Game Design for Social Networks
Aki Järvinen
Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Game Design
aki.jarvinen@itu.dk
www.itu.dk

BACKGROUND
Aki has a ten‐year experience from both
academic game studies + both
experimental & commercial game design
across various media
Ph.D. from 2008 on game studies, psychology,
and design methods
Teaching game design classes at the IT
University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and
operaOng a game design consultancy
Lately focusing on social games

DESIGN RESEARCH INTO ‘SOCIAL GAMES’
Game applicaOons played in Facebook,
Myspace, Hi5, Bebo, etc.
How do these games fit into the ‘ecosystem’ of
game design?
Do the virtues of game design as we know it
sOll hold?
What kind of design pracOce is this?
Game design < InteracOon design < Service
design

STUDYING PLAYFUL ONLINE INTERACTIONS
Method: Reviewing findings about
general user mo,va,ons regarding online
social networks
and
forms of play in Facebook
...and translaOng them into design drivers for
social games

CASE STUDIES FOR DESIGN
In addiOon, conducOng ‘research into designs’
= an analyOcal, systemaOc look into a sample
of games as design objects that consist of
parOcular design choices
A mix of the most popular games (Mafia Wars)
and ones with the most interesOng design
soluOons (Parking Wars)

RESULTS: DESIGN DRIVERS
Spontaneity
Symbolic Physicality
Inherent Sociability
Narra,vity
Asynchronicity
TranslaOng the idenOfied qualiOes of playful
interacOon into a model that can be used
for game design purposes that look beyond
game design, and to the interacOon &
service design aspects of the game
applicaOon

RESULTS: DESIGN METHODS & MODELS
SOll, there needs to be a core gameplay
mechanic embedded into the network
Another model to facilitate designing and
specifying game mechanics for social play
Mechanics/network‐driven approach vs.
theme‐driven approach

DESIGN FRAMEWORK: TOWARDS PATTERNS
ParOcular, idenOfied design soluOons from
exisOng games that can help in invenOng
new features or solving design problems =

WORK IN PROGRESS
Taking the design models into pracOce through
prototypes
EvaluaOng and validaOng
Expanding the design research into other social
networks, such as Twiher: ‘Twiher Game
Design’ blog arOcle
Book project

WORKSHOP & TEACHING
‘Game Design for Social Networks’ – 1 or 2 day
workshop with design exercises, debuOng
at the MindTrek conference, Finland
‘Games and Social Media’ – class at ITU,
starOng spring 2010

CONTACT
Academic:
aki.jarvinen@itu.dk
Commercial:
aki@mygamestudies.com
Website:
hhp://www.mygamestudies.com
Twiher:
@aquito