Games teach systems

Seminar on using games for teaching systemic design approaches, detailing the formal-dramatic-spatial framework of analysis

Transcript

1. games Teach systems andreas resmini a playful approach to complexity
2. is this about gamification? (a necessary premise)
3. why this interest in games (and in what kind of games)
4. a major cultural influence
6. games have been around forever
7. a framework for experiences
8. (A modern version of Senet, the game of passing, dating to 3100 BC Egypt)
9. (The Royal Game of Ur, dating to 3000 - 2500 BC Mesopotamia)
13. a learning tool for systems
17. (monolith, Middle-earth: Shadow of mordor. From resmini, a. (forthcoming 2021) the organization and exploration of space as narrative)
18. (space/narrative information architecture in middle-earth: shadow of mordor - resmini, a. (forthcoming 2021) the organization and exploration of space as narrative)
19. controllable, observable playgrounds
21. to play means to directly experience the interplay of information flows, human agency and desires, and environmental constraints
22. what is a game then
23. A game is a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’ (huizinga, J. (1949) homo ludens. routledge)
24. no profit can be gained by it and it possesses its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules (huizinga, J. (1949) homo ludens. routledge)
25. a game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context (abt, c. c. (1987) serious games. University press of america. p. 6)
26. games are free, make believe activities, governed by rules, circumscribed in space and time, whose course is uncertain and unproductive (caillois, R. (1958) Les jeux et les homines. gallimard)
27. (Fullerton, T. (2008) Game Design Workshop. Morgan Kaufmann) PUZZLE STORY TOY GAME agency formality
28. agency, conflict, win or lose situations (Adapted from Fullerton, T. (2008) Game Design Workshop. Morgan Kaufmann)
29. “a game is a closed formal system that engages players in structured conflict and resolves its uncertainties in unequal outcomes” (Adapted from Fullerton, T. (2008) Game Design Workshop. Morgan Kaufmann)
30. formal elements dramatic elements (Fullerton, T. (2008) Game Design Workshop. Morgan Kaufmann)
31. games are defined by four main characteristics representation, interaction, conflict, and safety (Crawford, C. (1984) The Art of Computer Game Design. McGraw Hill)
32. a game is a closed formal system subjectively representing a subset of reality (Crawford, C. (1984) The Art of Computer Game Design. McGraw Hill) representation
33. a game allows players to explore in full the webwork of causes and effects of the parts of reality it represents and embodies (Crawford, C. (1984) The Art of Computer Game Design. McGraw Hill) interaction
34. is intrinsic to any game and is the product of players interacting in the pursuit of a goal (Crawford, C. (1984) The Art of Computer Game Design. McGraw Hill) conflict
35. a game is an artifice to experience conflict and danger while excluding their physical realizations (Crawford, C. (1984) The Art of Computer Game Design. McGraw Hill) safety
36. an example using werewolf (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game))
37. an example using werewolf (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game))
38. games are voluntary
40. games are safe
42. games are also inefficient
44. representation interaction conflict safety dramatic elements formal elements (The original relational model connecting fullerton’s and crawford’s model in a system)
45. “every election is a game” (Abt, C. C. (1987) Serious Games. University of America Press)
46. (Secret Hitler)
47. (Import/Export)
48. (Amnesty The Game)
50. structured conflict implies both the existence of rules (structures for interactions) and of a narrative (representation and who did what)
51. ludology narratology
52. FORMAL ELEMENTS DRAMATIC ELEMENTS
53. what is missing is the implicit emplacement of any human activity
54. not playing playing
55. no game without game space (so i extended fullerton’s model to consider embodiment)
56. formal elements dramatic elements spatial elements
57. (let’s take a look at tic-tac-toe)
58. spatial “rules” are in place
59. GAME SPACE IS BOUNDED (schell, J. (2008) the art of game design. crc press)
61. (Nandadevieast, http://www.flickr.com/photos/agnihot/4937763060/)
62. GAME SPACE IS DISCRETE
65. GAME SPACE IS CONNECTED
67. Last Night on Earth
68. GAME SPACE IS BIDIMENSIONAL
69. y-axis x-axis
70. no game without game space
71. (Ron Gilbert, Maniac Mansion. Screenshot: http://www.classicgaming.cc/pc/maniac-mansion/development)
72. (even when it’s an) impossible fictional topology
74. (F. Ueda, The Last Guardian)
75. (or when we have) no actual proper game props
76. (A GAME OF CHARADES, NEALE ADAMS, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nealea/2390286467/in/photostream/, CC BY SA 2.0)
77. players, rules, procedures, mechanics, resources, challenges, objectives, outcomes formal elements
80. premise, story, characters, settings dramatic elements
81. (Telltale Games - The Walking Dead)
83. spatial elements proximity, separation, continuity, enclosure, sequence, nesting, dimensionality
84. (KARUBA) proximity
85. SEPARATION
86. sequence
87. (Playing charades, Travismcclain.blogspot.com) continuity
88. enclosure
89. spatial elements serve the game
90. (J. Thomas, Shalebridge, the Inner Cradle, in Thief: Deadly Shadows - Adapted from K. Gillen, Journey Into the Cradle, PCGamer March 2005)
91. (nothing new, right?)
92. (Ang Lee, Life of Pi, 2013)
93. (Ang Lee, Life of Pi, 2013. Source: All Hollywood FX Removed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rk0279i7vM)
94. how was all this used (and for what goals)
95. workshops game nights play explain lectures change MAKE explore (teaching process)
108. that’s all folks (any questions?)
110. the gallery of slides (which didn’t make it)
112. proximity
113. (Thief)
114. (Thomas & Smith, Shalebridge Cradle. Ion Storm, Thief: Deadly Shadows)
115. (The Royal Game of Ur, rules tablet dated 177 BC. British Museum, Wikipedia)
117. games are “systems in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome” (salen, k.and zimmerman, e. (2003) rules of play. the mit press)