for Compugirls, an Arizona State University summer program of STEM education for grade school girls

1. WHO CARES ABOUT SOCIAL GAMES?
a talk for CompuGirls
John Carter McKnight
July 2011

2.  who am I and why am I here?
adjunct professor of law
PhD student in “Human & Social Dimensions
of Science & Technology”
I study how people build communities and
negotiate rules in online spaces
and I play a lot of games!

3.  “Games are a series of interesting choices”
– Sid Meier

4.  Social games (Facebook games)
get trashed by game developers,
who don’t find the choices interesting

5.  why not?

6.  who makes games?

7.  who plays games?

8.  “but those aren’t games games!”

9.  what kinds of choices are interesting
to you?

14.  the game mechanics –
 those “interesting choices” –
 are actually the same as in a game that developers,
critics – and game studies professors - love

16.  same choices, different context!

17.  so what?

18.  who decides what choices are “interesting”?
 you do!

20.  great games – like great books –
are the ones you can come back to
and find something interesting every time.

21.  so….
what’s interesting?