Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (10: 3 Queries)

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These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University.

Each week, we are also required to post three questions for the rest of the class. These are mine.

Please note: these posts are not intended as any kind of commentary on or assessment of the course I’m taking, or its instructor, OR of Michigan State University or the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, or the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media. They are solely my thoughts and reactions that stem from the readings.

Feel free to comment, disagree, or what have you.

Week 10

These are the readings for the week (Topics: Games for social change; Theories of persuasion; Culture):

  • Oinas-Kukkonen, H., & Harjumaa, M. (2008). A systematic framework for designing and evaluating persuasive systems. Paper presented at the The 3rd International Conference on Persuasive Technology (Persuasive ’08), Oulu, Finland.
  • Atkin, C.K. (1994). Designing persuasive health messages. In L. Sechrest, T.E. Backer, E.M. Rodgers, T.F. Campbell, & M.L. Grady (Eds.), Effective Dissemination of Clinical and Health Information. Rockville, MD: U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. (AHCPR Pub. No. 95-0015).
  • Abraham, C., & Michie, S. (2008). A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychology, 27, 379-387.
  • Bogost, I. (2011). Persuasive Games: Exploitationware. Gamasutra, May 3. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134735/persuasive_games_exploitationware.php
  • Optional: Khaled, R., Barr, R., Biddle, R., Fischer, R., & Noble, J. (2009). Game design strategies for collectivist persuasion. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2009 ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games (Sandbox ’09), New Orleans, LA.
  • Game: Dr. Transplant www.doctortransplant.org
  • Game: Sweatshop www.playsweatshop.com
  • Game: Harpooned harpooned.org

Question1: [Week 10 KB Q 1/3] What kind of design framework are you looking for?

I wrote my first computer program in 1978 (in FORTRAN on punch cards, no less). I’ve been designing courses since 1982 (my supervisor had me design and teach a course as part of my CS Master’s). I haven’t been designing games for very long (less than a decade). Although I rarely look at design templates for programs anymore, and I tend to use previous course designs as templates for new ones, I STILL like to have some sort of design framework in mind any time I start a major project.

A group of researchers at Saskatoon did a major literature review a while back to look at what instructional designers actually do and discovered that while they do use ID models, they tend not to follow any one model closely (Kenny, Zhang, Schwier, & Campbell, 2005). For my part, I tend to look to design frameworks much less as I gain more experience, but I am still in search of viable design frameworks for games – especially serious ones, and I think there is plenty of room for new ones.

So the question to you is, what kinds of design frameworks do you use, if any, in the design work that you do now? What kinds of frameworks do you prefer? Visual process models that look like flowcharts? Waterfall models? Lists of principles like those offered by people like Jim Gee or Harri Oinas-Kukkonen and Marja Harjumaa? Concept maps?

Question2: [Week 10 KB Q 2/3] What’s in a name?

The term ‘gamification’ was apparently first used in the digital media industry in 2008 and it has become popular in the last couple of years (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011). However, people tend to have pretty strong feelings about it (Bogost, August 8, 2011). I think that a lot of the real potential in ‘gamification’ actually isn’t new, but I find the term to be a handy way to organize all these ideas together. I suspect that the term will stick because the marketing types seem to be flocking to it like the proverbial flies to S#%$. Lee Sheldon says he hates the term and prefers to use Massively Multiplayer Classroom in his book of the same name (Sheldon, 2012).

What do you think are some of the aspects now associated with ‘gamification’ that have the most potential to enhance serious causes?

Question3: [Week 10 KB Q 3/3] Is it possible to invent an ideal design template?

Some years ago I was at a software engineering (SENG) conference, sitting at a table with several other attendees. (I have very strong opinions about SENG) I told my tablemates that I thought there were actually 5 key elements required in SENG:

  1. Engineering Principles
  2. Scientific Principles
  3. Knowledge of Programming
  4. Craft / Creativity
  5. Talent

I told them I thought we would never be able to get a solid grip on the last two – these last two cannot be written into any kind of template or recipe. Their response was: “If that’s true, then we’re DONE.” I suspect they were trying to imply that I was wrong, and that given enough time, they will indeed be able to find a pattern, or process, or recipe that will take the ‘human’ aspect out of the creation of software. I would really love for that to be true, but I have seen time and time again that you can’t actually teach the last two. You can go so far, but if the people involved don’t have that spark to begin with, they will never be able to build really good software.

I am convinced that the same holds true for game design. Do you agree? Why?

  • Bogost, I. (August 8, 2011). Gamification is Bullshit. http://www.bogost.com/blog/gamification_is_bullshit.shtml
  • Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: defining “gamification”. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments.
  • Kenny, R. F., Zhang, Z., Schwier, R. A., & Campbell, K. (2005). A review of what instructional designers do: Questions answered and questions not asked. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 31(1), 9-26.
  • Sheldon, L. (2012). The multiplayer classroom : designing coursework as a game. Austrailia ; Boston, Mass.: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.
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Where I’ve Been (to Nov. 10 2012)

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  • Michael Geist – Canadian Copyright Reform In Force: Expanded User Rights Now the Law

    This morning, the majority of Bill C-11, the copyright reform bill, took effect, marking the most significant changes to Canadian copyright law in decades. While there are still some further changes to come (the Internet provider notice-and-notice rules await a consultation and their own regulations, various provisions related to the WIPO Internet treaties await formal ratification of those treaties), all the consumer oriented provisions are now active.

    tags: copyright law rights canadian

  • Games on Games project « G|A|M|E

    The Games on Games project originates from the hypothesis that it is possible and fruitful to critique videogames and their related themes by adopting their own forms, mechanics and languages. The meta-referential intention to transpose scientific research from written word to the playing field opens up a range of different challenges, such as:

    Is it always necessary to employ verbal languages to produce texts on games and their related practices and cultures? Or is it possible to create meta-pieces, “Games on Games,” reflecting on some aspects of play using ludic mechanics and conventions?

    What are the distinctive characteristics of Games on Games? What are their limits and their argumentative, rhetoric and persuasive potentialities? Are Games on Games able to highlight some elements of play practices more effectively than traditional texts? Can they make visible some characteristics of ludic practices that could otherwise remain undervalued or even invisible?

    tags: games project game_studies analysis

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Melancholy Anniversaries

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Two years ago this weekend my life, and that of my family, changed.

Two years ago this weekend, I got a call from my mom telling me my brother was dying. He was about to turn 56, and about to begin writing songs in earnest again, after a long career as a sound designer.

The next 2 months are hard to describe, so I’ll just say they were among the hardest of my life, not the least because my brother and his family didn’t really want anyone else around. (Trying to be diplomatic here…) Keeping everyone away made things harder for everyone, and I am still dealing with that part.

You see, my brother was a performer. I think he became a performer the first time he stepped on the stage when he was 12. He spent most of the rest of his life behind a facade – he was funny, talented, and bright, but he was also arrogant, quick to judge, and profoundly insecure.

He was friends with everyone but close to no-one. Not even, as it turns out, his own family.

Once he accepted the fact that he was dying, he set about planning his final performances. He planned his own “Wrap Party” – to be held a few weeks after he died. He was a performer to his very last day, and beyond.

So long as he was able to control the situation, he allowed a few people to visit him. My mom, who was dealing with cancer herself, got to see him more than most of us – she only lived a few blocks away. I saw him three times. I watched a performance of the last play he’d ever work on (they’re still using his music). It was totally surreal.

Our father was a performer too. He died on October 18 at the age of 48 by his own hand. I was 12, and my brother was 16. I adored my father, just as I adored my brother.

Although my brother harboured a deep and lasting resentment for all the things my father was and wasn’t, he surrounded himself with reminders of my father – he even wore the same cologne. It’s as though he needed to try and keep his father close, while publicly acting as though he didn’t. My brother’s family didn’t know how much of what my brother did and had was connected to my dad. I did.

There is a song I have associated with my dad ever since I first played it on our record player. I couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6. It is from the movie “The Five Pennies”:

It was my dad’s and my Special Song.

My dad had actually met some of these guys (the actors in the film) in Berlin. My dad was a well-known German actor and performer at the time.

It is also the song that my brother performed for his daughter at her wedding. He gave a lovely speech dedicating this song to her. I almost fell off my chair when I realized what song it was. It was all I could do to hold it together – and NO-ONE except my brother, my mom, and me knew how that song was connected to our family.

I never got the chance to ask my brother why he chose THAT particular song to sing to his daughter, but I can guess.

I still can’t listen to that song without crying, though now I cry for BOTH my dad, and my brother.

They were SO much alike. I suspect that on some level, they both knew it.

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University Calendar Important Dates – How to do it Right

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Why is it that the things that people tend to check more often than anything, including the list of important dates, are so devilishly hard to find on most university websites.


University Websites: Things On The Front Page vs. Things People (Actually) Look For, Andy Camper

 

I mean, REALLY. This is the modern world – how hard is it to add an obvious link somewhere?

I have lost track of how often I have gone to a university site trying to find the list of important dates and ended up spending 5-15 minutes just clicking around, getting more and more frustrated.

Next term, I will be associated with 4 (count ’em: FOUR) different universities spread over two provinces and two countries. I need to know when classes start and end, when the holidays, are, etc.

Only ONE ( MSU ) has an obvious link to this information on the front page: Academics->Academic Calendar

One (USask) also has a link from the main pages, but it’s called events: Activities-> Events Calendar

Neither the U of Calgary nor Mount Royal University make it easy, and even a search results in you having to try several pages before you are likely to stumble on the right one.

ONE (USask) actually gets it right. Not only do they give you an honest to god calendar that you can navigate, they ALSO offer you a downloadable iCal file that you can add to your OWN calendar.

Now, if only they would let me leave out the schools that don’t relate to me (like dentistry, medicine, vet med, …). Oh well, it’s still a great idea.

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Where I’ve Been (to Nov. 3 2012)

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  • WebQuest Design Patterns

    This is a list of patterns derived from existing WebQuests that are instructionally solid. To qualify as a design pattern, the lesson should be easily modified to cover different content while using the same basic structure. Each pattern is distinct from the others in terms of the kinds of content it can be used for, and the organization of the Introduction, Task, Process and Evaluation sections. With templates that are specific to each design pattern, it should be easier to hit the ground running when starting to create a new WebQuest.

    These design patterns can be organized in terms of the dominant thinking verb that underlies them. These five verbs: design, decide, create, analyze and predict, represent the highest levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Starting with those verbs guarantees that your WebQuest will be wrapped around a higher level thinking task.

    tags: webquest templates design education tools lessonplans

  • edX

    eLearning courses free

    tags: learning courses

  • Instructional Design Books Recommendations

    Instructional Design Books Recommendations

    An ongoing list.

    tags: instructional instructional design design books

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Best Donkey Kong Image ever!

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Posted with permission.
(c) L.J. Anderson

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Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (9: 3 Queries)

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These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University.

Each week, we are also required to post three questions for the rest of the class. These are mine.

Please note: these posts are not intended as any kind of commentary on or assessment of the course I’m taking, or its instructor, OR of Michigan State University or the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, or the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media. They are solely my thoughts and reactions that stem from the readings.

Feel free to comment, disagree, or what have you.

Week 9

These are the readings for the week (Topics: Topics: Evaluation plan (feasibility, acceptability, usability, effectiveness; IRB and logistics):

  • Pinelle, D., Wong, N., & Stach, T. (2008). Heuristic evaluation for games: Usability principle for video game design. Paper presented at the The 26th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’06).
  • Baranowski, T., Baranowski, J., Thompson, D. I., Buday, R., Jago, R., Griffith, M. J., et al. (2011). Video game play, child diet, and physical activity behavior change: A randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 40, 33-38.
  • Baranowski, T., Baranowski, J., Thompson, D. I., & Buday, R. (2011). Behavioral science in video games for children’s diet and physical activity change: Key research needs. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, 5, 229-233.
  • Isbister, K., Flanagan, M., & Hash, C. (2010). Designing games for learning: Insights from conversations with designers. Paper presented at the 28th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’10)

Question1: [Week 9 KB Q 1/3] How Important is First-Hand Experience?

You don’t have to be a hard-core gamer to be able to talk about games. BUT….

If you want to offer an opinion about digital games, you MUST play some. If you don’t play games you have no scholarly authority to talk about them.

Harlan Ellison made the point very well:

When I reviewed television, people said “If you hate television so much, how come you’ve got a television set in your house?”. Stephen King even said “You know, Harlan’s got a big TV.”. Yes, that’s right. I try to  be courant. I try to know what it is I’m talking about. I am not like many people who give you an opinion based on some sort of idiot hearsay or some kind of gut feeling you cannot validate. When I give an opinion, I do my best to make sure it is based on information.

I also think that if you have never designed a game, you are not the one to be telling people how to do it right.

Question2: [Week 9 KB Q 2/3] How Large Does the “Effect” have to be to make a game a viable solution?

I’m not actually expecting a sensible answer to this question, but I am hoping to generate some discussion – maybe even a list…

I personally think games could be important tools in the arsenal of tools to use when trying to change behavior, but I also don’t think they can solve any societal problems alone. So, supposing we have $100,000.00 to spend on some intervention. How do we justify spending that money on a game?

Question3: [Week 9 KB Q 3/3] How do we get academics and industry to connect?

This question is one that has come up a number of times at places like GDC. Things are better than they were a decade ago, but Game industry folks still have a tendency to dismiss academic research as not relevant, and for their part, academics also often ignore the wealth of knowledge that exists in the industry. The Pinelle paper was striking in its lack of industry connection, and I see the same kind of industry blindness in many educational studies. What are your ideas for how we might help bridge the gap between these two cultures?

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Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (9: Piling on: Comments on the Pinelle Paper, and Establishing Credibility)

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These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University.

Please note: these posts are not intended as any kind of commentary on or assessment of the course I’m taking, or its instructor, OR of Michigan State University or the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, or the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media. They are solely my thoughts and reactions that stem from the readings.

Feel free to comment, disagree, or what have you.

Week 9

These are the readings for the week (Topics: Topics: Evaluation plan (feasibility, acceptability, usability, effectiveness; IRB and logistics):

  • Pinelle, D., Wong, N., & Stach, T. (2008). Heuristic evaluation for games: Usability principle for video game design. Paper presented at the The 26th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’06).
  • Baranowski, T., Baranowski, J., Thompson, D. I., Buday, R., Jago, R., Griffith, M. J., et al. (2011). Video game play, child diet, and physical activity behavior change: A randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 40, 33-38.
  • Baranowski, T., Baranowski, J., Thompson, D. I., & Buday, R. (2011). Behavioral science in video games for children’s diet and physical activity change: Key research needs. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, 5, 229-233.
  • Isbister, K., Flanagan, M., & Hash, C. (2010). Designing games for learning: Insights from conversations with designers. Paper presented at the 28th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’10)

This week my comments are about the Pinelle paper. It seems that I am not the only one as a number of other classmates have also had some comments.

My perspective comes from that of a long time computer scientist – someone who watched the field of HCI (Human Computer Interfaces) from its very beginnings. This is where theories of usability came from. The idea of studying users to find out how to design better interfaces is a laudable one,  but in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I have not found the field to provide a great deal of insight.

On the one hand, the goals of the Pinelle’s study are really good: they want to look at usability in popular games in order to generate a set of heuristics others can use when they design their games. This is great idea. I also think they have a pretty good start, but that’s all they have – a start.

This study gathered data by analyzing game reviews. Other people in the class have already pointed out some of the shortcomings of that approach, not the least of which is that game reviewers do not look at games the same way players do. Player reviews would be better, but we are still talking about a self-selected group of people who care enough about games to voluntarily write their opinions and submit them.

For me, there are two things that really stand out as problems with this study:

  1. They did not do any actual use testing. In other words they did not watch people actually playing the games. I know that the developers do this themselves, but they rarely release any of their data, so it is inaccessible.
  2. It is not at all clear that any of the researchers actually understand games. I recognize a few names, both in the author list, and in the acknowledgements, and references. The names I recognize are academics who study HCI. To my knowledge, none of them have any game industry experience. Now, this is not necessarily a problem, but it does speak to credibility.

Ben Sawyer always asks his presenters to include a slide outlining what they are playing now in any talk they do for an organization with which he is involved. I think academics who write about what we should be doing to make batter games should similarly have to reveal their own game experience. Academic credentials aren’t enough.

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