Playing it Out: Game-Making & Interactive Strategy

Jacob Watson, Creative Capacity Building Coordinator© 2014 For Youth Inquiry & Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health

3 R's : Reflect, Refresh, Renew

* Reflect - Ice-Breaker - Write down main purpose for attending session (index card)

* Refresh - Content - Experiential activities

* Renew - Closing - Memory minute into goal setting (other side of index card)

Our Purpose Today

Symbol Guide:

The Symbols

= Refreshing Experiential Learning Activity

= Verbal Reflection

= Written Reflection

Today’s Agenda:

•Part 1: Discovery: What is a Game? / Why Games?

•Part 2: Interpretation: Dissecting a Game

•Part 3: Ideation: Hacking a Game

•Part 4: Experimentation: Game as Metaphor

•Part 5: Evolution: Sharing our Games

Agenda

Be Fully Present. No Food or Phones.

Hands = High Five + Peace Sign

2 B4 Me

Experience Discomfort & Non-Closure.

OUCH + Snaps!

24 Hour Rule

Respect Time.

Use our Tools. Index Cards = Pants on Fire, Goal Setting, etc.

- CPS Arts Department, 2014

Agreements

1.) Hands raised for questions

2.) Peace sign fingers = Our quiet sign

3.) Talk time = 2 minutes

4.) No food or phones during session

5.) Index cards

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Housekeeping Reminders

Guiding Questions:

What is a game? What do you already know about games? What do you want to know?

Please Note: This goal is written on the colored index card in their folder.

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Part 1: Discovery Reflect – Ice-Breaker

Part 1: Discovery Why Games?

•Games are more than just energizers.

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“Critical play” (Mary Flanagan)

“Hard fun” (Seymour Papert)

Part 1: Discovery Why Games?

What is a Game?

•Structure: rules, repetition, pattern

•Success and failure (different than winning and losing!)

•Shared goal or task: teamwork, agreement, interaction

•Stakes (investment)

•Safe risks: alternate reality, clear “reason” for engagement, consent to play

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Part 1: Discovery Why Games?

Why Games?

Games help youth:

•Define social norms and identity

•Practice for real life

•Negotiate the risks of the adult world without fear of failure

•Develop group identity and bond

•Perform utopian revisions of the world (rehearsal for revolution)

•Get in “flow”

•Experiment and transgress

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Part 1: Discovery Why Games?

The 4 P’s of Participation:•Pleasure•Pretend •Practice •Power

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Name of Strategy: Dissecting a Game

Definition of Strategy: Play the game “Can I Touch You?” and consider the variables involved.

•Use of Strategy: To understand what games are made of.

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Part 2: Interpretation Refresh – Strategy #1

• Space – Where game is played. Virtual or real

• Rules – What can or can't do in game

• Mechanics– How game is played

• Components– What game is made of

• Goals– To complete game

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Part 2: Interpretation Elements of a Game

Name of Strategy: Dissecting a Game

Reflection Question: What is this game made of? How did these variables affect your experience of the game? Your ability to learn from the game?

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Part 2: InterpretationPartner Reflection – Strategy #1

Name of Strategy: Hacking a Game

Definition of Strategy: Play the game “Cross the Lava” and change one variable:

•Space

•Rules

•Mechanics

•Components

•Goals

Use of Strategy: To understand how games function as complex systems.

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Part 3: IdeationRefresh – Strategy #2

Name of Strategy: Hacking a Game

Reflection Question: How did the game change when the variables changed? How did this affect your experience of the game or your ability to learn from the game?

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Part 3: IdeationPartner Reflection – Strategy #2

Name of Strategy: Game as Metaphor

Definition of Strategy: Examine the behaviors and actions (“core mechanics”) of a game like “Tag” – what real-life behaviors do they mimic? Choose a game from the list to adapt with your group into a learning opportunity.

Use of Strategy: To apply game structures to real-life situations in order to create opportunities for learning.

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Part 4: ExperimentationRefresh – Strategy #3

Name of Strategy: Game as Metaphor

Reflection Question: What kinds of learning did these games encourage? What kind of behaviors did they suggest? How were they facilitated to allow for learning and discovery?

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Part 5: Evolution Partner Reflection – Strategy #3

Closing Questions:

What 3 strategies/ideas/concepts will you take away from this session? How were your needs met?

How has your understanding of a game shifted? How might you be able to use games in your curriculum?

Please Note: This goal is written on the back-side of the colored index card in the participant’s folder.

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Renew – Goal Setting