Game Genres: For the Design and Evaluation of Future Learning Environments

GAME GENRES FOR THE DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF

FUTURE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTSBrad Mehlenbacher

with Jennifer Riehle, Madeline Coven, Jameson Hogan, Christopher Kampe, John Martin, Charlene Mutamba,

Jessie Stellini, and Keith Wickliffe

CRDM Research Symposium: Emerging Genres, Narratives, Forms in New Media 19 April 2013

Friday, April 19, 13

GAMES & LEARNING DESIGN (EAC 795)

How people design and learn from games is of enormous interest to contemporary researchers and educators given that recent surveys of Americans over 15 show that they spend about the same amount of time every day “playing games or using the computer for leisure” as they do “relaxing or thinking” (U.S. Department of Labor, 2006).

U.S. Department of Labor (2006). American Time Use Survey: Leisure and Sports Activities. Bureau of Labor Statistics Report. Available online: http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/leisure.htm.


http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/leisure.htm

http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/leisure.htm

GAME TEXT EXAMPLESHuizinga, J. (1955). Homo ludens; a study of the play-element in culture. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Caillois, R. (1958, 2001). Man, play, and games. Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press (originally translated from the French by Meyer Barash).

Sutton-Smith, B. (1997). The ambiguity of play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (Eds.). (2006). The game design reader: A rules of play anthology. Cambridge, MA: MIT P.

Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy, 2nd Ed. NY, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.


Photo credit: http://www.gamingsymmetry.com/

We have to conclude, therefore, that civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play like a baby detaching itself from the womb: it arises in and as play, and never leaves it.

Huizinga, J. (1955). Homo ludens; a study of the play-element in culture. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.


http://www.gamingsymmetry.com/



TRADITIONAL DEFINITIONS OF GAME GENRES

“This proactive production by players of story elements, a visual-motoric-auditory-decision-making symphony, and a unique real-virtual story produces a new form of performance art coproduced by players and game designers” (p. 61).

Gee, J. P. (2006). Why game studies now? Video games: A new art form. Games and Culture, 1, 58-61.

“... for the sake of brevity, this article will utilize case studies of four of the more popular video game genres: simulation, strategy, action, and role-playing games” (p. 8).

Apperley, T. H. (2006). Genre and game studies: Toward a critical approach to video game genres. Simulation & Gaming, 37 (1), 6-23.



McCann (2009) echoes some of the same “broadly accepted genres around which librarians can organize their game collections.” These “genres” include:

“Action, Action-Adventure, Adventure, MMORPG (Massively Multiple Online Role-Playing Games), Music, Role-Playing, Simulation, Sports, Strategy” (p. 56).

McCann, S. (2009). Game genres. Library Journal, January, 56.



“The genres covered in this list are as follows: Abstract, Adaptation, Adventure, Artificial Life, Board Games, Capturing, Card Games, Catching, Chase, Collecting, Combat, Demo, Diagnostic, Dodging, Driving, Educational (“Games which are designed to teach”), Escape, Fighting, Flying, Gambling, Interactive Movie, Management Simulation, Maze, Obstacle Course, Pencil-and-Paper Games, Pinball, Platform, Programming, Games, Puzzle, Quiz, Racing, Role Playing, Rhythm and Dance, Shoot ‘Em Up, Simulation, Sports, Strategy, Table-Top Games, Target, Text Adventure, Training Simulation, and Utility” (p. 117).

Wolf, M. J. P. (Ed.). (2001). The medium of the video game. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.



“One possible genre of applications is augmented reality simulations, simulations in which virtual data are connected to real-world locations and contexts.... By simulating a virtual investigation, educators can potentially initiate students into environmental science as a coherent social practice, as opposed to a set of disconnected procedures or body of facts” (p. 372).

Squire, K., & Klopfer, E. (2007). Augmented reality simulations on handheld computers. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 16 (3), 371-413.


REDEFINING GAME GENRES

“Key variables differentiating these genres might include time to completion, replayability, and degrees of open-ended problem solving (i.e., is there one right solution or are there multiple acceptable solution paths?). Notice that this is not a traditional genre grouping in that it does not distinguish by content (science fiction vs. elves and orcs, for example) (p. 171).

Squire, K. (2008). Open-ended video games: A model for developing learning in the interactive age. In K. Salen (Ed.) The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning.


REDEFINING GAME GENRES

“A classification of discourse will be rhetorically sound if it contributes to an understanding of how discourse works—that is, if it reflects the rhetorical experience of the people who create and interpret the discourse. A useful principle of classification for discourse, then, should have some basis in the conventions of rhetorical practice, including the ways actual rhetors and audiences have of comprehending the discourse they use” (p. 152).

“... typified rhetorical actions based in recurring situations” (p. 159).

Miller, C. R. (1984). Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70, 151-167.


THE SOCIAL LIFE OF GAME DEVELOPMENT

ANNOUNCEMENT TEASER/TRAILER DEMO/BETA LAUNCH/RELEASECOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

3rd-PARTY MODIFICATIONS EXPANSIONS SEQUELS

User community develops around game play and strategy.

Community may develop modi!cations to the game elements, narrative, rules, etc.

Game may have o"cial add-ons to the original game, often inspired by community input.

Game testing/ demonstration

Cycle begins againPreview of game

Initial statement of release

GAME GENRE SET


HALF-LIFE

ANNOUNCEMENT TEASER/TRAILER DEMO/BETA LAUNCHCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 3rd-PARTY MODS EXPANSIONS SEQUELS

Test versions for advance release

Half-Life 2 announcedPreview at E3 conference (1997)

Valve Software founded; joins with Sierra On-Line (1996)

Websites (gamespot.com)Online forumsTutorials (YouTube)Half-Life:Uplink movieFan !ctionGatherings for gameplay (in-person and online)

Counter-StrikeNarbacular DropBlack Mesa

Team FortressHalf-Life: Opposing Force Half-Life: Blue ShiftHalf-Life:Decay

HALF-LIFE


ICE HOCKEY

TEASER/TRAILER DEMO/BETA LAUNCHCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 3rd-PARTY MODS EXPANSIONS SEQUELS

Pre-season games New seasonPre-season tickets sales and promotional events

Dates/schedule of new season announced Websites (tsn.com)

Online forumsGatherings for game watchingMinor leagues

Fantasy hockey teamsHockey video and arcade games

Adding teams to the league

projectChanges to divisionsAll-Star gameDraft

ICE

HO

CK

EY

ANNOUNCEMENT

Regular season begins


EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH & PRACTICE•Game audiences, not only game experiences, encourage gamer

engagement, participation, and collaboration surrounding game events.

• Support information, communities, and instructional spaces for novice, intermediate, and expert learners develop.

•Gamers negotiate similar game features and the various discourse communities that emerge via the gaming community.

•Games can facilitate problem solving, creativity, reflection, collaboration, and engaged participation.


EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH & PRACTICE•Genre sets for games explicate abstract concepts such as

understanding, learning, motivation, knowledge, expertise, and deep involvement.

• Subject matters can be presented from various perspectives, invite increased participation, and encourage our capacity to build and share.

•Game designers and players collaborate, communicate, contribute, and evaluate different game releases.


THANK YOU!QUESTIONS?

Photo credit: http://synergizmo.comFriday, April 19, 13

http://synergizmo.com/

http://synergizmo.com/