Actionable vs. Emancipatory Game Design Research

Ac#onable  vs.  Emancipatory    Game  (Design)  Research  

Capturing  Game  Design:  Who  Should  Care?  

Aki  Järvinen  Lead  Social  Designer,  Ph.D.  

May  31,  2010  

Aki Järvinen has a unique mix of experience from:

Mobile game design Online & Social game design Online gambling design Board game design User experience design Business development Academic research & development

Since 2009, focusing on Social Games: •  first doing contract work for startups both in the US & Scandinavia •  from January 2010, as the Lead Social Designer at Digital Chocolate Helsinki Studio

Aki  Järvinen,    Social  Game  Developer,  Ph.D  

DChoc:  From  Mobile  to  Social  Games  

The  Problem  

and  puPng  it  into  context  

Goals  of  the  talk  •  The  talk  discusses  the  different  interests  for  knowledge  

between  those  researching  game  design,  those  prac#cing  it,  and  those  doing  both.    

•  What  are  the  key  pragma#c  aspects  of  game  design  in  a  commercial  context  that  o/en  make  it  theory-­‐aversive?    

•  Can  game  design  ac#vity  be  captured  for  research  purposes,  and  more  importantly  what  domains  of  knowledge  would  that  serve?    

•  What  is  the  role  of  design  management  in  this?    •  The  talks  aims  at  giving  researchers  sensi#vity  towards  the  

challenges  game  designers  face  daily,  and  places  game  design  prac#ces  into  the  contexts  of  design  management.  

Problem  formula#on  •  How  can  game  studies/research  produce  results  that  are  ac9onable  for  game  design,  and  who  are  the  stakeholders  in  this?  

•  Caveat:  Not  all  game-­‐related  research  needs  to  contribute  to  prac#cal  game  design  –  but  be  honest  about  it!  

•  Yet:  Ac#onable  results  best  emerge  from  the  prac#cal  experience  of  design  within  marketplace  and  management  constraints;  when  academic  problem  formula#on  combines  with  the  tacit  knowledge  of  game  design  prac#ces    

Contextualiza#on  of  the  problem  

•  Jürgen  Habermas:  Knowledge  Cons#tu#ve  Interests  

•  ’Habermas'  basic  claim  is  that  different  forms  of  knowledge  with  different  object  domains  and  standards  of  validity  are  cons#tuted  by  different  interests  that  are  founded  in  dis#nct  forms  of  human  ac9vity.’    

Design  &  Research  

Clarifica#on:    I  do  not  believe  that  only  u#litarian  research  is  useful;  I  do  believe  in  the  

tradi#onal  role  of  academia  

Design  •  ‘Every  problem  posed  to  a  designer  demands  that  the  constraints  of  technology,  ergonomics,  produc#on,  and  the  marketplace  be  factored  in  and  a  balance  be  achieved.’  

•  ‘Design  [...]  is  a  process  of  crea#on  and  decision  making.’    

•  Design  and  corporate  strategy:  Design  is  a  tool  for  making  strategy  visible  

(Borja  de  Mozota:  Design  Management,  2004)  

Design  management  •  ‘Design  management  is  the  planned  implementa#on  of  design  in  a  company  to  help  the  company  achieve  its  objec#ves.’  (ibid.)  

•  Academically  studied  by,  e.g.,  Brigije  Borja  de  Mozota  in  Paris  

•  Why  is  this  important?  –  because  the  game  designer  reports  to  whomever  is  responsible  for  design/studio  management  

–  thus  the  knowledge  gained  from,  e.g.  research,  is  subject  to  evalua#on  in  an  organiza#onal  structure  

Design  as  Process:  The  4  Cs  •  Crea.vity  •  Complexity  

•  Compromise  

•  Choice  •  =  Design  is  both  a  crea#ve  and  a  management  process  

•  Which  of  these  does  your  research  address?  

Design  Research  •  Three  possible  dimensions:  

– Research  for  design  – Research  into  design  – Research  as  design  

(Lunenfeld  in  Laurel  [ed.]  Design  Research,  2004)  

•  Q:  In  your  work,  do  you  explicitly  iden#fy  your  work  belonging  into  one  or  more  of  these  dimensions?  

Who  are  the  actors  in  GDR?  •  ‘designer  is  an  entrepreneur,  an  authority  in  aesthe#cs,  and  an  ini#ator  of  change  in  the  society’  

•  players  –  the  ones  who  want  to  have  fun  •  researchers  –  those  who  try  to  observe  and  understand,  from  various  perspec#ves?  

Game  Design  Researcher’s  posi#on?  

How  to  be  cuPng  edge?  •  E.g.  with  the  metrics-­‐driven  development  in  the  social  games  industry,  it  is  very  difficult  to  do  academic  research  (outside  technology)  that  is  cuPng  edge  

•  -­‐  from  afar!  

•  Poten#al  of  methods  such  as  Ac#on  research  and  Ethnography  

Gallup  part  1  •  Q:  How  many  of  you  do  research  with  the  inten#on/belief  that  it  can  contribute  to/inform  game  design  in  prac#ce?  

Gallup  part  2  •  Q:  How  many  of  you  do  research  with  the  inten#on/belief  that  it  can  contribute  to/inform  commercial  game  design  in  prac#ce?  

Ac#onable  or  Emancipatory?  

Ask  this  of  your  research;  which  kind  of  knowledge  is  it  targe#ng?  

The  Ques#on  of  Ac#onable  •  How  to  surpass  the  insufficient  ‘theory  vs.  prac#ce’  dis#nc#on?    

•  How  about:  research  that  either  creates  ac#onable  vs.  ‘non-­‐ac#onable’  results?  –  Ac#onable  implies  immediacy,  applica#on  

–  Non-­‐ac#onable  implies  reflec#on,  emancipa#on  

•  Yet  ‘non’  is  a  nega#on  with  connota#ons  •  Therefore  let’s  call  it  Emancipatory:    

–  Emancipa.on:  ‘set  free,  esp.  from  legal,  social,  or  poli.cal  restric.ons’  

Habermas’  categories  [reference  (.doc)]  

Commercial    Game  Design  

Academic  Game    Research  

Emancipatory  research  results  tend  to  be:  

•  Descrip9ve  –  rather  than  prescrip#ve  –  in  tone  •  ‘Packaged’  into  academic  discourse  •  Non-­‐specific  in  terms  of  demographics  

•  Or,  too  specific  to  the  point  of  being  marginal  •  At  best  inspira9onal  for  ac#onable  purposes,  yet  may  

demand  an  extra  layer  of  interpreta9on  (i.e.  a  specific  skillset)  in  order  to  be  ac#onable  

•  Example:  ‘Game  layers  of  DJ  Hero‘  -­‐  Games  as  Services  project,  University  of  Tampere,  Finlandhjp://futureplayproject.wordpress.com/resources/  

Ac#onable  results  tend  to  be:  •  such  that  relate  explicitly  to  a  specific  design  domain  &  

problem  –  note  the  parallel  to  crea9vity  oren  being  domain-­‐specific  

•  prescrip9ve  •  tangible  –  repackaged  for  the  design  stakeholders  •  such  that  discuss  consequences  for  exis#ng  business/

educa#on/development  models  or  methods  

•  pragma9c:  Something  you  can  sell  to  your  boss  in  commercial  contexts  

•  Example:  Gamespace  project  -­‐  hjp://gamelab.uta.fi/gamespacetool/  

Conclusions  •  Claim:  Any  research  that  does  not  aim  at  ac#onable  results  cannot  call  itself  ‘design  research’  or  anything  ‘design’  for  that  majer  –  even  ‘design  theory’  implies  prac#ce!  

•  If  your  goal  is  to  produce  emancipatory  knowledge,  just  call  your  work  game  studies  or  game  research!  

•  Whichever  road  you  choose,  in  the  process  you  will  come  to  define  your  primary  audience  

•  ...and  it  is  them  who  should  care.  

Thank  you.  

Emancipatory  contact:  

 aki@gameswithoutron#ers.net  

Ac#onable  contact:  

[email protected]  

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