Week 6 Questions
5 Simulation Games
- Workplace Bias Simulator
Players take on the role of a hiring manager reviewing resumes. Subtle differences (names, schools, gaps in employment) influence candidate perception.
Goal: Reveal unconscious bias and show how structural inequality affects hiring decisions.
- Living Paycheck to Paycheck
A month-long budgeting simulation where players manage rent, food, transportation, medical bills, and surprise emergencies.
Goal: Show how poverty isn’t about “bad choices” but limited options and systemic barriers.
- Social Media & Identity Simulation
Players create a profile and make posts while managing peer approval, family expectations, and professional consequences.
Goal: Explore speech communities, identity performance, and social pressure (ties nicely to your sociology themes).
- Immigration Journey Experience
Players navigate paperwork, language barriers, job searching, and cultural adaptation in a new country.
Goal: Build empathy for immigrants and demonstrate structural challenges beyond individual effort.
- Campus Power & Privilege Game
Players experience college life from different perspectives (first-gen student, wealthy legacy student, working parent, etc.). Access to internships, networking, and free time varies.
Goal: Show how opportunity is shaped by social capital, not just motivation.
Game Response Week 6
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
- What made the experience fun or not? Virtual environments are fun cause we don’t get to play with them very often – I like the collaboration aspect of having to both describe two different things which don’t match but work together to solve a problem
- What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing? To figure out how to not die and blow up – seeing if you can work together well
- Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game? I wouldn’t really call it persuasive per say, but it makes you realize how difficult it can be to successfully work together on things
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? the metaphor is diffusing a bomb and working together, the mechanic of both players seeing two different things to accomplish the same goal is intriguing and makes it difficult yet fun
- How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for? It made me feel a little stressed and panicked, but mostly exhilarated to try and be a successful bomb diffuser, it makes me feel empathy for real bomb diffusers
- Is the game an activist game? If so what does the game play advocate for? It is not an outright activist game in my opinion, but if it was it advocates for clearer communication and thinking quickly in necessary tense situations
- Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku.
Confusing manual
A box with mini puzzles
Communicate or die
Also started my podcast game Children of the Sky – I haven’t played it enough to get a feel for it but it’s supposed to be an environmental impact activist game about spreading light and hope to darkness and we will see how that works – it does make me feel nice though
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: Game Reflection
- What made the experience fun or not?
The game is fun because it is very intense and chaotic in a good way. Everyone has to talk fast, listen carefully, and stay calm while the timer counts down. It can also be frustrating when people panic or misunderstand each other, but that stress is part of what makes the game exciting and memorable.
- What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing?
The main motivation is teamwork and pressure. Players want to improve their communication.
- Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game?
Yes, the game is persuasive because it shows how important clear communication and trust are. Outside of the game, it encourages players to listen better, explain things clearly, and stay calm under pressure.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics stand out?
The bomb is a metaphor for high-stress situations where mistakes have serious consequences. The standout mechanic is that only one player can see the bomb while the others can only see the manual.
- How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for?
The gameplay makes you feel anxious, rushed, and sometimes overwhelmed. The game makes you feel empathy for the bomb defuser because they are under constant pressure and depend entirely on others for help.
- Is the game an activist game? If so, what does the game play advocate for?
The game is not an activist game in a political sense, but it does advocate for cooperation and communication. It promotes teamwork, patience, and shared responsibility. It shows that success comes from collaboration rather than individual control.
- Describe the game in a haiku
Wires, beeps, ticking clock
Voices overlap in panic
Trust defuses fear
Spoon Buffet
Players: 2–5
Time: 15–20 minutes
Goal: Manage your daily energy (“spoons”) wisely and finish the game with the most spoons preserved, without burning out.
Theme: What Are “Spoons”?
Spoons represent mental, emotional, and physical energy.
You start each day with a limited number. Some things cost spoons, others restore them—and ignoring your limits has consequences.
Card Types
- Task Cards
Work, School, Chores
→ Cost spoons to complete - Self-Care Cards
Sleep, Exercise, Mindfulness
→ Restore spoons - Support Cards
Friends, Therapy, Family
→ Protect spoons or help counter Stress - Stress Cards
Anxiety, Overcommitment, Unexpected Events
→ Drain spoons unless managed
Setup
- Shuffle the full deck.
- Each player starts with:
- 10 spoons (use tokens, paper, or a tracker).
- Deal:
- 2–3 players: 7 cards each
- 4–5 players: 8 cards each
- Keep spoons visible to everyone.
Gameplay (Drafting Rounds)
Each round represents one day.
- Choose One Card
- Look at your hand.
- Secretly choose one card to play face-down.
- Reveal & Resolve
- All players reveal cards simultaneously.
- Apply effects immediately:
- Pay spoon costs
- Gain spoons
- Trigger stress effects
- Pass the Hand
- Pass remaining cards:
- Left on odd-numbered rounds
- Right on even-numbered rounds
- Pass remaining cards:
- Repeat until all cards in hand are played.
Card Effects
Task Cards
- Cost 1–3 spoons
- Worth points only if you can afford them
- If you cannot pay → take Spoon Debt (see below)
Self-Care Cards
- Restore 1–3 spoons
- Cannot raise you above your starting max (10 spoons)
- Multiple self-care cards stack
Support Cards
- Protect against Stress cards
- May:
- Reduce spoon loss
- Cancel a Stress card
- Be shared with another player (card text specifies)
Stress Cards
- Force spoon loss unless countered
- Some require another player’s involvement:
- Example: Overcommitment → another player must give you a Support card or you lose extra spoons
- If no help is given, consequences increase
Spoon Debt (Burnout Mechanic)
If you ever drop below 0 spoons:
- Take 1 Spoon Debt token
- Immediately reset to 0 spoons
- Each Spoon Debt = –2 points at the end of the game
Message: You can push through… but it costs you later.
End of Game & Scoring
When all drafting rounds are complete:
- +1 point for each spoon you have left
- –2 points for each Spoon Debt token
- Bonus points (optional):
- +2 points for balanced play (at least one Task, Self-Care, and Support card played)
Highest score wins.
Week 6 Mason Tosadori
- What made the experience fun or not? KEEP TALKING AND NO ONE EXPLODES
The experience was fun whenever you actually completed a part of the puzzle, but other than that it can be a little frustrating. Since I was the one in the goggles and not giving the instructions, I felt annoyed by waiting to be told what to do, and especcially annoyed when the information they give me is wrong. It seems really simple to me cause I just listen to the instructions, I don’t have to think.
- What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing?
The motivating factor is to try and succeed to defuse the bomb within the time limit. The players want to keep trying after failing. The instructions become more clear with the more practice you get with the game, which makes you feel like your getting closer to winning with every attempt.
- Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game?
I don’t think the game is trying to be persuasive, it seems more like a rage game or party game where its supposed to induce chaos and frustration. Maybe it’s trying to get people better at listening as well as better at giving instructions.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
The games metaphor has to do with working with a partner. Maybe it means that working with others can be difficult, but sometimes its needed. The mechanic that standsout is the fact that you need to have someone else to play. The game is multiplayer but not in the typical sense where you share a screen and play together, this game has someone playing the game, and someone reading the book.
- How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for?
The gameplay can make everyone feel frustarated. The player gets upset because they arent getting the right directions, and the book reader gets upset because they have a book with difficult instructions that are hard to understand, especially since you can’t see the bomb. The game makes empathy for people who work understress and people who have issues with communication.
- Is the game an activist game? If so what does the game play advocate for?
I don’t think it is. If anything maybe its for having people understand the stress that bomb squads go through, but I think that’s a stretch.
- Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku
you have 5 minutes, work with your teammate or else, you will blow up too
5 simulation idea
- A game where you take a test in class but you have to cheat to try and pass
- A game where you are an emergency responder and have to dispatch help
- A farming simulator where you have to go around and feed livestock and take care of plants
- an inventory managment game where you have to look at patterns and keep your store stocked, (supply and demand)
- A firewatch game where you sit in a tower and have to make radio calls and prevent fires/put them out
Game Design 2 Simulation ideas
Pet Adoption Simulation
You volunteer at an overcrowded animal shelter.
VR Mechanics:
- Feed, groom, and medically assess animals
- Learn each pet’s personality traits
- Match them with adopters based on compatibility
- Physically kneel to comfort scared animals
- Hand-feed or gently brush fur using motion controls
- Heartbeat audio when animals feel safe
Horror Vr Game Abandon Hospital
VR Mechanics:
- You explore a condemned hospital overnight.
- Ghosts are tied to unresolved stories.
- You piece together what happened through environmental clues.
- Instead of fighting ghosts, you calm them by uncovering truth.
Coral Reef Simulation
VR Mechanics:
You’re restoring a dying reef ecosystem.
- Plant coral fragments
- Remove invasive species
- Monitor water temperature & pollution
- Protect reef from storms
Space simulation vr game
VR Mechanics:
- Exit the airlock
- You’re a space station repair technician orbiting Earth.
- Tether yourself
- Repair satellites and station panels
- Monitor oxygen and suit integrity
- Full 360° zero-gravity movement
- you push off surfaces to move.
Collaborative Baking Game
VR Mechanics:
- Ingredients float away if not secured
- One player stabilizes gravity controls
- One mixes
- One bakes
- Timed customer orders
- Flour clouds float everywhere. Someone always drops the cake.
Game Design 2 Week 6 Simulation
Aleah Dudek
Keep Talking No one explodes
- What made the experience fun or not? The game is fun because it forces intense communication under pressure. It can become frustrating if communication breaks down or if players don’t listen carefully.
- What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing? The challenge of increasingly complex bomb modules. The communication can become very difficult if the other player isn’t good at directions.
- Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game? Yes, it persuades players to value clear communication, patience, and collaboration. In the real world it can help players inhabit listening skills, strategy, and staying calm under stress.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? High stakes problem solving depends on communication, not individual intelligence. Bouncing back and fourth between the players and how easily one explains what they see and how well the other follows direction.
- How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for? It makes me stressed , but also watching other people play is kind of humorous as you sort of watch them struggle in the game. It makes you feel empathy for the one trying to describe the situation since they can’t directly see what’s going on.
- Is the game an activist game? If so what does the game play advocate for? I don’t think its necessarily and activist game, but I think it can sort of advocate foe collaboration under stress, and how to learn ti work in those situations.
- Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku. Ticking wires and fear
Voices clash, pages turning ,
Trust defuses time.
Game Maker’s Play Test Notes: Bad Advice
- What questions did your players have?
The players had questions regarding how to determine the winner. - How quickly did they learn to play?
I would say it took the players about 10 minutes to learn, even though the directions were quite confusing. - What kinds of interactions did the players have?
The players interacted with the judge each round when deciding who had the best advice card and reality check card. - What confused players?
The confusion stemmed from the game’s objective, as the notes indicate the need to “Fix the rules” and clarify that the objective is to be the best therapist to gain points, while “winning bad therapist is losing points.” - What made players excited?
What made players most excited was getting to sift through each different type of prompt that they could choose from. - What did your players enjoy doing?
The players enjoyed selecting funny advice cards. - Did any aspect of the game frustrate players?
The biggest frustrating aspect was understanding the rules, which I was working on defining. The point of confusion about the rules and winning conditions. - What did your players learn /take away from your game? Was that what you intended?
Players learned good coping skills and elements to make it through life. - What is your plan to address player questions, confusion, and frustration?
The plan includes to “Fix the rules,” clarify the objective as being the best therapist to gain points, and to clarify that winning “bad therapist” is losing points. The game will be structured to have one round of bad advice and one round of good advice, using sets of good and bad advice cards. Mechanical changes include having players “play two cards every turn,” setting the “hand limit go down to three cards,” and possibly replenishing cards when a player is down to one. The round itself will change to first picking the best advice and then redoing the round with a “reality check” card to leave room for open discussion. - If your players didn’t get your intended message, what will you change?
The change plan involves new scoring and mechanical considerations: the objective is to be the best therapist to gain points, with the advice card winning three points, the reality check card winning five points, and all points being added up at the end of the game to see who wins. Other changes include keeping the “prompt card” if a player wins the reality check round, and keeping the “bad advice card in a separate pile to keep track of.” For inspiration, the designer plans to look at the game Gloom and look up the game Wavelength.
Game Reflections
Merideth’s Game:
- What made the experience fun or not?
- The experience was made fun by being in last place.
- What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing?
- The motivating factor to get or keep players playing is the ability to destroy planets.
- Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game?
- Yes, the game is persuasive because it is trying to get you to take a look at the way we treat our earth outside of the game.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
- The game’s metaphor is to treat our environment with respect, and specifically to preserve the planet.
- The standout mechanic is the idea of being able to destroy planets.
- How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for?
- The gameplay makes the player feel excited to jump into the game, and it makes the player feel empathy for our planet.
- Is the game an activist game? If so , what does the game play advocate for?
- Yes, the game is an activist game, and the gameplay advocates for reflection.
- Describe the game in 3 words.
- The game is described as “Creative black holes.”
Cards and meaples were confusing. I like the mechanics. The planet cards were interesting to use in order to gain things in elements. Black holes were nice to touch to create an incentive to destroy planets to gain resources.
Andrews Game:
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
- The most frustrating moment was when the player was trying to move forward but could only move back, which required them to move back off the board or else they could not move anymore.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
- The player wanted to be able to move forward more.
- If you had a magic wand to wave and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be, what should improve the next version?
- The player would add another die to see if there was anything more they could do with the turn to keep the game moving, but noted that you have to land on white.
- The player also had a question about what happens when you go too far left and whether their perspective or direction would change.
- What was the game’s narrative/themes/message?
- To be honest, the player did not really gather a theme or a message at all.
- How did the game make you feel?
- The game honestly made the player feel bored and dragged on.
- Describe the game in three words.
- The game is described in three words as “potential to grow.”
Game Deign 2: Play tests (2.19)
5 new Simulation Ideas
1. The “Burnout” Triage
- Core Idea: You’re a moderator of a highly stressful online crisis community.
- The Challenge: You have to categorize incoming DMs as crises, emotional dumping, or trolling.
- The Goal: Help others while constantly maintaining your own “Battery Life” to avoid burnout.
- Main Takeaway: A simulation of the heavy emotional labor involved in digital support work.
2. The “Side Hustle.”
- Core Idea: You’re running an ethical “slow fashion” business in a “fast fashion” world.
- The Challenge: You have to source your materials ethically, like using deadstock fabric, and deal with shipping delays.
- The Goal: Survive social media “cancel culture” from delays and high prices.
- Main Takeaway: It shows the difficulty of prioritizing ethics over profit in a global economy.
3. The “Guerrilla” Urbanist
- Core Idea: You’re a secret community activist working on improving your neighborhood without permission.
- The Challenge: “Illegally” install things like a DIY bike lane, seed bombs, and unauthorized benches.
- The Goal: Improve the neighborhood by lowering the “neighborhood temperature” while avoiding the authorities.
- Main Takeaway: A simulation of community-led activism outside of the slow, top-down government bureaucracy.
4. The “Ghosted” Remote Op
- Core Idea: A two-player commentary on the state of remote work.
- Player 1 (“New Hire”): Stuck in a broken, surreal VR corporate training experience with weird glitches.
- Player 2 (“IT Support”): Has to fix the connection using an outdated, 10-year-old manual.
- The Goal: Player 2 has to guide Player 1 out of the experience before they get “fired” (disconnected).
- Main Takeaway: A commentary on the isolation and weird lack of human connection in corporate remote communication.
5. The “Rage-Bait” Architect
- Core Idea: A game about you, the “Engagement Hacker,” making viral videos for a video creator agency.
- The Mechanic: Cut your videos to be as “Rage-Bait” as possible to exploit the algorithm and go viral.
- The Goal: Reach 1 Million followers.
- The Twist: Your success fills the “Global Anxiety” bar, and you start to see the negative effects of your content in the in-game news.
- Main Takeaway: A simulation of digital complicity and the cost of going viral.
Revised Rules:
Life Advice: Game Rules & Directions
Type: Party card game
Players: 4-8
Time: 15-20 minutes per session
Goal: Win rounds by submitting the worst possible advice for real mental health struggles
Components
- Prompt Cards: Describe real mental health situations (e.x, anxiety, burnout, imposter syndrome, loneliness)
- Advice Cards: Wildly unhelpful, tone-deaf, or cliché advice
- Reality Check Cards: Highlight what actual helpful support looks like
Setup
- Shuffle Prompt Cards and place in a face-down pile.
- Shuffle the Advice Cards and deal 3 cards to each player.
- Shuffle Reality Check Cards and deal 3 cards to each player.
- Decide who will be the first Judge (can be the youngest player, or randomly).
Gameplay
Step 1: Draw a Prompt and Advice
- The Judge draws the top Prompt Card and reads it aloud to all players.
Step 2: Play Advice
- Each player (except the Judge) selects one Advice Card from their hand that they think is the best.
- Cards are submitted face down to the Judge.
Step 3: Judge Chooses
- The Judge shuffles the submitted Advice Cards and reads them aloud.
- The Judge selects the most realistic Advice, awarding the Advice Card to the player who submitted it at the end of the 2nd Judge’s pick. Those will be kept in their own separate “won” pile to be used at the end of the game.
Step 4: Play Reality Check
- Each player (except the Judge) selects one Reality Check Card from their hand that they think is the most helpful within the chosen situation (Prompt Card + Advice Card).
- Cards are submitted face down to the Judge.
Step 5: Judge Chooses
- The Judge shuffles the submitted Reality Check Cards and reads them aloud.
- The Judge selects the most useful, awarding the Reality Check Card to the player who submitted it. Those will be kept in their own separate “won” pile to be used at the end of the game.
Step 6: Refill Hands
- All players draw back up to 3 Advice Cards.
- All players draw back up to 3 Reality Check Cards.
Step 7: Rotate Judge
- The role of Judge passes clockwise for the next round.
Winning
- Play 5–10 rounds (or as long as desired).
- Players add up their points
- Winning advice cards are worth +3 points each
- Winning Reality Check Cards are worth +5 points each
- Player with the most points at the end wins.
- Optional: Debrief together to discuss insights about listening, empathy, and mental health at the end of each round
More Game Ideas
Silly goose(Im gonna bring this one into class Thursday)
Its a similar game to cards against humanity except theres three different cards the players use. Those being a problem, excuse, and evidence card. A problem card is drawn at that beginning of every turn and is then played in the middle of the table. Every player then plays an excuse card to go with the problem. After everyone votes on “the best defense” and “the most guilty,” the player that gets the most guilty card gets the goose token. Next round everything plays out normally other than the fact that the player holding the goose token gets to give out an evidence card to go with any of the excuses out on the board. If you dont convince the other players that your not the most guilty, you keep the token. Other wise someone else will get it and repeat the same thing you just did. The game ends by a player holding the goose token for more than 5 rounds or if a player gets the best excuse 10 times. Still trying to play around with the rules a bit more but thats what I have for now.
Bug Clicker game
This is a game I worked on previously but I want to work more on it to make it a better game. To put it simply, you click the lantern fly and gain points. You can use the points to purchase items to make your clicks worth more. Essentially thats it. I want to add more to the base things I have in it right now.
Question Set Week 3
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? Chris Crawford, Salen, and zimmerman talk about games in a very structural, rule based system where people engage in artificial conflict, however, mary flanagan dives deeper in to the context of what games “live” in and the environment they reflect – she argues their artistic, social and activist dialogue, they are “cultural practices embedded in politics, art, and power.”
- what is an activist game? an activist game raises awareness about something bigger, whether it’s political, environmental, etc. They critique, model inequality, and purposefully create structural problems for players to experience
Chapter 3 - go and chess are examples of games that feature “perfect information”, what other games share that feature? Checkers, Cornhole, Mancala, etc
- why might chance or gambling games hold spiritual or religious importance to ancient cultures? Randomness and chance was reflected as the will of gods often times
- when was the earliest battle between government/ religious groups and games? what modern games can you think of that have been banned or demonized? gambling and dice games were battled especially – Pokémon was looked down on by a lot of people for a while, as are games with questionable moral and ethical boundaries like GTA- I’ll be honest I don’t know of any games that were straight out banned
- what is a fox game, and what would be a modern example? a fox game is where there is one player that has more power or abilities than the rest of the character. Examples of these games include Among Us and Luigi’s Ghost Mansion (amazing game as a kid),
- what was the purpose or intent of the game: Mansion of Happiness? To have a game that taught children virtues and the difference between good and bad morals and how to work hard and ethically
- Why do artists from the Fluxus and Surealist movements play games? Why did Surrealists believe games might help everyone? The both believed that games take people outside of the here and now; they connect to art and hidden creativity and reject accepted rules of thought and systems of the world – Surrealists believed games would help everyone by freeing your imagination
- Changes in what can signal profound changes in games? How were pinball games reskinned during WW2? Lots of different choices can change game: themes, players, materials, rules, representation of power, etc. Pinball games were reskinned with military propaganda and patriotic themes
- What statements did Fluxus artists make by reskinning games like monopoly and ping pong? They wanted to question things people accept on a regular basis – exposing systems and asking questions
- How are artists like Lilian Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Takako Saito, Yoko Ono, Gabriel Orozco and Ruth Catlowusing war games? they manipulate familiar games to critique power and expose absurdity of conflict
- Why is it important for players to have agency in a critical or serious game? Having free choice and the ability to do things makes it a lived experience rather than a lecture – it allows the player to fully experience the message