Values@Play@GA Tech: Design Journals

http://www.valuesatplay.org/research.html

Need help? Send an e-mail to: jonathan.belman@gmail.com

Introduction

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Thank you for contributing to this research project!! In this project, we are exploring how designers' conscious and unconscious decisions about game rules, mechanics, and narratives reflect social values—that is, concepts such as fairness, gender equity, honesty, privacy, and any other number of values that you can imagine as being important in a society and culture.

To begin:

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• Click on the "New page" button above.
• Under the "Name your new page" prompt, please name the page your first and last name, without spaces. For example: AdamSmith or NicoleRichie
• Use this page for all of your journal entries throughout the unit
  • Please give a heading to each class for which you post. Below you'll see weekly questions—if you're posting for Class 1 (or week 1 if your instructor is breaking the unit up differently) on your page, then give that post a heading of "Class 1" or "Week 1." Here's an example: HarrySample
  • For the first week: In addition to answering the questions, please tell us the user name that you used for the survey that you took before the unit!
• Add a link to your page in the SideBar (in the upper right hand corner) by clicking on the "SideBar" link at the top of the sidebar or on the [edit] button at the bottom of the sidebar
  • On the edit page, type the name of your page in (for example, HarrySample); then highlight the name in order to turn it into a link and then click on the button. Follow the instructions from there
• You can comment on people's posts by clicking on the "Comments" button above while you are on their page
• For instructions about editing the wiki and wiki styles, you can go here: http://yummy.pbwiki.com/WikiStyle
• Though pbwiki works in Safari, it's easier if you use Firefox or Explorer, as you can use the WYSIWYG editor for your posts

Questions to ponder for your journals:

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We have some questions to guide you as you reflect on your experiences in this unit. Please think about them as you write in your journals. Please write as much as you like! The more reflective that you are about your experiences using the Values at Play methodology, the more able we are to get an idea of what this experience has been like for you. We'd like to hear about what it's like to use this methodology and what it's like to think about the concept of social values becoming embedded in video games.

Class 1:

1. What was the experience of using the Grow-a-game! cards like? Was it difficult to brainstorm values in the game that you selected with the cards? How so?
2. Using the cards, how was it to try to use the mechanic to represent the value?
3. What was it like to explore values in games with group members? Did any emotions come up (for you or anyone else) as you spoke about games and values?
4. For the out-of-class video activity:

• How difficult was it for you to discover an example of this value in a game? Have you ever done anything like this before (analyze game elements for value content)?
• Do you think that others might see this value represented in the game?
• Do you think that the game’s designer(s) thought consciously about the value being reflected in the game?
• How did you make the connection between game elements (narrative, rules, or mechanics) and the value?

Class 2:

1. How challenging was it to discover the value that you are using for your prototype? How did you settle upon the value? What makes this value important to you? To society?
2. Values in games can arise from many sources: narrative, character representation and backgrounds, the game environment, mechanics (constraints and affordances), and underlying rules, to name a few. Which elements of your game design will represent the value that you have chosen? Why have you chosen these elements?
3. How have stakeholder values been appraised and integrated into your design?

Class 3:

1. How has your value been operationalized?
2. Were there any disputes among group members while trying to determine how to represent your value in the game? How did the disputes arise? How were they resolved?

Class 4:

1. How did your group handle conflicts around values representation in the game?
2. How did your group respond to critiques from other groups? Did you need to reconsider and design elements for values representation?
3. Write about your overall experience in this unit. What was it like to focus on embedding values as you designed a video game? What were the most challenging aspects of considering how to represent values? What were the most enjoyable aspects?
4. Have your thoughts or attitudes about the concept of values becoming embedded in video games changed at all since the beginning of the unit? If so, how? If not, why not?