I articulate and pose 7 ways of approaching video game design. Part of a proposal in the "Design for this Century" course at Parsons, the New School for Design for a design project.

1. this is Robert Yang's proposal for...
Wave(s) of
Mutilation:
A Playable Primer
to the Philosophy
of Game Design

2. VIDEO GAMES
+
DESIGN
+
PHILOSOPHY
=
THIS PROJECT.

3. Video games have changed...
… especially how we design them.

4. How do you talk
about video games?
MONOGRAPH?
YOUTUBE?
ESSAY?
BLOG?
… MAKE A GAME.

5. My primary audience:

6. My primary audience: … but also:

7. 7 WAY(VE)S
OF PRACTICING
VIDEO GAME DESIGN.

8. DESIGN GAMES as...
1) Sport
2) Education
3) Science
4) Politics
5) Art / Narrative
6) Satire
7) Rhetoric

9. GAMES as SPORT
excellence, eudaimonia,
skill mastery,“Greeks”
“Classical”, competition

10. DESIGN GAMES as...
1) Sport
2) Education
3) Science
4) Politics
5) Art / Narrative
6) Satire
7) Rhetoric

11. GAMES as EDUCATION
learning,“how”you play,
“Neoclassical,”skill-building,
don't stress out players!

12. DESIGN GAMES as...
1) Sport
2) Education
3) Science
4) Politics
5) Art / Narrative
6) Satire
7) Rhetoric

13. GAMES as SCIENCE
accessibility, player stats,
heat maps, quantified data,
“Enlightenment”, testing

14. DESIGN GAMES as...
1) Sport
2) Education
3) Science
4) Politics
5) Art / Narrative
6) Satire
7) Rhetoric

15. GAMES as POLITICS
player democracy, polls,
EVE Council, communities,
social,“Enlightenment”too

16. DESIGN GAMES as...
1) Sport
2) Education
3) Science
4) Politics
5) Art / Narrative
6) Satire
7) Rhetoric

17. GAMES as ART & STORY
aesthetics, beauty, Art!
“sublime”, fulfillment
“Enlightenment”as well

18. DESIGN GAMES as...
1) Sport
2) Education
3) Science
4) Politics
5) Art / Narrative
6) Satire
7) Rhetoric

19. GAMES as SATIRE
real-world problems, relevance,
social realism, critical activism,
“Marxist”critical theory,
Politicized video games

20. DESIGN GAMES as...
1) Sport
2) Education
3) Science
4) Politics
5) Art / Narrative
6) Satire
7) Rhetoric

21. GAMES as RHETORIC
“meta”, structures, arguments,
games about games (i.e. this),
deconstruct,“Postmodernism”

22. SO WHAT?
- Hyper-relevant to kids today.
- Game design needs a soul
to counter“evil”games.
- Hidden assumptions in
contemporary game design.

23. SO, THE ACTUAL GAME...
- First Person Shooter
- One (1) level that
“morphs”seven (7) ways.
- Free. December 2010.

24. FIN.