In this dissertation, I explore the idea of designing "flexible game systems". A flexible game system allows players (not software designers) to decide on what rules to enforce, who enforces them, and when. I explore this in the context of digital card games and introduce two design strategies for promoting flexibility. The first strategy is "robustness". When players want to change the rules of a game, a robust system is able to resist extreme breakdowns that the new rule would provoke. The second is "versatility". A versatile system can accommodate multiple use-scenarios and can support them very well. To investigate these concepts, first, I engage in reflective design inquiry through the design and implementation of Card Board, a highly flexible digital card game system. Second, via a user study of Card Board, I analyze how players negotiate the rules of play, take ownership of the game experience, and communicate in the course of play. Through a thematic and grounded qualitative analysis, I derive rich descriptions of negotiation, play, and communication. I offer contributions that include criteria for flexibility with sub-principles of robustness and versatility, design recommendations for flexible systems, novel dimensions of design for gameplay and communications, and rich description of game play and rule-negotiation over flexible systems. A model of rule-negotiation is introduced as well as advancements in theory regarding unexpected use of software and socially-negotiated play.
This document summarizes a research paper about how video games can teach essential life skills. It discusses how video games may enhance critical thinking, complex problem solving, empathy and sympathy, and visual spatial processing. It provides examples of how games like Uncharted 4, Metal Gear Solid V, and Portal teach these skills. The document concludes that while more research is still needed, many studies have shown video games' potential to impart important skills beyond just entertainment.
"Everything I need to know I learnt from World of Warcraft": why we might nee...Martin Oliver
Ascilite 2010 keynote
"Everything I need to know I learnt from World of Warcraft": why we might need to start asking better questions about games, simulations and virtual worlds
Like many areas of educational technology research, a lot of the work that focuses on games, simulations and virtual worlds consists of case studies that demonstrate proof of concept, enthusiastic position pieces or success stories. All of this is important: we need to know what sort of things we can use these technologies to do, so as to build a broader repertoire of teaching practices. However, this kind of focus neglects a range of other questions and issues that may prove more important in the longer term.
For example, educational research about games typically emphasises the way that playing motivates players; it ignores how successful games (such as massively multiplayer online games) often feel like work, and it also glosses over the way that bringing a game inside the curriculum changes the way that 'players' relate to it. There are also inconsistencies in the way games are thought about: the idea that they cause violence is often criticised as over-simplistic, yet the idea that they cause learning isn't. In virtual worlds, opportunities to create new identities is widespread, but questions about how this relates to our embodied relationships are rarely asked. In simulations, 'realism' is celebrated - but this means that simulations will always be second best to actual experiences, and it ignores how groups can disagree about whether something is realistic or not. Across this work, the complexity of learning and teaching seems hidden by the desire to promote the value of these technologies.
This talk will offer some examples of work that, in small ways, try to engage with these kinds of issue. Different priorities will be suggested, which invite a new kind of engagement with research and practice in this area.
Game Studies Download 2009 - Top 10 Research FindingsJane McGonigal
Ian Bogost, Mia Consalvo, and Jane McGonigal present a curated list of the top 10 most interesting, surprising, and useful findings from game studies research over the past year. Presented at the 2009 Game Developers Conference
The usability test plan summarizes testing done on the game Once Legendary. Testing found issues with controls not matching the menu, enemies doing little damage, character falling through platforms, and awkward sword controls. A questionnaire was used to identify casual versus hardcore gamers. Testing involved thinking aloud and answering post-level questions. Initial feedback identified issues like a lack of checkpoint indicators and enemies being ignorable. Data collected included times, deaths and errors encountered. The plan aims to help the developers improve the game based on a casual player perspective.
"Epistemic Game Design for Collaborative Inquiry and Civic Engagement" by She...Sherry Jones
Aug. 5, 2015 - This is my presentation on epistemic game design for the 2015 Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference (COLTT).
Through this slideshow, we introduce the epistemic game, "The Perspective Game" by GetTheIssues(GTI) to educators and administrators of higher education.
First Seminar about game design and game development: introduction to formal elements of the games, different game genres based on their mechanics and some concepts about gamification
Bradford games and collective action 9 28-14John Bradford
This document provides an overview of concepts related to cooperation and collective action, including social dilemmas. It defines key terms like social dilemma, prisoners' dilemma, public goods dilemma, and tragedy of the commons. It also explains different types of social dilemmas including two-person games like the prisoners' dilemma and multi-person dilemmas like the public goods and commons dilemmas. Game theory concepts like dominant strategies and Nash equilibrium are introduced. Various examples are provided to illustrate different types of games and dilemmas.
"The Perspective Game: An Epistemic Game for Civic Engagement" by Sherry Jone...Sherry Jones
Oct. 23, 2015 - This presentation features The Perspective Game, a massively multiplayer online role playing card game (MMORPCG) that aims to provide players a fun, challenging, and immersive experience of critically examining current and emerging issues mentioned in national and international discourse. The game is created by the GetTheIssues Team, and advances the game-based learning method for adult learners/players. This presentation is for the 2015 Metro State University of Colorado Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference.
Sherry Jones is the game architecture designer of The Perspective Game. In this presentation, she defines what an epistemic game is, and illustrates how The Perspective Game is an epistemic game of which its design is driven by advanced academic theory and game design principles.
This document summarizes a research paper about how video games can teach essential life skills. It discusses how video games may enhance critical thinking, complex problem solving, empathy and sympathy, and visual spatial processing. It provides examples of how games like Uncharted 4, Metal Gear Solid V, and Portal teach these skills. The document concludes that while more research is still needed, many studies have shown video games' potential to impart important skills beyond just entertainment.
"Everything I need to know I learnt from World of Warcraft": why we might nee...Martin Oliver
Ascilite 2010 keynote
"Everything I need to know I learnt from World of Warcraft": why we might need to start asking better questions about games, simulations and virtual worlds
Like many areas of educational technology research, a lot of the work that focuses on games, simulations and virtual worlds consists of case studies that demonstrate proof of concept, enthusiastic position pieces or success stories. All of this is important: we need to know what sort of things we can use these technologies to do, so as to build a broader repertoire of teaching practices. However, this kind of focus neglects a range of other questions and issues that may prove more important in the longer term.
For example, educational research about games typically emphasises the way that playing motivates players; it ignores how successful games (such as massively multiplayer online games) often feel like work, and it also glosses over the way that bringing a game inside the curriculum changes the way that 'players' relate to it. There are also inconsistencies in the way games are thought about: the idea that they cause violence is often criticised as over-simplistic, yet the idea that they cause learning isn't. In virtual worlds, opportunities to create new identities is widespread, but questions about how this relates to our embodied relationships are rarely asked. In simulations, 'realism' is celebrated - but this means that simulations will always be second best to actual experiences, and it ignores how groups can disagree about whether something is realistic or not. Across this work, the complexity of learning and teaching seems hidden by the desire to promote the value of these technologies.
This talk will offer some examples of work that, in small ways, try to engage with these kinds of issue. Different priorities will be suggested, which invite a new kind of engagement with research and practice in this area.
Game Studies Download 2009 - Top 10 Research FindingsJane McGonigal
Ian Bogost, Mia Consalvo, and Jane McGonigal present a curated list of the top 10 most interesting, surprising, and useful findings from game studies research over the past year. Presented at the 2009 Game Developers Conference
The usability test plan summarizes testing done on the game Once Legendary. Testing found issues with controls not matching the menu, enemies doing little damage, character falling through platforms, and awkward sword controls. A questionnaire was used to identify casual versus hardcore gamers. Testing involved thinking aloud and answering post-level questions. Initial feedback identified issues like a lack of checkpoint indicators and enemies being ignorable. Data collected included times, deaths and errors encountered. The plan aims to help the developers improve the game based on a casual player perspective.
"Epistemic Game Design for Collaborative Inquiry and Civic Engagement" by She...Sherry Jones
Aug. 5, 2015 - This is my presentation on epistemic game design for the 2015 Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference (COLTT).
Through this slideshow, we introduce the epistemic game, "The Perspective Game" by GetTheIssues(GTI) to educators and administrators of higher education.
First Seminar about game design and game development: introduction to formal elements of the games, different game genres based on their mechanics and some concepts about gamification
Bradford games and collective action 9 28-14John Bradford
This document provides an overview of concepts related to cooperation and collective action, including social dilemmas. It defines key terms like social dilemma, prisoners' dilemma, public goods dilemma, and tragedy of the commons. It also explains different types of social dilemmas including two-person games like the prisoners' dilemma and multi-person dilemmas like the public goods and commons dilemmas. Game theory concepts like dominant strategies and Nash equilibrium are introduced. Various examples are provided to illustrate different types of games and dilemmas.
"The Perspective Game: An Epistemic Game for Civic Engagement" by Sherry Jone...Sherry Jones
Oct. 23, 2015 - This presentation features The Perspective Game, a massively multiplayer online role playing card game (MMORPCG) that aims to provide players a fun, challenging, and immersive experience of critically examining current and emerging issues mentioned in national and international discourse. The game is created by the GetTheIssues Team, and advances the game-based learning method for adult learners/players. This presentation is for the 2015 Metro State University of Colorado Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference.
Sherry Jones is the game architecture designer of The Perspective Game. In this presentation, she defines what an epistemic game is, and illustrates how The Perspective Game is an epistemic game of which its design is driven by advanced academic theory and game design principles.
This document is an introduction to an anthology of essays on rebooting American democracy for the Internet age. It provides context for the project, which aims to spark conversations about how new technologies can increase citizen participation in governance. A variety of thinkers were invited to contribute short pieces with their visions for redesigning democracy. The introduction discusses the gap between citizens' passion for a just society and the realities of the current political system. It hopes the essays will help jumpstart discussions on opening up government and unleashing creativity to solve problems and overcome entrenchments. The future does not need to be a continuation of the past.
The document discusses using game theory to analyze video games. It provides background on game theory, explaining that it is the formal study of decision-making where players' choices affect each other. It outlines some key game theory concepts like the prisoner's dilemma, chicken game, and Nash equilibrium. It then discusses how different types of video games like cooperative, semi-cooperative, and competitive games can be modeled using concepts from game theory.
Topic 3- Cooperation and Collective ActionJohn Bradford
This document provides an overview of concepts related to cooperation and collective action, including prisoners' dilemmas, social dilemmas, and game theory. It describes several classic games involving strategic decision making, such as the prisoners' dilemma, tragedy of the commons, coordination games, and chicken. Key concepts are defined, like dominant strategies and Nash equilibrium. Examples are given of how these concepts apply to real-world situations involving competition and cooperation between individuals and groups.
1) The document introduces game theory and describes the key components of games, including players, options/moves, outcomes, and payoffs.
2) Games can be described verbally, through a matrix (table), or a decision tree diagram. Matrices are best for simultaneous games while trees are used for sequential games.
3) A dominant strategy is one that always leads to the highest payoff regardless of the opponent's choice. The Prisoner's Dilemma game is discussed as an example where both players have a dominant strategy.
This document provides an introduction to game theory and how to describe games using matrices and tree diagrams. It defines what constitutes a game, including the key elements of players, their options/moves, possible outcomes, and payoffs. Games can be zero-sum, constant-sum, or variable-sum depending on whether the total payoffs equal zero, remain constant, or vary. Matrix tables are used to describe games like Rock-Paper-Scissors and Matching Pennies by listing the options for each player and their payoffs. Tree diagrams depict games involving sequential moves rather than simultaneous choices. The concept of a dominant strategy is also introduced.
This document provides an overview of gaming culture and examines gamers' impact on society. It begins with definitions of common game types like first-person shooters, real-time strategy, role-playing games, and simulations. It then discusses Local Area Network (LAN) versus Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games. The document outlines various social gaming events and conventions. It considers arguments around whether gaming promotes violence but also discusses gaming's influence on art, education, and socialization. The conclusion is that gaming offers strategic and technical skills while inspiring creativity and new ways of learning.
"Narrative Design and the Psychology of Emotions and Immersion in Games" by S...Sherry Jones
Nov. 23, 2015 - This presentation discusses various psychological theories employed in game design to induce player emotions and sense of immersion.
The Metagame Book Club is a K-12 and College professional development institution that offers free webinars, discussions, live chats, and other interactive activities on the topics of game-based learning, game studies, gamification, and games in general.
Interested in joining us? Visit our website here:
The Metagame Book Club
http://bit.ly/metagamebookclub
The document profiles video gamers based on a survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of Tribal Fusion. It finds that the average male gamer is 26 years old, prefers action/adventure and first person shooter games, and most commonly owns an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or PC. The average female gamer is 25 years old, prefers puzzle and action/adventure games, and most commonly owns a Nintendo Wii, PC or Nintendo DS. The document also provides profiles of typical Xbox and PlayStation gamers.
The document provides an overview of game theory, including definitions of key concepts. It discusses:
1) Game theory as the mathematical analysis of conflict situations where players make rational decisions. It aims to find optimal strategies.
2) Key concepts in game theory including games, moves, strategies, information, payoffs, extensive and normal forms, and equilibria such as Nash equilibrium.
3) Examples of games and equilibrium concepts including prisoners' dilemma, mixed strategies, and maximin strategies. Game theory has applications in economics, politics, and military strategy.
This document provides an overview of game theory, including its history, basic concepts, types of strategies and equilibria, different types of games, and applications. It defines game theory as the mathematical analysis of conflict situations to determine optimal strategies. Key concepts explained include Nash equilibrium, mixed strategies, zero-sum games, repeated games, and sequential vs. simultaneous games. Applications of game theory discussed include economics, politics, biology, and artificial intelligence.
This document provides an overview of game theory, including:
- Defining game theory as a way to study strategic decision-making involving multiple participants with conflicting goals.
- The major assumptions of game theory include players having different objectives, making decisions simultaneously, and knowing potential payoffs.
- Common types of games are cooperative/non-cooperative, zero-sum/non-zero-sum, and simultaneous/sequential games.
- Popular examples used in game theory include the Prisoner's Dilemma and Chicken games, which demonstrate outcomes like Nash equilibrium.
- Game theory has applications in economics, politics, biology, and other fields for modeling interactions and predicting outcomes.
Bleed in, Bleed Out – A Design Case in Board Game TherapyMirjam Eladhari
Presentation of a paper at Digra 2018 Conference, Turin, Italy, July 2018.
Abstract: The table-top play situation offers unique opportunities for approaching real-world personal problems in ways where the structures inherent in the problems can be deconstructed, ex- amined, and understood. This paper presents design considerations from the ongoing devel- opment of a therapy board-game; how every-day issues can bleed in and out from framed play sessions, and how game rules in this context can benefit from being malleable. The paper also offers a tentative avenue towards how play sessions, in a combination of stances for the design of game mechanics with approaches to game mastering, can be constructed as safe-spaces, affording players to draw near deeply personal issues and find ways to support each other.
This document discusses how to conduct gaming ethnography to understand player experience. It defines ethnography as the scientific study of customs and cultures through various levels of interaction or observation. For gaming, ethnography frequently analyzes player communities in virtual worlds and MMOs to understand how players interact. The document outlines grounded theory, which builds theory through data gathering without prior assumptions. It explains how to develop codes, categories, and theory from observed data through multiple attempts at ethnography. The conclusion states that ethnography and grounded theory are useful tools for games to help designers develop based on player actions and reactions.
The document discusses various aspects of game jams and game development. In 3 sentences:
Game jams bring together educators, students, and industry professionals to rapidly prototype games under tight constraints like short time limits. This iterative process simulates real-world game development and teaches important lessons about teamwork, communication, scoping projects, and embracing failures. Several games from past jams have been successful and signed publishing deals, demonstrating how jams can be an educational activity and potential pathway to the game industry for participants.
What does a game designer really do. And, more importantly, how do they make the products better. How does a designer contribute and what how do you work with them to solve your problem.
What is a Game Designer (And Why Do You Need One)? - Douglas WhatleySeriousGamesAssoc
What does a game designer really do. And, more importantly, how do they make the products better. How does a designer contribute and what how do you work with them to solve your problem.
Presented in Gamers in Society seminar in Tampere, Finland (spring 2007). Mainly about introducing phenomenon of casual games and terminology for studying the casual IN games phenomenon.
The Golden Gamers: A 65+ Library Gaming GroupJohn Pappas
"The Golden Gamers" Equitable and Inclusive Gaming Events for the Elderly presented by John Pappas
Tabletop board gaming is a creative, multi-generational, social and fun activity. While there is a broad swatch of recreational activities for the 65+ crowd, generally gaming is left out. Conversations with the Senior Activities Board of the Upper Darby Libraries confirmed this with traditional video games providing an engaging experience but accessibility tends to be a challenge due to physical determinants (carpal tunnel, poor eyesight, arthritis) and experiential (with a large learning curve required for many video games). Tabletop board games provide an experience that is interactive, social, cognitive and engaging. With concerns over Alzheimer's and social isolation, this is an important subject for many seniors. The Primos Library instituted a series of programs "Tabletop Gaming at the Library" (intergenerational, weekly), The Game Designer's Guild (monthly, intergenerational) and the "Golden Gamers" (65+, Monthly-Weekly dependant upon interest) each providing a gaming experience for burgeoning and experienced gamers of any age.
In this talk, Pappas will discuss the initial planning, marketing, collection development and community engagement elements of the series as well as successes and challenges. A large portion of the talk will be on game selection for this age group including issues such as the level of social interaction inherent in the game, types of games, levels of complexity and iconography.
The document describes a class of complex games called Simple War Games that are designed to be challenging for game playing programs. It also describes the WAR program, which can play any game in the Simple War Games class. The WAR program uses an algorithm inspired by ant behavior to efficiently evaluate moves and also incorporates a genetic algorithm to improve its strategies over time through learning. Sample games like SIMPLE and TANK that fall within the Simple War Games class are presented to illustrate the complexity and variety of games the class encompasses.
Cuatro Tribus – Four Tribes at the Board Games Studies 2012CuatroTribus
This document describes the board game Four Tribes, which is designed as both a military strategy game and a pedagogical/social project. The game is played by 4 players who each control one of four tribes with different political charisma. Players use economic units, troops, diplomats and artillery to try and defeat the other tribes through military, economic and political strategy. The game aims to teach players critical thinking skills around history and decision making, as well as improve their ability to work in groups and bond with other players. The creators of the game believe it can help "restore ludic delay" and prove that opening ludic spaces is the only way to do so.
This document is an introduction to an anthology of essays on rebooting American democracy for the Internet age. It provides context for the project, which aims to spark conversations about how new technologies can increase citizen participation in governance. A variety of thinkers were invited to contribute short pieces with their visions for redesigning democracy. The introduction discusses the gap between citizens' passion for a just society and the realities of the current political system. It hopes the essays will help jumpstart discussions on opening up government and unleashing creativity to solve problems and overcome entrenchments. The future does not need to be a continuation of the past.
The document discusses using game theory to analyze video games. It provides background on game theory, explaining that it is the formal study of decision-making where players' choices affect each other. It outlines some key game theory concepts like the prisoner's dilemma, chicken game, and Nash equilibrium. It then discusses how different types of video games like cooperative, semi-cooperative, and competitive games can be modeled using concepts from game theory.
Topic 3- Cooperation and Collective ActionJohn Bradford
This document provides an overview of concepts related to cooperation and collective action, including prisoners' dilemmas, social dilemmas, and game theory. It describes several classic games involving strategic decision making, such as the prisoners' dilemma, tragedy of the commons, coordination games, and chicken. Key concepts are defined, like dominant strategies and Nash equilibrium. Examples are given of how these concepts apply to real-world situations involving competition and cooperation between individuals and groups.
1) The document introduces game theory and describes the key components of games, including players, options/moves, outcomes, and payoffs.
2) Games can be described verbally, through a matrix (table), or a decision tree diagram. Matrices are best for simultaneous games while trees are used for sequential games.
3) A dominant strategy is one that always leads to the highest payoff regardless of the opponent's choice. The Prisoner's Dilemma game is discussed as an example where both players have a dominant strategy.
This document provides an introduction to game theory and how to describe games using matrices and tree diagrams. It defines what constitutes a game, including the key elements of players, their options/moves, possible outcomes, and payoffs. Games can be zero-sum, constant-sum, or variable-sum depending on whether the total payoffs equal zero, remain constant, or vary. Matrix tables are used to describe games like Rock-Paper-Scissors and Matching Pennies by listing the options for each player and their payoffs. Tree diagrams depict games involving sequential moves rather than simultaneous choices. The concept of a dominant strategy is also introduced.
This document provides an overview of gaming culture and examines gamers' impact on society. It begins with definitions of common game types like first-person shooters, real-time strategy, role-playing games, and simulations. It then discusses Local Area Network (LAN) versus Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games. The document outlines various social gaming events and conventions. It considers arguments around whether gaming promotes violence but also discusses gaming's influence on art, education, and socialization. The conclusion is that gaming offers strategic and technical skills while inspiring creativity and new ways of learning.
"Narrative Design and the Psychology of Emotions and Immersion in Games" by S...Sherry Jones
Nov. 23, 2015 - This presentation discusses various psychological theories employed in game design to induce player emotions and sense of immersion.
The Metagame Book Club is a K-12 and College professional development institution that offers free webinars, discussions, live chats, and other interactive activities on the topics of game-based learning, game studies, gamification, and games in general.
Interested in joining us? Visit our website here:
The Metagame Book Club
http://bit.ly/metagamebookclub
The document profiles video gamers based on a survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of Tribal Fusion. It finds that the average male gamer is 26 years old, prefers action/adventure and first person shooter games, and most commonly owns an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or PC. The average female gamer is 25 years old, prefers puzzle and action/adventure games, and most commonly owns a Nintendo Wii, PC or Nintendo DS. The document also provides profiles of typical Xbox and PlayStation gamers.
The document provides an overview of game theory, including definitions of key concepts. It discusses:
1) Game theory as the mathematical analysis of conflict situations where players make rational decisions. It aims to find optimal strategies.
2) Key concepts in game theory including games, moves, strategies, information, payoffs, extensive and normal forms, and equilibria such as Nash equilibrium.
3) Examples of games and equilibrium concepts including prisoners' dilemma, mixed strategies, and maximin strategies. Game theory has applications in economics, politics, and military strategy.
This document provides an overview of game theory, including its history, basic concepts, types of strategies and equilibria, different types of games, and applications. It defines game theory as the mathematical analysis of conflict situations to determine optimal strategies. Key concepts explained include Nash equilibrium, mixed strategies, zero-sum games, repeated games, and sequential vs. simultaneous games. Applications of game theory discussed include economics, politics, biology, and artificial intelligence.
This document provides an overview of game theory, including:
- Defining game theory as a way to study strategic decision-making involving multiple participants with conflicting goals.
- The major assumptions of game theory include players having different objectives, making decisions simultaneously, and knowing potential payoffs.
- Common types of games are cooperative/non-cooperative, zero-sum/non-zero-sum, and simultaneous/sequential games.
- Popular examples used in game theory include the Prisoner's Dilemma and Chicken games, which demonstrate outcomes like Nash equilibrium.
- Game theory has applications in economics, politics, biology, and other fields for modeling interactions and predicting outcomes.
Bleed in, Bleed Out – A Design Case in Board Game TherapyMirjam Eladhari
Presentation of a paper at Digra 2018 Conference, Turin, Italy, July 2018.
Abstract: The table-top play situation offers unique opportunities for approaching real-world personal problems in ways where the structures inherent in the problems can be deconstructed, ex- amined, and understood. This paper presents design considerations from the ongoing devel- opment of a therapy board-game; how every-day issues can bleed in and out from framed play sessions, and how game rules in this context can benefit from being malleable. The paper also offers a tentative avenue towards how play sessions, in a combination of stances for the design of game mechanics with approaches to game mastering, can be constructed as safe-spaces, affording players to draw near deeply personal issues and find ways to support each other.
This document discusses how to conduct gaming ethnography to understand player experience. It defines ethnography as the scientific study of customs and cultures through various levels of interaction or observation. For gaming, ethnography frequently analyzes player communities in virtual worlds and MMOs to understand how players interact. The document outlines grounded theory, which builds theory through data gathering without prior assumptions. It explains how to develop codes, categories, and theory from observed data through multiple attempts at ethnography. The conclusion states that ethnography and grounded theory are useful tools for games to help designers develop based on player actions and reactions.
The document discusses various aspects of game jams and game development. In 3 sentences:
Game jams bring together educators, students, and industry professionals to rapidly prototype games under tight constraints like short time limits. This iterative process simulates real-world game development and teaches important lessons about teamwork, communication, scoping projects, and embracing failures. Several games from past jams have been successful and signed publishing deals, demonstrating how jams can be an educational activity and potential pathway to the game industry for participants.
What does a game designer really do. And, more importantly, how do they make the products better. How does a designer contribute and what how do you work with them to solve your problem.
What is a Game Designer (And Why Do You Need One)? - Douglas WhatleySeriousGamesAssoc
What does a game designer really do. And, more importantly, how do they make the products better. How does a designer contribute and what how do you work with them to solve your problem.
Presented in Gamers in Society seminar in Tampere, Finland (spring 2007). Mainly about introducing phenomenon of casual games and terminology for studying the casual IN games phenomenon.
The Golden Gamers: A 65+ Library Gaming GroupJohn Pappas
"The Golden Gamers" Equitable and Inclusive Gaming Events for the Elderly presented by John Pappas
Tabletop board gaming is a creative, multi-generational, social and fun activity. While there is a broad swatch of recreational activities for the 65+ crowd, generally gaming is left out. Conversations with the Senior Activities Board of the Upper Darby Libraries confirmed this with traditional video games providing an engaging experience but accessibility tends to be a challenge due to physical determinants (carpal tunnel, poor eyesight, arthritis) and experiential (with a large learning curve required for many video games). Tabletop board games provide an experience that is interactive, social, cognitive and engaging. With concerns over Alzheimer's and social isolation, this is an important subject for many seniors. The Primos Library instituted a series of programs "Tabletop Gaming at the Library" (intergenerational, weekly), The Game Designer's Guild (monthly, intergenerational) and the "Golden Gamers" (65+, Monthly-Weekly dependant upon interest) each providing a gaming experience for burgeoning and experienced gamers of any age.
In this talk, Pappas will discuss the initial planning, marketing, collection development and community engagement elements of the series as well as successes and challenges. A large portion of the talk will be on game selection for this age group including issues such as the level of social interaction inherent in the game, types of games, levels of complexity and iconography.
The document describes a class of complex games called Simple War Games that are designed to be challenging for game playing programs. It also describes the WAR program, which can play any game in the Simple War Games class. The WAR program uses an algorithm inspired by ant behavior to efficiently evaluate moves and also incorporates a genetic algorithm to improve its strategies over time through learning. Sample games like SIMPLE and TANK that fall within the Simple War Games class are presented to illustrate the complexity and variety of games the class encompasses.
Cuatro Tribus – Four Tribes at the Board Games Studies 2012CuatroTribus
This document describes the board game Four Tribes, which is designed as both a military strategy game and a pedagogical/social project. The game is played by 4 players who each control one of four tribes with different political charisma. Players use economic units, troops, diplomats and artillery to try and defeat the other tribes through military, economic and political strategy. The game aims to teach players critical thinking skills around history and decision making, as well as improve their ability to work in groups and bond with other players. The creators of the game believe it can help "restore ludic delay" and prove that opening ludic spaces is the only way to do so.
This document discusses gamification and gaming activities. It begins by defining some key aspects of games like rules, goals, flow, and feedback. It then discusses the origins and early examples of serious games and simulations used for purposes beyond entertainment. This includes uses in education, warfare, gambling, voting, and religion. The document argues that many systems can already be seen as games or can be "gamed" due to their inclusion of rules and goals, even if not intentionally designed as such. It concludes that considering how users may approach and "game" activities could help designers aiming to create or modify systems and that not considering this aspect may lead to problems.
The Psychology of the Player & Game Character Design and Representation by Sh...Sherry Jones
Dec. 6, 2015 - This presentation explores many psychological theories that can help us understand how players think, and how game characters should be designed.
The Metagame Book Club is a K-12 and College professional development institution that offers free webinars, discussions, live chats, and other interactive activities on the topics of game-based learning, game studies, gamification, and games in general.
Interested in joining us? Visit our website here:
The Metagame Book Club
http://bit.ly/metagamebookclub
Connecting Ethical Choices in Games to Moral FrameworksGabriel Recchia
Games have moral impact. They can make players more aware of their own values, and even change them... and not always in the ways you might expect. Using Jonathan Livingston Seagull (the board game!) and Glitch as case studies, this presentation covers three aspects of gaming that are critical for game researchers who hope to gain a more complete awareness of the effects a game is having on its players.
This document discusses concepts in game design. It defines game design as the process of creating a context through which players can derive meaning from their interactions. Key concepts discussed include meaningful play, semiotics, systems thinking, interactivity, choice, and brainstorming approaches. Successful game design is said to create meaningful play through balancing challenge, social elements, and dynamic experiences.
Disambiguating Play: An Exploratory Analysis of Gaming ModesSebastian Deterding
The document presents an exploratory frame analysis of different modes of video gaming. It discusses how "gaming" can be framed as a leisurely activity or an instrumental task through keyings. The method involved interviews with 19 participants who game both leisurely and instrumentally. Results identified multiple forms of leisurely gaming centered around types of enjoyment (relaxing, socializing, engrossing etc.) and instrumental gaming centered around goals (reviewing, analyzing, training etc.). Instrumental play is seen as a keying that frames gaming as a controlled, work-like task rather than voluntary play. The frame analysis accounts for informal games and the lack of one single video gaming frame.
TH301 - Start Thinking Like a Game Designer: An Interactive Learning ExperienceKarl Kapp
In games, players immediately take action, make meaningful decisions, and volunteer to spend more and more time finding treasures or defeating villains. Meanwhile, many corporate e-learning experiences are less than engaging. What instructional designers need to do is steal ideas, techniques, and methodologies from game designers and incorporate those ideas into our instructional design. This session will provide a model that can be followed by instructional designers as well as research-based recommendations for helping instructional designers think more like game designers. The result will be interactive and engaging instruction. This will be an intermediate-level session, and some knowledge of instructional design will be helpful. Also, bring your smartphone and devices, as you will be interacting with the content and voting on answer choices while this interactive adventure unfolds.
This document discusses the board game Mind Shadows, which was designed to help players better understand emotionally complex situations in their lives. The game uses mechanics inspired by psychodrama therapy to guide players through warm-up, activity, and integration phases of play. It aims to allow real-life feelings and issues to bleed into the game experience ("bleed-in") and for insights to bleed back out, providing a safe space to reflect. Future work may focus on improving the game mastering aspect and testing Mind Shadows in clinical settings.
This project report describes the development of a computer game zone called "Mind Game Zone". It includes 5 games: digital trainer simulator, snake man, snake & ladder, battle pong, and tic tac toe. The report discusses the purpose, scope, technologies used, and system requirements of the project. It provides descriptions of each game and includes entity relationship diagrams, class diagrams, and data flow diagrams to model the system. The project management section discusses the incremental software process model, democratic decentralized team structure, and plans for risk management and project scheduling.
Game Design Workshop at Naresuan University discusses game design. It explains that designing successful games requires multi-disciplinary teams, including producers, designers, artists, programmers, level designers, sound engineers and testers. Game design is an iterative process involving playtesting, evaluation and revision. The document also discusses key aspects of game systems, including components, dynamics and mechanics. It provides definitions and examples of different types of players, from hardcore to casual gamers. Finally, it explores the concept of evocative objects and how we think with the objects we interact with.
Similar to Let's Play Our Way - Designing Flexibility into Card Game Systems - Gifford Cheung - Dissertation Defense (20)
Have you ever been confused by the myriad of choices offered by AWS for hosting a website or an API?
Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, Lightsail, Amplify, S3 (and more!) can each host websites + APIs. But which one should we choose?
Which one is cheapest? Which one is fastest? Which one will scale to meet our needs?
Join me in this session as we dive into each AWS hosting service to determine which one is best for your scenario and explain why!
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technologies, XML continues to play a vital role in structuring, storing, and transporting data across diverse systems. The recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present new methodologies for enhancing XML development workflows, introducing efficiency, automation, and intelligent capabilities. This presentation will outline the scope and perspective of utilizing AI in XML development. The potential benefits and the possible pitfalls will be highlighted, providing a balanced view of the subject.
We will explore the capabilities of AI in understanding XML markup languages and autonomously creating structured XML content. Additionally, we will examine the capacity of AI to enrich plain text with appropriate XML markup. Practical examples and methodological guidelines will be provided to elucidate how AI can be effectively prompted to interpret and generate accurate XML markup.
Further emphasis will be placed on the role of AI in developing XSLT, or schemas such as XSD and Schematron. We will address the techniques and strategies adopted to create prompts for generating code, explaining code, or refactoring the code, and the results achieved.
The discussion will extend to how AI can be used to transform XML content. In particular, the focus will be on the use of AI XPath extension functions in XSLT, Schematron, Schematron Quick Fixes, or for XML content refactoring.
The presentation aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of AI usage in XML development, providing attendees with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions. Whether you’re at the early stages of adopting AI or considering integrating it in advanced XML development, this presentation will cover all levels of expertise.
By highlighting the potential advantages and challenges of integrating AI with XML development tools and languages, the presentation seeks to inspire thoughtful conversation around the future of XML development. We’ll not only delve into the technical aspects of AI-powered XML development but also discuss practical implications and possible future directions.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
Driving Business Innovation: Latest Generative AI Advancements & Success StorySafe Software
Are you ready to revolutionize how you handle data? Join us for a webinar where we’ll bring you up to speed with the latest advancements in Generative AI technology and discover how leveraging FME with tools from giants like Google Gemini, Amazon, and Microsoft OpenAI can supercharge your workflow efficiency.
During the hour, we’ll take you through:
Guest Speaker Segment with Hannah Barrington: Dive into the world of dynamic real estate marketing with Hannah, the Marketing Manager at Workspace Group. Hear firsthand how their team generates engaging descriptions for thousands of office units by integrating diverse data sources—from PDF floorplans to web pages—using FME transformers, like OpenAIVisionConnector and AnthropicVisionConnector. This use case will show you how GenAI can streamline content creation for marketing across the board.
Ollama Use Case: Learn how Scenario Specialist Dmitri Bagh has utilized Ollama within FME to input data, create custom models, and enhance security protocols. This segment will include demos to illustrate the full capabilities of FME in AI-driven processes.
Custom AI Models: Discover how to leverage FME to build personalized AI models using your data. Whether it’s populating a model with local data for added security or integrating public AI tools, find out how FME facilitates a versatile and secure approach to AI.
We’ll wrap up with a live Q&A session where you can engage with our experts on your specific use cases, and learn more about optimizing your data workflows with AI.
This webinar is ideal for professionals seeking to harness the power of AI within their data management systems while ensuring high levels of customization and security. Whether you're a novice or an expert, gain actionable insights and strategies to elevate your data processes. Join us to see how FME and AI can revolutionize how you work with data!
Ocean lotus Threat actors project by John Sitima 2024 (1).pptxSitimaJohn
Ocean Lotus cyber threat actors represent a sophisticated, persistent, and politically motivated group that poses a significant risk to organizations and individuals in the Southeast Asian region. Their continuous evolution and adaptability underscore the need for robust cybersecurity measures and international cooperation to identify and mitigate the threats posed by such advanced persistent threat groups.
Webinar: Designing a schema for a Data WarehouseFederico Razzoli
Are you new to data warehouses (DWH)? Do you need to check whether your data warehouse follows the best practices for a good design? In both cases, this webinar is for you.
A data warehouse is a central relational database that contains all measurements about a business or an organisation. This data comes from a variety of heterogeneous data sources, which includes databases of any type that back the applications used by the company, data files exported by some applications, or APIs provided by internal or external services.
But designing a data warehouse correctly is a hard task, which requires gathering information about the business processes that need to be analysed in the first place. These processes must be translated into so-called star schemas, which means, denormalised databases where each table represents a dimension or facts.
We will discuss these topics:
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5th LF Energy Power Grid Model Meet-up SlidesDanBrown980551
5th Power Grid Model Meet-up
It is with great pleasure that we extend to you an invitation to the 5th Power Grid Model Meet-up, scheduled for 6th June 2024. This event will adopt a hybrid format, allowing participants to join us either through an online Mircosoft Teams session or in person at TU/e located at Den Dolech 2, Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet-up will be hosted by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), a research university specializing in engineering science & technology.
Power Grid Model
The global energy transition is placing new and unprecedented demands on Distribution System Operators (DSOs). Alongside upgrades to grid capacity, processes such as digitization, capacity optimization, and congestion management are becoming vital for delivering reliable services.
Power Grid Model is an open source project from Linux Foundation Energy and provides a calculation engine that is increasingly essential for DSOs. It offers a standards-based foundation enabling real-time power systems analysis, simulations of electrical power grids, and sophisticated what-if analysis. In addition, it enables in-depth studies and analysis of the electrical power grid’s behavior and performance. This comprehensive model incorporates essential factors such as power generation capacity, electrical losses, voltage levels, power flows, and system stability.
Power Grid Model is currently being applied in a wide variety of use cases, including grid planning, expansion, reliability, and congestion studies. It can also help in analyzing the impact of renewable energy integration, assessing the effects of disturbances or faults, and developing strategies for grid control and optimization.
What to expect
For the upcoming meetup we are organizing, we have an exciting lineup of activities planned:
-Insightful presentations covering two practical applications of the Power Grid Model.
-An update on the latest advancements in Power Grid -Model technology during the first and second quarters of 2024.
-An interactive brainstorming session to discuss and propose new feature requests.
-An opportunity to connect with fellow Power Grid Model enthusiasts and users.
Introduction of Cybersecurity with OSS at Code Europe 2024Hiroshi SHIBATA
I develop the Ruby programming language, RubyGems, and Bundler, which are package managers for Ruby. Today, I will introduce how to enhance the security of your application using open-source software (OSS) examples from Ruby and RubyGems.
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Next, let's discuss package managers. Package managers play a critical role in the OSS ecosystem. I'll explain how to manage library dependencies in your application.
I'll share insights into how the Ruby and RubyGems core team works to keep our ecosystem safe. By the end of this talk, you'll have a better understanding of how to safeguard your code.
Main news related to the CCS TSI 2023 (2023/1695)Jakub Marek
An English 🇬🇧 translation of a presentation to the speech I gave about the main changes brought by CCS TSI 2023 at the biggest Czech conference on Communications and signalling systems on Railways, which was held in Clarion Hotel Olomouc from 7th to 9th November 2023 (konferenceszt.cz). Attended by around 500 participants and 200 on-line followers.
The original Czech 🇨🇿 version of the presentation can be found here: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/hlavni-novinky-souvisejici-s-ccs-tsi-2023-2023-1695/269688092 .
The videorecording (in Czech) from the presentation is available here: https://youtu.be/WzjJWm4IyPk?si=SImb06tuXGb30BEH .
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift.pdfTosin Akinosho
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift
Overview
Dive into the world of anomaly detection on edge devices with our comprehensive hands-on tutorial. This SlideShare presentation will guide you through the entire process, from data collection and model training to edge deployment and real-time monitoring. Perfect for those looking to implement robust anomaly detection systems on resource-constrained IoT/edge devices.
Key Topics Covered
1. Introduction to Anomaly Detection
- Understand the fundamentals of anomaly detection and its importance in identifying unusual behavior or failures in systems.
2. Understanding Edge (IoT)
- Learn about edge computing and IoT, and how they enable real-time data processing and decision-making at the source.
3. What is ArgoCD?
- Discover ArgoCD, a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes, and its role in deploying applications on edge devices.
4. Deployment Using ArgoCD for Edge Devices
- Step-by-step guide on deploying anomaly detection models on edge devices using ArgoCD.
5. Introduction to Apache Kafka and S3
- Explore Apache Kafka for real-time data streaming and Amazon S3 for scalable storage solutions.
6. Viewing Kafka Messages in the Data Lake
- Learn how to view and analyze Kafka messages stored in a data lake for better insights.
7. What is Prometheus?
- Get to know Prometheus, an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit, and its application in monitoring edge devices.
8. Monitoring Application Metrics with Prometheus
- Detailed instructions on setting up Prometheus to monitor the performance and health of your anomaly detection system.
9. What is Camel K?
- Introduction to Camel K, a lightweight integration framework built on Apache Camel, designed for Kubernetes.
10. Configuring Camel K Integrations for Data Pipelines
- Learn how to configure Camel K for seamless data pipeline integrations in your anomaly detection workflow.
11. What is a Jupyter Notebook?
- Overview of Jupyter Notebooks, an open-source web application for creating and sharing documents with live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text.
12. Jupyter Notebooks with Code Examples
- Hands-on examples and code snippets in Jupyter Notebooks to help you implement and test anomaly detection models.
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Building Production Ready Search Pipelines with Spark and MilvusZilliz
Spark is the widely used ETL tool for processing, indexing and ingesting data to serving stack for search. Milvus is the production-ready open-source vector database. In this talk we will show how to use Spark to process unstructured data to extract vector representations, and push the vectors to Milvus vector database for search serving.
Skybuffer SAM4U tool for SAP license adoptionTatiana Kojar
Manage and optimize your license adoption and consumption with SAM4U, an SAP free customer software asset management tool.
SAM4U, an SAP complimentary software asset management tool for customers, delivers a detailed and well-structured overview of license inventory and usage with a user-friendly interface. We offer a hosted, cost-effective, and performance-optimized SAM4U setup in the Skybuffer Cloud environment. You retain ownership of the system and data, while we manage the ABAP 7.58 infrastructure, ensuring fixed Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and exceptional services through the SAP Fiori interface.
HCL Notes und Domino Lizenzkostenreduzierung in der Welt von DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-und-domino-lizenzkostenreduzierung-in-der-welt-von-dlau/
DLAU und die Lizenzen nach dem CCB- und CCX-Modell sind für viele in der HCL-Community seit letztem Jahr ein heißes Thema. Als Notes- oder Domino-Kunde haben Sie vielleicht mit unerwartet hohen Benutzerzahlen und Lizenzgebühren zu kämpfen. Sie fragen sich vielleicht, wie diese neue Art der Lizenzierung funktioniert und welchen Nutzen sie Ihnen bringt. Vor allem wollen Sie sicherlich Ihr Budget einhalten und Kosten sparen, wo immer möglich. Das verstehen wir und wir möchten Ihnen dabei helfen!
Wir erklären Ihnen, wie Sie häufige Konfigurationsprobleme lösen können, die dazu führen können, dass mehr Benutzer gezählt werden als nötig, und wie Sie überflüssige oder ungenutzte Konten identifizieren und entfernen können, um Geld zu sparen. Es gibt auch einige Ansätze, die zu unnötigen Ausgaben führen können, z. B. wenn ein Personendokument anstelle eines Mail-Ins für geteilte Mailboxen verwendet wird. Wir zeigen Ihnen solche Fälle und deren Lösungen. Und natürlich erklären wir Ihnen das neue Lizenzmodell.
Nehmen Sie an diesem Webinar teil, bei dem HCL-Ambassador Marc Thomas und Gastredner Franz Walder Ihnen diese neue Welt näherbringen. Es vermittelt Ihnen die Tools und das Know-how, um den Überblick zu bewahren. Sie werden in der Lage sein, Ihre Kosten durch eine optimierte Domino-Konfiguration zu reduzieren und auch in Zukunft gering zu halten.
Diese Themen werden behandelt
- Reduzierung der Lizenzkosten durch Auffinden und Beheben von Fehlkonfigurationen und überflüssigen Konten
- Wie funktionieren CCB- und CCX-Lizenzen wirklich?
- Verstehen des DLAU-Tools und wie man es am besten nutzt
- Tipps für häufige Problembereiche, wie z. B. Team-Postfächer, Funktions-/Testbenutzer usw.
- Praxisbeispiele und Best Practices zum sofortigen Umsetzen
How to Get CNIC Information System with Paksim Ga.pptxdanishmna97
Pakdata Cf is a groundbreaking system designed to streamline and facilitate access to CNIC information. This innovative platform leverages advanced technology to provide users with efficient and secure access to their CNIC details.
Project Management Semester Long Project - Acuityjpupo2018
Acuity is an innovative learning app designed to transform the way you engage with knowledge. Powered by AI technology, Acuity takes complex topics and distills them into concise, interactive summaries that are easy to read & understand. Whether you're exploring the depths of quantum mechanics or seeking insight into historical events, Acuity provides the key information you need without the burden of lengthy texts.
Salesforce Integration for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions A...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on integration of Salesforce with Bonterra Impact Management.
Interested in deploying an integration with Salesforce for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Salesforce Integration for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions A...
Let's Play Our Way - Designing Flexibility into Card Game Systems - Gifford Cheung - Dissertation Defense
1. Let’s play our way:Let’s play our way:
Gifford Cheung
under the supervision of
David Hendry (Chair), David McDonald, Nicolas Ducheneaut, and Jennifer Turns (GSR)
Designing Flexibility into Card Game SystemsDesigning Flexibility into Card Game Systems
3. This is a mother daughter story.
My Scope: Skilled and social play among
established friends and family.
3
3 motivations for playing cards
(Crespi, 1956)
Gambling, Skill, Social
8. Flexibilityis
(From a literature review by Saleh et al., 2009)
A flexible choice is one that provides more available choices in
the future.
Evans (1991):
Designer of Card Game
Software
8
12. Researchquestions
1) Is this feasible?
a) How to design a system that is robust and versatile for gameplay?
b) How to support communication when the rules are negotiable?
2) Design Tradeoffs
a) Flexible vs. Yahoo! Games
b) Adding versatility to a robust system?
c) Versatility vs. Robustness
12
16. Design 2
Investigating Versatility
By extending Design 1
for the poker genre of
card games.
E.g., Semi-automatic functions
that track the bets and
evaluate hands
16
20. User Study
Goal: To observe players as they use Card Board and as they negotiate
the rules of the game.
Approach: Seeking Gameplay and Social Negotiation
20
22. Group A,
Design 1:
Part I
Texas Hold’em
Part II
Dealer’s Choice
Part III Adapt
Blindman’s
Bluff
Part IV – Free
play with
Design 2
Procedures
Group B,
Design 2:
Part I
Texas
Hold’em
Part II
Dealer’s Choice
Part III Adapt
Blindman’s
Bluff
Part IV – Free
play with
Design 1
22
23. Overview
24 participants
screened out of 77 for above-average
agreeableness and emotional stability in
Big 5 Personality
7 sessions
1 hour video-captured,
30 minute group interviews &
individual closing surveys
Analyzed qualitatively via thematic analysis & a grounded
approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998)
23
24. Gameplay
Dimensions of:
Gameplay Presence
Attending to winning the game.
Gameplay Readiness
Everything that helps players attend to
winning.
Adversity
Challenges in the environment. (e.g.
a ski slope has varying levels of adversity:
bunny, blue, black diamond)
As informed by familiar HCI
concepts of:
Present-at-hand and
ready-to-hand
(Winograd & Flores, 1987)
Flow
(Csíkszentmihályi, 1991)
24
26. Ok, ok,so what happened?
Playing extra rounds
Laughter
Unexpected Dealer’s Choices of games (Spoons)
Broken Betting
Bathroom breaks
Messing around
Michelle: Ahem.
Michelle: Get yer cursor off my cards!
Danny: hmmm?
Lindsay: (chuckle)
Danny: oh, sorry
Tara: laughs
Michelle: a little virtual bubble please.
26
27. Analysis
A codebook that describes how
players negotiate the rules,
communicate, and play when using
Card Board.
Highlighting three themes:
Mundaneity
A model of live-tweaking
Levels of Readiness
27
28. Rule changing isboring.
Rule negotiation to facilitate
Gameplay Readiness:
Introducing & teaching rules
New rules to keep play smooth
Asking for rules, clarifications
Trying to stay impartial
This is great news!
28
29. Protocol
29
Asking for a rule in this game
Asking for permission to do a game action
Asking for what to do now
Asking if an action is legal
Bending the rules temporarily
Choosing a game
Confirming that a rule applies – blocking, waiting for
confirmation
Confirming that a rule applies – quickly, expecting a quick
answer
Confirming that everyone understands enough of the rules to
move forward
Correcting a wrong move, or undo
Imperative command
Instruction
Reminding everyone about a rule
Reviewing official or traditional rules
Setting a rule
Speculating about a rule (“Maybe”; “If”)
Suggesting a rule
Unfinished negotiation about a rule
Unspoken suggestion for a rule
33. Yes andnatural.
Games played:
Texas Hold’em, Blindman’s Bluff, Five-card Stud,
Spoons, Blackjack along with many variations in betting style
A collection that is infeasible in the fully automatic case
“If you play Facebook social games, you’re alone. You’re playing with
other people, but you’re not really talking with them. There might be a
chat system or something like that, but it’s not the same as sitting –
and this is more similar to sitting in the same room as people.” –
Session 1, Sherry (Pseudonym)
33
34. Automation
Manual vs Automatic
A concrete approach to understanding
robustness and versatility
Automation
34
Related work:
Automation vs non-automation in board games (Pape,
2012; Wallace et al., 2012)
Chores are fun. (Xu et al. 2011)
35. Analytic Focus
Manual effort in games
Having to do it yourself is followed by leadership, deeper engagement
in the rules, and a sense of ownership.
(Session 7 Group Interview, discussing the semi-automatic yellow chip)
Anne: I guess it was fairly manual, putting the yellow chip in after your
turn. I like things that are manual enough that you have to have some
understanding going into it. Like, the game isn't just doing it for you.
So, I appreciated that.
Chris: (Session 3) you can kinda do whatever you want to
35
36. Analytic Focus
Automation in games
eliminates tedious chores, influence rule negotiation, helped teach the
game. Also: risks an inversi____on _____of “readiness” in games
(Anne, Session 7 Closing Survey)
“Yellow Chip, shuffle, selection/collection of cards/chips, the bet tracker and
community cards zone were helpful to me. They facilitate a learner playing
the game without confusion/feeling overwhelmed by things to remember.
Everything you need to keep track of is out on the board in writing.”
36
37. Analytic Focus
Automation in games
eliminates tedious chores, influence rule negotiation, helped teach the
game. Also: risks an upset of “readiness” in games
1. Rule-Ready
(understanding enough of the rules to play)
2. Gameplay Readiness
(ready to focus on the game, no distractions)
3. Next-Stage Ready
(having finished a turn, ready for the next turn)
37
40. Limitations & Future work
New depths:
to...
More dimensions of gameplay/communication
Studying flexibility beyond the laboratory
Other strategies of flexibility beyond
manual and semi-automation
New horizons:
Minecraft, First-person shooters
Robustness/Versatility for unexpected use in other domains for
appropriation (e.g., smart homes)
40
41. Precedent
Observation: Precedent as a form of reasoning about rules
(Example 1)
Bernard: Do we ante in here or do we just do a round of betting?
Nathan: Let’s do ante, we were doing ante before so.
Bernard: Alright.
(Example 2)
David: Yeah, so how many rounds do we play?
Nathan: Um, I think until one person dies – er – runs out? ‘Cause that’s
what we did last time right?
David: Yeah.
(Negotiation switches to a different topic)
41
42. Games are Law
A kind of colloquial legalese in how players negotiate
A familiar perspective from theorists:
Suits’ lusory attitude (1978) ,
the Magic Circle Huizinga (1938) /Salen & Zimmerman (2004)
42
44. Thank you.
To my committee, the iSchool rich in people, DUB’s open arms,
the green cohort wherever we may be,
my dissertation support group through the years,
my sharp auditor (Natascha K.), to the bowling team,
to the phd Happy hour my school away from school,
to my thoughtful faithful church,
to those who played, wrote, and laughed with me,
to Cole & Bianca, to my growing family, and to my loving wife,
45. Researchquestions
1) Is this feasible?
a) How to design a system that is robust and versatile for gameplay?
b) How to support communication when the rules are negotiable?
2) Design Tradeoffs
a) Flexible vs. Yahoo! Games
b) Adding versatility to a robust system?
c) Versatility vs. Robustness
45
46. Appropriation
“Unexpected use”
Perhaps the canonical interpretation of appropriation is that of customization
and tailoring by users. Yet we felt that other interpretations, such as
unexpected use of technology, or the socially constructed meanings around
technology and its use that grow out of users’ practices, were equally
interesting and worthy of consideration. (Dourish, Herrmann, Kellogg, &
Kunau, 2005)
Consider exporting my design terminology and my
understanding of automation on new contexts (e.g., how
automation affects the pace of life in a smart home)
46
47. tradeoffs
Incompleteness
When adding automation without letting go of robustness.
(e.g. End-game situation in poker)
Interaction costs
Manual
Extra labor
Automation
Draws attention to itself
(e.g. Visual clutter)
47
48. Flexibilityis
What?
What rules can change?
Identify richly/meagerly supported features
Who?
Designers? Programmers? Players?
Authority in negotiation?
When?
At design-time? In-between patches? During the game?
Where?
Where is the flexibility? (e.g., at the level of all card games like Design 1 or
at the level of poker games like Design 2)
48
49. Rule Negotiation
Mentality
Leadership/Initiative
Messing around
Pragmatism
Idealism
Ownership
Rule-readiness
Reasoning
“That works”
Precedent
Fairness & Impartiality
No big reason
“That can’t work”
Negative precedent
Protocol
Timing
Scope
49
Asking for a rule in this game
Asking for permission to do a game action
Asking for what to do now
Asking if an action is legal
Bending the rules temporarily
Choosing a game
Confirming that a rule applies – blocking, waiting
for confirmation
Confirming that a rule applies – quickly,
expecting a quick answer
Confirming that everyone understands enough
of the rules to move forward
Correcting a wrong move, or undo
Imperative command
Instruction
Reminding everyone about a rule
Reviewing official or traditional rules
Setting a rule
Speculating about a rule (“Maybe”; “If”)
Suggesting a rule
Unfinished negotiation about a rule
Unspoken suggestion for a rule
50. Gameplay
Gameplay presence
Game Goal
State (Stage)
Game Information
Gameplay readiness
Breakdowns
(Computer misinterpretation, incorrect
play, misunderstood rules, user error,
waiting too long for others,
hands-off!, cumbersome interface)
Fixes
(Major, Minor, No Fix, Social Aspect)
Protection/Protection
Skills
Other Foci
Adversity
Interface
Game
50
51. Communication
Audio
Identifying
Speakers
Asking about the
Game State
Declaring a game
move
Describing a move
or action
Describing my
point of view
Visual Gestures Reviewability
Audio
Game Log
Game layout
Trailing
Animations
Game move
Passing the
Dealer Chip
Passing the Yellow
Chip
51
52. a recipe
1. Pick a locale of flexibility
2. Decompose automatic functions into a set of general
functions
3. Expose these functions to the user
Caveat: You may lose some assurances of automation
52
53. Design-time perspective for building towards flexibility.
Meagerly-supported features associated with robustness
Richly-supported features associated with versatility
New Words
53
56. Audiowins
In the context of having Skype
Unsurprisingly audio is very well-suited for coordinating games,
teaching, and negotiating rules. It is lightweight & can convey
much or little.
Contra game moves:
Contra text:
57
Hi, my name is Gifford Cheung. Thank you for joining me as I share my dissertation work with you. This work was done under the supervision of my advisor David Hendry and my committee, David McDonald, Nicolas Ducheneaut and Jennifer Turns. It is entitled “Let’s play our way! Designing Flexibility into Card Game Systems!”
PROPS: Decks of cards p[ened
PROPS: video cued to 6 seconds
I will be sharing the following steps in this dissertation. I will introduce my research goal which is to understand how to make a game system flexible, with the help of existing literature on the term flexibility, I will introduce two kinds of flexiblity which are [“robustness”/CLICK] and [“versatility”/CLICK]. These are two strategies that I wanted to develop a deep understanding of how to leverage for designing flexible systems and to understand how they affected gameplay. There are two parts to my thesis work, first, I engaged in [“design inquiry”/CLICK] where I designed and implemented a networked card game system which I named [“Card Board”/CLICK] that embodies these design principles. [“Design 1”/CLICK] emphasizes robustness and [“design 2”/CLICK], versatility. I treated the process of design as a way to discover the design challenges that exist when trying to create a real world game system that could be robust and versatile. A critical part of this inquiry is being reflective about the design process to bring difficult design decisions to the surface. The second part of my dissertation was to then [“study”/CLICK] Card Board as players played games over it. Like a regular deck of cards, players had to established the rules themselves and enforce them themselves. I analyzed how players have a different experience playing Card Board and how they negotiate the rules among themselves. In my findings, I draw on my design reflections and userstudy-analysis altogether give a compelling case for game system design that looks dramatically different than the typical commercial game systems of today. So, let us start at the beginning.
I introduce my work by offering you a story about a mother and daughter who play Cribbage together. They have a tradition of it but because families don’t live together forever, let’s suppose the daughter moves away but wants to play a game or two for old times sake. What do you think happens when you replace this (deck of cards) with a computer? I tell this story to focus this dissertation. [CLICK] A survey of card players in the United States distinguishes among 3 motivations for card playing: gambling, showcasing skill and social reasons. My scope in this project is to focus on situations that should be somewhat familiar to everyone here. Games played with friends and family as a way to be together, showcasing skills and being social. Now, back to the question at hand, I will take a guess at your reaction when I replace mom’s weathered deck of cards with [“this”/CLICK].
I’m going to guess that you don’t think this is going to be the same experience. It’s going to become fast-paced, impersonal. I will grant that Yahoo! Cribbage is good at what it does. The website advertises it as having more than 1 million plays so it is doing something right. Players who want to just jump into a fast-paced game with strangers but what happens when mom looks at this version of Cribbage? She is going to ask, “Where’s my game?” So, in comparing [“this”/SCREEN] against [“this”/cards], I say, the difference is that this medium includes her version and many others -- it is more flexible.
OLD TEXT: , and, worse, it won’t even play the way that they like it. For one thing, Yahoo! Cribbage actually takes over for you during part of the game where you’re supposed to score by declaring out loud what you see in your cards. If you miss something… you don’t score it, that’s part of the game. On the computer, this part of the game which normally takes a minute or so, is replaced by a split-second computed calculation where there are … no mistakes, but also, players find that the computer played FOR them.
there is no reason that flexibility cannot be built into a digital game system. Already, we all have intuitions about the term flexibility, but it lacks more formal definition that would make it useful for designing game systems.
So, I start with the following initial [“contribution”/CLICK] I will be tagging my slides with the contributions in my work with little orange tags throughout this presentation. My criteria here is fairly simple. I asked what, who, and when. What. Given a set of rules, which system can accommodate more rules? That system is more flexible. Yahoo Cribbage can play 1 version Cribbage. A deck of cards can support many versions of Cribbage. Therefore, a deck of cards is more flexible. Who? Who can change the rules? The game designers? Expert modders? Can mom change the rules? When? When can the rules change? Months before a game is releasde? Only before a game has started? Only when you’ve pause the game and entered the settings menu? Or even during a game?
[SKIP FOR TIME]
This last [“category”/CLICK] drew my attention to an aspect of flexibility that is very natural with physical cards and underexplored in digital games. This is live tweaking, where the rules of the game are adjusted sometimes on the fly, without much effort or even a real change of mode by the players themselves.
Now that I had this initial frame for flexibility. I turned to definitions of flexibility and reviews of the word that spanned across organizational sciences, engineering, and other fields.
One useful characterization is that a *decision* can be flexible. If you decide to shop for a gift at the mall instead of an isolated boutique, your decision exhibits flexibility because you are preparing yourself to have more available choices in the future. Looking again at that time component, Evans says that there is a moment when flexibility is needed and your organization can have prepared beforehand or reacted after that moment. You can act offensively to take advantage of an opportunity or defensively to prepare against losses. If I am a [“system designer”/CLICK] you would say that my design choices are made before the need for flexibility arises. So, I have taken two words from this column to better explore flexibility. They are:
Robustness. This is the ability resist extreme breakdowns that a new rule would impose. If I insisted on playing the game of Hearts with a five players instead of four… with a deck of cards, it is robust enough to accommodate my demand. On the other hand, Microsoft Hearts just cannot do this. I have to either give up my new rule or give up the game system. [NEXT SLIDE]
One clarification, robustness describes the ability to resist breakdowns but ignores finding the best solution. For example, if you are playing around a very small table, having five players may be uncomfortable, however, the game can go on. So, I associate robustness with the term “satisficing” from the design sciences which essential means “good enough”.
Versatility is the ability for a game system to do many different things and to do them well. A simple illustration is this [NEXT SLIDE]
Not only can you play about 800 different card games with a deck of cards, but it is really well-suited to those many different games. This shows the versatility of the card deck.
From the design sciences, an associated term would be “optimal”.
A deck of cards is versatile because it is good for [“Mom-style”/CLICK] cribbage *and* it is good for [“many”/CLICK] [“other”/CLICK] styles of cribbage and [“other”/CLICK] games as well. Yahoo! Cribbage is not as versatile because it offers less options. I will note that it is very well optimized for [“Yahoo! Style Cribbage”/CLICK] on a computer, it eliminates much of the tedium of a physical deck of cards – keeping track of score, shuffling, setting up a game, and cleaning it up afterwards are much more optimal in Yahoo! Cribbage.
With these two distinct design concepts – I asked the following questions. First, is this feasible, how can I design software that is robust and versatile and how will it play? A natural accompanying question is to ask how will people talk when they play because we are depending on a social negotiation of rules. So, I expect that they need to communicate much more heavily than in automated systems. The second set of questions is about design tradeoffs. What do you gain or lose by choosing Card Board over Yahoo! Games? What happens when you try to mix these strategies, can you build on top of each other? Lastly, what are the tradeoffs between versatility and robustness? [Break for a moment here – sip water?]
And now, I will discuss the next phase, my design inquiry where you will get to see my software:
Card Board lets you play cards. There are two versions of it: [Next slide]
So, my choice was to study flexibility through the process of design inquiry in the act of designing a game system that is modeled after a deck of cards. Card Board is the name of the system that I designed and implemented, it is a flash-based game system that is allows networked gameplay. It takes its design from a regular card deck and its first iteration was very “manual” rather than “automatic”. I emphasize “manual” because I am going to use this as a concrete way of understanding robustness and versatility. This is a comparison that already is forefront in many people’s minds because making a direct copy of a deck of cards in digital form is not enough. The natural question for many is: how can you take advantage of the digital power of a computer and make Card Board smarter, more like Yahoo! Games, more [“automatic”/NEXT SLIDE]
The first version investigates robustness by simulating a simple deck of cards with no rules of the game embedded in it. This version of Card Board is “dumb”, it doesn’t know an ace of spades from a five of hearts. If you want to play poker, *you* need to pay attention to the rules, the betting, and the details yourself. There is robustness in a similar way that a regular deck of cards is robust – you can own cards, move them, and flip them. That’s all you need to play a game.
Design 2, explores versatility by adding intelligent features that support poker games. In this version, I hope to retain the robustness of Design 1, but build in unobtrusive components that understand Texas Hold’em. With these features, players will be able to automatically track and collect bets, keep track of the game turn, and evaluate how good a poker hand is. All of this while STILL keeping the freedom of the first design – players MUST be able to play what they like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZy8fBEKoh4&t=7
To illustrate this, I will show you a video of Card Board..
Design 1 (until 1:24 ) You will see how Design 1 offers a set of simple features for manipulating cards and chips, but has no understanding of the game rules.
Design 2 (SEMI-AUTOMATIC FEATURES): Now here is the beginning of Design 2. PAUSE when the “WHAT’S GOING ON” is run and explain: Let me highlight an example of how I have tried to make the game smart enough, but at the same time able to retain the robustness of the first design. I would say that this is an unusual step in the design that I think bears mentioning. It is the following message:
“What’s going on”? This is my solution for straddling the line between the computer deciding what the rules are and the players making that decision. In Design 2, I often encountered ambiguous use-cases. For example, what happens if a player bet incorrectly. Say they bet nothing and passed the yellow chip onwards. This is easy to solve in Yahoo! Poker – you throw up a roadblock. ERROR, you cannot do that, please fix before moving on. But that decision runs in the face of the flexibility that I want to support. In Card Board, the player could have made a mistaken bet, he might have meant to fold, or who knows what. So what happens? Nothing happens, the yellow player chip continues to behave normally, but notice appears in the game log on the right hand side of the screen – recording the discrepancy and asks the players for the final interpretation.
At this point Card Board exists as a representation of the design decisions it takes to create a robust and versatile game system. It’s time to put it in front of users and see how some of these design ideas play out in use. [sip water]
In this User Study, I treated Card Board as my research instrument. My goal was to observe natural gameplay and, also, to set up good chances to see the social negotiation that players engage in when they needed to change the rules of the game.
Maximum Variance . Thematic Analysis for Games and Communication and a Grounded Approach . Analysis
WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THIS USER STUDY
The procedures were to have players were separated by dividers and each had a networked station where I recorded their actions and their communication over Skype.
They would play a round of Texas Hold’em to get started. Then, play Dealer’s Choice a poker game where players take turns picking a game to play. Then, I gave players an exercise. I gave them the rules of a game that was difficult to adapt to Card Board and told them to trouble shoot it. Finally, I gave them a round or two to try out the alternate version of the design. Some groups had the same experience, but with Design 2. In this way, I started with more natural game experiences and closed with a exercise to provoke rule negotiation.
I recruited 24 participants, I screened for two personality traits that favored a productive amount of negotiation. The result was about 7 hours of recorded gameplay of multiple players screens each. 7 group interviews and closing surveys for each participant. I analyzed the data from a qualitative perspective. To understand social negotiation, I took a grounded approach which is to find theory grounded in the raw data that I was analyzing. To understand gameplay and communication, I analyzed the data thematically, drawing on two sets of dimensions that I had been relying on even when I was first conceptualizing Card Board. I will briefly review them next. [NEXT SLIDE]
My analysis was qualitative for a number reasons, first this study was so exploratory that I wanted to capacity to analyze unexpected behavior, likewise, my design of Card Board as a research instrument depends on fairly abstract design ideas which don’t favor a quantitative approach. So, I d
(As an aside, these dimensions exist as my contributions to the field of game design as design dimensions. I used them to shape my design thinking early on in the process and to evaluate the game system later as well.) Let me explain the first two dimensions only, gameplay can be divided into two aspects: presence (hand before face) and readiness (drop hand). Whatever you focus on to win the game: to score the best score, to progress forward in the game, to play the game. This fits into the first category. In the second category, readiness, is everything else you need to come naturally to you, the aspects of gameplay that you don’t want to overthink. For cards, shuffling, dealing, arranging cards in your hand are skills that you want to just have. They are necessary, but need to stay out of the way. These are what make you ready to play. If you have ever played a card game with a cheap, sticky deck of cards that distract you from the actual game, then you are encountering a breakdown that interferes with [this] gameplay readiness. These dimensions are great for understanding rule negotiation because these dimensions talk about what the point of the game is. And that is what is up for negotiation: are we playing to have fun, to see how fast we can play, to be strategic? [NEXT SLIDE]
For gameplay, I took two very familiar concepts in our field of interaction design and applied them towards understanding game systems. The first is Winograd & Flores’s use of present-at-hand and ready-to-hand. By their terminology you divide a task into two aspects. When hammering a nail, your attention is on task of hammering, that is what is forefront or present-at-hand. The hammer itself is in the background, as a tool, you should not be overthinking the act of hammer, otherwise, you’re going to miss the nail. That hammer exists in the background of your mind and this is to be ready-to-hand. In a game, the goal of winning the game is what is present. The skills that are required, the game pieces, the shuffling, the dealing, and arrangement of cards is the background of the central activity. This, of course, is compatible with the theory of flow, which also adds the idea that challenge is how you enjoy life. To account for challenge, I add the dimension of adversity.
To design the communicative aspects of a game, I draw on Clark and Brennan’s theory of Grounding in Communications. They have a list of 8 communicative properties from which I will depend on three in particular for this dissertation: Visibility, Audibility, and Reviewability. Clearly, players will talk over Skpe and, I designed Card Board to show their mouse cursors on the screen. I chose to focus on Reviewability because I am interested in how players will want to recall what the rules of a game are through the reviewability of decisions that players have made about the rules.
Ok, ok, so what HAPPENED? Well we had fun! Players played extra rounds without prompting, I transcribed a LOT of laughter, players had “aha!” moments when they found out they could play ANY game – one player joked, hey let’s play go fish! And, then you heard another player say, “wait you can play ANY game?” And so they played Spoons. Players completely messed up the bets, they forgot chips, they lost and found some, they donated money to each other, and raised bets when they had no right to do so. One player took a bathroom break, he figured that he could leave the game system and they would do fine without him (you can’t really always do that with digital card games) and they horsed around in general. All in all, Card Board felt like a deck of cards…. With plenty of data to analyze, [next slide]
I arrive at 40+ codes which each detail an in-depth categorization of gameplay over a flexible medium. I will touch on three themes that build on these findings
Rule changing is boring! Not that it can’t be creative and a game of showcasing your creativity, but by and large the rules that I observed were mundane. There was the everyday business of having to explain a rule after introducing it to players, players introduced rules to keep things from being to confusing (“put your cards here this will be the discard pile when you’re done. I’ll put a chip here.” Players stopped and asked for clarifications and they also made special effort to be distanced and impartial. For example, players sometimes forgot to say whether or not a Spade was higher than a Heart – forcing an careful negotiation when they had to resolve a tie unexpectedly.
Last, this is great news. This means that rule changing is not a thing for few creative geniuses in the world, instead it is the work that all players engage in to make the game work.
Let’s understand live-tweaking. I arrived at the following list of ways to negotiate the rules in a game. You might ask for a rule in a game, temporarily bend the rules, instruct others, talk hypothetical rules. I’ll give you a second to look over this list. [rest/water break] Two additional observations directed me to develop a model of rule negotiation. First is scope. Each of these statements has an impact on the game that extends into the future, some have small impact – a hypothetical speculation for example, others affect the way people play long into the future. Also, there is timing with respect to a game move. For example, the UNDO action happens righ after a game move. Confirming a rule quickly happens right before a game move. With all of these, I can offer a model of rule negotiation
The game move in question is the dotted line in the middle. You can see at the very bottom is “UNDO” and [point] the quick confirmation happens right before a game move. The black arrow is the scope, it shows how far into the future that the game is affected by these protocols. At the top, choosing a game affects the entire game. Next, a speculation is just transitory. This illustration helps me connect negotiating protocol with its influence on the game itself and helps me sort through a mountain of conversation that happens in a game system like this. One implication that I would like to share is how this can help me redesign the [“messaging”/CLICK] system to accommodate negotiation. [NEXT SLIDE]
For example, we might have two different types of messaging in a game system. The Game log that exists as a long lasting record that players would want to scroll through to review. And ephemeral messaging that appears on the game board. Given my model, I can recommend that messages with long lasting scope belong in the game log and messages that are closer to the game move itself, like the undo, or the quick confirmation, belong right next to the game pieces in question. This is an enjoyable design exercise especially because we are cracking open some intuitive ideas about contextual messaging and visibility and justifying it with this model.
I will now discuss the play experience with Card Board and the tradeoffs among these principles.
Let’s start by saying, yes, we know gameplay is feasible with Card Board after all. The participants played a collection of games that are pretty much impossible in the fully automatic case. And the players felt natural playing. One participant called it more similar to sitting the same room as people. This response is very encouraging for our mother-daughter scenario, and so, let’s ask why is it like this – what can be attributed to this experience?
Now is a good time for me to point out that since the beginning the kinds of optimizations that I have been exploring have been the contrast between manual and automatic. This has been because this comparison has been such a natural question – it is the first question that people ask when I say that I am building completely flexible system. So, by discussing automation in the same breath as flexibility, I am joining an existing conversation about game systems design
The robustness in Design 1 was possible because of the manual nature of its implementation. For, the game intelligence and optimizations in Design 2, I focused on bringing automation in to refine. Here is my concrete way to answer very abstract questions about robustness vs versatility and flexibility vs. rigidity. Let’s start with the manual aspect.
[next]
(there is was project that compared manual and automatic versions of a digital board game and another study that argues that manual chores in physical board games can actually be fun).
In Design 1, no one but the players know the rules of the game. So someone has to step up and take (as the participants called it) leadership or initiative. This requires a deeper engagement in the rules… not surprisingly, that leads to a feeling of ownership.
Automation was familiar to the players who themselves have played computer card games of all types. Almost every single group told me that I needed to implement automatic dealing. Anything that was tedious grated on their senses and jerked them out of the experience – if it seemed tedious, they thought, let’s take it out, make it faster, more automatic. Also, the automatic features, once enabled, influenced the kinds of rules that the players thought to play with. When the players say the the small and big blind features they said, “hey let’s play small and big blind”. And, novices liked parts of automation as a way to learn the game.
Now, I’d like to talk about the pace of games and this is based on the theme of [“readiness”/CLICK] which is prevalent through multiple levels of my analysis. These all point at the idea of “are you ready to play now?” And all of them are treated with some impatience by the players because as soon as the light changes from unready to ready, the players seem eager to push forward.
First, the game players need to understand enough of the rules to play the game. This is decidedly not about having a comprehensive understanding of the rulebook but about knowing just enough that “we’ll figure out the rest along the way”. Gameplay readiness is the dimension that I defined before where players want to focus on the game without distractions in how they use the interface. Next-stage ready means that players have finished whatever is required of them in this turn or stage of the game and are ready for the next stage. If you are waiting for everyone to finish betting when you’d done so long ago and getting bored, this is an example of that.
In manual systems the order of readiness puts rule-readiness first because you need to understand *something* to start playing. Weirdly, automatic systems upset this check. When mom goes to check out [“Yahoo! Hold’em”/CLICK] let’s say, she no longer has to deal with rule-readiness. Look at this screenshot from Pogo Play. Everyone in this room can play poker with 3 buttons and a slider. They won’t know what their doing, but they can play. And the imperative of “go go go” still applies. [next]
This explains why mom would feel thrown to the sharks as she is trying to figure out the game, it anticipates how the interface encourages players to play faster and offers some explain to why Mom will get pressure from other players very quickly. Just try logging on to Yahoo! Bridge without knowing how to play the game in the first place – it’s an intimidating feeling isn’t?
1 Criteria for Flexibility
2 Two sub-principles of flexibility: robustness and versatility
3 Card Board as a Design artifact, demonstrating novel ways of balancing automation with player’s authority
4 Two newly adapted dimensions of design for gameplay and communications
5 A codebook that enriches our understanding of these dimensions and serves as a basis to
6 Three themes that I think tell us how to design for mom and what to anticipate when she finally gets to play online with her daughter.
Now, I have one more highlight right after the future work slide, so hold on for a moment…
In the future, we can return to a lot of the choices I made in this dissertation to scope the work. I investigated versatility with one optimization: poker games, what happens when you explore even more branches and levels and how they interact? There are additional dimensions of gameplay and communication to explore. We can move beyond the laboratory to find flexibility in the wild. And, we can look at something other than automation which was my way of grappling with the question.
There are new horizons, looking a flexibility for highly automatic games like halo or grand theft auto, minecraft would be equally interesting to study. And it turns out that my topic intersects with a growing body of work on the topic of appropriation of technology. So, can we take my terms for robust-ness and versatility and see how it applies in these domains? How do smart-home technologies affect the norms and rules in a house for example.
Now, to close with one last highlight…
Among the ways that players justified the rules that they set. One stood out as having unusual authority. I call it precedent and will seem familiar to you because of all our previous talk about the scope of a decision and the urgency of the “go go go” theme. In these two examples, the players are trying to make a decision: bernard wanted to choose how to bet. David asked how many rounds to play? And in both cases, the argument was, “well we were doing ante before” and “last time we played it was until there was no more money”– that’s how we did it before. Then “Alright.” and “yeah.” the discussion ends there. Meaning that that’s all the reason that these people needed to make a decision and continue playing. This leads to my implication, considering the force of this type of reasoning and the formality in the list of protocols from before, I assert that…
Games are Law and by that I mean that there is a kind of informal legalese that you can look for in how players discuss the rules. [CLICK] This is a familiar perspective from game theorists – who recognize that there is something completely arbitrary about playing a game and following rules for rule’s sake. Then when the rules are subject to change, what rhetoric do you depend on then? Some discussions that debate the interpretation and application of a game rule and decisions that end with, “well, that’s the rule.” This may be obvious to these theorists bu many game research and designers have focused heavily on the embedding game rules in code, discussing “unexpected use” as if it should be “unexpected programmed mods”, they jump to the engineering solution very quickly – so I offer this closing corollary…
In closing, Game is not all Code, we cannot look at a game system alone and expect a full picture of gameplay and I hope that game research and designer can see what new things can be examined or invented if we ease back a little from the automatic. Thank you.
Nobody talks during Yahoo! Games. This can’t be the case here. So.
2b) Following the lead of semj-automation
Naïve
[CLICK]
[CLICK]
How much can the rules change?
Given a set of potential rule-changes, how much of that set can be played within the game system?
Furthermore, given a set of potential rule-changes identify which of those are richly-supported or meagerly supported (this will show the robustness and versatility of the system)
Who can change the rules?
Who has authority over the adoption, interpretation, and enforcement of the rules?
Are players offered equal voices in these negotiations? (Account for differences in skills, personality, and other factors that influence power)
When can a player change the rules?
Before a game is adopted? During (e.g. live-tweaking)?
Quotes! Quotes! Quotes! (better than pictures)
Quotes!
Quotes!
Locus of Flexibility here…
Hide?
SKIP THIS…
Design reflection
Because as a designer, I have features that I am deciding to implement or discard. This vocabulary allows me to describe what I am doing when I am designing for robustness or versatility. For example, I may know that I can’t make it easy to support but if I offer a workaround, I can be satisfied that
MOVE THIS
Quotes!
A deck of cards is versatile because it is good Mom-style cribbage and it is good for many other styles of cribbage and other games as well. Yahoo! Cribbage is good not as versatile because it offers less paths. I will not that it is very optimized for Yahoo! Style Cribbage, and eliminates some of the tedium of a deck of cards – keeping track of score, shuffling, setting up a game, and cleaning it up afterwards are much more optimal in Yahoo! Cribbage.