Schedule
:: Lesson 1 :: Track A
Summaries :: Track
B Summaries
Wolf, Chapter 6: Genre and the video game
Reading summary/quotes:
Wolf starts with a comparison of film and game genres. The study of
games is different from movies because of the participation of user
with the game. His game classification system takes into consideration
the interaction required by the game’s primary objective, not just
iconography. This is a way to avoid the ambiguity of theme
classification, although there are still hybrid games that combine two
or more genres. Player participation and interaction are necessary
components in determining video game genre. The bulk of the chapter is
spent on describing and giving examples for each of the 42 genres.
It was very interesting how the author divided genre's even when they
were very similar, i.e. collecting and catching, which are simply
separated by the fact that the object to catch is moving, whereas if
the object does not move, it is collecting.
The idea of genres for games is very helpful because it forces one to
think about the kinds of objectives and interactions the game has,
shouldn't have, or should have. For example, one might start out to
design a game that has some puzzle aspects to it, but may inadvertently
include aspects that would make it adventure, or some other category
which wasn't intended.
“Video game genre study differs markedly from literary or film genre
study due to the direct and active participation of the audience in the
form of the surrogate player-character, who acts within the game’s
diegetic world, taking part in the central conflict of the game’s
narrative (p. 114).”
“By beginning with the interaction required by the games primary
objective, we can start to divide the wide variety of video games into
a series of interactive genres (p. 114).”
“In some ways, player participation is arguably the central determinant
in describing and classifying video games—even more so than iconography
(p. 114).”
"…classification by iconography ignores the fundamental differences and
similarities which are to be found in the player’s experience of the
game (p. 115).”
“Of course, any proposed system of genres will be the subject of debate
and criticism. At the same time, coming up with a consistent and
comprehensive list of genres that attempts to define and articulate the
boundaries of each is a much more difficult task than criticizing
existing lists (p. 134).”
Discussion points/questions:
- How do game classifications change with time?
- How can having a list of genres benefit game designers?
- Why do the genres need to be so specific, why so many?
- What should be included in the description for the educational game
classification?
- How does theory relate to genre?
- On what characteristic should games be categorized? Should it be on
interaction, lesson learned, characters, objectives?
Holland, Jenkins, & Squire, Chapter 1: Theory by
design
Reading summary/quotes:
The article begins with a discussion of emerging game theory. This is
compared to the emergence of film theory, which also went through a
period of rapid transformation early in its history. MIT’s Comparative
Media Studies Program has encouraged public debates between academics,
game design professionals, and gamers. MIT’s Games-to-Teach (GTT)
Project involves designing and implementing games that can be used in
education. Four projects highlighted are Hephaestus, Supercharged!,
Biohazard, and Environmental Detectives. Each of these educational
games seeks to integrate game action that is relevant to the
instructional goal of the game. In other words, these four games go far
beyond the generic, fill-in-the-blank, jeopardy style educational games
that are so common these days.
Theory comes about as a means to explain and classify processes that we
use in different situations, be it art, music, or gaming. Theory most
often comes from and begins with actual practitioners, not necessarily
academics. Games present more then simple visualizations or lectures in
that they offer “microworlds” in which users have a context for solving
problems interactively and directly contributing to a solution, thus
providing them with satisfaction. Gaming must be used within
educational contexts and practices to be most effective as an
instructional tool, it can't be used in a “vacuum”. In order to promote
transfer of knowledges to other contexts, games must be used with other
forms of instruction and not simply by themselves.
GTT “seeks to encourage greater public awareness of the pedagogical
potentials of games by developing a range of conceptual frameworks that
show in practical terms how games might be deployed to teach math,
science, and engineering at an advanced secondary or early
undergraduate level (p. 27).”
“Our group starts from the assumption that educational games need to be
inserted into larger learning contexts, not operate in a vacuum (p.
28).” This is one reason why most successful educational games have
been developed for younger (elementary school) children thus far. It is
easier to design games for younger kids because they have more limited
learning contexts than say High School students. This is not to say
good educational games can’t be developed for older students, but the
subject matter is usually more complex so the design of an educational
game with relevant action would have to be more intricate as well.
During the development process of Environmental Detectives, the
designers realized that there were major usability issues in
“developing a framework for educators to design scenarios (p. 42).” It
is important to consider usability in every step of the design process.
This is clearly a major challenge that the GTT Project seems to be
addressing.
Related articles/class discussions:
- Virvou article (Week 1 Track B): Combining
software games with education: Evaluation of its educational
effectiveness. This study compares a game-based Intelligent Tutoring
System (ITS) with a conventional ITS. One weakness of the comparison is
that the action of the game-based ITS is not relevant to the
educational goal. In contrast, the game action in Supercharged! is very
relevant to the educational context of learning about
electromagnetism.
- Class discussion: The importance of game action of an educational
being relevant to the instructional goal of the game.
Discussion points/questions:
- What are some common elements of successful educational games?
- Why must gaming be used in conjunction with other instructional
methods and not just by itself?
- How do games aid in keeping a learner's attention so
effectively?
- Can games be developed for individual differences?
- How do you help the worlds of gaming and education work
together?
Contributors: Tom Caswell, Marion Jensen, Jennifer Jorgensen,
Jon Scoresby, and Tim Stowell