Coding conduct: Games, Play, and Human Conduct Between Technical Code and Social Framing

coding conductSebastian Deterding (@dingstweets)Hans Bredow Institute for Media ResearchNovember 5, 2012, ITU Copenhagen

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We live in a code/space

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grrrl/115642628

HOW ALGORITHMS SHAPE OUR WORLD



Code is political: It governs conduct

Some actively use code to govern conduct

how does codeshape conduct?

Herbert Blumer

1. »Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them.«

2. »The meaning of such things is derived from ... the social interaction that one has with one‘s fellows.«

3. »These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters.«

symbolic interactionism (1969: 2)

No social meaning = inert object

how does code shape conduct,mediated by social meanings?

(and vice versa)

framessocial norms & understandings

codematerial rules, cues, capabilities

conductexperience

situated affordances

offloaded & stabilized in

appropriate, configure, frame

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Sociotechnical systemsInformation ecologiesSituated actionEmbodied interactionSocial contextures...

This is not a new question

Jane McGonigal

»What if we decided to use everything we know about game design to fix what‘s wrong with reality?«

reality is broken (2011: 7)

Health

Environment

Education

Life

persuasive technologyUsing computing technology to change attitudes and behaviours

video game playThe interaction of play as a frame and digital games as artefacts

gamificationUsing game design elements in non-game contexts

Ian Bogost

»Gamification is bullshit.«

gamification is bullshit (2011)http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4294/persuasive_games_shell_games.php

Me

»By putting game design elements into non-game contexts, gamification is a perfect natural experiment to study how code shapes conduct, mediated by social meanings (and vice versa) – and thus, move game design research forward.«

here (now)http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4294/persuasive_games_shell_games.php

two moves forward1. From games as interventions in systems to

the gameful redesign of systems2. From designing game artefacts to the

playful (re)framing of situations

1 Gamification isconfused and unsystemic.

Confu

sion

#1

The fun in games is »rewards«

Earn 1,000,000,000,000 points

Score: 964,000,000,000,000(You rock!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/diego_rivera/4261964210

Extrinsic motivation



Intrinsic motivation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/areyoumyrik/308908967



»Fun is just another word for learning.«

Raph Koster

a theory of fun for game design (2005)

Raph Koster

»Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. With games, learning is the drug.«

a theory of fun for game design (2005)

Edward Deci, Richard Ryan

»An understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.«

the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)



the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)

The fun in playing games chiefly arises from intrinsic enjoyment, not extrinsic incentives.

Con(fusion) #1

Confu

sion

#2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apartmentlife/6559123353/

You can »just add« game elements



Game Atoms

model/skill

rule system

goal

success! / failure!

actions

feedbackimmediate/progress

challenge

Fun arises from iteracting with a system

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8147452@N05/2913356030/sizes/o/

Adding elements changes system dynamics



Systems bound the effect of added elements

Con(fusion) #2»Gaminess« is not a feature you can »just add«.

2 motivational affordancesHow do game design elements interact with social contexts to afford intrinsic motivation?

DataAnalytics-driven

Tests, predictive models

PracticeDesigner-driven

Heuristics, methods

TaxonomyResearcher-driven

Patterns

TheoryResearcher-driven

Models (PENS, flow, …)




Heuristics, methods


Patterns



mostly anecdotal evidencelittle explanatory grounding




Heuristics, methods


Patterns



trapped in local maxima/not generative

no explanatory groundingno learnable understanding




Heuristics, methods


Patterns



not granular enoughno actionable form




Heuristics, methods


Patterns



either descriptive or assumption-based, then

prone to post hoc and success fallacies

no explanatory grounding




Heuristics, methods


Patterns



Motivational AffordancesTheoretically grounded, empirical, granular, actionable game design

+

motivational affordances1. How can we connect design patterns to

psychological research (and generate new)?2. How do pattern variations empirically

affect experience, motivation, behaviour?3. How do patterns interact in their effects?4.How are pattern effects mediated by

frames (and other context factors)?



conductexperience




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3 gameful designHow to (re)structure a system to facilitate motivation, using game design as a lens?


»Still feels add-on to me …«



Paul Watzlawick et al.

»These are two types of change: one that occurs within a given system which itself remains unchanged, and one whose occurrence changes the system itself… Second-order change is thus change of change.«

change (1974: 10)

»Mowing the lawn or waiting in a dentist’s office can become enjoyable provided one restructures the activity by providing goals, rules, and the other elements of enjoyment to be reviewed below.«

flow (1990: 51)Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

»Mowing the lawn or waiting in a dentist’s office can become enjoyable provided one restructures the activity by providing goals, rules, and the other elements of enjoyment to be reviewed below.«


How might we ...

restructure a system to support intrinsic enjoyment, using game design as a lens?

Games & game design as lenses

Put differently

If this were a game, it what ways would it be broken?

Games in Undergrad > Undergrad as game

Games in school > School as game

Games in class > Class as game

http://ww

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How to design a gameful classroom?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike52ad/4675696269



http://ww

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The Game Atoms of Classroom Learning

model/skill

rule system

goal

success! / failure!

actions

feedbackimmediate/progress

challenge

http://ww

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Goals: Intransparent; little choice; no small,attainable goals

Rules: Often intransparent

Challenge: Not adjusted to individual skill

Feedback: Slow, demotivating decay instead ofbuilding progress towards goals

gameful design1. What methods are currently in use in

designing games and gameful systems?2. How can we ground the various methods

and their effects theoretically?3. What are the effects of the different

methods – for designers and end products?4.How can we iteratetively amend and test

game and gameful design methods?

4 Gamification isthinking inside the box.

The Box

The BoxGameA designed artifact



PlayingA frame of engagement

debugging

playtesting/reviewing

presenting gameplay

making a machinima

a scientific study

learning (serious games)

sports (e-sports)

work (goldfarming)

»I need to be very routinized; I mustn’t let myself drift.« »I hammer it through.«»Often, you have to force yourself to do it.«»You’re under real pressure.«»It’s extremely exhausting.«»It wears you out.«»My friends usually cannot comprehend how stressful this is.«

»Sometimes, you have to play, you have to get further – and then, play is work.«

»The Electric Whip«

QuestionWhat makes the best game (elements) tedious work?

»I would call it a game – but I did not play it.«

»I would call it a game – but I did not play it.«

Designed artefact

Social frame

The frame of play

A frame is »the definition of a situation«: »basic frameworks of understanding available in our society for making sense out of events (and) … principles of organization which govern events ... and our subjective involvement in them.«

Erving Goffman

frame analysis (1974: 8, 10-11)

Are you »using« or »playing« it?

the magic circle!

Jonas Linderoth

digra nordic (2012)

>

Eric Zimmerman

»The magic circle jerk doesn’t exist. Nobody really takes the hard line that everyone wants to criticize. I’m sick of the magic circle jerk. Let’s bury the bastard.«

jerked around by the magic circle (2012)

Jesper Juul

»This has been a common thread in criticisms of the magic circle: ... theorists claim to counter Huizinga, Salen and Zimmerman by stressing the exact social nature of the magic circle that Huizinga, Salen and Zimmerman also stress.«

the magic circle and the puzzle piece (2008: 59)

Jesper Juul

»The magic circle is the boundary that players negotiate. (…)

Game scholarship should be about analyzing the conventions of this boundary, and how and when this boundary is created and negotiated.«

the magic circle and the puzzle piece (2008: 62)

So ...

What about this frame of video game play?

5 framing video game playWhat does the frame of video game play entail, and how is it co-constructed by users and artefacts?

»Sometimes, you have to play, you have to get further – and then, play is work.«

Johan Huizinga

»First and foremost, all play is a voluntary activity.«

homo ludens (1938/1950: 7)

Elemen

t

#1

»The key element of an optimal experience is that it is an end in itself.«




the what and why of goal pursuits (2000)

Detached engrossment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulgorman/1392988135

Elemen

t

#2



Shared autotelic focus

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/439410200

Elemen

t

#3



»It is through a community of people who care more about fun than winning that the Well-Played game happens.«

Bernie de Koventhe well-played game (1978: 5)

»Gamesmanship«


Elemen

t

#4



http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlatimer/5173242541

As-if

Elemen

t

#5



Chinese Gold Farming?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliandibbell/234192868/sizes/o/in/set-72157594279649151/



Keyings are »conventions by which a given activity, ... meaningful in terms of some primary framework, is transformed into something patterned on this activity but seen by the participants to be something quite else.«

Erving Goffman

frame analysis (1974: 43-44)

For instance: A »rehearsal«

http://www.flickr.com/photos/900hp/3961828112/sizes/o/



E-SportsGoldfarmingReview playAnalytic play

...

Modes/creative agendas

keyingsleisurely game play


...



in-autonomousinstrumental focusprofessional norms

professional distancefactual-material gearing

autonomousautotelic focusgamesmanship

detached engrossmentas-if gearing into the world


...



little norming high norming






...



little norming high norming





Modes of play

• Manifold, acquired in video game socialisation, historically and culturally divergent

• Bind »motivational relevancies«, social setup, game genre

• Govern

• Inhabitable roles

• (Displayed) attentive engrossment

• (Displayed) emotion and attitude

• Values, norms, rules, cues for behaviour

• Transformation rules: Gearing into the world

Pippin was first!

Situated

A necessary amendment

feedback

perceived as

controllingthwarts

autonomy

motivation

perceived as

informingsupports

competence

+

–

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Autonomy: Instrumental, not autotelic; little meaningful choice, little connection to personal goals and needs, often controlling feedback

Shared focus: Demonstrating proficiency, avoiding failure, following rules, maximizing grades

Gearing into the world: High factual stakes



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6 gaming the systemHow does implementing explicit rule systems affect framings?

»A social "out-out«

»A personal diary«

»the rule ofirrelevance«

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1209336/advanced-squad-leader?size=original

http://www.rasmusen.org/x/images/pd.jpg

Re$aming as strategic instrumental a&ion

»It is through a community of people who care more about fun than winning that the Well-Played game happens.«

Bernie de Koventhe well-played game (1978: 5)

Roger Cailloisman, play, and games (1958)

LudusPaidiaplay

improvisationexplorationtumultuousimmoderate

gameskill, effortstrategizing

orderedrule-bound

In short: a ludic framing

<Insert Dilbertcartoon here>

… fixates thinking inside the system, ...

… blends out = creates »externalities«, ...

So you also played EcoChallengeTM?

… crowds out communal ethics ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5tein/2347819903

… and encourages »gaming the system«



Donald T. Campbell

»The more a quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.«

assessing the impact of planned social change (1976)

gaming the system1. What are the forms, causes, and effects of

gaming the system across social domains?2. How does the design and social context of

systems invite a »ludic« framing?3. How can we design socio-technical

systems to avoid and/or alleviate »gaming the system«?



conductexperience




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7 Playful designHow can we design to invite a playful framing and thus, playful conduct?

Play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU7mN7KMHys
























































































































http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlerone/405730185/sizes/o/

What we usually design



Who decides whether this is play

(or playing is allowed)

Sylvan Steenhuisevoking playfulness in public space (2012: 6)

»How can I design a rigid structure that facilitates spontaneous behaviour?«

playful design1. What characterises a playful frame?2. What are effective methods, strategies,

patterns for inviting a playful (re)framing?3. How do the standing frames of different

contexts impact playful reframing, and how to take them into account?

how does code shape conduct,mediated by social meanings?

(and vice versa)



conductexperience




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in summary1. How can we (re)structure socio-technical

systems to afford intrinsic enjoyment?2. What are the frames of (video game) play,

and how are they situationally produced?3. How do we design socio-technical systems

to alleviate gaming the system?4.How do we design to invite playful

(re)framing and thus, playful conduct?

[email protected]

@dingstweets

codingconduct.cc

Thank you.

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