[game_edu] suggestions for readings?

[Ian Schreiber]

Rules of Play also has a section where it talks about the relationship between "play" and "games," showing that (paradoxically) each is a subset of the other. The takeaway for me is that the two concepts are distinct, but strongly related.
 
I agree that having students come up with their own working definition for the word "game" is a worthwhile exercise. I usually do this as an interactive class discussion, but I can see it as an individual writing assignment as well. If you have each student make their own definition, as a bonus, you could also challenge students to come up with counterexamples to their own or their classmates' definitions: things that most people consider "games" that are not covered by a definition, or vice versa.
 
As for the division between "play" and "fun," I'm not familiar with any readings that make explicit distinctions between the two, but I'll go out on a limb and say that play is an activity, and fun is the result of (or emotional reaction to) an activity, so the two terms describe different things and can't be directly compared. But that's just my reaction.
 
- Ian

--- On Tue, 11/11/08, Kim Gregson <kimatiu at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Kim Gregson <kimatiu at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [game_edu] suggestions for readings?
To: "IGDA Game Education Listserv" <game_edu at igda.org>
Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 9:55 AM


that's one of the big problems with the class - coming up with definitions for basic terms, definitions clear enough to distinguish between terms like fun and play and trying to decide if one thing is a prereq for another thing. If anyone has any ideas on how to approach that - I have the same questions as David on this topic.

As the reading suggestions have pointed out - lots of folks have been thinking and writing on the topic without nailing it down completely. I kind of want the students to see that thought process at work, to see that not everything is cut and dried and that even professionals disagree sometimes.  There is an article in Rules of Play (books at home, I'm at school, not sure who the authors are) I've had students read before that lays out a variety of definitions of game and then the authors stake out their definition as kind of a reaction to the other definitions. I think I might like the students to tackle that as an early writing project. 

The reading suggestions have been great. I already had a lot of hte books but hadn't considered them for my non-game-major classes like this senior seminar. Good to see I can use them in lots of different classes and expose more students to the game ideas.


On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 10:58 AM, David Thomas <david at buzzcut.com> wrote:

Can I complicate this one step further?


Any one have any thoughts on clear wrangling with the concept of play and fun?


For instance, Sutton-Smith trips through the topic in "The Ambiguity of Play", but leaves the patience cut open on the table without much of a remedy to the question.


Thoughts?


David



On Sun, Nov 9, 2008 at 9:52 PM, Jesse Schell <jschell at andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

Of course I'm going to plug my book and game design cards: http://www.artofgamedesign.com


:)


But also, I think a lot of Steve Swink's new book: "Game Feel", and the 2nd edition of Tracy Fullerton's "Game Design Workshop"

and I'll second others that Greg Costikyan's "I have no words... " is a great way to get students thinking. 

I also like to have them read chapter 2 of "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud, and discuss how it relates to videogames. 





On Sun, Nov 9, 2008 at 11:19 AM, Kim Gregson <kimatiu at gmail.com> wrote:




Hi everybody,

I"m putting together a seminar (for senior undergrad students) called "Fun and Games" for the spring semester - I want us to study the concept of "fun" and apply it to videogames. Here's my blog post with initial ideas - http://profkim.blogspot.com/2008/11/ideas-for-fun-games-senior-seminar.html

What I'm looking for is suggestions of readings - I think we're going to read Raph Koster's _A theory of fun for game design_ but would like some other things to consider. Any ideas?

And we hope to involve other folks in our conversations - with online discussions and video responses to some of our basic questions. If you would like to be involved (or your class), let me know and I"ll be sure to send you a formal invite after the holidays.

Thanks...Kim Gregson (Ithaca College)


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-- 
-Jesse Schell
Asst. Prof. of Entertainment Technology, Carnegie Mellon University (www.etc.cmu.edu)
CEO, Schell Games (www.schellgames.com)
Design Director, Sim Ops Studios (www.simopsstudios.com)
Phone: (412) 303-0885 

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