Ds 3141 experience design & social inquiry in games

Jonathan Lamb April 21, 2014

DES 3141 Guest Lecture:

Experience Design & Social Inquiry in GamesPerspectives on play, emergence, and the new role of games from Six Days in Fallujah

Societal Roles of Games

Game & Play Concepts

Play vs GameThe Magic CircleAbstractionAgency

Design Considerations

Interactive NarrativeEmergenceOpen vs Closed SystemWayfinding

Cultural & Ethical Significance

Gift of FailurePrototyping the WorldPerspective & Empathy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40-wT1IXeGU

Game Definition

“A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome”

Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman

Play vs Games

“Play is older than culture, for culture... presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for men to teach them their playing.”

Homo LudensJohan Huizinga

"The Magic Circle"Homo Ludens Johan Huizinga

Abstraction

Games provide a simplified world model to explore specific inquiries and challenges.

Agency

Games are fundamentally about decisions and challenges.

Hell House

Set Up: 3rd Platoon, Kilo is clearing a 6-block area west of the company’s firm base, pushing east to west. 2nd platoon is standing by for backup. Fireteams are spread thin by this point, clearing by fire with SAWs, Mark 19s, and hand grenades before entering any structure.

Cpl. Ryan Weemer, Lcpl. Carlisle, and Lcpl. Prentice have difficulty opening one gate on their lane. Weemer is leaving it for another squad to come by, but Sgt. Pruitt and Sgt. Eldridge see the fireteam having difficulty and help them break through the gate. Across the street, Cpl. Sanchez is finishing clearing a house with his fireteam (Lcpl Farmer and Lpcl Severtsgard). SSgt. Chandler is watching over activity on the street.

Pruitt: “Hey, there’s a main gate to this one over here, let’s go!”

1. After breaking the gate open, the five Marines fan out into the courtyard. An outhouse is immediately to the left, inside which they notice fresh feces (indicating the presence of at least one insurgent). The rectangular house is a conventional configuration, five rooms built around a common living room area, which is lined by a staircase to the roof.

Weemer is a CQB specialist so he leads the fireteam stack on the front door, drawing his M9 service pistol.

Pruitt: “They’re inside man, they’re inside!”

2. Weemer enters and spots an unprepared insurgent sitting in the corner of the foyer. He shuffles laterally, firing three rounds with his M9. Carlisle freezes in the doorway, not expecting the insurgent to be so close. Pruitt yells “GO!” and shoves him inside. The insurgent is probably already going down from Weemer, but a tightly-wound Carlisle starts firing with his M16.

Weemer: “Stop! Stop shooting!.”

3. Pruitt and Sgt. Eldridge post as security on the front door. Weemer and Carlisle stack to take down the next room (commons) while Prentice covers the doorway with his SAW.

4. Weemer and Carlisle enter directly into the muzzle blast of an AK-47. Weemer empties his pistol magazine into the shooter while shuffling right/south along the wall. Carlisle fires at another insurgent in the room to his left (head) who seems to go down. When Weemer’s pistol runs dry, he and Carlisle shuffle back to the foyer while his target continues firing with the AK. He was hit several times but will not go down.

5. The insurgent’s rounds miss Weemer and Carlisle, but hit both Pruitt and Eldridge through the doorway into the foyer. Eldridge is hit multiple times in his arm and shoulder. Pruitt is hit in the leg and wrist. They both limp out of the house and outside the

Recreation vs Re-enactment

Fun vs Resonance

Designing for Emergence

Wayfinding & Information Architecture

Shanties

Mortar Position

Hardpoint

Entry Point

Cover

Open ground

Trench 1

Trench 2

Trench 3

F. Wheel/Building

Ride 1

Ticket BuildingOctopus

Fountain

Trench 4

Ruin

Direct Path

Fire Advantage

Shack 1

Ride2

Ride 3

Shack 2

Zero Sum

3/1

1/1

1/1

2/2

0/1

2/1

3/2

3/2

1/2

2/1

0/2

3/1

4/3

0/4

2/2

Field

Storytelling Storymaking

Transcript-As-Story

Experience Design as a System

Inputs Outputs

Byproducts

Processes

Influences

Experience Design as a System

OutputsSkillsInformationCatharsisEmpathyMemoriesNew Mental Models...

ProcessesGoalsRulesPhysicsRoleAgentsChallenges

ByproductsEmotionsSocial Effects...

InfluencesEnvironmentMental State...

InputsMotivationsExperiencesExpectationsPrior KnowledgeMental Models...

"It's Just a Game."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0oOGjEATjw

The Gift of FailureWhen we leave the Magic Circle, we carry away lessons but leave behind consequences.

Prototype

"An original or first model of something from which other forms are copied or developed"

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

"Fail Early, Fail Often"

Prototyping the World

Strategic ForesightDisaster & Conflict ScenariosEpidemiologyTraining & Performance ImprovementUrban Simulation

Interrogating Culture

Games can pose questions that intimately explore perspectives, roles, and challenges to create deeper empathy with each other, and to build new understanding of the world and our possible futures.