SGA Webinar- Designing a Curriculum for Serious Games
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SGA Webinar- Designing a Curriculum for Serious Games
- 1. Webinar Series Join Us at Our Annual Conference July 22-24, 2014 University of Southern California www.SeriousPlayConference.com Webinar Series Join Us at Our Annual Conference July 22-24, 2014 University of Southern California www.SeriousPlayConference.com
- 2. Designing a CurriculumDesigning a Curriculum for Serious Gamesfor Serious Games The metaphysics of illusionThe metaphysics of illusion Stephen Schafer DigiPen Institute of Technology
- 3. DigiPen Undergraduate DegreesDigiPen Undergraduate Degrees Bachelor Degree in Computer Science in Real-Time Interactive Simulation – Extensive training in mathematics and physics as a foundation for the various topics presented in general computer science and computer graphics. Bachelor Degree in Computer Science and Game Design – Strong programming and mathematics skills, combined with training in game design Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Sound Design – Software engineering degree with an emphasis on its application in video game audio production. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Art and Animation – Prepare students for digital media jobs as production artists and animators. Bachelor of Arts in Game Design – Prepares students to become game designers, versed in game design theory, system design, level design, behavior design and play-testing Bachelor of Arts in Music and Sound Design – Combines coursework in music history, composition, theory, and performance – with practical training in studio recording techniques and sound design principles.
- 4. Preparing Students for the NewPreparing Students for the New Paradigm in Serious GamesParadigm in Serious Games • To empower students with competence in game dynamics, an array of technical courses — such as those in the core degree curriculums at DigiPen — is essential. • However, serious game research is an advanced entity where experts from various areas collaborate. The content and courses in this presentation bring in the humanities, a neglected area. • I plan to address the need for new thinking, and then outline suggestions for specific courses • These specialized courses could take the form of a minor. If expanded in scope, they could be the basis of an entire degree program including graduate degrees.
- 5. Human reality is a product of cognitive neurobiologyHuman reality is a product of cognitive neurobiology
- 6. Paradigm shiftParadigm shift into the reality of dreamsinto the reality of dreams • Hard science has informed us that reality is an illusion --more like a dream that has narrative metaphorical (linguistic) structure. • Serious Games research is just beginning to realize its potential to map the psychological dreamscape. • The physics, cybernetics, and psychology that inform the new reality might well be called the Psychecology.
- 7. Jungian dream structure, per Aristotle Dreams have a purpose and a dramatic action which can meaningfully be broken down into the elements of a Greek play. This rough pattern, on which most dreams are constructed, forms a suitable basis for interpretation.” (Jacoby 83) •Place, time, dramatis personae •Exposition or statement of the problem •Peripety: plot and action that moves toward a climax, transformation or catastrophe •Lysis, the solution of the problem; the meaningful outcome of the dream with its compensatory message.
- 8. The Cognitive Unconscious, per George Lakoff In the cognitive unconscious, “Simple narratives have the form of frame-based scenarios, but with extra structure. •There is a protagonist, the person whose point of view is being taken. •The events are good and bad things that happen. •And there are appropriate emotions that fit certain kinds of events in the scenarios. In a simple rags-to-riches scenario, for example, the initial state of the Protagonist is poverty; the appropriate emotion is sadness; then there are intermediate states of hard work with varying emotions of frustration and satisfaction; and finally a state of wealth, with the emotions of joy and pride.
- 9. TheThe PsychPsychecology has many dimensionsecology has many dimensions
- 10. Dreams Are “Real”Dreams Are “Real” Science has broken through the illusory mask of materialism to the fundamental dimension of psyche-physics where “reality” is energy and information, everything is nothing. Here, the whole exists within the part, mediation becomes metaphysics, coherent intentional thought is the quintessential creative dynamic and dreams are the projections of archetypes — the energy and information of physics.
- 11. TheThe PsychPsychecologyecology Collective humanity has crossed the initiatory threshold into the realm of the Ancient Mysteries— a dreamscape of mediated reality that, by its very nature, is transformative in the alchemical sense. Fourier Transforms, genetic manipulations of the seed we call DNA, transmutation of carbon into synthetic diamonds, remote control, etc.)
- 12. The Common DenominatorThe Common Denominator Correlations of structure (narrative metaphor) exist in the dimensions of: • Jungian dreams • Personal & collective unconscious • Waking consciousness • Drama-based video games • Digital media sphere • Psychecology
- 13. Neurobiological cognitive processes translateNeurobiological cognitive processes translate contents of the unconscious into projectionscontents of the unconscious into projections (images) -- the familiar forms of reality — that we(images) -- the familiar forms of reality — that we alter like a game monitor with our choices.alter like a game monitor with our choices.
- 14. Dynamics of the narrative-metaphorical commonDynamics of the narrative-metaphorical common denominator and mapping of psychic functionsdenominator and mapping of psychic functions
- 15. Hypothesis Holographic media sphere has the same dynamics as dreams. The dynamic of dreams is the same as the dynamic for so- called “material reality”, memory, fantasy, film, games and conscious/unconscious human cognition. As dream analogs, drama-based video games (DBG) can address research in all the dimensions of personal/collective cognitive function. DBGs can be used not only to analyze personal and collective psyche but to foster coherence in personal and cultural dimensions
- 16. ““The specific form in which energy isThe specific form in which energy is manifested in the psyche is themanifested in the psyche is the image”image” (Carl Jung)(Carl Jung) • Images in dreams • Images of drama as defined by Aristotle • Images and dynamics of myth according to Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell • Images and pixels on a game monitor
- 17. Images Are ImportantImages Are Important “Action follows thought.” In this age of communications, we employ an interactive image-based media language to project our thoughts and emotions. Our individual and collective thoughts and emotions are reflected back to us from a media-sphere that is much like a dream. However, we respond to this media dream as if it is “real,” rational and unchangeable. In fact, it is estimated that 98% of human function derives from non-rational dimensions of the unconscious.
- 18. The study of images as energy (physics) and informationThe study of images as energy (physics) and information (psychology) becomes the curriculum for serious game(psychology) becomes the curriculum for serious game research that prepares students to live and work within theresearch that prepares students to live and work within the dimensions of the dreamscape.dimensions of the dreamscape. Comprehensive technical training would include courses on •Psychology of Myth •Psychology of Interactive Drama •Interactive Storytelling •Psychology of Interactive Media •Reframing the Cognitive Infrastructure with DBG •Multitasking in the Multiverse •Research Instruments of Cognitive Psychology •Ethics in the Psychecology
- 19. Course: Psychology of MythCourse: Psychology of Myth Astrology is the universal language of mythology--Astrology is the universal language of mythology-- a comprehensive symbol of the collectivea comprehensive symbol of the collective unconscious and of Jung’s contextual Individuationunconscious and of Jung’s contextual Individuation
- 20. Course: Psychology of Interactive DramaCourse: Psychology of Interactive Drama This course explores the rhetorical patterns and psychological characteristics of dramatic architecture from the standpoint of symbolism, characterization, character premise, image projection, perception and personality development. Personality development is explored with an emphasis on Meyers-Briggs Functions, Big 5 profiling methodologies and the Hero's Journey as the archetype for interactive learning dynamics. Exercises are designed to help students understand the psychology of symbolism from the dimension of unconscious archetypes, premise and the psychological dynamics of human choice.
- 21. Course: Interactive StorytellingCourse: Interactive Storytelling A sequel to the Psychology of Interactive Drama, Interactive storytelling emphasizes the actual development of a story into a multi dimensional game. The characters that were designed are put to work making choices that lead to quandaries and a variety of plot segues that remain true to complex characterization. The physical interactivity offered by video games completes the analog between DBG and Jungian dreams because dreams are also interactive. This represents an important evolution in storytelling that is akin to drama and confirms the educational/healing potentials of DBG.
- 22. Course: Psychology of the Interactive MediaCourse: Psychology of the Interactive Media The most recent cognitive research demonstrates that not only does the energy of technology affect human biology, it has an effect on multiple dimensions of the unconscious psyche, the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the circulatory system. In order to achieve predictable and benign psychological objectives, these influences can be measured and correlated with the narrative architecture of choices made at unconscious levels. Because media influence can have powerful and predictable effects (such as advertising & propaganda), the parameters of psychological ethics will be carefully considered.
- 23. Course: Reframing the Cognitive Infrastructure with DBG All media changes us, but the technological media — especially advertising, television, film and the Internet — has initiated a paradigm shift in human values, choices and actions the ramifications of which are beyond imagination. This course explores the cognitive dynamics of change.
- 24. Course: Multitasking in the MultiverseCourse: Multitasking in the Multiverse Video games are demonstrably multidimensional. Players automatically function in different dimension — the dimensions of the story, of the rules of the game and of the dimensions of possibility where they can change the rules. This class will expose students to “reality” perspectives based on multi-dimensional interaction and meta-cognitive strategies within the framework of psychological, normative, process and substantive dimensions
- 25. Course: Research Instruments ofCourse: Research Instruments of Cognitive PsychologyCognitive Psychology To address this strange emergent context of reality, familiarity with existing technology of research such as EEG, MRI, fMRI and quantum computing must be hands- on in order to format experimental design with the Drama Based Game research instrument.
- 26. Course: Ethics in the Psychecology The emphasis here is on defining ethics for an emergent media age where computer models, simulations, and visualizations enable us to foresee things to come. Jung called such “foresight” in dreams “prospective.” Using prospective simulations could confront us with ethical and social dilemmas and suggest different ways of seeing that could alter our world views in more ethical and sustainable directions in the future
- 27. What are the potentials of seriousWhat are the potentials of serious game research?game research? • Games can go beyond training, educating and healing. • They can change our worldview, ontology, epistemology, values, choices, actions and ethics. • Games can address the planetary crisis in all its dimensions by associating game wins with coherent psychological states using the same dynamics but different motives than advertising.
- 28. In short, SG research must reframe itsIn short, SG research must reframe its parameters. Our hypothesis is:parameters. Our hypothesis is: • Media has the same dynamics as dreams. • The dynamic of dreams is the same as the dynamic for so called “real life,” memory, fantasy, film, games and every aspect of human cognition. • As dream analogs, serious game research can address all of the dimensions of personal and collective cognitive function. • Games can be used to analyze personal and collective psyche and to foster coherence in personal and cultural dimensions.
- 29. For additional help in creating a serious gamesFor additional help in creating a serious games program, check out the Serious Games Associationprogram, check out the Serious Games Association WIKI:WIKI: httphttp://wiki.seriousgamesassociation.org/://wiki.seriousgamesassociation.org/ Stephen Schafer Professor DigiPen Institute of Technology sschafer@digipen.edu
Editor's Notes
- It is a common observation that some kind of harmonization of the collective human psyche is the human mandate if the planet is to survive. Such harmonization could employ principles of astrology and holography to map the many dimensions of the Psychecology. Because drama-based games can simulate the structure of a universe of psyche-physics, DBG may be designed as research instruments to access the dynamics of this universe. Data gleaned from DBG research may provide a map for navigation during the paradigm shift into a media age. Viewing the digital images of the media age as dreams may provide answers to some of the many psychologically-based problems presently facing humanity and the planet—especially in areas of education reform and neutralization of the symptoms generated during the era of fear, competition, and political corruption. In order to heal individual and collective psychosis, DBG may employ Jungian principles in order to achieve individual and collective insight as to the meaning of media dreams. Such meaningful insight could lead to a spontaneous psychic harmonization or healing of human collectives: ethnic, racial, and national
- Human reality is based on neurobiological patterns that originate in the unconscious dimensions of physics where energy and information exist as spin types and electro magnetic fields. Consciousness can be understood as a projection of unconscious content, translated through contextual neurobiological patterns, and appearing as the illusion of reality.
- From time immemorial the axiom of myth, “As it is above, so it is below,” prevailed. Today the axiom is echoed in physics as the concept of fractals in chaos theory. Carl Jung was far ahead of modern times because he applied the mythic-scientific principle in his work. Jung understood that collectives have the same cognitive dynamics as individuals. (Jung, p. 202) It may be stipulated that human groups entertain contextual “personalities,” (ethnic, political, religious, corporate) and that these personae have “dreams” that take normative-conceptual forms such as mores, myth, literature, religion, and law. In our modern technological era, where unified field dynamics of energy and information prevail, atoms and molecules are constantly shared among systems. “In globally coherent systems such as human beings, there is an incredible amount of activity at every level of magnification or scale that spans more than two-thirds of the 73 known octaves of the electromagnetic spectrum.” (McCraty & Childre
- Lakoff cites Roger Shank and Robert Abelson in his paraphrase, “Complex narratives—the kinds we find in everyone’s life story, as well as in fairy tales, novels, and dramas—are made up of smaller narratives with very simple structures.” Lakoff says, “The neural circuitry needed to create frame structures is relatively simple [neural binding circuitry, neural signatures, event structures] and so frames tend to structure a huge amount of our thought. Sounding remarkably like Jung who observed that dreams have dramatic action that can meaningfully be broken down into the elements of a Greek play (Jacoby, p. 83), Lakoff explains that each frame has roles (like a cast of characters), relations between the roles, and scenarios carried out by those playing the roles.” (Lakoff, 2007, p. 22; Goffman) “There is a protagonist, the person whose point of view is being taken. The events are good and bad things that happen. And there are appropriate emotions that fit certain kinds of events in the scenarios.” (Lakoff, 2002, p. 23) Citing Goffman, Dr. Lakoff also observes that words are all defined relative to conceptual frames: “Groups of related words, called ‘semantic fields,’ are defined with respect to the same frame. Thus words like ‘cost,’ sell,’ ‘goods,’ price,’ buy,’ and so on are defined with respect to a single frame,” (Lakoff, 2007, p 22; Goffman) and the roles of Buyer, Seller, Goods, and Money, form a narrative field context for the frame.
- In Moral Politics, Lakoff explains in detail how “much of moral reasoning is metaphorical reasoning” An example of how narrative-metaphorical resonance can influence morality is discussed by Lakoff in terms of the core metaphor of moral accounting. According to this fundamental metaphor, a syllogism is established: well-being is good; well-being is moral; wealth contributes to well-being; to be wealthy is moral. According to this Moral Accounting metaphor, economic words like owe, debt, and pay are used in a moral context. (Lakoff, 2008, p. 63) The result is a logical framework in which the metaphorical resonance suggests that wealth is better than poverty (good), so being wealthy is moral (good). Lakoff explains: “A conceptual metaphor is a correspondence between concepts across conceptual domains, allowing forms of reasoning and words from one domain (in this case, the economic domain) to be used in the other (in this case, the moral domain)…Thousands of such metaphors contribute to our everyday modes of thought, (and) play an enormous role in characterizing our worldviews. (Lakoff, 2002, p. 63) Reminiscent of Jungian amplification, Lakoff describes radial conceptual categories as the most common form of metaphorical structure. “The radial categories show how the coherent ideologies in each category fit together and what the relationships among them are.” (Lakoff, 2002, p. 14) Radial categories are structured according to variations on a central model. As an example, he uses the category mother and explains that the term is characterized by four metaphorical sub-models: The birth model, the genetic model, the nurturance model, and the marriage model. (Lakoff, 2002, p. 8) All of the frames in the radial categories are couched in little metaphorical stories within stories. Presumably, if “mother” is the prototype and sub-model variants of the “mother metaphor” constitute radial categories or variations on the central model, discovering how the categories fit together and how they are related in a contextual field would result in discovery of meaning.
- Notable philosophers and scientists have been establishing the parallels between metaphysics and physics for at least half a century. The principles and dynamics of Jungian dream analysis have been verified by the most recent cognitive research. There is incipient agreement that the personal and collective unconscious—of which the reality is energy and information—has narrative-metaphorical structure that projects a dreamlike illusion into conscious dimensions. Coherent states of the unconscious can be measured with reference to heart rate variability
- IS the transmutation of base metals into gold possible? Is the idea one at which the learned of the modern world can afford to scoff? Alchemy was more than a speculative art: it was also an operative art. Since the time of the immortal Hermes, alchemists have asserted (and not without substantiating evidence) that they could manufacture gold from tin, silver, lead, and mercury. That the galaxy of brilliant philosophic and scientific minds who, over a period of two thousand years, affirmed the actuality of metallic transmutation and multiplication, could be completely sane and rational on all other problems of philosophy and science, yet hopelessly mistaken on this one point, is untenable. Nor is it reasonable that the hundreds declaring to have seen and performed transmutations of metals could all have been dupes, imbeciles, or liars. (The Secret Teachings of All Ages)
- Programming thought with language supposes that there is a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it. Generally, this epistemological approach has come to be known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. Different patterns of language yield different patterns of thought. This is an issue of ontological relativity because it acknowledges that the syntactic and figurative nature of any language affect its users. Therefore, the individual and collective perception of reality is limited relative to the structure of a given language. A culture’s myths are a fundamental way to program thought with symbols.“The patterns and logic of fairy tale and myth correspond to those of dream…According to this view it appears that through the wonder tales—which pretended to describe the lives of the legendary heroes, the powers of the divinities of nature, the spirits of the dead, and the totem ancestors of the group—symbolic expression is given to the unconscious desires, fears, and tension that underlie the conscious patterns of human behavior. Mythology, in other words, is psychology misread as biography; history, and cosmology. The modern psychologist can translate it back to its proper denotations and thus rescue for the contemporary world a rich and eloquent document of the profoundest depths of human character.” “Dream is the personalized myth, myth is the depersonalized dream; both myth and dream are symbolic in the same general way of the dynamics of the psyche. But in the dream the forms are quirked by the peculiar troubles of the dreamer, whereas in myth the problems and solutions shown are directly valid for all mankind.” (p 19) “Throughout the inhabited world, in all times and under every circumstance, the myths of man have flourished; and they have been the living inspiration …It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.” (p. 3) “The symbols of mythology are not manufactured; they cannot be ordered, invented, or permanently suppressed. They are spontaneous productions of the psyche, and each bears within it, undamaged, the germ power of the source…Why is mythology everywhere the same, beneath its varieties of costume? And what does it teach?” (p. 4) The above are a few preliminary thoughts from Joseph Campbell’s landmark work on mythology, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, in which he defined the Hero’s Journey and established the principle of symbolic parallels in myth. Joseph Campbell is recognized as the preeminent figure in the modern study of mythology, and he was heavily influenced by the thinking of Carl Jung. Campbell affirms that “Mythology is psychology.” Psychology is the science of psyche—relative intangibles such as thought, mind, mental processes, feelings, and desires.” According to Campbell, “The patterns and logic of fairy tale and myth correspond to those of dream.” Campbell derived this idea from Dr. Carl G. Jung, the father of psychiatry, who said dream
- Illusions of consciousness are contextual and take the form of narrative-metaphorical symbols.
- Lakoff observes that 98% of human function is based in dimensions of the cognitive unconscious. Jung says, “Nothing influences our conduct less than do intellectual ideas…for such ideas represent forces that are beyond logical justification and moral sanction.” (2007, p. 9)
- Archetypes of unconscious psyche have a structure based on narrative-metaphorical symbols. Carl Jung’s empirical process for analyzing dreams with metaphorical extensions full of mythic-alchemical symbolism comports with the findings of modern cognitive psychology that employs sophisticated technology to track neurobiological process in order to map the cognitive unconscious.. THE MATHEMATICS OF ASTROLOGY. Kevin Heng Ser Guan: Department of Physics, National University of Singapore. http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/projects/kh-urops.pdf “Astrology deals with projective geometry, meaning distances to celestial bodies are inconsequential. Only their relative positions on the celestial sphere are important. There are many misconceptions about Astrology, but for millennia, it has been the universal “high science” based on mathematics and the assumption that a relationship exists between celestial bodies and human beings. However, the nature of the relationship has many interpretations. I think of Astrology as a holographic map of psyche—both conscious and unconscious. In the same sense that modern physics has become metaphysical and increasingly holographic—substance does not exist and the whole exists within the part—astrology can be considered a map of sentience. “Like the planets, the characteristics of the signs are based on analogy.” In point of fact, the entire Astrological system is based on symbolic, metaphorical correlations that appear to confirm the reality of energy frequency and informational patterns as understood by Carl Jung and modern cognitive scientists like George Lakoff. Understood in this way, serious Astrology could become a significant factor in serious game research, the quantification of “sentience”, and the entire human understanding of the paradigm shift into a mediated reality. The findings of serious game research based an open-minded use of astrological principles could change the entire way humans perceive reality, and they would impact virtually every domain in the human condition by restoring mythology and science—string theory, holography, cognitive psychology, perception, trigonometric dimensionality—to human calculations: education, health care, government, economics, values, choices, and behaviors.
- Most branches of psychology accept the validity of psychiatric and neurolinguistic research confirming the narrative-metaphorical structure of the unconscious. The language used in the interface between conscious and unconscious dimensions is the image. Images on a computer or TV monitor provide an accurate metaphor of this psychological function; ie computer software generates and manipulates pixel patterns that are perceived as meaningful images. Such image patterns can be designed to evoke interactive choices that result in learning. In the same way, the cognitive unconscious projects archetypal energy patterns that are perceived as meaningful images and can lead to such learning as that learned in order to win a video game. A variety of psychological models, such as Carl Jung’s dream analysis, personality profiling per Myers-Briggs, Gestalt psychology, Global Workspace Theory, and memory metaphors will be employed.
- Advertising is an excellent illustration of how this process of cognitive mediation works to change human values, choices, and actions. “Action follows thought,” and in this age of communications, we employ an interactive image-based media language to project our thoughts and emotions. Our individual and collective thoughts and emotions are reflected back to us from a media-sphere that is much like a dream, and we respond to this media dream as if it is “real” and unchangeable. Advertising is an excellent illustration of how this process of cognitive mediation works to change human values, choices, and actions. The interactive media reality will explore the psychology of advertising from its emergence, its relationship to the psychology of propaganda, its influence on political thought during the latter half of the 20th century, and its influence on contextual value formations and cultural reality. The interactive media reality will explore the psychology of advertising from its emergence, its relationship to the psychology of propaganda, its influence on political thought during the latter half of the 20th century, and its influence on contextual value formations and cultural reality.
- The BBC productions of Adam Curtis document this process. (see Happiness Machines, The Power of Nightmares, The Trap) Such documentaries as The Persuaders, and Bill Moyers’ The Secret Government—Constitution in Crisis, are also instructive.
- Our hypothesis is that collective personae have functional correlates to the human nervous system. Moreover, these personae have dreams that emerge from the cognitive unconscious as images in the Media Dream. The media dream is like a holographic dreamscape that exists as a field of information and energy and takes perceptible form according to the limits; i.e. bandwidth, television, or film, of the mediation systems that are used to capture its energy frequencies and information patterns. The prediction is that very soon symbolic languages (especially images) in the form of 2D and 3D online worlds will become as visually and data rich as the “real” physical world. (Metaverse Roadmap
- Discussions around the following questions. How could different intelligences, learning styles, spatial and time scales, levels, etc. be applied in games in ways that foster logical, critical, and creative thinking across personality types, subject areas, and problem spaces? What are the philosophical origins and current uses (and misuses) of formal and inferential logic (Kahane)? Different patterns of language yield different patterns of thought. There is a systematic and interactive relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person thinks, understands, and behaves in the world. Though the cognitive influence of language has been contemplated for centuries, this epistemological approach to linguistics is represented in the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis where the individual and collective perception of reality is limited relative to the structure of a given language. A parallel exists between the relatively predictable consequences of computational programming languages and less predictable figurative languages. These parallels will be analyzed and methodologies for improving the predictive potential of symbolic language will be explored