Class 8 – What is Play?
This week’s class activity:
We will spend today’s class playing different types of games to define our own guidelines about:
- What is play?
- What makes a game fun (or not fun)?
I will have some social games prepared, and also bring in some classic board games, so that we can compare and contrast these different types of experiences.
Next week’s assignment:
- Create a small set of questions that you could ask others to learn about what makes a game fun (Remember to not introduce bias!)
- Now find a game that you would like to play and select three people to play it with you (can be done individually or simultaneously). It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or long–it could be something simple like “Would you rather?” or a slightly harder version of Tic Tac Toe. You determine the type of game. It needs to be the same game for all three people though, and preferably three non-MDM people! 🙂
- After you’re done playing the game, ask each player your questions and see what you learn.
- Then answer the following:
- What did you learn in class about what makes something fun?
- How does this compare to what you learned from the people you spoke with?
- Submit your favorite design fiction clip (a URL please). This can be found on product sites, Kickstarter or even a sci-fi film/show. Be prepared to talk about it in next week’s class.
Examples of (older!) design fiction:
and the perennial favorite Minority Report