I tried a new exercise at a gaming seminar last week, and it worked well for me, so I thought I’d post about it because it might be useful. I would like to strengthen my practice as well.
Summary: At this point in the class, we will be looking at different game formats. We started with tabletop games, moved to role-playing games, then jumped into the digital world and continued with gamification. Throughout, we have explored the implications of each for higher education through practice (playing games), scholarship (reading research), and design (making things). The students are currently working on their final game project, a process that takes several weeks and requires many iterations.
At this point, I want to try compositing the contents of the class. One of my goals was to ensure that my students reflected their work throughout the semester in their projects. Even if you’re creating a game in one format (such as tabletop), you can apply many design and educational lessons from other formats. The second goal was to deepen my understanding of games and education as a whole and increase the likelihood that I would be able to take that out of my semester experience.
My plan also had other ideas. Events should be creative with a focus on design. It should encourage students to immerse themselves in their own memories and class work. It should also be lightweight enough to run in a single class session without slowing down the project process. Also, you shouldn’t focus on topics you’ve already covered (storytelling, history, scientific simulations, etc.). In theory, this is a constructivist approach, where meaning and understanding can be gained through making and producing things.
So I gradually came up with a practice method and tried it out.Pitch: I told the class “I would like you to design a game that is inspired by a national election.” He did not specify which country. I gave them no educational parameters or constraints (i.e. curriculum, budget). I wanted them to bring those dimensions to the surface themselves. One of the requirements is that the game must be a role-playing game. When designing, you should keep in mind important themes from previous classes, such as information restriction, empathy, randomness, balance between simulation and playability, and storytelling.
One contextual detail: Electoral politics had never previously come up in class conversations, and none of the students described themselves as seriously studying government or political science. I chose this topic because I thought it was fresh and unfamiliar and would hopefully prompt new thinking. Additionally, no student will lead the discussion based on their academic background, so everyone should feel equal in front of the issue.
Additionally, I didn’t specify a country because I wanted to keep people’s imaginations open. Also, since it was a very international class, I wanted the students to cover details of different countries.
In effect, it was a whole group exercise, with face-to-face students sitting together at a shared table. He is projected onto two large screens as several distance learners zoom in, and they can also chat via their individual computers. I didn’t bring any physical props or equipment because I wanted it to be discussion-based. I wrote a note on a projected/shared Google Doc.
So how did things go? First of all, the students tackled the task brilliantly. They asked a lot of good questions. Will the player play a candidate, a government official, the average voter, or a group of voters? What will be written on the character sheet, such as persuasion, government experience, finances, etc.? What can be simulated to represent voting, opinion polls, local interest groups, etc.?
DALL·E imagines a “university classroom setting where students and professors are engaged in a simulation design exercise.” The room is equipped with a computer and large equipment. ”
Should the game be more competitive or cooperative? How many pre-election political elements are likely to appear in the game? I suggested random events such as marriage, support, etc. within the family. Some people think about non-player characters (NPCs) and how many to preset. Further questions arose: Can we simulate the obligation of elections to establish governance? How do we build electoral coalitions as well as corruption? Can candidates be allowed to contest vote counts?
When important ideas kept coming up in class, I would switch gears. “So how do you design a tabletop game that simulates a national election?” I asked them about the games we played together, the academic books we read, and how some of them built tabletop games. It reminded me of the fact that I was.
Students gradually accumulated ideas, often in the form of questions. Should the game represent a specific election (real world or virtual world) or an abstract election? Similar to RPGs, should players play candidates or voters? What should I put on the board, such as geographic maps or representations of indicators? (I showed this image from the US election campaign). Some students considered using maps to represent election campaigns. Some raised the idea of representing only swing states. We discussed how to include regional states using examples from India and the United States. People broadcast different metrics to display, including polls and campaign finance. There was discussion about using multiple cards to create combinations of resources and actions.
Once the discussion had progressed to a certain point, I switched back to talking about computer games. How could you simulate a national election in a video game? I think things got a little repetitive because at this point there were already a lot of ideas on the table and the question was how to translate them into digital format . Students suggested ways to situate electoral strategy within a diverging narrative structure. One way to do that is for players to answer questions and ultimately find out if they won the election. Other students considered generating a set of candidates in advance or randomly for each game.
We then moved the discussion to gamification. How will they gamify national elections? Some have started talking about voting rewards such as stickers, making them more appealing with limited releases, or encouraging early voters to vote. There was even the possibility of adding weight to the . At this point I finished the exercise and moved the class to other topics: games and storytelling.
Overall, I was satisfied with its functionality. Students dug into what they learned and turned it into design ideas. They tested their understanding of different types of games. They thought of educational uses. It was a good review process.
What to do next time if you want to repeat the exercise: You may want to provide something for students to work on, such as construction paper, writing utensils, blank game materials, or toys such as Legos. Enhanced digital materials might also be good, such as having all students participate in creating Google Docs or using other tools such as Miro.
I’m still thinking about the amazing nature of this movement. I like how it makes people think quickly, but should they announce this in the syllabus from day one so students can prepare? I’m not sure.
I also don’t know what to do with the length of my exercises when they start to get repetitive. Should we hold this event earlier in the semester, when there is less need to have games in mind, perhaps as a type of midterm evaluation, or should we leave it at this later point in the semester? However, do you need to change the situation in some way to further stimulate your ideas?
As a blended class, remote and in-person students participated equally. I think that by going virtual with Google Docs, online learners felt like they had equal access.
Based on the exercise, I wonder if there is a common name for this kind of thing. I conducted a similar session at a technology seminar where I asked students to creatively apply their previous seminar learning to creative live activities. Should we call this a comprehensive design exercise? A synoptic design activity? Surely someone else has done something like this and theorized about it.
I would like to thank the excellent LDT students who worked hard and constructively with me.
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