“The Role of Metaphors in Designing Games for Emotional Health”
This talk explains the role of metaphors for the design of emotional health games. Attendees will learn how to use metaphors to systematically model abstract, “inner processes”; how this facilitates the design of games for emotional health, and how such games can be used for education and mental health activism.
9. games...
• about something
• with a purpose beyond fun
• tackling tricky (abstract) concepts
• different approaches to achieve their goals
• message communicated through rules and
game mechanics
Monday, August 26, 2013
17. “Your sole responsibility is know what the game is about
and to ensure that the game teaches that thing.
That one thing, the theme, the core,
the heart of the game,
might require many systems or it might require few.
But no system should be in the game
that does not contribute towards that lesson.
It is the cynosure of all systems; it is the moral of the
story; its the point.” (Koster, 2005, p. 126)
Monday, August 26, 2013
18. student exercise: find the theme
• pick a (children’s) book, comic,
movie, artwork, or album that
moved you profoundly
• identify its theme & express it in one
word
• design a card game about that theme
that makes the theme tangible
through gameplay.
Monday, August 26, 2013
19. “this game is about...”
“this game deals with...”
“this game explores...”
“this game teaches...”
“this game simulates the experience of...”
(see also Brenda Brathwaite & Ian Schreiber’s book:
“challenges for game designers”
Monday, August 26, 2013
20. 2. question:
what is the purpose /
communicative goal of your game?
Monday, August 26, 2013
27. lots of different purposes; be clear about yours
before you settle on a design.
check your design constantly against its purpose.
Monday, August 26, 2013
28. purpose needs to be integrated into the rules and
gameplay
if players can ignore it, they probably will!
Monday, August 26, 2013
31. literal
• player-side: message is often clearer
• easier to relate to “real life”
• design-side:
• more accessible source system
• danger of getting stuck with the
obvious
• danger of confusing action with
experience
Monday, August 26, 2013
32. metaphorical
• player side:harder to
understand
• needs great interface
design / feedback
systems
• design-side: hard to
keep coherent
• inaccessible source
system
Monday, August 26, 2013
37. “zooming in”: an exemplary situation is used
to draw attention to an underlying issue.
“zooming out”: allows the player to explore
the complexities of the issue itself.
Monday, August 26, 2013
38. “zooming in” tends to focus on a subjective
experience of the modeled situation
(“what it feels like”)
“zooming out” tends to focus on understanding
the bigger picture (“how it works”)
Monday, August 26, 2013
39. 6. question:
from which PERSPECTIVE will the player
interact with the system?
Monday, August 26, 2013
41. Rod Humble’s “the marriage”
abstract concept:
perspective of “force of love”
“how it works”
Monday, August 26, 2013
42. procedural expression
• partners have different needs
• for the marriage to work, the needs of
both have to be satisfied
• the game is hard = marriage is hard
• equality of partners is crucial
• a bad marriage is not an option
Monday, August 26, 2013
44. design exercise:
shift perspectives
• challenge assumed “logical”
perspectives and explore non-obvious
choices
• what kinds of statements would it
allow you to make about the source
system?
• how would it change gameplay
experience?
Monday, August 26, 2013
47. the most important meta question:
is it working?
does the game achieve its goals?
testing, testing, testing
Monday, August 26, 2013
48. summary of questions
• what is the game
about? (core concept)
• what’s the game’s
purpose /
communicative goal?
• literal?
metaphorical?
• what it feels like?
how it works?
• perspective from
which player relates
to system?
• player-avatar
relationship
• test: does the game
achieve its goal? If
not, check if you
ended up modeling
what you actually
wanted to model.
Monday, August 26, 2013