Author: Amber Holt

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We Didn’t Start The Fire Game and Rules

For this week, I decided to prototype “We Didn’t Start The Fire” (does the name have to change for copyright purposes?? idk) . It is based off of the Billy Joel song. I know that a lot of people either really like the song or hate it, but I feel that it includes some useful references that Americans should likely understand.

To make the game a little more relevant, I decided to also include reference to the 2023 Fall Out Boy version of the song that contains even more newsworthy topics and events.

I think that this game is important to help people become educated on both culture and historical events. It is a very simple trivia game right now, but I see potential for adding some more fun mechanics in regards to the music aspect of the game. I really feel like I am mainly creating this game for my little brother, as he loves both trivia games and the Fall Out Boy songs. I see this being a great educational tool for at least him (and myself as I learned a lot in the making of this game).

Making the Game

To make the game, I found a few very incredible articles on Britannica that explain all of the references in both of the songs (over 100 in the old and over 80 in the new). I selected one reference from a few line “chunks” of lyrics and developed a trivia question based on that. I included the full lyric on the top of the cards so the full song is presented throughout the cards that I made.

The Rules

We Didn’t Start the Fire RulesDownload

Design

The design is fairly simple, with a red gradient, black square, and white typography. I was really excited to do this game because I think it has really good potential for some fun and creative typography.

i also made the cards very big because why not!

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Week 7 Reading Response

  • What are the challenges a team faces when working on an educational game? Teams consist of people with different specialties and sometimes that can cause them to butt heads when they each have slightly different goals. For instance, “Game designers hope to create a highly interactive, compelling experience that is also fun to play. Pedagogy experts insist that the game must be an effective teacher. Content experts expect the game to include accurate, richly detailed content…” (p. 1). However, the challenges faced will definitely differ based on the type of educational game being developed. 
  • In the case study team members vetoed each others game ideas, what were the scientist’s, pedagogy expert’s and designer’s issues? The game designer wanted there to be levels built into the game, however the pedagogy expert took issue with this. This is because, “From her point of view, she did not want the game to prevent learners from accessing learning content” (p. 2). If players could not pass level one, for instance, they would not be able to move forward in the game. More vetoing of ideas occurred when, “The game designer immediately dismissed game ideas proposed by the pedagogy expert and scientist because they did not constitute “a game.” The scientist immediately rejected many of the game designer’s ideas because the science was incorrect” (p. 2). Game designers also wanted to include strong elements of a designer’s story, but they did not mesh well with the scientists who felt that they weren’t scientifically accurate enough. 
  • What did the team learn from play testing their prototypes? “Playtesting the first prototype disproved three assumptions. The first was the scientist’s expectation that extinct creatures from Earth’s past would be so intrinsically interesting that the players would be motivated to read and explore as much as possible” (p. 3). Players mostly just ended up guessing instead of treating the game as an educational tool. The team also learned that players experienced different levels of motivation to finish the game, with the mostly female playtesters having very low motivations. This caused the team to reintroduce the idea of levels. More generally, the team was able to observe the amount of engagement, learning, and fun resulted from playing the game, which are all key factors to developing an effective educational game. 
  • How does play testing resolve conflicts among team members? I think that playtesting helps resolve conflicts among team members as the team is actually able to see where players may struggle with some parts of the game and where they are particularly interested in or excel at. Differing team members are then able to realize that maybe the other team member was right about this one mechanic or concept as they are able to observe the results of it being tested. Team members are also able to celebrate their successes together as they have players who begin to enjoy playing the game they made together. 
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Week 7 Game ideas 

  • Victim Olympics – This could be an interesting board game that plays off of the idea of the term “victim olympics” where one group of people or demographic tries to put their struggles and challenges over those of someone else, trying to be more so the victim. The game could also incorporate olympic type events and sports to make the experience more fun. For instance, maybe there is a sprint that involves trying to outdo the other team. I think it is also important to acknowledge that this term can sometimes be thrown around in a context where they are saying it because they believe that people just want to feel like a “victim” or that they “want attention”, but in reality, their struggles should not be downplayed. Ultimately, this game would try to make the point that everyone’s struggles are valid and unique, and there is no need for competitive comparison. 
  • Pink Tax Game – Play as corporations that are trying to make the most money off of their female customers. You need to upcharge for feminine projects, or simply if the product is “girly” or pink. This game could also be competitive where it is the females against the corporations. 
  • Swift Logistics – Taylor Swift game about her flying from city to city (think logistics of her lifestyle and concerts and environmental impact) but try to not necessarily bring down her successes as a female artist but acknowledging that there are some downsides. This game could be about managing going from place to place and concert to concert and show the extensive resources that go into concerts and energy consumption. Thus, this would be a resource management-based game. 
  • The Parasite Class – based on the post on x that elon musk shared that anyone receiving financial assistance from the government is leeching off the resources, except the game would really highlight how that the opposite is true of most members of the lower class and it would showcase individuals experiences stories and situations to humanize it. Players would have to grant funding to individuals who need it. 
  • Project 2025 or a bunch of lies – This game is essentially a trivia game that helps familiarize people with the contents of Project 2025 since it is very relevant to American citizens. Since the original document is hundreds of pages long, this would help increase understanding. 
  • We Didn’t Start The Fire – a trivia game based on the song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel. This sound contains newsworthy events and pop culture references from the 40s to 1989. This would also include the updated Fall Out Boy version that covers events up to 2023. The back of the cards could have pics of the different artists on the back so people can identify what song it’s from and roughly what time frame they are working with. I think this is important for people to be educated about both pop culture and historical events, because I personally don’t recognize a lot of the references in the song, but I know that they are in reference to history that is pretty important. 
  • blue collar monopoly – working on dangerous job sites, looking dirty, etc. (idk my boyfriend suggested this idea and I can’t remember what else we talked about this idea)
  • Realistic Game of Life- Some of the editions to make it more realistic: insane medical bills, your dog died as a card, layoffs but you don’t get a new job immediately, unemployment denied, job applications. Essentially just make the game less fun and cheeky and a little more serious and grim. 
  • Candyland, but it’s a critique on diabetes and the consumption of junk food. Cards would provide statistics about diabetes, obesity, and other negative health implications. The game would still be very visually appealing with lots of sweets, but the gameplay would help you realize some of the negative consequences. 
  • Operation but it is about plastic surgery and botched operations. You would have to give people lip filler, perform liposuction, BBLs, rhinoplasties, etc. If you touch the side like in normal Operation, you have botched the person’s appearance forever. 
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Ames’ Game Playtest

  • What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? I think the most frustrating aspect of this game was the learning curve to understand what exactly my character’s goals were and the best ways to go about that. Maybe this could be reduced by providing some examples of how the player could go about achieving those goals? This also could have just been as a result of being very tired so it took me longer to grasp the concept 
  • What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I really enjoyed the pieces and how the gameboard fit together nicely. The pieces had a satisfying texture and I think simplistically and effectively communicated what they represented. 
  • Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I think that I would have enjoyed having an actual designated “graveyard” to display the pieces that I had blown up and taken out of the game. 
  • If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I would add more diagrams, pictures, and examples to make learning it easier for first time players, especially those who just need to rely on the rules. Just really dumbing it out down more than anything. 
  • What should be improved with the next version? Like i said before, diagrams and pictures would definitely be helpful and also think that the “goals and objectives” section for each of the different roles should be in the order of the turn order, because it is off by like one and I kept trying to refer to that as the turn order. 
  • What was the game’s message? We determined that the game’s message was partially about rebuilding society, but there were also other roles and factors at play such as war and the rebels who were opposing some of the other players. It presented a complex view of war and society in my opinion. 
  • Describe the game in 3 words. Strategic, competitive, challenging 

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Simulation Game Ideas

Simulation games

  • No before you go driving simulator – This would be a driving simulator for people who have driving anxiety and it could help them practice routes that they may need to drive so that they are already familiar with the roads and the surroundings and any interesting traffic situations. The game would not include any crashes or really any consequences because I want the driving experience to be presented in a way where it is not this scary terrifying thing where you feel like you’re going to die. I think there also could be a mode where you can practice certain situations and other things. For instance, one situation could be what do you do when you get pulled over by a cop or what do you do if there is an ambulance coming or your windows fog up. For a little more context, I have experienced driving anxiety and I often study and try to memorize my routes before I even take them on Google Maps and Streetview. This would help people like myself and even first time drivers. To gear the game even more towards anxiety, I think the game could include tips to help reduce anxiety while driving, especially because judgment can become impaired at a certain point. 
  • City Girl Simulator – This game would simulate what it’s like to be in a city alone as a woman, including the catcalling and dangerous situations that a lot of women unfortunately experience. This would be mostly for men to emphasize with women. 
  • Get a Job – A simulation about the process of trying to get hired as a minority (especially relevant now)
  • Overstimulation Simulator. simulating what its like to be overstimulated in different situations to show people what its like who don’t really experience that feeling as much as other people. 
  • Food allergen simulator. people would try to live like they have specific food allergies and dietary restrictions to see what other people go through, especially those who have celiac disease and may need to worry about food cross contamination. This could be something that is playtested irl. 

Other game ideas 

  • Garden Sabotage from last semester but it’s with a native plants and flowers and invasive bugs to teach people about the importance of biodiversity and maintaining a good native plant garden and why invasive bugs are bad 
  • State park conservation game this is similar to my National Park game idea but It would focus on more local parts even though those aren’t going through a lot of stuff right now with laws but it would teach people the importance of maintaining them and what they’re good for and it would get people to know about some of the different outdoor spaces that are in Pennsylvania and in particularly the side of the state and I think it would be effective because it would present some more local effects as even national effects can feel really distant from people
  • Turning my mural into a game of hide experience where people can learn about the stuff that I’ve studied with myspace and a can show the benefits of trees it can show how art can be a powerful tool for social change and really just get people to experience my work on another level instead of seeing and reading about it
  • Game about managing your emotions and daily tasks. You can only manage so much and do so many things so you have to make difficult sacrifices like do you do your homework or do you go to someone’s funeral it’s the really difficult decisions whenever you have a busy life and you are a college student and you have a lot going on
  • A 2 player or 2 team game about one side being the government the tries to surprise the general public’s protests and revolts and tries to stop it from reaching mainstream media and the general public just wants their causes to be heard they want to be seen and they want change to be made so it’s just a battle between these 2 opposing forces
  • we all make mistakes – party game where you share something you’re ashamed of, embarrassed about and regret. leads to an open discussion that its okay to make mistakes. 
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Playtest for Reese – Faction Fun

  • What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Just learning all of the specifics with the rules. The concept wasn’t hard to grasp but there were a lot of little exceptions in the rules that made it difficult to not have to constantly refer to. The game was really well put together though. 
  • What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I loved the 3D printed pieces and tiles. The game looked and felt really put together. 
  • Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I kind of wanted the first connecting settlement to the original settlement to allow me to get a new pawn because it just made more sense to me that way. I also wanted the mountains to be worth trying to conquer, but they were just too hard to roll for. 
  • If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I think just simplifying it to make the game more easy to understand off the bat. I think that placemats/reference cards could help with that. 
  • What should be improved with the next version? I think more cards could potentially be added, but mostly just simplification of some of the rules to make it easier for first time players to understand. 
  • What was the game’s message? The game was about colonization vs native peoples. I feel like it was a commentary on colonizers taking over natural land and indigenous settlements and the game could have leaned into that even more. 

Describe the game in 3 words. Strategic, thoughtful, interesting

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Week 5 – Notes, Playtests, Ideas

Game Maker’s Play Test Notes – Mindful Memorial Services

  • What questions did your players have? There weren’t a lot of questions, but they would ask each other about the requirements and what would happen with each tile. 
  • How quickly did they learn to play? They learned to play pretty quickly. The only thing that was a little difficult to get used to were the specific requirements and actions that happened with each tile, so a key would probably be helpful. 
  • What kinds of interactions did the players have? Players would influence the next player’s turns by taking up the different tiles. Players could max out the tiles, making the next person have to purchase a brand new tile. Players also would discuss about the people and their wants and needs
  • What confused players? I feel like the players didn’t really have that much confusion. 
  • What made players excited? I think players were excited when they satisfied both the deceased and the loved ones. 
  • What did your players enjoy doing? I think they enjoyed looking at the different character cards and how their needs and wants differed. 
  • Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? I think having to refer to the rules constantly frustrated players, also not being able to obtain more energy very easily so it made them not want to do cremation or human composting. 

Other playtest notes

  • clarify the way tiles are placed 
  • i think the human composting needs more benefits 
  • a way to yet more tokens
  • get more energy 
  • maybe something to mark that the tiles aren’t open when they are maxed out 
  • a key 
  • Maybe add how they died, with effects from that
    • extra card and it could effect if they get buried or cremated 
  • maybe green burial plots need to be separation 
  • maybe the green ones can’t be near a crematorium 
  • pretty easy to learn but there were a few things that they had to keep referring to

Sara’s Game Playtest – Don’t judge a book by its cover 

  • What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? The end of the game became a little bit frustrating because it was essentially just trying every possible combination until we got the whole thing right, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly frustrating to the point where it ruined the game experience. I think maybe there could be a limit on the number of tries? Either way works though. 
  • What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Because I personally had a card in the game, it was really interesting to see what other people thought was my experience and belonged to me. I also knew a few of the other cards but I didn’t reveal it to the other players so it was really interesting to see what they thought too. 
  • Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Not anything that I can think of, but maybe know a little more about the people on the cards? But I’m not sure if adding that would ruin the purpose of the game. 
  • If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I think I would make it so that anytime that anyone plays this game, they always have a connection to at least some of the people in the game (or know who they are). I think that aspect of the game made it more fun on my end. 
  • What should be improved with the next version? I feel like it’s pretty solid already ngl, but you could play around with some different potential things: having the answer on the back of the cards like those memory card games, having it be a game that is commissioned by people (maybe you have a website and you draw and send them all the cards??), maybe explore how the game can be created at a party (maybe players go to a character creator online, build themselves, and print out the cards and they can all submit their own facts/traumas), etc. 
  • Describe the game in 3 words. Thoughtful, personal, well-done!

Game ideas

  • protect our national parks – make it like the bob ross board game where there are different cards and pictures of the national parks and you must invest resources like staffing for search and rescues, trail cleanup, etc to preserve that specific national park
  • 2025 plane ride – a board game where you must navigate the treacherous landscape of riding a plane in 2025. you land on spaces and those cards can effect your plane’s ability to deal with certain conditions until you either reach your destination or crash
  • visit the national parks before it’s too late – try to travel to all the national parks or just the ones on your bucket list before the government (another player) gets to them. They will drill for oil, destroy animal habitats and biodiversity, and make the parks a much dangerous place for visitors. this could be like Battleship..
  • Giving credit where credit is due – a party or online game where people can share their accomplishments and things that they are proud of that they might not have been appreciated for or recognized from
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Week 4 Questions

Reading Response questions 

  • what learning games have you played? can you categorize them by the theory of learning types: behaviorism, constructivism, constructivism or social nature? if you played more than one which was the most effective? I forget the game name, but in high school, we used this grammar and punctuation website and we had to complete learning modules in it by fixing sentences. They tried to make this more fun by having the sentences tailored to your specific interests and you could pick musical artists, movies, and cartoon characters that would be featured in your sentences. Another one that I remember playing was the games based on the Super Why show on PBS. I remember having to spell out certain words to do things in the game, but not much more than that. I think that these games were mostly behaviorism because it was very much rinse and repeat and not necessarily fully integrated into making the experience as a whole good. While I can’t think of many more examples, I don’t think that behaviorism would be the most effective, and I think that constructivism or social nature could be much more effective.  
  • is gamification bullshit, what is ian bogost’s argument and do you agree? where have you encountered it outside of class and what was your experience? Bogost says, “More specifically, gamification is marketing bullshit, invented by consultants as a means to capture the wild, coveted beast that is videogames and to domesticate it for use in the grey, hopeless wasteland of big business, where bullshit already reigns anyway.” Essential Bogost says that gamification is something that companies do to try to sell more product, expand their audience and they just do it as a way to expand themselves. This can be done in a very sloppy manner. I think that I would tend to agree with Bogost. One example of where I have encountered this are the playable ads that I see Progressive using quite often. To me, they don’t really seem very effective and are just poor quality ads that don’t make me want to get Progressive anymore. It also just feels exploitative because it seems directed towards younger children, and I don’t know why they would do that except to increase brand awareness UNTIL they grow up and can purchase insurance. 
  • What is a serious game and why aren’t they chocolate covered broccoli? According to the article, “Serious Gaming is used to teach and train K-12 students or as professional development”. You want to avoid chocolate covered broccoli “serious games” that are just education with a sweet coating trying to make it a little more fun as an afterthought. It’s not really effective of convincing people that the topic as a whole should be enjoyable and engaging and its not as fun unless the game fully integrates mechanics with problem solving, for instance. 

Games from the games for change site for podcast

  • I particularly looked at the free games on the site because they would be most accessible to myself and a larger audience. Here are some that stood out to me:
    • A Blind Legend – a game designed for the visually impaired 
    • Datak – A Serious Game About Personal Data
    • Gamer Girl
    • Harmony Square
    • Heirloom
    • Quandary 
    • Sky: Children of the Lights
    • Syndesi
    • Tendar
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Reviews and Thoughts on Games in Class – Week 4

Observance Game Review 

  • Was it fun? Yes, this game was fun. The gameplay is a lot like Battleship and I quite enjoy that game normally. 
  • What were the player interactions? For me, I played as the US border patrol side and I got to do different search patterns to try to find the people that were trying to cross the border. I would call out the space that I was out and what search formation. If I found someone, they were captured and taken out of the game. I also got to hide the churches and green card like you would with the ships in Battleship, and kept it a secret from the other player. The other player from the Mexico side would ask me for coordinates to search for the churches and the green cards. When they found them, it allowed them to have a safe space to rest and be able to safely cross the border.  
  • How long did it take to learn? This game didn’t take very long to learn at all, thanks to it being very similar to Battleship. 
  • Would you play it again? Yes, I would play this game again. I liked the games message and gameplay and I would like to see who would do better if the roles were reversed. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. In the first act, the US border patrol side places the churches and the green card without letting the Mexico player know. Players take turns moving their characters in and out of and around the board, each searching for different things. The second act would have been after the first few turns and when there were significantly more characters out on the board. The US border patrol player started to place a few walls that blocked both players’ path, and each player started to find a few of what they were looking for. The third act of the game was when there was only 1-2 characters from Mexico remaining. That meant that they would either safely cross the border or be captured from the US side. When all the characters were captured or safely crossed the border, the game ended. 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This game was definitely competitive, as players played as the US border patrol vs citizens from Mexico looking to get a better life. The players directly opposed each other, with the US side trying to remove the Mexican characters from the game, and the Mexican side just trying to safely survive. 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor is about illegal immigration between Mexico and the United States. I liked that each of the characters had their own backstory about what led them to be in that position for either side, as it really humanized the situation and gameplay. The standout mechanic for me was being able to pick different search formations, and I somehow always seemed to pick the wrong one, where I would have caught them had I picked the other one. 

Thoughts on Ames’ chess game 

While I didn’t get to play and I don’t really know much about normal chess, I really like that message of this game of chess. I found the mechanic of the bomb to be super interesting and would love to see how the game plays out if someone decided to use it. I also thought that it was super clever and interesting to include the little citizen pegs in the sandy parts of the chess board. I think that helps people think about the citizens that are often caught up in the middle of war, as opposed to just having the chess game stacked in the favor of one side. 

Thoughts on Train

I think that this is a super effective and clever way to communicate the message of the Holocaust in a game format. I find it interesting that this game is something that would really only work in a gallery setting. I also like how the designer made it so that players were compliant in making bad decisions, but they didn’t know until the very end of walking through the exhibition. I would really like to experience this in person, but I don’t really want to personally play the game myself, but I would love to watch others’ reactions to this experience. 

Thoughts on Síochán Leat (aka The Irish Game)

I really love how this designer decided to make a game to teach their kid about their background. It makes me think about how cultural education could be taught even more so through games. I also think that the design of the game board looks super interesting with some of the pieces almost appearing to float above the ground. 

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Week 4 – 5 Serious Game Ideas

  • Drag Queen Dress Up – In this game, you play as drag queens getting ready for shows and events. You get to pick hair, makeup, and outfits, but you also have to attend events like visiting a children’s hospital, doing a book reading, brunch, etc. This game is to reduce the stigma that drag queens have, with the media believing that all drag queens are sexualized (some definitely are, but not all), etc. 
  • Realistic Driving Sim – A driving simulation where there are lot of random road things that come up that will potentially damage your car—potholes, random objects, etc. The lower the car that you drive in the game, the harder it is to drive without getting some serious damage. 
  • Summer Camp – a game where you play as a teen day camp counselor that needs to navigate the tricky world of caring for and watching children with 0 prior experience. You don’t have training for children with intellectual and physical disabilities, which makes caring for those children even harder, all while managing 20 other children. Your goal is to make sure that all children have a happy and good time. The game would expose some of the children’s “backstories” throughout the game, like what their athome life is like, and you may need to make the decision to report some not great things you hear. This game is based on my experience with being a day camp counselor and seeing that some of the children that I worked with really needed that experience and that that was what they had to look forward to during the day. I learned about some of the backgrounds of abuse that they had and it absolutely broke my heart. However, it was a difficult experience because I wanted to try to make sure that all the children had a great time, but I was unprepared for a lot of the situations that arose, since I was just a teenager myself. (Sara also helped inspire this game with her prototype about not knowing what others are going through!!)
  • Safe Food Practices – a tabletop game where you interact with actual food pieces (very interactive like the children’s play food sets or interactive children’s books) to complete certain cooking tasks to make a dish. Another player plays as the inspector as you complete these tasks and they won’t tell you what they are looking for, but they will let you know when you failed to complete the task in an unsafe manner. In this way, players must be extra careful with how they handle the food, as anything they do wrong could get their restaurant shut down. While this sounds like a silly game, I think this game could be important if I incorporate actual safe and unsafe food practices into the game and provide a little bit of background information on it. 
  • It Could Be Anyone of Us – A game (very vague at this point) about not to trust everyone that you meet. You must make decisions to go along with different strangers, however you don’t know their actual backgrounds. Someone could be a serial killer, or just a flat out mean dude. Based on who you decide to trust, your actions will have consequences. I see this as a card game, but other than that, I’m not sold on any mechanics. 
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Week 3 Reading Questions

From chapter 1:

  • How does mary flanagan’s definition of game differ from chris crawford’s as well as the definition crafted by katie salen and eric zimmerman? 
    • Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s approach to defining the word “game” is characterized by the acceptance that there are multiple different definitions. Crawford defines games by contrasting it to puzzles. The text says that Crawford believes that, “Puzzles are static; they present the player with a logical puzzle to be solved with the assistance of clues. Games, however, can evolve, and rules may shift at certain points in a game and can change with the player’s actions” (p. 6). Mary Flanagan’s definition, on the other hand, is a little more similar to Salen and Zimmerman’s in that she doesn’t believe in one strict definition of “game”. She says, “Games can be thought of more productively as situations with guidelines and procedures” (p. 7). She also adds that they can be thought of as technology as well. 
  • what is an activist game? 
    • According to Flanagan, “Activist games can be characterized by their emphasis on social issues, education, and, occasionally, intervention. In other words, they are not purely conceptual exercises, but rather, games that engage in a social issue through, most commonly, themes, narratives, roles, settings, goals, and characters; and less commonly, through game mechanics, play paradigms, interactions, or win states to benefit an intended outcome beyond a game’s entertainment or experiential value alone” (p. 13). Activist games can still be fun and enjoyable to play, but their messaging and genre remains geared towards social issues (generally). 

From chapter 3 –

  • go and chess are examples of games that feature “perfect information”, what other games share that feature?  Perfect information in a game is “…all the information constituting the system of the game is visible on the game board at all times” (p. 63). Some other games that I believe would be considered this include Mancala, Connect 4, Tic Tac Toe, and Sudoku. 
  • why might chance or gambling games hold spiritual or religious importance to ancient cultures? Flanagan writes, “Games of chance and divination were closely aligned for many thousands of years, for humans have long sought guidance from the changeable, powerful forces they believed may rule over one’s destiny and control the probable outcomes for hunting, war, and successful harvests” (p. 67-68). Chance games also had their parallels to fate, with the Egyptian board game Senet in particular representing a race against fate to the afterlife. Scholars believe that games like this helped connect the living to the afterlife and those beyond. 
  • when was the earliest battle between government/ religious groups and games? One of the earliest was in the middle ages in Europe, with a game that used dice on a backgammon board. The church tried to forbid this game. 
  • what modern games can you think of that have been banned or demonized? I feel like there was a period of time a while ago especially when shooting games such as Call of Duty were being really demontized because people believed that it would make kids violent.
  • what is a fox game, and what would be a modern example? 36 In a category called According to Flanagan, ““fox games,” [are] a group of board games featuring unequal opponents, one player is the fox, or aggressor. Other players control or play the numerous geese, sheep, or prey the fox tries to eat while the fox attempts to avoid the traps his opponents set all around him” (p. 73). Essentially, fox games are when there is an unbalance in the rules. I feel like Bang! Could potentially be considered one of these as well as the Intergroup version of Monopoly that we played. 
  • What was the purpose or intent of the game: Mansion of Happiness? Players want to be the first to reach “happiness” or “heaven”. This game depicted the struggle between good and evil; good deeds would move you closer to heaven and there are evil distractions to heaven along the way. This was supposed to be somewhat of a moral guide to living life, encouraging children to do good deeds to get to heaven. 
  • Why do artists from the Fluxus and Surealist movements play games? Why did Surealists believe games might help everyone? They do it for recreation and research purposes, specifically they like to see how games are tied to social movements. According to Flanagan, “Surrealists believed that games might help everyone—artists, scientists, politician, even farmers, tap into the spiritual realm and the human unconscious” (p. 90). 
  • Changes in what can signal profound changes in games? How were pinball games reskinned during WW2? The text says, “Therefore, changes in any larger social situation, such as a severe economic depression, may signal profound changes in games” (p. 94). For instance, games like Monopoly did great during the Great Depression in the United States. Pinball games were repainted with graphics that represented wartime themes. It was essentially propaganda, and one example was about taking down the Japanese. 
  • What statements did Fluxus artists make by reskinning games like monopoly and ping pong? The reskinning of games creates “situations”, as they call it. The reskinning of Monopoly helped represent capitalism better, and dealt with world issues as well. The “Ping Pond Table” created a ping pong game that opened up the room to play with more people and more tables, all to play in one large game, and explored the dimensionality of the space;. 
  • How are artists like Lilian Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Takako Saito, Yoko Ono, Gabriel Orozco and Ruth Catlowusing war games? Wargames are based on conflict and the taking of pieces and all of these artists explore this in their work particularly as it refers to chess the symbolism of everything. 
  • Why is it important for players to have agency in a critical or serious game? The text reads, “Janet Murray defines agency as “the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices.”” (p. 116). In a critical or serious game that is speaking about relevant social issues and causes, it is important to take agency because it is not just a game, it is ultimately the state and quality of humanity. If you know you can do something about an issue and choose to do nothing about it, the game is pointless. 
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Week 3 Game Reviews and Thoughts

Dumb Ways to Die Review

  • Was it fun? Yes, I had fun playing this game again. I loved playing it again. I am a little bit disappointed that they removed the pledge to stay safe around trains, because I feel like that was the game’s whole original purpose, but I feel like they also made some positive changes as well. I like that you can now customize characters and you have rewards that incentivize you to keep playing. 
  • What were the player interactions? You were able to interact with the game itself by manipulating whatever was going on in the scene during the mini games. You don’t interact with other players, but the whole point of the game is to prevent these little characters from dying in various different ways. 
  • How long did it take to learn? This game is super quick to learn, especially since it tells you how to play each mini game at the beginning of it. 
  • Would you play it again? Yes, I will probably keep this downloaded on my phone whenever I’m bored. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The first act would be the first round of mini games. It starts off fairly slow and it’s pretty easy to pass the mini games without dying. After the first round or two, it likely enters the second act (depending on how good you are at the game) and the timer for the mini games begins to get faster and more challenging. The third act would be when you start losing lifes and you are down to 1 life left. The second you lose that, the game is over (unless you watch an ad to save yourself). 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? While it isn’t a multiplayer game, it is definitely a more competitive type of game as it constantly reminds you of your high score so you want to be continually improving upon that. It also has you “compete” for rewards and the rewards will build up faster the better you are at the game. 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor originally was to be safe around trains, particularly not being on your phone distracting you as it is extremely dangerous. The game has kind of morphed into being safe in general in life, with some of the scenario mini games being probably not the most realistic ways to die, but it still carries the message. The most standout mechanic for me was being able to collect rewards from playing and gaining points. Those rewards could include character customizations, which I don’t ever remember there being before. A lot of the mechanics to complete the mini games are very similar, even more so than I remember and I am really just sick of having to tap really fast. 

Cards against Calamity Review

  • Was it fun? Yes, I enjoyed it. I found it quite challenging at times though. 
  • What were the player interactions? While you aren’t interacting with other players, the player makes decisions as the mayor about how the town was going to proceed in certain scenarios. Your decisions influenced the livelihood and resident sentiment of the town. 
  • How long did it take to learn? This game is super easy and fast to learn. However, it might take a bit longer to develop a decent strategy where you manage the stakeholders and the community sentiment, while making decisions that you agree with. 
  • Would you play it again? Yes, I would. I think I would play it and test out some different strategies to see what works best and what doesn’t. It seems like if I pick just based on the actions, what I believe is the right thing to do, it upsets some of the stakeholders, so the second time that I played, I solely looked at the stats of each of the different stakeholders. I would also be curious to see if I could pass on one of the harder difficulties. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The first act includes the introduction to the game, where it explains that you are a mayor and you have to balance community resilience and the needs of the community and stakeholders. I would say that the first few rounds would be included in the first act, and you are beginning to understand how certain actions may affect your gameplay experience. The second act would be when you are in the turns where you start to really make some drastic changes. You will gain or increase points in different areas drastically. The third act would be when you are nearing the end of the game and that could happen if you accidentally lose all of your community resilience points or you make it through all 8 rounds of the game. 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This isn’t a multiplayer game but it is not necessarily a game where you are trying to get a great high score or anything you are just purely trying to survive and keep the town well. 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The metaphor of the game is that you are the mayor of a small town and you must keep your community resilient while maintaining good relationships with stakeholders. You want the town to thrive as much as possible, but you are also in the face of natural disasters and other events that can make it difficult to maintain an even balance. The mechanics that stood out to me were how each choice directly affected your points in stakeholder categories, but they could also be affected by the feedback from around the town. I found it interesting that you are allowed to go into the negatives of one of the stakeholder categories, but you cannot get to 0 community resilience. It was really interesting to try to balance everything and it was really difficult. 

Thoughts on ARGs: A World Without Oil 

I thought that this was a very interesting game idea, and I’m not sure if I would have thought of this as a game prior to this class. I think that games like this are likely much more effective at getting their point across because you are actually living and experiencing the game. Even other games that present important issues like this to me don’t seem as effective as this because there is still that level of separation between the player and the game. For most games, at the end of the day, you can put the game away, but this one, is much more of a real life experience. I think, depending on the specific game, I would play a game similar in concept to this. However, it seems like it really takes some commitment which would be quite difficult. 

Thoughts on Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed 

This game seems like a great idea. It allows for players to experience places and landmarks that otherwise they may never be able to see in real life. I think it would be a fascinating experience to actually play this game and I like its purpose; however, I can only imagine that this could quickly become boring. If you are able to experience this with other players, I think that would help that factor of this game. 

Thoughts on Detroit Become Human 

I am very interested in this game, especially after hearing everyone who has played this before’s thoughts. I like the idea of seeing and experiencing the backstory and lives of different characters, even if experiencing it is emotionally taxing. I don’t think I have ever played a game that has made me feel sad before and now I am very curious to experience this. The experience almost sounds like being able to interact with a really good movie. I do feel that I may have a hard time playing this game based on what I heard about it, but it sounds like it would be worth it for the emotional experience. 

Thoughts on Factorio

The artstyle of this game is super cool and I loved the intended messaging behind it. I do kind of agree with what we discussed in class that it may be difficult to fully grapple with the topic of environmental destruction as a result of industry building when you don’t really experience the negative effects of the environment being destroyed. I mean the game does seem to get harder and events happen as a result of destroying the environment, but I’m not sure if I would necessarily correlate the two if I was actually playing the game. I would probably just think that the game is getting harder because I have been playing it for a while, and not as a result of the environment being destroyed. I think if the game were to include text or dialogue about what is going on, this could make the message more effective (kind of like what is done in the McDonald’s game when you destroy the villages), but it may also turn some people off from the game. 

Thoughts on Outer Wilds 

Outer Wilds seems like such a cool game, that would be challenging. I like the idea that every so often the universe just ends and you have to restart. I think that playing it would be like a race against the clock to see how much you can explore and get done before it happens again. I can imagine it feeling a little bit existential in the process of playing it. I would definitely play this game. 

Thoughts on Gris 

I 100% want to play this game someday and plan on buying it in the future. Years ago, I was first attracted to this game because of its beautiful art style, but now that I know that this game represents mental health, I want to play it even more. It seems like it not only is visually beautiful, but that it tells a beautiful story, without being too overbearing. I also really enjoy how the mechanics of moving the girl reflect her mental state, and I really hope that that means that she gains more abilities and is able to move faster and better by the end of the game. I really really reallyyyyy want to play this game. 

Thoughts on Gone Home 

Gone home is a very intriguing game and I also love the art style of it. I like that the game is pretty much just roaming around a house trying to find clues to understand more about the game and know what is happening. From the trailer, I am very invested in the story and if I don’t get to play this game, I would be very interested in watching a playthrough of it. I wish I could say more about it but I don’t know what happens, which makes me that more enticed to play it. 

Thoughts on The Layoff Game

The layoff game seems rather simple in execution but very impactful when it comes to its messaging. I understand why a lot of people at the time of this game’s release thought that it was insensitive to what was going on, but the game’s purpose also isn’t for it to be a fun game that makes people happy. It is a commentary on real life, which is what makes it such a good game. I think that the best part of this game is the fact that it includes the biographies and a little bit about the people that you have to lay off, so it’s not just a matter of statistically laying off a lot of people, you realize that they are all people at the end of the day with different lives. It definitely humanizes the situation more from the perspective of someone who is doing all of the laying off. 

Thoughts on Fake it to Make it

I think that this game is a good example of how easy it is to make and spread fake news (as well as profit off it). I like that the game isn’t abstract in its messaging; you are doing exactly that and that is persuasive to make you realize the gravity of the situation. I also appreciate that they still did this in a way that is fun, as some of these games can start to feel too educational a lot of the time. 

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Empathy Game Ideas – Week 3

  1. An empathy game disguised as a dress up game – In this game, you literally see what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. You dress your character up for different occasions and events however your outfit options will be limited based on who you are playing as, as some characters may have more resources than others. This game could also explore dressing for different religions to not only provide a little bit of education about different religions but make people more familiar with religious garments and their purpose.
    1. Wrinkle: You play this game IRL and report your findings. You are assigned or choose the lifestyle of another person to emulate and your clothing choices must reflect that to see how you may be treated differently or not. For instance, there are certain items of clothing that you may not be able to wear as they would be out of the price range for your particular persona.
  2. Dog’s Life – This game explores empathy through the perspective of a dog. You are home alone almost all day until your human comes back home (where did they even go??) and your human accidentally steps on you, but to you it felt purposeful. Your human decided to go on a run without you (ultimate betrayal). This game would explore the little interactions that humans have with their animals that humans don’t often think about. To the dog, you are their whole world, they absolutely need you. For a human though, they obviously love them, but their lives also have so much more. 
  3. Blindness Platformer – A platformer game where you play and experience the game first normally, then will replay levels or the whole game with limited visibility with different types of blindness and color blindness. You see how this affects the game and you learn a little bit more about the different types of blindness. This is designed to get people to be more empathetic towards people with these disabilities. 
  4. Underdeveloped Country Simulator – This game would allow you to play as someone growing up in an underdeveloped country. You want to stay alive as long as possible, but you will be faced with many challenges. This could include food and water scarcity. This game will also explore different forms of cultural entertainment, because you still want to “enjoy” life. Players will learn more about the country and their culture, as well as some of the unique challenges of underdeveloped countries. This will make people consider the things that we often take for granted. 
  5. Realistic Food Service Game – This game will present the food service industry in a more realistic manner to make players more empathetic of the people who are serving them and greeting them at restaurants. It will explore what it is like to have to live off of tips, how poorly some customers treat servers, etc.