UCB SIMS INFOSYS 208B: Analysis of Information Organizations: “Analyzing Play and Games as Information Systems.” Michael P. Carter, Ph.D. 3/29/04 [email protected].

UCB SIMS INFOSYS 208B: Analysis of Information Organizations: “Analyzing Play and Games as Information Systems.” Michael P. Carter, Ph.D. 3/29/04 [email protected]

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The First Slide

How I came here

What I’d like to describe:

Games I’ve knownas first time useras designer, programmer, produceras father of twinsas director of research for Apple’s Advanced Technology Groupas videogame producer

The Knowledge Community Pitch

Game’s I’m Learning About as an Education Program Consultant to Foundations

Some things I’ve learned:it’s all about the rulesit’s all about the storiesits all about the players


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GAMES I’VE KNOWN… as first-time user

Animal (Twenty Questions)• early 70’s, Kiewit Hall, Dartmouth Time-Sharing System (DTSS)• an algorithm + an animal + a community = a menagerie• managing the zoos (scrubbing)

Football• programmed by John Kemeny, RA to Albert Einstein, co-inventor of BASIC, President of Dartmouth College• this is not the Pac 10

Adventure• with Hunt the Wumpus, the roots of MMORPG• character development is in your head

SimCity• Created by Will Wright and discovered by Jeff Braun• Based on a theory of urban ecology (hint: love light rail)


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GAMES I’VE KNOWN… as a designer, programmer, producer (This, These, Things Like That)

Tribunal and Demogame/Demoform/Demo…• designed and programmed in mid-seventies on DTSS• a very specific historical concept (revisionism) and an orthodoxy toolkit

The Would-Be Gentleman (FAD and Carolyn Lougee)• wrapped in social history of the era of Louis XIV (very consuming)• sequel 2003 a simulation engine (funded by ALLL)

The TheaterGame (Charles Kerns and Larry Friedlander)• solution for the “Shakespeare is not just a …”• extended individual performance into an all-role work product to share

Mogul (Charles Kerns and Henry Breitrose)• apprenticeship in the early movie industry, staff Adolph Zuckor• emotional investment without historical liberties

Shogai (coming of age in Japan) & Alias (social science simulation toolkit)• Harumi Befu and Brodie Lockard (mid-eighties, born of the age of the Mac and Hypercard)

• specific cultural context, generalized authoring environment (but needed coder)


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GAMES I’VE KNOWN… as a father of twins (N > 1)

Cosmic Osmo• published in 1989 by Cyan, distributed by Activision• developed by creators of Man Hole, a Hypercard-based product, and then Myst• my interest: mousing for two

Guess-A-Sketch• produced by Digiplaent about 1997; closed down, reinvented in 2001• my interest: socializing with the world (2x10=20)

American Idol• Fox Television, 2002-present, Simon Cowell, executive producer• my interest: my daughters participating in a small and a humongous community of players.


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GAMES I’VE KNOWN… as Director of Education Research at Apple’s Advanced Technology Group (when there was one)

Visual Almanac• published in 1989 by Apple’s San Francisco Multimedia Laboratory• collection of multimedia objects and tools for teachers & kids to create with• real attempt to get what digital media kids might use to express themselves

Aspen Kids Project• summer of 1990 at International Design Conference• kids making collections of multimedia objects and manipulating them

Wireless Coyote• produced in 1991 by Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT)• kids in a canyon with all sorts of toys with which to do science

MediaFusion• produced in 1992 by Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) (software by Rick Borovoy, now Ph.D. from MIT/Media Lab [see iBall] and co-founder of nTag)

• kids on opposite sides of the continent talking issues


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What’s My Story?™

GAMES I’VE KNOWN… as videogame producer


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What?• CDROM published in 1995 by Digital Pictures, distributed by Brøderbund (back then, one of CDROM Today’s “Best 100 Discs Ever”)• collection of movies of eight folk tales• Individual story elements (scenes looped at cut represented by first frame)• series of Story building exercises (e.g, pick a character, what is that character’s worst fear, how does that character overcome their worst fear)• children’s tales captured in audio while selected scenes are knit together• music and sound effects studio collection• designed for non-readers

Why?• help children learn to tell stories by giving them characters in context, exercises to practice and rich media accompaniment• story tellers learn stories more avidly• kids building stories alone or together have a lot of fun!• to offset Sewer Shark, Night Trap, etc.

GAMES I’VE KNOWN… as videogame producer

What’s My Story?™


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What?• middleware wizards wanted to do education; VC’s said, “corporate training”• Executive education play• three generations of collaborative platform, integrated Duke’s DEEP• IDEO collaborated on for time-based, self-paced, tool-oriented content• Software Development Kit (SDK) for design, development and production

THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH

Pensare Knowledge Community


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THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Communities Abound

FROM, “Learning Together, Working Better,” Michael P. Carter, Ph.D., Chief Learning Architect, Pensare, Inc., Kompetanse 2001, Oslo, Norway, 1 February 2001”

• Technology does not create communities, but, communities absorb technology


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• Gathering places have become virtual


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• Exchange is its own reward


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(Amy Jo Kim, Community Building on the Web)

THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Community Strategies

• Define and articulate your PURPOSE• Build flexible, extensible gathering PLACES• Create meaningful and evolving member

PROFILES• Design for a range of ROLES• Develop a strong LEADERSHIP program• Encourage appropriate ETIQUETTE• Promote cyclic EVENTS• Integrate the RITUALS of community life• Facilitate member-run SUBGROUPS


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THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:A Listening Post


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THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:A Sales Convention without the Bar

See, also, Leadership MUD


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THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:An Executive Retreat without the Golf


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THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Architecting learning together for better work

• Platform as Medium• Content as Catalyst• Tools as Learning• Contributions as Centerpiece• Collaboration as Value going Forward


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• Where things are timely and relevant to work

THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Platform as Medium


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• Where others know things you would like to



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• A place that complements the classroom



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THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Content as Catalyst

• Content created with scholars and practitioners


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• Content is “chunked” to be accessible everyday



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• Content fits within technical and cognitive limits



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• Delivered to evoke insights into work life



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• Tools are designed to reinforce, capture, be useful



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• Tools work for you when you can do more or less



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• Contributions represent learning and work captured

THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Contributions as Centerpiece


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• Tagging the contribution makes it accessible


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• Profiling puts people in touch with their works



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• Experts judge when they can, colleagues every day

THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Collaboration as Value Going Forward


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• A comment is worth a dozen contributions


[See, also, CSILE

from OISE:

www.oise.utoronto.ca]


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• When it can’t wait, there is chat



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• As it evolves, there is threaded discussion



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Unlike the meeting, the convention, the retreat, a knowledge community is a process, not an event. People continue to learn to work better together.

THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY PITCH:Conclusions

See, also, ChangeCompanion www.changecompanion.com

http://www.changecompanion.com/


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GAMES I’M LEARNING ABOUT… as an Education Program Consultant to Foundations

Immersive and Pervasive Games

Pervasive games (Can You See Me Now? B.U.G. (Big Urban Game), …)• USE mobile and embedded technologies in novel ways• FOR location specific & contest aware challenges & interactions• TO CREATE mixed, augmented, or adjacent realities

Immersive games (The Beast, Majestic, … )ALL THAT, IN SERVICE OF • unbounded, unframed, open-ended [play] in everyday wrap• massive goal or solving a sprawling mystery cooperatively• alternate realities ….

Unfiction [in direct opposition to Machinima, but what a story; cf. non-fiction according to Star Wars Galaxies]

“The Runaway Game: Spectacle and Performance in Networked Play,” Jane McGonigal, UCB Center for New Media, at Story Engines: Storytelling and Computer Games, Stanford U., 2/6/04.


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GAMES I’M LEARNING ABOUT… as an Education Program Consultant to Foundations

Designing Social Interaction in Games: core mechanic, magic circle, lusory attitude, the metagame (and “chording the controller”)

MMRPS – Massively Multiplayer Rock-Paper-Scissors

There.com: User-Created Content and the Metagame (e.g.,TRLG, AdBo)

World Game Player Lifecycle: Confusion, Excitement, Involvement, Boredom (www.costik.com)

Rich Bartle’s Player Types: Achievement, Exploration, Socializing, Imposition (www.mud.co.uk.richard/hcds.htm)

Nick Yee, MMORPG motivation: Achievement, Immersion, Socialization, and Escapism(“The Demographics of Motivation”: www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000753,php)

“Multiplayer Play: Designing Social Interaction in Games,” Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman, Greg Costikyan, Kira Snyder, IGDC2004

http://www.costik.com/

http://www.mud.co.uk.richard/hcds.htm

http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000753,php


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The Last Slide

This, These, Things Like This (aka SDK, Mods, Thereware)

N > 1

Technology will catch up to people

Follow the story

Online communities are made, not born (someone designed them)

The future is the users (Jaron’s law)

it’s all about the rulesit’s all about the storiesits all about the players

UCB SIMS INFOSYS 208B: Analysis of Information Organizations: “Analyzing Play and Games as Information Systems.” Michael P. Carter, Ph.D. 3/29/04 [email protected].

Documents

games ive

information systems

ucb sims infosys

things ive

coder slide

light rail slide

videogame producer

executive producer