Information Literacy Through Digital Games

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1 Information Literacy Through Digital Games Introduction Pac-Man Q*bert Bubble Bobble Super Mario Bros. Show The Legend of Zelda Cloak and Dagger Tron Blade Runner The Last Starfighter Metroid Prime We Ski Narrative BioShock Genre Sam & Max Super Street Fighter II Tetris Baldur s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast Microsoft Flight Simulator Madden NFL 07 Command and Conquer: Red Alert Halo 2 Half-Life 2 Math Fun DoomEd Making History Play DoomEd Altered Learning Skills Advocacy America s Army The ReDistricting Game Food Force Representation Call of Duty S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl Police on the Scene DGBL Civilization / Civilization III Revolution Making History ECON 201 : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

Chapter One Genre Game Genres 1 : Action, Adventure, Fighting, Puzzle, Role-playing, Simulations, Sports, Strategy [G]ame designers and producers determine what counts as

Over time, as they apply certain principles, patterns, and procedures to the construction of such games, the content of firstperson shooter games comes to have a recognizable

2 Chapter One Genre Game Genres 1 : Action, Adventure, Fighting, Puzzle, Role-playing, Simulations, Sports, Strategy [G]ame designers and producers determine what counts as recognizable content for first person shooter games by actually making such games. Over time, as they apply certain principles, patterns, and procedures to the construction of such games, the content of firstperson shooter games comes to have a recognizable shape 2 Why choose action genre? 1. First-person point of view 2. Progressive three-act narrative 3. Flexibility of challenges 4. Popularity Modding Half-Life 2 What is a mod? Half-Life 2 Modding Tools Challenges : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

Chapter Two Narrative After decades of one party rule, democracy has faded into memory, replaced by a totalitarian regime where government controlled information is an opiate administered to the

The player will discover the truth buried beneath the propaganda saturated media and aid dissidents in revealing the long-lost memory of a nation. Narrative Structures 4 1.

3 Chapter Two Narrative After decades of one party rule, democracy has faded into memory, replaced by a totalitarian regime where government controlled information is an opiate administered to the people to control their culture, thought and ideas. Citizens have long since been indoctrinated to this way of life and seem quite content. But are they? The player will discover the truth buried beneath the propaganda saturated media and aid dissidents in revealing the long-lost memory of a nation. Narrative Structures 4 1. Embedded elements are pre-generated narrative components such as video clips and scripted scenes. 2. Emergent elements are created on-the-fly as the player interacts with the game, arising from the operation of the game system. In the middle of the north Atlantic, a lighthouse juts out of the water. Inside waits a rusted bathysphere, which takes you deep under the ocean to Rapture, a city sprawling along the sea floor. A man named Andrew Ryan, a former Soviet citizen, built the city in 1946, and the society was envisioned as the ultimate capitalistic and individualist paradise, with the elite achieving for themselves, rather than for the whole. At one point Rapture's population numbered several thousand at its peak during the early 1960s, composed of those people Ryan viewed as the best examples of mankind. A large and tiered economy grew among the people, with different quality products catering to different levels of the society. The grand Art Deco architecture is at once futuristic and archaic, but as you step into Rapture, you find the city a shell of itself. The walls are crumbling and the ocean is seeping in. The hallways are littered with corpses, those who were once the best and brightest of the world above are now mutated and mad, roaming the corridors and waiting to ambush you at every turn. : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

Chapter Three Play RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GAMES AND PLAY 5 Games are a subset of play: Games constitute a formalized part of all activities considered to be play.

Game Play is the formalized interaction that occurs when players follow the rules of a game and experience its system through play.

The need for [play] is only urgent to the extent that the enjoyment of it makes it a need. Play can be deferred or suspended at any time.

4 Chapter Three Play RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GAMES AND PLAY 5 Games are a subset of play: Games constitute a formalized part of all activities considered to be play. Play is an element of games: Play is one way to frame the complex phenomenon of games. It is an essential component. Game Play is the formalized interaction that occurs when players follow the rules of a game and experience its system through play. Meaning: The context of a game s meaning is the space of experience where interpretation takes place. Interpretation in games is the act of play. The need for [play] is only urgent to the extent that the enjoyment of it makes it a need. Play can be deferred or suspended at any time. It is never imposed by physical necessity or moral duty. It is never a task. It is done at leisure, during free time. 6 Different games emphasize different types of enjoyment and different players may even enjoy the same game for entirely different reasons 7 : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

Chapter Four Skills Skills in BB Use self-checkout to check out a book Search the

Distinguish between book and article citations Evaluate resources It is a basic

and easy to use, the enjoyment of the game depends on these easy-to-use rules

Playing a game is an activity of improving skills in order to overcome these

5 Chapter Four Skills Skills in BB Use self-checkout to check out a book Search the catalogue to find call number Use call numbers to locate a book Read a citation Distinguish between book and article citations Evaluate resources It is a basic paradox of games that while the rules themselves are generally definite, unambiguous, and easy to use, the enjoyment of the game depends on these easy-to-use rules presenting challenges that cannot easily be overcome. Playing a game is an activity of improving skills in order to overcome these challenges and playing a game is therefore fundamentally a learning experience. 8 : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

Civic responsibility Intellectual Freedom Copyright Privacy significantly long-term social change.

6 Chapter Five Advocacy and Persuasion In addition to becoming instrumental tools for institutional goals, videogames can also disrupt and change fundamental attitudes and beliefs about the world, leading to potentially Advocacy Freedom of speech Literacy Civic responsibility Intellectual Freedom Copyright Privacy significantly long-term social change. 9 Access to information Diversity Life-long learning Critical thinking Preservation of resources : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

7 Chapter Six Physical Representation S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Police on the Scene : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

Chapter Seven Digital Game Based Learning Out of the Box Using a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)

Revolution based on the roleplaying game, Neverwinter Nights) Built from Scratch Creating a course

University of North Carolina- Greensboro s Econ 201) as challenging as it is to design a good

8 Chapter Seven Digital Game Based Learning Out of the Box Using a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) game (eg. Civilization or Sims) Modded Modding a COTS game (eg. Revolution based on the roleplaying game, Neverwinter Nights) Built from Scratch Creating a course as an online game (eg. University of North Carolina- Greensboro s Econ 201) as challenging as it is to design a good educational game, it may be more challenging to design a good educational system for educational games to flourish in 10 The Education Arcade s Revolution : An information literacy FPS WILU 2008, Kelowna

9 Footnotes 1. Herz, J. C. (1997). Joystick nation: How videogames ate our quarters, won our hearts, and rewired our minds. Princeton, NJ: Little Brown & Company. 2. Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 3. Rollings, A., & Adams, E. (2003). Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on game design. London: New Riders; Pearson Education. 4. Salen K. & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. 5. Ibid. 6. Huizinga, J. (1950). Homo ludens. Boston: The Beacon Press. 7. Juul, J. (2005). Half-real : Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. 8. Ibid. 9. Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. 10. Squire, K. (2004). Changing the game: What happens when video games enter the classroom? Retrieved April 20, 2007, from *Special thanks to Richard Phillips ( for book models and textures.

GAME DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

GAME DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT Spring 2017 Dr. Vasile Alaiba Faculty of Computer Science Al. I. Cuza University Iași, România GENRES OF GAMEPLAY Categorizing Games by Gameplay Experience Common Genres Action