Arizona State English Department Research Presentation

The Design is the Game:
Writing Games, Teaching Writing
Alice J. Robison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://alicerobison.org

Sunday, March 16, 2008 1

Why Design?


Why Design?
Design can be used to think about:


Why Design?

Rhetorical moves, decisions, audiences;


Why Design?


Purposeful constructions of meaning;


Why Design?



Multi-modal compositions with speciﬁc contexts, “art with a
purpose”;


Why Design?



purpose”;

Literacy practices that move beyond alphabetical literacy and
inscribed texts; and


Why Design?



purpose”;

Literacy practices that move beyond alphabetical literacy and
inscribed texts; and

Meaning in a variety of technologies, tools, interchanges,
instantiations; attention to time, space, movement.


Design is Not an Add-On

Technical stuff: we can now use cool stuff to do the
same kinds of things we have previously known; a
“physical-industrial” mindset-- individualized, enclosed,
product-centered, hierarchical
Ethos stuff: co-existence of physical space and
cyberspace; a “cyberspatial, post-industrial” mindset--
collective, distributed, decentered, process-focused,
change-based
Lankshear & Knobel, 2006


Design is Not Just Form, Either

The internet isn’t
something you dump
something on. It’s not a
dump truck. It’s...it’s a
series of tubes.”

John Hodgman’s Reply
Ted Stevens Remix
Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)


Designs are Literacy Practices


Literacy is therefore not just about consumption
(reading, decoding) and production (writing, creating)
but also about participation within a context as a result
of available means, tools, histories, experiences,
communities, afﬁnities.


Literacy is therefore not just about consumption
(reading, decoding) and production (writing, creating)
but also about participation within a context as a result
of available means, tools, histories, experiences,
communities, afﬁnities.
Literacy is not just about critique but also about design:
doesn’t simply reﬂect back but also “shapes the future
through deliberate representational resources in the
designer’s interest” (Kress 2000)


The “New” Literacy Studies


The “New” Literacy Studies
A model of literacy as a social rather than autonomous, never happens in the
same way, dependent on situations and context.

“Multiliteracies” vary over time, space, history, experience, tools, access,
afﬁliations, afﬁnities.

Emphasis on “literacy on the ground:” anthropological methods, social
interactions, cultural discourses. Attention to the local.

Literacy is “bound up” with social, cultural, and institutional conventions.

Major researchers: “New London Group,” Gunther Kress, Colin Lankshear,
Michele Knobel, Glynda Hull, Brian Street, Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis, James
Gee, Deborah Brandt, Cynthia Selfe, Gail Hawisher, Webb, Goggin, etc.


New Media Literacies


Play: the capacity to experiment as a form of problem-solving

Performance: the ability to adopt alternative identities for improvisation and discovery

Simulation: the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes

Appropriation: the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content

Multitasking: the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as-needed to salient details

Distributed Cognition: the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities

Collective Intelligence: the ability to pool knowledge with others toward a common goal

Judgment: the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources

Transmedia Navigation: the ability to follow the ﬂow of stories and information across multiple
modalities

Networking: the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information

Negotiation: the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and inspecting multiple
perspectives


Videogames Enact the


Videogames Enact the
Communities of practice (Lave & Wenger)
Semiotic domains and afﬁnity spaces (Gee, 2003)
Identity play, experiential learning that leads to motivation
Active, critical learning; meta-cognition and reﬂection
Zones of proximal development (Vygotsky)
“Constellations” of literacy practices (Steinkuehler)
Designed experiences (Robison, Squire)


Researching Videogame Design


Given that games, as interactive texts, not only
represent cutting-edge theories of learning and
cognition but also inspire sophisticated literacy
practices, to what degree can we attribute that to their
design?


Given that games, as interactive texts, not only
represent cutting-edge theories of learning and
cognition but also inspire sophisticated literacy
practices, to what degree can we attribute that to their
design?
What are the literacy practices of videogame designers
and developers? What is the context of creation? What
are the cultural models and Discourses of videogame
designers and developers?


Methods
Qualitative ethnography, participant observation, artifact analysis, discursive
analysis, thematic analysis; rooted in traditions of the New Literacy Studies
(Barton, et. al 2000; Street 1998; Gee, et. al 1996)

Dissertation consisted of:

3 year study, 200+ hours of ﬁeldwork;

more than two dozen independent and commercial designers interviewed
and observed on-site;

500 pages of data, artifacts, designer-written publications; and

transcriptions of semi-structured interviews, on-site study of Gamelab
(NYC) during the making of “Diner Dash.”


Who makes games?
85% male, 11.5% female

83% white, 2% black, 2.5% hispanic or
latino, 7.5% Asian

92% heterosexual

Average age = 31

Average years in industry = 5.4

College degrees = 80%

More than 60% of studios claim that
“recruiting diverse applicants is
challenging”

International Game
Developers’ Assoc.,


Chris on Creating Stories


“You could just look at a
game as a time-killing
exercise. But that doesn’t feel
nearly as worthwhile as
creating a game that
generates stories between
players.... It’s creating those
unique and very memorable
experiences that are much
better than “yeah it took me
60 hours to get my character
to that level”


Rhetorical awareness
exercise. But that doesn’t feel
nearly as worthwhile as
to that level”


exercise. But that doesn’t feel Social conversations are
nearly as worthwhile as persuasive goals
to that level”


generates stories between Text of game is a catalyst for
players.... It’s creating those player-experience, social
unique and very memorable identity, meaningful play
to that level”


generates stories between Text of game is a catalyst for
players.... It’s creating those player-experience, social
unique and very memorable identity, meaningful play
better than “yeah it took me Adoption of identity of player
to that level”


Chris on the Writing Process


“I start with what I want one person
to say to another when they chat
about my game. I’m looking for the
“you have to play this game
because ‘X’... Then I work
backwards and build the features
which support those statements.
Typically I bookend my design work
with one global statement about the
game (its overall user goal) and
various statements about
experiences I want players to have
and enjoy.”


“I start with what I want one person Rhetorical awareness
about my game. I’m looking for the
“you have to play this game
and enjoy.”


about my game. I’m looking for the Social conversations are
“you have to play this game writing goals
and enjoy.”


Adoption of identity of player
and enjoy.”


Principles of design used to
game (its overall user goal) and reverse-engineer experience
and enjoy.”


Principles of design used to
game (its overall user goal) and reverse-engineer experience
experiences I want players to have Literacy practices of players
and enjoy.” used to frame design work


Merci on PMOG
“I feel like you actually feel like the Digital literacy ethos-- web is
web is a place, not like it’s a series decentered but also a present
of separate places. But that you are space
in this one sphere of activity with all
of these people at the same time. Meaningful co-presence
And this is just surfing of course, not
like being on an AIM or whatever-- This is a new way of being, a new
then you’re just obviously with model of conversation that’s not just
people online. But this is allowing about text
other players to influence what your Literacies, meanings, practices are
experience is like, and influencing all reciprocal and reflexive
the surfing experiences of other
players as well.” All players are designers of
meaningful experiences


My research shows that
game designers...


game designers...
Are writers for a context. Writing is design here because it involves art for a
purpose.


game designers...
purpose.

Communicate semiotically: signs, symbols, genres, puzzles, problems,
practices, identities, win-states, code languages.


game designers...
purpose.


Teach players how to play the game and succeed with ﬁnishing, winning,
understanding, learning.


game designers...
purpose.



Expect players to engage in meta-critical analysis of how the game is designed.


game designers...
purpose.




Write collaboratively, share authorship, incorporate both professional and
personal discourses.


game designers...
purpose.




Write collaboratively, share authorship, incorporate both professional and
personal discourses.

Purposely create games that are meant to be interpreted and learned socially.


Questions for Teachers
Working with New Media
How can you think about the problem or project of designing and developing
curriculum as a set of design constraints?

Instead of thinking of writing as skill, can we think of it in terms of experience or
sets of practices within particular contexts?

How therefore do we craft opportunities for meaning making practices with new
media? What does that afford a student that other forms of composing,
reading, and interpreting texts do not?

If we think about writing as literacy--that is, tied closely to reading--what does
that mean for working with new media?


Principles for Designing
Writing Courses


Writing Courses
Conceive of writing as a set of meaning-making practices and experiences that
happen both in and outside the classroom, in formal and informal ways, as culturally
and socially situated in learners’ contexts.


Writing Courses

Allow for social collaboration and meta-reﬂection on that collaborative experience.
Employ opportunities for collective intelligence, distributed cognition.


Writing Courses


Understand users of new media as not just consumers and producers but also as
participants within particular contexts, media-uses, and media cultures.


Writing Courses


Understand users of new media as not just consumers and producers but also as
participants within particular contexts, media-uses, and media cultures.

Constructivist models of learning: emphasis on the socio-cultural; problem-based and
project-based learning; making power differentials known; community-driven expertise.


Literacies are Social Practices

To view literacy as a neutral cognitive event not only fails to
understand how what being learned is a particular way of
doing something--a way that indexes particular values,
ideological projects, historical events, and beliefs--but, too,
how learning is mediated by social variables, in which case,
due to this particularity, one’s primary Discourse might inform
a ‘way of being’ in the world that is fundamentally at odds with
the literacy form one is expected to learn.”

Clinton, 2003


Final Comment


Final Comment
Understanding how media are composed, designed, produced, and
consumed by communities of users is the ﬁrst step in determining models for
designing and assessing writing-and-new-media curricula. We have to
understand the underlying principles of those practices. We can only know
that by working from the inside-out.


Final Comment

We have to see these composing activities as opportunities for making
meaning in-context, according to the values of its participants.


Final Comment

We have to see these composing activities as opportunities for making
meaning in-context, according to the values of its participants.

As with all planned writing activities, if goals are well-articulated and well-
researched, if they are considered carefully and critically, and if tasks are
linked closely to their purpose, it becomes less complex to gauge the degree
to which the products are valuable at the end of the composing process.


Assessment Principles


Assessment Principles

If new media and writing are treated as literacy experiences based
on participation and not simply production, models for assessment
become more accessible.

What counts as “good” in these spaces is determined by its
communities. Users of new media organize by their expertise and
afﬁnities, not necessarily by production skills.

New media, as socially-connected and collaborative spaces, lend
themselves well to more organic assessment models.


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