes every expansion pack and all 300 levels! This app has also been updated for iOS 5.

Play Photo Explorer for iPad.

Coordination for iPad

Minor updates and improvements for iOS 5 have been made.

Play Coordination.

MooOOoo00!

On the App Store

You can always find all of my apps on the Apple App Store.

GLS 7.0 Proceedings and GLS 8.0 Call

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:33:53 -0700

The proceedings from the 2011 Games + Learning + Society (GLS) 7.0 conference are now available from ETC press. This is the first year that GLS has published its proceedings and the download is free. The first formal publication about my taxonomy of video game enjoyment can be found on pages 185-190 of the proceedings.

The call for GLS 8.0 is now available as well. Be aware that the submission deadline is a couple months earlier than last year. The full GLS 8.0 conference website is also online.

R Tutorial Series: Exploratory Factor Analysis

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:58:02 -0700

R Tutorial Series: Exploratory Factor Analysis:

I have added an article on Exploratory Factor Analysis to my R Tutorial Series blog.

Lytro Introduces Compact Light Field Camera

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:55:00 -0700

Lytro, a newly formed camera company, announced its first consumer light field camera today. Unlike traditional cameras that have to be focused prior to taking a photo, light field cameras produce images that can be focused and refocused at will after they are taken. To date, such cameras have been confined to research labs, but Lytro is attempting to make them a consumer electronic.

Light Field Images

Lytro’s sample photos to date are quite compelling. A sample gallery can be found on the Lytro website. Take a look at this example photo to get a gist of what can be done with a light field image. Try clicking on the water fountain in the front, followed by the rocket in the background for a good demonstration.

Lytro Camera

The Lytro, as the new camera is currently called, takes on a compelling form factor. It is approximately a hand-sized squarish aluminum tube. Inside is an 8x optical zoom lens, 8 or 16 gigabyte flash drive, and other processing components. On the back of the tube is a square touch screen, which is used to view and manage photos. The casing also has physical power and shutter buttons, as well as a zoom slider. This camera definitely looks like something that users could easily tote and snap into action at a moment’s notice.

Critical Questions

Yet, a few critical questions remain about the Lytro. Unfortunately, its specifications are poorly described on its website, which is cause for alarm. In particular, the boasting of “HD-quality” photos leaves everyone to wonder what resolution and image quality can be expected from the camera. This tactic is quite reminiscent of Apple’s attempt to obfuscate customers’ awareness of the iPad 2’s abysmal still camera quality by only reporting its specifications in terms of video recording. At $399-$499, the price of the Lytro seems rather high for a consumer device. The highest-end consumer cameras from Nikon, Canon, and the like can be had for the same price. Lastly, photo ownership is a tremendous curiosity at this point. Lytro has mentioned that its photos can be uploaded to Facebook or its own servers, but not whether users will be able to do anything else with their photos. For instance, people will undoubtedly need to place their photos elsewhere, such as on Flickr, and enjoy their photos offline and privately, such as on their desktop. It is a mystery as to whether users will be able to take full advantage of their light field photos on their own terms, rather than at the whim of Facebook or Lytro.

Conclusion

Alas, the Lytro will not see action until some time in 2012, when today’s preorders begin to arrive. In the meantime, hopefully Lytro will answer some of the aforementioned outstanding issues and drum up more interest in its product beyond instantaneous adopters.

What is Mobile Learning?

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:23:00 -0700

Mobile learning is an emerging field of education and research that has been ignited by recent technological innovations, such as smartphones and touchscreen tablets. However, to date the term mobile learning is little more than an empty, ill-defined, and trendy catchphrase. In dissecting the term itself, I do not see any problem with the learning portion, since that is fundamental to any form of education. Instead, it is the mobile component that is difficult to specify.

What makes learning mobile? The answer seems elusive. In fact, I wonder whether such a distinction can rightfully be made when today’s “mobile” learning is a 1:1 reflection of the learning of yesteryear. For instance, suppose that student uses a desktop computer to look up a Wikipedia page. Then consider another student who uses a tablet to look up a Wikipedia page. It would seem that the learning between the students is no different. Each merely opened a web page. Similarly, a student who watches a YouTube or Khan Academy video on a smartphone is not having a different learning experience from a student watching the same video elsewhere. There appears to be no distinction between (regular) learning and mobile learning.

Mobile eLearning

As may be evident from the preceding section, the talk about defining or understanding mobile learning inevitably results in a debate about devices - iPhones, iPads, eReaders, laptops, and related electronics. What people really mean when they are talking about mobile learning is learning that is enhanced through the use of portable electronic devices. Hence, Mobile eLearning.

Problems

This signifies a few clear problems. First and foremost, people are focusing too much on the technology of mobile learning. Debates devolve into arguments about what devices count and what devices do not count. Furthermore, there is a tendency to make arbitrary distinctions about what devices are in or out, all of which have no relation to learning. For example, perhaps only devices with screens less than six inches, or lighter than one pound, or with a certain limit to processing power, or with a certain suite of applications should be included. In this way, mobile learning becomes a fruitless categorization of consumer electronics with no mind paid to the learning involved.

Differentiation

Suppose that people do want to differentiate between mobile devices and tie this back to potential learning effects. I can think of a few ways that this could be done. I will start by laying out the mobile electronic devices along a portability spectrum. Here, we see that laptops are generally the least portable mobile devices, while cell phones are the most portable, and the others lie in-between.

The challenge now becomes adding a second axis to this graph. At present, there is little indication of what mobile devices can offer to learning. Without proper research, there is no reason to believe that the amount that can be learned will differ between the devices, as shown below.

However, in educational technology, researchers are usually concerned with the efficiency or effectiveness of learning, rather than the raw amount. By taking a device’s overall functionality as an indicator of how effective learning through the device could potentially be, the following chart is generated.

Another important perspective that has not yet entered this exploration is the portability of the user. That is, how mobile the user can be when interacting with a device. With this consideration, the following graph can be drawn.

Now, I have presented several different perspectives on how mobile devices might relate to learning. However, one glaring point has been overlooked. Consider the preceding two diagrams (functionality vs. device portability and user mobility vs. device portability). In both cases, there is an implicit independence assumed between functionality (learning effectiveness) and how a user interacts with a mobile device.

Conclusion

Examining, and potentially dissolving, this independence between users and devices is at the heart of mobile learning. What really needs to be discovered are the relationships between learning effectiveness, learning efficiency, user interaction, and mobile devices. Rather than obsessing over how to categorize portable electronics, the mobile learning pursuit is about understanding how learning can be enhanced through the use of mobile devices. It is not about looking up webpages or videos on different screen sizes. Mobile learning is about what a tiny handheld device can allow users to do that a modestly-sized laptop cannot. Most importantly however, it is not just about what the devices allow users to do differently than in the past. The learning cannot be forgotten. It is the charge of mobile learning researchers to determine what, if any, learning improvements can be achieved through the affordances of using mobile devices.

Revisiting the Monty Hall Problem

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:06:00 -0700

Just a few months ago, I became aware of the classic Monty Hall problem as I was reading about it in the context of Bayesian statistics. Over the years, the problem has stirred up much controversy amongst statisticians, game theorists, puzzle players, and general audiences alike. The Monty Hall name originates from grounding the problem in the historical context of the Let’s Make a Deal TV game show. Although the problem can take on other themes, I will generally stick within the Let’s Make a Deal framework for this discussion.

It seems to me that the major disagreements that people have about the problem revolve around the perspectives and assumptions that define the problem, rather than the actual mathematics and solutions. In reexamining the problem myself, I had no trouble with the assumptions, but I did manage to confuse myself a bit depending on what perspective I took. Next, I will try to clearly delineate what I view as the traditional form of the Monty Hall problem, followed by how I arrived at the traditional solution to the problem.

Assumptions

The assumptions made about the Monty Hall problem are critical to being able to solve it. There are many different variants for the problem, but I am only addressing one specific instance here. I think that any inspection to this problem needs to start by outlining specifically what is being addressed, for otherwise people tend to engage in futile arguments about completely different things. I am outlining the problem as follows.

In this scenario, you are the player and you want to win the grand prize. This problem will be stated and solved from the perspective of you as the player.
There are three doors. One of them contains the grand prize and the other two do not.
There is a host. Only he knows which door contains the grand prize.

Procedure

The game proceeds through the following steps.

At the start of the game, you select one door. Its contents remain hidden.
The host then reveals one losing door to you. The host has no preferences about which door is revealed, other than he will be sure to reveal a losing door and not the winning door.
The host will then allow you to switch your door at your discretion. You may either keep the door that you originally chose or switch to the remaining unrevealed door.

The big question is whether it is to your advantage to stick with your original door choice or switch your pick to the other remaining door.

Solution

The traditional solution to this problem suggests that you have a 2/3 chance of winning if you switch and a 1/3 chance of winning if you stay with your original choice. This can be demonstrated by writing out every possible outcome for the game, as shown in the following table.

If you add up all of the winning scenarios when the player switches and divide them by the total number of possible outcomes, you get a ratio of 2/3. Accordingly, if you add up all of the winning scenarios when a player stays and divide them by the total number of possible outcomes, you get a ratio of 1/3. Hence, it is to your advantage to switch, because you will achieve a 2/3 chance of winning versus a 1/3 chance of winning if you stick to your original door choice.

Unintuitive

What is it that makes the Monty Hall problem so unintuitive? I think there may be a few reasons that it is such a vexing problem. For one, the odds that the first door selected contains the grand prize never changes. It is always a 1/3 chance, regardless of which door is originally selected and which losing door is revealed. This is counterintuitive, because the probabilities of the unselected doors do change. Once a losing door is revealed by the host, its probability instantly becomes known as zero. Simultaneously, the probability that the other unselected door contains the prize becomes known to be 2/3, while originally selected door remains 1/3. This is where perspective becomes important. The player, being active in the selection of one door and witnessing the opening of another, is capable of determining the 2/3 and 1/3 odds. However, if a third-party takes the scenario at face value, disregarding the original selection and revealing of doors, then it appears that the two remaining doors each hold a 1/2 chance of containing the prize. It is the inclusion of knowledge about prior events that gives the player an advantage in switching.

Only under different assumptions about the characters’ goals, by changing the rules of the game, or by adopting different perspectives (for example, as the host or an audience member) do we experience situations where it is not advantageous to switch. Doing so fundamentally changes the nature of the problem itself and creates an entirely new, unrelated problem that needs to be solved. Of course, I have focused on just one formulation of the Monty Hall problem. There are many others that I think are valuable to examine from different philosophical and statistical perspectives.