Category: Game Design Studio 2

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Week One Questions 1/23/25 – Colin Kenny

What are the issues Ian Bogost raises about social games with Cow Clicker?

He raises concern over social existing not to provide entertainment solely, but to keep the user engaged and coming back. The enframing of friends and the perpetual compulsion to play every second you aren’t playing leads to mental health effects.

How do social games like FarmVille enframe friends?

Social games create the “features” of friends as resources for both the player and the developer. Players have to ask their friends for help not out of enjoyment for the game but to get something out of them. Developers use this tactic to become viral, ever spreading like an actual virus.

How do social games destroy time outside of the game?

Due to their endless nature, so much time is spent in the game that all time spent outside of the game is hijacked by thoughts and ideas about the game. Media like movies and TV shows are contained within a finite experience, but since these games have no defined end, players will feel compelled to play ad nauseam.

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Week 2

Pepsi man thoughts– wow the graphics suck but it reminds me of temple run where you have to jump over things and collect. Equating fun with Pepsi, -running after Pepsi- the repeating sounds get old quickly

Sneak King thoughts– the character looks like lord farquaad lol. The way he’s running around is super weird he looks like he’s in pain. His dance moves are funny. Not that recognizable as Burger King, theres not as much emphasis on the burger than there is on the character sneaking around. Any why is it set in a neighborhood?

Chex quest thoughts– I love the colors. It doesn’t immediately scream Chex mix though. The characters are really cute. Why is there a spoon involved? You don’t eat Chex mix with a spoon.

M&M kart racing thoughts– a lot of the class seemed to have played/known about this game but I have never seen it. This is TEMU version of Mario Kart. This floating eyebrows really make up for the horrible driving.

7up game– good vibes to start with the music. The characters shoes are so big I love it. You get smaller and blink when you get hurt like on super Mario. What does it have to do with 7 up other than the bottle being on the screen when you boot it. Whats the connection between Caribbean music with 7 up too?

Minion Rush– would the running game be considered a persuasive game?  Persuading you to watch the movies?

Americas Army Thoughts- serious/hardcore music. Enticing players. Fun game- okay now maybe the army would be fun too.

McDonald’s Game thoughts– Seems like its from farm to table- but that’s not how McDonald’s works.

Monopoly thoughts– the added role play with the new set of monopoly roles was fun. It was different for me compared to the other players because I was the 1% and had everything easy. I had no money issues and skated by with owing things.

Last weeks game idea with persuasion– The counter/ clicker game. I think to make this a persuasive game keep the counting up with the number of clicks you get, but you get rewards when you get to certain number milestones. For example, get extra get go fuel perks, or win a large fry at McDonald’s.

Game ideas that explore changing players minds-

  • A game that makes you choose one or the other. The pictures will be of aftermaths of climate change and the player will blindly pick which they would rather have in the world. (Ex, severe after maths of storms, heat waves etc.) This will raise awareness and have facts at the end of the game on climate change.
  • A game that you go to college, and don’t go. You pick change cards that tell you what you will be doing in your life time. I think this will change people’s views on how it’s okay not to want to go to college or conform to society’s norms of going to college.

What advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase? I have never played an advergame, or seen one until this class. I think if I was introduced to something like this it would have influenced a purchase in my younger years.

Why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? Taking care of your teeth= fun. It’s the psychology of equating fun with cleaning your teeth.

What does volvo’s drive for life accomplish? It gets the name out there and it is being recognized for having a simulation game attached to it

What company used in-advergame advertising Bed Bath & Beyond

What was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for? General Foods made Kool-Aid Man for the Atari 2600

What makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree? He says its about “tempering the very lifestyle of alcoholic overindulgence”. Its sophisticated that the game can portray drunkenness

What do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share? Influencing, Persuading, having a clear opinion of something.

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Week 2 Game Ideas – Persuasion

  1. The Wonderful Life of a Carnival Fish – This is a game trying to persuade people that fish, such as gold or beta fish, should not be given out as prizes at carnivals. The player will experience the game through the point of view of the carnival fish and must try to survive as long as possible (a difficult task). Some of the trials that the fish will go through are residing in a too small environment (both in the plastic bag and when taken home), potentially placed with some other fish that are hostile, with unsafe aquarium decorations, unclean water, not acclimated to new water, etc. 
  2. Well, What Was She Wearing? – This game is based on CAPSEA’s “What Were You Wearing?” Exhibit that displayed the clothing that people were wearing when they were SA’ed. This challenges the expectations that people are “asking for it” if they dress a certain way. It also shows that people could be wearing anything and it would still happen to them. The game adaptation of this would have different clothing options and people are to try to “guess”. This is to persuade people that it doesn’t matter the clothing that people wear, people get SA’ed just for existing and it is not their fault, especially in regards to their fashion choices. I think that this game would be difficult to pull off because of how sensitive this topic is, but I think that it would help give a little bit more awareness to victims.
  3. Fast Fashion Game (needs a better name) – At the beginning of every turn, a fashion micro trend is determined (could be determined by a spinner or cards). This trend determines the clothing items that you want to have in your wardrobe. Anything clothing that you have that is not relevant to the trend (potentially excluding some staple clothing items), goes to the landfill. Eventually the landfill will just pile up with a lot of clothing items and it will represent some of the environmental implications of fast fashion. More of the ethics of fast fashion could also be implemented into the game play. This game is to persuade people not to fall victim to fast fashion microtrends and try not to support companies like Shein.
  4. Toxic Friends – A game about toxic friends where you are in toxic relationships where it is impacting your ability to thrive in the game. You have to recognize these bad relationships and you have to cut them off in order to be able 2 succeed further in the game however there may be some implications when you cut these friends off for instance they might blackmail you but in the end cutting them off is probably going to be more of a benefit then something hurting. The persuasion element of this is for players to assess the relationships IRL and not to stay with the people that are harming you more than benefiting you. 
  5. Art Activism – A game to persuade people that art can be a powerful tool for social causes and activism. This could be a board game where you must fight for a particular social cause and strategically use artwork to do that. The game could include real examples of art with a social purpose like Picasso’s Guernica, the Mexican Muralist movement, some of Banksy’s work, etc. Some of the mechanics could include conducting research and collecting art materials.
  6. Golf Course Game – This game would be to persuade people that golf courses are environmentally taxing in numerous ways. The game could include elements of real golf where players have to putt a golf ball, but the longer you take to get the ball in the hole, the more your character begins to take note of some of the destruction around you (deforestation, water/fertilizer/pesticide runoff, etc.). 
  7. Earth Day – A game for younger children about Earth Day and teaching them the importance of caring about the Earth and taking care of it. This could be based on my children’s book that I wrote. 
  8. Mindful Energy Consumption (idea from last semester) – Game to conserve the most energy on campus – Chatham University did a game like this a few years back, promoting sustainability and energy conservation. It was a competition between floors in a dorm building to see who could conserve the most energy per floor. Because of the way the buildings were set up, they could go in and see per floor how much energy was being consumed. There was also some incentive like a prize for the floor to win. I also believe they had social media accounts or an online tracker set up so that the floors could see their progress and communicate with other floors. One issue with this was that some students, especially those who didn’t like their CA, would try to sabotage the results of other floors, constantly turning on lights. One benefit of this was that the school was able to recognize that students weren’t using their ovens (I believe) enough and they were removed from the dorms. This also helps eliminate unnecessary energy consumption and makes students realize the difference turning off and unplugging certain things can make.
    1. For RMU to employ this, I think that it would need to be a competition between the different residence buildings and not particular floors. I think that would help to eliminate people sabotaging other floors in the same building. This would also have to have a time limit; for instance, 1 week (A good week would maybe be the week of Earth Day??). Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about how to measure energy consumption to say for certain how the results would be tracked, especially in RMU’s system. There would, however, need to be a really good prize to encourage students to actually participate. 
    2. New idea – Maybe have this be a digital game where online users compete to have lowest energy consumption. It would likely require a lot of honesty as people would have to manually report how much energy they are consuming. It could also just be roughly calculated by people reporting how much they use a certain thing in their house. 

Game about Green Final Disposition – In this game, you own and operate a funeral home and service place that is trying it’s hardest to be eco-friendly. You will have multiple options for final disposition for the deceased and must convince their living relatives to opt for more eco friendly options. It becomes even more tricky because you don’t want to disrespect someone’s dying wishes or disrespect the family’s processing of death. There could be a CO2 tracker to show how much with each deceased person as well as other key environmental factors. Some of the methods that would be included would be green burial, traditional burial, alkaline hydrolysis, human composting, and cremation. This would be to persuade people that environmental factors should be considered when making a decision about what you want to happen to your body when you’re gone.

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Mind-changing Game Ideas

  1. Helper’s Hand – A game to encourage volunteering. Players would gather resources and support to target a cause (hunger, elderly, homelessness). Each cause has puzzle-like requirements to tackle it. Once you have tackled the problem, you get a helpers hand badge. There is no winner based on money, resources, etc.
  2. An attention span game. It would be a mobile game that would have daily challenges that would successively challenge the users attention span. The goal of the game is to lengthen user’s attention spans and offering an alternative to doom scrolling.
  3. FOMO: a travel game that sets makes a list of destinations and experiences on your trip that are not as well known. The purpose of this game would be to encourage people experience travel genuinely and show the beauty in locations that aren’t viral or trending.
  4. Algorithm game: a game where players get to control what is on a npc’s phone. There goal is to gradually shift them from their original feed to goal product. They would do this by choosing what posts or reels the sim sees without losing their attention. If the next post is too much of a jump or has information that insults the sim, the player loses and does their product does not get onto the feed.
  5. Recycling day: a game to bring attention to the different types of toxins in everyday materials. Users would essentially “collect” toxins on their app by scanning in something they encounter (tupperware, trash can, tin foil) and the app would give them info on it and a toxin to collect.
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HW

  • Discuss:
    • generate 5 new game ideas that explore changing players minds about … (climate change, energy, politics, etc.)
    • 5 game ideas for climate change, energy, politics, etc.):
    • 1. steal the election: A board game in which players compete as candidates in an election. Each player has to commit as many fraudulent acts as they can in order to win the election (collect fake votes, skew ballets, or push un fact-checked ads to be publicized)
    • 2. Fire Starters: Each player plays as different people involved in the California fires. (Ex. Rich Millionares, the US government, as well as campers. (The Millionares must stop the fires before it burns their expensive houses, the US Government can choose to aid in the support against the fires or aid in the support for more fires to start. The richer you are, then you can bribe the US Government to save your sector of the map, but sabatoge other rich players that you don’t like. The campers can choose to vote for which rich person they want to be in office, depending on if they want to let the forests live or burn to the ground)
    • 3. Extinction Mania: Attempt to make as many animals extinct as possible with the help of global warming and unethical practices. (Kill all the polar bears by opening factories in the arctic circle. Drain the water holes in Africa to open a spa. Get rid of the lemurs by leveling out all of the trees in madagascar to make one giant golf course. Raise the temperatures of the oceans to bleach the coral reefs and destroy the entire aquatic ecosystem. Kidnap as many penguins as possible to sell in the wet markets)
    • 4. Energy Tycoon: Use whatever methods you can through completing side quests and mini games within the game that allow you to gain total control over the electric industry (like monopoly but based on energy)
    • 5. What Musk I do? Players play as Elon Musk as they attempt to buy out as many companies as possible, so that they can own pre existing branches and firms that they never started up themselves. Then you can then use your money to buy your way into the government, all so that you can defeat the final boss: gaining access to the treasury department’s payment system.
    • Post thoughts on what we played in class
  • Play:
    • The McDonalds Game: Good cometary on how crazy a corporation can get just to sell a cheap burger and make a buck. I think the graphics and game play is high quality for what they are trying to accomplish and would for sure recommend this game to someone who enjoys satire as well as real world issues.
    • Monopoly: with the new set of rules, not only was this game impossible for anyone other than the wealthier people, but sadly enough it gave quite a real world outlook on how monopolistic culture in our society truly works. I think this is good commentary on capitalism and consumerism.
  • Homework:
  • Read: Advergames from Bogost, Ian. Persuasive Games: The expressive power of videogames
    • what advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase?
    • Although I personally haven’t played any advergames, I’ve witnessed countless advergame walkthroughs. Such as Pepsiman, or Burger King’s Sneak King. These games reinforce brand identity but don’t really influence direct purchases. Overall, they can increase brand awareness and affinity for that said brand.
    • why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? What makes chase the chuckwagon and shark bait fail?
    • Tooth Protector works because it integrates the push for dental hygiene into its gameplay, reinforcing the brand’s goals at the end of the day. It also allows the player to miss a day brushing their teeth, which makes it more real life. Escape works due to it’s target audience that it is pushing for already. The other games fail, however, as they lack engaging gameplay, making them feel like a weak promotional gimmick rather than a compelling game that makes the player want to come back, or engage more with that brand in general.
    • what does volvo’s drive for life accomplish? 
    • It accomplishes a positive message, as it urges the players to drive safely, utilizing safety features in the game as well that are a part of their cars.
    • what company used in-advergame advertising 
    • Burger King effectively used in-game advertising with its Sneak King advergame
    • what was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for?
    • Kool-Aid Man- promoting (You guessed it)….Drum roll please…. *Kool Aid* 
    • what makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree?
    • because it uses interactivity to reinforce behavior patterns. The game cleverly incorporates play into an everyday task, making it an engaging way to teach children. I think its not that crazy though.
    • what do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share?
    • Both communicate messages through gameplay. However Advergames typically attempt to get the player to buy more than just the game, as the game is simply a bridge to that consumer buying other products by that said brand.
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Intergroup Monopoly

If you love Monopoly you will probably dislike this game, but the point of the game isn’t to be good, but rather to be an example.

In the game, there are 4 different classes (White Male, Females, Minorities, and 1%). Each class has different rules they must follow. The game is basically rigged towards the 1% to win, but that’s the point since it’s how the US functions.

I enjoyed playing this game just because it’s another Monopoly game but isn’t like the rest because there are rules specific towards players. You will get mad playing the game, but you’ll also have plenty of laughs and that’s what the game is about. Definitely plan on playing this one again with my friends.

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7Up Game

This game is an example of a game that is simply not good. I found it very hard to defeat the enemies due to the elevation change in the map and only being able to shoot side to side or down. If you are on a hill, it is very hard to kill an enemy without jumping above it and shooting down, but if you miss you die since you are falling right on top of it. 4/10 would play again if someone had it plugged in, but wouldn’t go out of my way.

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Game Review M&M Kart Racing

In this game, it is basically a knock off of Mario Kart but with M&Ms. The graphics are overall pretty bad, but not terrible considering the time period. The physics are also super unrealistic. But overall, the game is awesome just because it is that bad of a game. Sometimes there isn’t a good reason to play a game other than it being a bad game, but that’s what makes it so fun.

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5 new game ideas that explore changing players minds about … (climate change, energy, politics, etc.)

Pollution Simulator

In this game, your goal is to either pollute the earth or to fight pollution. On the Pollution side of the game, you get to see which products cause the most pollution. On the fighting pollution side of the game, you get to fight it in ways that you think might help but do just as much damage (cough cough electric cars).

Presidential Race

In this game, you basically have to build a plot to beat the other political party. You do this by researching weak / strong points in the others argument. But in the process of doing this, you may end up realizing that you don’t support certain aspects of a political party and could end up fighting on the other side by the end of it.

Electric Racing

In this game, it’s a simple racing game that would be similar to Forza, NFS, etc. But in this game, all the cars are electric rather than a traditional combustion engine. There is barely any sound in the game due to no engines, the cars understeer like crazy due to the weight of the battery, and the wrecks are boring because no gasoline is exploding. This changes the players mind about electric vs. gas cars since they realize how boring they are.

Deepfake

Players work as detectives by analyzing news, social media, and videos to find out what news is fake. As players uncover tactics that are used to fake media, they gain tools they can use to recognize fake news. This can help encourage skepticism of misinformation so people are not as gullible as they are now.

ICE Simulator

In this game, you play as an ICE officer and do what they do best. But during this, you have to determine which immigrants should and should not be deported. This may seem like a controversial game, but the catch is that the people you are trying to find can either be really good or really bad people. So you may either have a civilized conversation and come to an agreement, or you might be in a gun fight. The aim of this game is to spread awareness on what is going on and to simply make the player change their attitude for good or worse.

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Week 2 Question Set

  • what advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase?
  • Skate 3 may be a far reach, but for those who don’t know it is one of the largest and most popular skate games ever made. It can be considered and advergame though due to the large amount of brands incorporated into the game. You can wear Vans, Converse, Nike, etc. This did influence me into buying a specific skateboard I had in the game.
  • why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? What makes chase the chuckwagon and shark bait fail?
  • Tooth protector works since it makes learning about dental hygiene fun. Escape is fun because it gives a sense of adventure and urgency, keeping you playing. Chase and Shark Bait fail due to possible lack of engagement, if the product placement or gimmicks of the game are too obvious is can shy players away.
  • what does volvo’s drive for life accomplish? 
  • They incorporated their safety features into the gameplay narrative, and by doing so it positions itself as a leader in safety for their cars. It also implants into your head that you like Volvos due to the game which can cause you to lean towards one in your next car purchase without even realizing.
  • what company used in-advergame advertising 
  • In the case of Skate 3 which is the game I played, there was plenty of advertising for Dr. Pepper as well as Miracle Whip. In the game, you can even play as a Dr. Pepper can as part of a promotion closer to the games release.
  • what was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for? 
  • Kool-Aid Man on the Atari was very early, with Pepsi Man later coming to the Playstation.
  • what makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree?
  •  Ian Boogost argues that the toilet training game is sophisticated because of its ability to portray drunkenness by having to relieve yourself. The game directly relates to the product by incorporating the “solution” as the product.
  • what do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share?
  • They are both trying to convince you of something. But, advergames are meant to be in favor of one thing and anti-advergames are the opposite. But at the end of the day, they are both promoting a product, and there is no such thing as bad publicity.
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Week 2 Reading Response

  • what advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase?
    •  I’m not sure if I actually played the games but Bazooka candy brands (they make push-pops, ring pops, juicy drop pops, etc) has a site where you can play numerous games featuring their products. I remembered hearing about this as a kid. Back then, it probably wouldn’t have influenced a purchased but I might have asked someone else to buy it for me.
    •  Similarly, I’ve also played the M&M Kart Racing on the Wii, which probably made me want to eat M&Ms as a small child; however, I’m not sure if that tactic would work on me now. I also played Minion Rush, the Temple Run like game, but I’m not sure that convinced me to want to watch the movies, I likely played because of the movie. 
    • Another game I’m not sure counts is Bring Me the Horizon’s Scream Star. This game is a generic rhythm game but it connects to Spotify to stream their newest album. The game essentially just tries to get you to listen to their new album more than anything. I wouldn’t say that this influenced a purchase but probably made me stream the album a little bit more. 
    • A few years back, the Olympics also had their own games on Google and you could go around and play a lot of the different Olympic sports and compete with others across the world. I think that this was encouraging people to watch and support the Olympics. I loved the game but I don’t think I ended up watching the Olympics. 
  • why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? What makes chase the chuckwagon and shark bait fail?
    • Tooth Protector and Escape have deeper meaning embedded into the game rather than just creating a game to try to sell more of a product. In Tooth Protector, it actually taught children the importance and process of maintaining good oral health and it even made it seem that having sweets or junkfood at one time is not the end of the world. You used Johnson & Johnson products to protect and take care of the teeth. This also made the game better because it situated the products in a manner where it provides a solution to a problem, one that can be applied to real life at the same time. Escape’s deeper meaning is that the game is found only by pressing the escape button on Google, which people are likely to only do if they are in a stressful situation and bored out of their minds. The mountain bike brand that the game is by offers an escape from daily troubles, very much like the game. 
    • On the other hand, Chase the Chuckwagon was just trying to get kids to convince their parents to buy the Purina dog food so they could get the game and there was really no reason other than that. It didn’t really seem like it had much of a purpose other than to sell more dog food. Like Chase the Chuckwagon, McDonald’s Shark Bait game also has nothing to do with the product that is being advertised, Fish Filet sandwiches, and it was merely trying to get people to know that McDonald’s has them all year round, but the gameplay was not related. 
  • what does volvo’s drive for life accomplish? Volvo’s Drive for Life demonstrates one of the key features of Volvo cars—their safety—and turns it into a game. The game allows you to drive three different Volvo cars and you can test them out with and without the safety features. This demonstrates what Volvo’s safety actually does in a way that is more understandable, interactive, and fun than statistics and test videos. It also allows users to drive the cars in somewhat realistic scenarios unlike standard racing games and it helps demonstrate Volvo’s traffic safety as well. 
  • what company used in-advergame advertising? Bed Bath and Beyond was advertised in the Dodge Stow n’ Go Challenge game. 
  • what was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for? Kool-Aid Man on the Atari by General Foods. 
  • what makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree? Ian Boogost argues that the toilet training game is sophisticated not just because of its mechanics, but because of its ability to portray drunkenness in one manner—that is having to relieve yourself. It takes one product feature of J2O and amplifies it. It almost offers a realistic experience. I suppose I would agree with this statement. The game directly relates to the product and the product is seen as a “hero” or “solution” that makes this game effective. 

what do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share? They both are trying to persuade people, but in different ways. One is to persuade people not to support a company or product and the other is the exact opposite. Bogost says “Even though such games seem to contradict the goals of advergames that promote rather than depose, both types actually share fundamental principles: they demonstrate claims about the function (or dysfunction) of products and services, giving the player a first-person account of how the features and functions of those products and services intersect with his wants and needs” (p. 230).

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Week 2 Game Thoughts and Reviews

McDonald’s Game

  • Was it fun? Yes, despite the darker message of the game overall, it is kind of a fun game to see how far you can make it without becoming bankrupt. 
  • What were the player interactions? While you weren’t interacting with other players, the player is able to interact with the game by controlling all of the different sectors of McDonald’s, including the pasture, the slaughterhouse, the restaurant, and the corporate side. You can place cows and grow pastures, kill cows, hire people, etc. 
  • How long did it take to learn? While the general mechanics of the game are fairly simple, there are a lot of little parts to this game that make it take a little longer to learn. It also didn’t help that there were 30 pages in the tutorial alone. After the first few rounds of watching the game and playing it, I then really started to learn the game. 
  • Would you play it again? I think I would but probably not for an extended period of time. It gets frustrating because it is very difficult to not become bankrupt. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The first act begins when you first load up the game and you begin placing your first plots of cows and soy. You need to also hire people to work at the restaurant and make sure that your cows go to the slaughterhouse. The second act begins when you sort of start to develop a strategy for moving the cows through the McDonald’s cycle. You start to replace cows when they get killed and you may need to kill some yourself if they become disease-ridden. You may also start to implement some of the different marketing strategies in the corporate setting. I found myself in the second act partaking in more of the shady business practices like using GMOs in my crops and giving my cows some special stuff. I also deforested and relocated people. The third act is when you start to significantly lose money to the point where you cannot recover and you bankrupt McDonald’s. 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This game is a single-player game so there aren’t really competitive or collaborative aspects to the game, although it is like a competition between you (operator of McDonald’s) and the rest of the world. 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor is about the unethical business practices of McDonald’s. It calls out a lot of McDonald’s shady practices with trying to make money off cheap burgers including environmental concerns, health concerns, etc. One of the standout game mechanics for me is how I had to kill a cow if it became sick and it torched them. It was a little cruel. I also was shocked when I had a bunch of cow skeletons in my pasture and then was totally unable to use the land. 

Intergroup Monopoly

  • Was it fun? Yes, I always enjoy playing Monopoly; however I think that I would have liked it more had I been one of the 1% players. 
  • What were the player interactions? Like normal Monopoly, players had to pay each other rent when landing on propers, give each other money based on some of the special community chest cards, the 1% player could buy others’ properties from them, etc. 
  • How long did it take to learn? Since I went in already knowing how to play normal monopoly, this version didn’t take very long at all. Some of the little special rules were hard to immediately catch on to, so we just kept referring back to them. 
  • Would you play it again? Probably not under these rules. I will definitely play normal Monopoly again and appreciate the symbolism of this version, but for just the purposes of playing a game out of enjoyment, the game is too unfair to want to play again. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The 3 act structure is very similar to the 3 act structure of normal Monopoly. The first act begins during the setup of the game. For this edition, we had to decide the “roles” of each player. To decide this, we just rolled the dice and whoever got the highest numbers were the more “ideal” roles. I dealt out the money to the players, with the 1% player getting significantly more money and properties than all of the other players. The white men played under normal rules and the females and minorities played with even less perks and properties. After this initial setup, the players began to take their first few turns, moving across the board. Players, depending on their role and opportunity to, began to buy the first properties. 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? 
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? 

Pepsi Man Thoughts

I actually really like the idea of this game. Even though the mechanics are simple and the gameplay doesn’t really have much to do with Pepsi, something about the game is just so charming to me. It’s fun, silly, and makes me think nicely of the Pepsi brand. I know some Pepsi fanatics that would probably love this game now. Will this game convince me to drink Pepsi? No. I’m not sure anything could get me to drink that. 

Sneak King Thoughts

This game does seem fun. I’m a little bit confused by the premise of the game and why you would want the king to seem like a sneaky criminal, but it still looks like something that I could enjoy playing, especially with the silly animation style. Would this make me hungry for a Burger King burger? Honestly, if I was hungry enough, it might convince me to get one, but probably only if I was starving. 

Chex Quest Thoughts

This actually looks like a somewhat solid game, but the premise as it relates to Chex Mix is a little weird, but I think that’s okay. It looks more fun than what I would imagine a Chex Mix game being like and I like the character designs. I could see my younger brother enjoying this and as a child, he might use that as justification to get my mom to buy him Chex Mix. For adults however, I don’t think that Chex Quest is going to do enough to make people go out and buy it unless you are a pre established Chex Mix consumer. The idea of this game does me think a little bit better of the Chex Mix brand, since they are willing to put effort into making a high quality game. I would play this game with friends once, just to experience it because it is a silly concept. 

M&M Kart Racing Thoughts

I haven’t seen this game in years. I definitely was reminded of how terrible the gameplay and mechanics are, and it confirms to me that I wasn’t just really bad at it as a kid (although that was probably a factor too). Although the gameplay has little to do with M&Ms, if I recall correctly, it was still effective to me as a kid as a method of persuasion to buy M&Ms. I think it might just be my love for M&Ms though. If I wasn’t already a committed consumer, I’m not sure how well this game would convince me to get M&Ms. I really wish I still had this on the Wii to experience how bad it is again. 

America’s Army Thoughts

I don’t like the idea of this game at all. I am already not the biggest first person shooter game fan, but I especially don’t like that this one is glorifying war and the US military. It feels like propaganda to try to get young males to join the military and doesn’t address any of the negative aspects of the experience. Also, you are generally playing a game for entertainment purposes and this is making it seem like killing people in a real life war would be too? That just doesn’t sit right with me. Despite that, if this game is well-done, I think it could be effective to convince some people to join the military. Do I agree with that? No, but I don’t think that the military is necessarily known for their ethics. 

Cool Spot Thoughts

This game is also charming to me! I think that it’s really fun that you play as the 7Up Spot. The only thing is I think that the music would get annoying after having to restart a level so many times, but it is still a cute game. I don’t think that this game would persuade me to drink 7Up. It just might make the brand seem more “fun” if anything. 

Vote!!!

  • Was it fun? Yes, despite it being somewhat repetitive and more educational, I enjoyed it. 
  • What were the player interactions? While you weren’t interacting with other players in the game, you had to interact with the different candidates running for office in the general election by asking them questions at debates. 
  • How long did it take to learn? Almost instantly. This game was super simple to learn and it walked you through every step. 
  • Would you play it again? No, probably not. This game took too long and was a little too educational for me to want to play more than once. 
  • Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. In the first act and when you open up the game, you cast a vote at the general election, but you are uninformed so it makes you go back home and start to become an informed voter by using different apps. You start to collect information about the different candidates by using these apps and attending town meetings or debates. The second act would be when you start to form an idea of who the different candidates are and whose policies line up with your values. You are still conducting research on the candidates, but you are starting to form a more cohesive picture of the candidates. The third act is when you know who you are voting for and it is finally election day. You cast your vote and you see who won the election. (I’m pretty sure the people that win are always the people that you vote for). 
  • What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? While this is a single player game so it’s not collaborative or competitive in the traditional sense, I wouldn’t really call this a competitive game by any means. It’s more of just going through a storyline of the voting process and there isn’t anything to really say that you “won”.  
  • What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor is about becoming an informed voter and performing your civic duties. The standout mechanic for me was being able to ask the candidates questions directly at the townhall meetings. I found that it was the best way to gather information from the candidates and the quickest. 
  • Overall, this seems like a pretty good game, especially for a social studies/history class in high school. Honestly I think that the long length of the game was helpful to make the voting process seem more like a continuous educated process rather than researching the night before the election. The game was a little slow but it was effective at what it was trying to accomplish. 
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Thoughts on GETTING OVER IT

I have played getting over it in the past, and it is so very frustrating. Not only are the mechanics hard to get used to (especially on IPad) but the little voice who wants to make sure that you know you messed up is so horrible. The game itself is great, it cause a strong reaction, and makes you want to play more to prove to yourself (and that stupid voice) that you can actually do it.

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New Game

I’ve recently been obsessed with the game Inscryption, it is a card game that you play online, it has storyline, secrets, and it is so absolutely frustrating. I highly recommend watching videos of people playing it, and playing it for yourself!

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Thoughts on MONOPOLY

I had rolled to play the 1% in our game. I had the most advantage when it comes to the entire game, though it didn’t feel right. Yes, it is 100% fun to win at Monopoly, but the meaning behind all of our roles in the game put me in a position where it felt like cheating. I didn’t enjoy watching the other players have to be careful with their money, and constantly be put into jail.