Danny's analysis of Community PlanIt

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Danny’s analysis of Community PlanIt
A place-oriented, multiplayer, collective-action game framework
Primary website: communityplanit.org
Main Ideas:
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Part of an ongoing design-research project on games and civic engagement
Makes community planning playful
Gives everyone the power to shape the future of their community
Provides a context for civic learning and action
Each game instance focuses on a particular community, runs for a limited time (3 – 8 weeks)

Research & Development:
• Developed in 2011 – 2012 by the Engagement Game Lab (engagementgamelab.org), an appliedresearch lab at Emerson College in Boston.
• Funded by Knight Foundation, with support from Emerson College.
• Original development team: 4 professionals, plus many college students.
• Current team (for new game instances): a part time developer, part of a writer, a researcher, and a
project coordinator.
• Budget approximately $300k, including implementation & research.
(team & budget details via personal communication with project leader, Dr. Eric Gordon)

Professor Carrie Heeter, Michigan State University

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Platform and distribution:
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Browser-based Flash, with minimal hardware/software requirements.
Simple, cartoon-like graphics.
Players must register for a free account; no cost to participate.
Can participate in multiple game instances, using one player account.
Each game instance has its own website, launched from the primary CPI site. Instance websites remain
accessible after the game closes. Game results are posted in the instance website.
• Past (closed) game instances:
2011: Boston Public Schools
2012: Detroit, MI; Quincy, MA.
2013: Salem, MA; Philadelphia, PA.
• Currently-active game instance: Malmo, Sweden.
• Each game instance produced & promoted in partnership with local community organizations. E.g.:
What’s “The Point”? – City of Salem, North Shore CDC, Metropolitan Area Planning Council

Target audience:
• Everyone in the focal community, such as a city or a school system.
• Children under 14 need parent/guardian permission to join.
• People outside the focal community are allowed to participate (interest implies a stake in community).


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Serious Goals:
According to primary website:
• Involve a variety of stakeholders in a process to improve the community.
• Give everyone an opportunity to express viewpoints and ideas.
• Collected input used by community planners to determine real-world decisions, including funding for the
most popular causes.
According to Gordon research paper:
• Cultivate civic learning, a form of engagement that combines participation with the act of reflection,
through developing trust relationships and reflective capacity.
• Engage as many stakeholders as possible in providing meaningful input to decision-makers.
• Provide opportunities for stakeholders to learn about the planning process through creation and sharing.
• Give the community a tool with lasting benefits after the specific intervention had ended.


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Player Goals:
Overarching:
• Influence the community’s planning process.
• Receive recognition from fellow stakeholders for contributions.
• Win money for preferred local causes, and rank high in coin leaderboard.
Intermediate:
• Complete mission challenges and provide input to earn coins that can be assigned to local causes.
• Receive “likes” and comments on posts in missions and in the “Soapbox” discussion forum.
• Earn awards (badges and coins) for various accomplishments in missions or in the “Soapbox”.

Game-instance Analyzed:
What’s “The Point”? – city of Salem, in Massachusetts
• Very recently active (Jan – Feb 2013)
• Personally acquainted with area (visited Salem several times)


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Game-instance Website Structure: Launch page

Intro video (standard here;
some game instances have
custom-produced video)

Brief text intro to
community & overview
of game

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Game-instance Structure: Player welcome page
Coin score, ranking, badges earned

Link to mission
challenges

Links to game
results:
visualizations &
raw data


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Core Play Mechanics:
Answer questions in the mission challenges
• multiple-choice: some opinion, some have right answer (the “Crat trivia barriers”)
• open-response: player can write as much as wants; sees other players’ responses after posting
• “empathy”: realistic fictional narrative with a personal predicament to resolve
• some challenges require player to place a “pin” on a Google map
• some challenges and the Crat trivia barriers have optional resource that player can view for reference:
map, chart, or link to another website
• “boss challenge” at end of each mission: has a right answer, requires more search/analysis/interpretation
of data in accompanying resource (website, Google search, map)
Each successfully-completed challenge and trivia barrier earns game coins.
“Like” and post comments on other players’ responses to open-response challenges
Responses are color-coded according to “hotness” (numbers of likes and comments).
Post questions and ideas in the “Soapbox” discussion forum
Can attach video or supporting files.
Propose a new Cause in the “Bank” section of the site
Pledge coins earned toward specific Causes

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Game-instance Structure: Mission challenges
Each of 3 missions:
• Focused on one major aspect of community (history/demographics; business/housing/safety; recreation)
• Was open for ~1 week, with specific start and end dates
• 12 challenges (questions with open-response or multiple-choice answers) + 4 trivia barriers (m/c)
Map of challenges in
Mission 1; sun icon
indicates current
challenge.
Sequence left->right;
must correctly
answer each “Crat
trivia barrier” (blue
guy with bow tie &
hat) to access next
group of openresponse challenges
(building icons)


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Sample of challenge questions in Mission 1:
If you were asked to give a guided tour of the Point, where would you go first? Place a pin on the map indicating where
you would begin the tour, and explain your choice. Where might you go from there? (Google map)
Crat trivia barrier: Where do most people in the Point migrate from (country of origin)?
Mexico
Dominican Republic (correct answer)
Canada
Brazil
Portugal
Charles Lee is a Korean-American from New York, visiting Salem with his wife, Sarah. Sarah owns her own nail salon
and Charles works at Best Buy. They don't get much vacation time, but Charles really wanted to visit Salem because
he's obsessed with ghosts and other supernatural phenomenon. They've been on every ghost tour in the town and stocked
up on Salem t-shirts and souvenirs. Charles has been all over the city of Salem, but everyone he meets tells him to stay
away from the Point. The ghost tour guide told him it's not a very attractive area, and it's dangerous to walk around the
neighborhood, especially at night. "The Point is not worth visiting," he says. Explain why Charles is wrong, or why he is
right.


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Sample of challenge questions in Mission 1: (continued)
What are the neighborhood's top attractions (both for visitors and people who already live there)? Select all that apply.
Numbers show how many players selected that response
18 Places of worship / religious organizations
26 Healthcare
63 Dining out
43 Grocery shopping
27 Personal care (e.g., salon or spa)
29 Consumer products (e.g., clothes)
27 Professional services (e.g., legal)
95 Cultural, social, entertainment
Attach a photo, share a video, or describe a place in the Point that you consider beautiful, and explain why.
Crat trivia barrier: Why is the Point called the Point?
73 It's named after Stage Point, the filled-in marsh that used to be there (correct answer)
33 Because of the way it points out into the harbor
19 Because it was the first point that settlers visited in 1634
20 Because it points the way to Marblehead
Tell us about a time you took pride in where you live (even if you do not live in the Point). What do you think would
make you more proud of your neighborhood?

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Take a moment to look at the map of the neighborhood (click the icon on the left to launch the map). We asked some
people in the Point what they thought were the boundaries of the neighborhood. This map was developed with their
feedback. Do you agree with the boundaries? If you do not agree that it is accurate, what would you change and why?
It's time to go shopping. Your refrigerator is getting empty, your pantry is running low on staples, and come to think of it,
you need a tube of toothpaste and a perscription filled, too. Where do you go to get all of these things? If you live in the
Point, how far away do you need to travel, and how do you get there? If you don't live in the Point, where do you think a
Point resident would need to go?
Imagine you've been asked to write a news article about something that happened in the Point for the Salem News. What
would you report on? You can choose any event from the last year, even if it seems minor to others, or nobody else
reported on it. Write a headline, and upload or describe a photo to accompany your imaginary article. If you want, you
can explain more about your article in your comment.
“Boss” trivia barrier: Why are so many of the buildings in the Point built around 1914? (for reference, link to Google
search on “salem ma 1914”)
7 An economic boom led to increased real estate development
5 An urban renewal plan was put into effect
67 There was a fire that year
1 There was an earthquake that year


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Sample of challenge questions in Mission 2:
How well do you think the city government of Salem is doing to meet the needs of people who live in the Point? Explain
in your comment, or suggest improvements. (reference link to City of Salem website)
18 Poor
4 Very Poor
49 OK
26 Good
12 Very Good
In Salem, slightly more people own their house or unit than rent. What is the most common living situation in the Point?
(reference chart of “Occupied Housing Units By Tenure and Number of Units in Building”)
8 Most own a single-family house
6 Most rent a single-family house
71 Most rent a unit in a small building (nine units or fewer) (correct answer)
17 Most rent a unit in a large building (20 units or more)
What's your favorite place to eat in the Point? Put a pin on the map to show us where you go to chow down, and explain
what makes it so special. (Google map)


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Timothy is a single parent who lives in the Point with his two daughters. He is bilingual, and attended public school in
Salem before enrolling in trade school to become an electrician. He's been working for his brother’s electrical company
for the last nine years. Timothy has had a pretty rough life, but has worked hard to be a positive influence in his
community. He loves to talk to people, and is quick to start up a conversation with anyone he meets in the
neighborhood. For years, Timothy's brother has managed to keep his electrician shop on Congress Street open, but
lately, business has fallen off. He needs to attract more customers or think about moving to a new location. What do you
think is the best way to help Timothy and his brother?
Adding more trash barrels to an area is one way to reduce litter. If you could place trash barrels anywhere in the Point,
where would you put them? Pick the one place that needs them most, and place a pin on the map. Use your comment to
explain your choice, and offer other suggestions.
“Boss” trivia barrier: Shetland Park is a business park located on Congress Street. About how many companies have
office space there? (reference link to Shetland Park website; need to look in tenant directory)
48 About 130
11 About 90
7 About 40
6 About 20


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Game-instance Structure: “Public Square” area

“Soapbox”
discussion forum.
The 10 most popular
and active (“Hot”)
conversations from
Mission Challenges,
Soapbox, and Bank
Causes, aggregated
based on the number of
comments and likes,
are promoted to the
“Buzz” page.


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Game-instance Structure: “Public Square” area

Awards listing.
The criteria and coin
value of each award.

Collaborative
accomplishments

Competitive
accomplishments


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Game-instance Structure: “Bank” area

An accounting of coins
that have been
collected and pledged
during the run of this
game instance.


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Game-instance Structure: “Bank” area
Listing of local causes,
ranked by number of
game coins pledged.

Comments posted
Cause name and
description

Pledge amount

Total pledges


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FORMAL
COMPONENTS

Ouroboros Magic Circle of Community PlanIt
ENVIRONMENTAL
COMPONENTS

Outcomes

Game World
or Board

(serious goals)

Rules
Mechanics
(Actions or
Procedures)

Resources

Relation to Real
Life

System
Dynamics

Premise or
Story
Pre-Game
Context

Player-Player

Interactions

Characters

Player
Experience
GOALS
Designer’s Serious
Goals
Conflict or
Challenge
Player Goals

GAMING CONTEXT
During Game
Context

End State (Game
Outcomes)

Copyright Carrie Heeter, 2013

Post-Game
Context

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Forms of Fun:
Social

People-Fun
ProblemSolving

Competition

Discovery

Theories:

Social
Cognitive
Theory

Problem-based
Learning


Extrinsic
Motivation

Situated
Learning

Distributed
Cognition

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User experience: Ferrara’s 5 Levels
Aesthetics
Simple, clear, attractive graphics. Playful tone.

Usability
Simple controls, familiar presentation, fairly easy to navigate. Good use of Google Translate.
High emphasis on text may be problem for low-literacy players.

Balance
Little progression in difficulty. Some scaffolding through player interactions. Unbalanced incentives for
“likes” and comments. Available time for missions may be insufficient for busy players.

Meaningful Choices
Open-response challenges leverage wide variety of player experience and interests.
Ability to pledge coins toward preferred Causes with real-world consequences.

Motivation
Intrinsic motivation supported by autonomy, competence, and relatedness aspects of SDT.
Extrinsic motivation for supporting favored Causes, and by earning awards.

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User experience: Freedoms of Play
Freedom of Effort - High
• can complete as many challenges as desired within current mission, in any order
(constrained by “Crat” trivia barriers)
• can review, “like”, and comment on other players’ posts as desired
• can start or respond to conversation threads in “Soapbox”
• participation limited to the time span that each mission is open

Freedom of Experimentation - High
• can express views and opinions in various ways, to see effect on “likes” and comments
• can propose new Causes, evaluate popularity

Freedom of Identity – Medium
Player expected to represent own real identity accurately, but can exercise empathy in some challenges

Freedom of Failure – Medium
• feedback mostly provided by other players


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Feedback and Rewards:
Feedback to posting mission challenge responses, questions/ideas in “Soapbox” discussion forum:
• “likes” and comments provided by other players: fixed-ratio, highly-variable-interval reinforcement
• Color-coding of response display, according to “hotness” (numbers of likes and comments)
• Pros: authentic, builds lateral trust
• Cons: limited and unpredictable amount -> hard to learn from
Feedback to pledging coins toward specific Causes:
Final leaderboard of Causes in Bank section
Rewards:
• Earning coins from completing challenges: continuous reinforcement
• Earning awards (badge + coins): fixed-ratio or variable-interval reinforcement
• Leaderboard of players and affiliations, based on total coins earned


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Challenge Data Visualization: Bubble Mode
Each bubble represents a single response to selected challenge; bubble size indicates popularity; bubble
color indicates response sentiment (red = negative, green = positive, gray = neutral).
Can filter responses by
gender, age, stake, etc.

Text of selected challenge
question

Clicking on bubble opens a
pop-up showing the
response post and any
comments


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“Big-picture” Results Visualization: Demographics & Participation
Interactive graphs (hover mouse pointer over each segment).

Number of players that
completed challenges in
Salem game; a plurality
completed 30% - 40%


Players’ prior civic experience

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Results relating to Serious Goals:
Salem data-visualization results applied to primary website serious goals:
Goal: Involve a variety of stakeholders in a process to improve the community.
Results:
• Players were socioeconomically diverse
• Young (plurality under 18), less-educated (majority without college education)
• Substantial plurality with no/little prior civic planning experience or communication with government
Goal: Give everyone an opportunity to express viewpoints and ideas.
Results:
• 191 active player posted over 2600 responses
• 70% of players self-identified as being within the community
• Bubble visuals show wide variety of responses
Goal: Collected input used by community planners to determine real-world decisions, including funding
for the most popular causes.
Results: No data yet


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Results relating to Serious Goals: (continued)
Goals and results reported in Gordon research paper (unpublished):
Based on similar game-instances in Boston Public Schools (2011) and Detroit (2012). Data gathered
through in-game interaction analysis, player interviews & focus groups, post-game “finale” meeting.
Goal: Cultivate civic learning, through developing trust relationships and reflective capacity.
Results: Substantial evidence of increased lateral trust in other players, affiliated groups, and citizenry.
Significant anecdotal evidence of player reflection on planning issues, process, roles.
Goal: Engage as many stakeholders as possible in providing meaningful input to decision-makers.
Results: Players were socioeconomically diverse, many from usually-underrepresented groups.
Goal: Provide opportunities for stakeholders to learn about the planning process through creation and
sharing.
Results: Some anecdotal evidence (in-game responses & comments) that sharing led to learning about the
community planning process.
Goal: Give the community a tool with lasting benefits after the specific intervention had ended.
Results: Detroit city-wide survey ranked CPI as the most “hopeful” engagement strategy.

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Gems/Surpluses:
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Great usability, especially for players familiar with social networking sites
Use of Google Translate helpful for ELL players
Freedoms of effort and experimentation
Effective in building trust, relatedness, and empowerment among community stakeholders

Anti-Gems/Deficits:
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Participation timespan very limited (3 specific weeks); if someone’s too busy or away at that time …
Mechanics rely on text reading & writing; problematic for low-literacy stakeholders
Challenges that require map- or chart-reading skills, or website search, should have some scaffolding
Scalability: high cost of pre- & post-production for each game instance (planning, development,
outreach, data visualization, …)

References:
Ferrara, J. (2012) Playful Design: Creating game experiences in everyday interfaces. Rosenfeld Media.
Squire, K. (2011) Video Games and Learning, chapter 5. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
“Forms of Fun” and “Theory” card graphics from Dr. Heeter’s Support for Game Analysis slide deck.
Gordon, E. and Baldwin-Philippi, J. (2013, working paper). “Playful Civic Learning: Enabling Lateral
Trust and Reflection in Game-based Public Participation”


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