Data collection workshops. Gaming Horizons Deliverable D 3.1

2018

Motivating through gamification-Gaming Horizons: developing alternative framings for a new role of gaming in education and society https://www.gaminghorizons.eu/scenario/motivating-through-gamification/ 1/5 Motivating through gami cation "Students take on the role of lawyers in a simulated legal case, so they have to take sides with a client who presents [legal] problems. We have two elements that stimulate motivation: on one hand there's the logic of competition […] and then there's cooperation…" Quote from interview with Educator-EI03.

A manifesto is always political in nature. The goal is not to politely ask for change, nor necessarily to aggressively demand it, only to show a new path that leads to a better future than the course currently plotted. Change will always hurt the status quo, but social and cultural change is the only constant of the last half-century, and so policies must be self-aware and open to adaptation or revision too, even when they challenge accepted norms of the past. The mandate of the Gaming Horizons research project was to critically challenge the status quo in video games to potentially foment change. Such a change is to recognise that all types of video games (serious/applied and arts/entertainment, on phones, consoles, traditional computers, or other platforms) are already changing the political, economic, and cultural systems of Europe. These changes, and so this manifesto, need to be implemented by policy makers, but must also be supported and embraced by professional organisations, players, educators, and other stakeholders, if the already ubiquitous medium of games is to be used in a way that is most beneficial for European society.

Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, 2023

This course will introduce students to video games as an art form, as a business, and as a part of global popular culture. The course will begin with a broad establishment of game studies and investigation of the uniqueness of video games as a medium. Subsequent weeks will introduce different approaches to studying video games, including historical, industrial, technological, cultural, theoretical, and aesthetic. Students will read material from video game history, scholarly theory of games, and the trade and popular press. To contextualize these readings, weekly lab sections will provide the opportunity for screenings and video game play. In lab sections and outside of class, students will interact with games representing different eras of video game history and different aspects of the industry. Several guest speakers—including journalists, developers, and podcasters—will share their insights about the industry and culture of video games.

The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies (Media Studies Futures is volume 6), 2012

The digital game industry has been evolving at a phenomenal rate, and can no longer consider console games and the Western market as its primary areas of focus. Social games, casual games, virtual worlds, indie games, and online games all expand the boundaries of what we count as games. Likewise, markets such as China and Korea and game development companies in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe are challenging the dominance of western and Japanese firms. How is game studies responding to such changes? Likewise, how is the field coalescing, now that there are dedicated journals, book series, conferences and academic programs spread around the globe? This chapter explores how game studies has moved from ‘indie start up’ to mid-career in its own growth trajectory of the last decade. It will survey how scholarship has evolved, what approaches have intentionally (or not) become dominant, and what ideologies have emerged about the ‘proper’ way to do game studies research. It will conclude with challenges to the field, pointing to areas that have been overlooked, problems that remain, and the continuing question of the possibilities (and pitfalls) of making game studies research useful for popular and industry audiences in addition to regular scholarly attention.

Society, 2007

Washington University in St. Louis, 2023

This course will introduce students to video games as an art form, as a business, and as a part of global popular culture. The course will begin with a broad establishment of game studies and an investigation of the uniqueness of video games as a medium. Subsequent weeks will introduce different approaches to studying video games, including historical, industrial, technological, cultural, theoretical, and aesthetic. Students will read material from video game history, scholarly theory of games, and the trade and popular press. To contextualize these readings, weekly lab sections will provide the opportunity for screenings and video game play. In lab sections and outside of class, students will interact with games representing different eras of video game history and different aspects of the industry, including blockbuster “AAA” titles and low-budget “indie” projects.

Video games clearly have great educational potential, both for formal and informal learning, and this avenue is being thoroughly investigated in the psychology and education literature. However, there appears to be a disconnect between social science academic research and the game development sector, in that research and development practices rarely inform each other. This paper presents a two-part analysis of this communicative disconnect based on investigations carried out within the H2020 Gaming Horizons project. The first part regards a literature review that identified the main topics of focus in the social sciences literature on games, as well as the chief recommendations authors express. The second part examines 73 interviews with 30 developers, 14 researchers, 13 players, 12 educators, and 4 policy makers, investigating how they perceived games and gaming. The study highlights several factors contributing to the disconnect: different priorities and dissemination practices; the lag between innovation in the games market and research advancements; low accessibility of academic research; and disproportionate academic focus on serious games compared to entertainment games. The authors suggest closer contact between researchers and developers might be sought by diversifying academic dissemination channels, promoting conferences involving both groups, and developing research partnerships with entertainment game companies.

Games and Culture, 2019

This article presents a critical examination of European policy in relation to gamification. We begin by describing how gamification “traveled” as an idea, evolving from controversial yet persuasive buzzword to legitimate policy priority. We then focus on how gamification was represented in Horizon 2020: the flagship European Research & Development program from 2014 to 2020, worth nearly €80 billion of funding. The article argues that the ethically problematic aspects of gamification were removed through a process of policy capture that involved its assimilation in an established European network of research and small and medium enterprise (SME) actors. This process of “ethical neutering” is also observable in the actual funding calls, where the problematic assumptions of gamification around agency and manipulation are made invisible through a superficial commitment to vague and ill-defined criteria of responsible research and innovation.

Games Without Frontiers?, 2021

Games, digital or otherwise, have always taken inspiration from their broader social, cultural and economic surroundings. They have been used to attempt to teach moral values and changed to reflect new, more modern, ideals. Their recent development is contingent on changing technological infrastructure, giving rise to a multi-billion pound entertainment commodity. Developing concurrently, gambling commodities are also deeply tied to technology with ever changing modern gambling industries reflecting shifting normative values about the role and position of gambling in our lives. As gambling has become more acceptable, more “normal”, its visibility has vastly increased. Against this backdrop it, perhaps, feels increasingly obvious that gambling would increasingly permeate digital games: game designers look to mechanics which hook people into products; games reflect broader societal trends and there is a pressing need to make returns on investments, commoditising play at a hitherto unk...

Simulation & Gaming, 2012