Hey guys, sorry about the lateness of this.

Game Design Advance Mar.26.07

| Did you play Peacemaker?

– It’s actually pretty good (Oren)

| Office Politics

– Werewolf has a built-in dramatic arc

> Minimum 3 day and night cycles
> Office Politics can end on the first turn

– This is bad
– How can this be fixed?

> Anyone can be a leak for 3 turns (Oren)

– During the night, the first three people to put their heads up are whistleblowers

> Maybe the boss needs more power (Frank)
> In Werewolf everyone has a role, not true of Office Politics

– Maybe each person should have a role

– Play the “Great Dalmudi”

> A version of ‘Asshole’ done by Richard Garfield

– Bob as cut-scene

| Infectious Disease

– Some talk of the novel ‘Blindness’

| Get the Glass

– Most expensive Flash game ever made
– No game designer (Frank)
– Design firm, Scandanavian, North Kingdom
– ‘Bunny Surgery’

| James Paul Gee

– “What Game Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy”
– Embedded in the work is a critique of the modern school system
– Thinks that games are at the forefront of what we can do
– Very responsible (Bob)

> From the point of view of a parent
> Well organized

– Appreciated it from the perspective of a High School teacher (Charley)

> Learn from the principles of games

– How does any game make kids smarter? (Frank)
– Connections back to education are thin (Josh)

> He goes into more detail elsewhere (Robert)

– Developed 36 principles of good game design (Robert)

– Great for psychology of gamers (Kunal)

> Talking about things that shouldn’t be in schools (Kunal)

– Unspoken assumption that school should prepare you for the workplace (Frank)
– Agency is the umbrella term, what’s missing from education (Josh)
– Biggest problem is that he always goes to himself (Oren)

> Needs more perspectives (Oren)
> “But you yourself don’t want to do it” (Frank)

– System thinking is my favorite (Frank)

> I like it the least (Thomas)
> You adapt to a system to the point that you obey it (Thomas)

| Playing With Your Head

– A lot of work studying TV and videogames

> Ask kids to draw their family (Thomas)
> Watching TV makes you draw more conventionally

– Same thing for videogames (Thomas)
– Sounds like pseudo-science (Frank)

– People design ideology into their games (Oren)

> Will Wright and public transportation

– A lot of critical theory in 20c. took place in shadow of fascism (Frank)

> How do we avoid becoming fascist?
> If video games are making us obedient, then that’s important (Frank)

– The main thing is that games make you think about systems (Frank)

> You’re looking in from the outside (Frank)
> Comes down to being a good gamer or a smart gamer (Frank)

– Plenty of games call attention to themselves as games (Bob)
– What’s important is critical thinking (Leah)

| Are Games Art?

– It sounds like he wants to put Okami in an art gallery (Bob)

| System designer vs. System thinker (Robert)
| If you can read a book, you can write a book, but this isn’t true for games (Thomas)
| Games are toy fascism (Frank)

– Good games don’t produce fascism (Frank)

| Beauty and Goodness are not the same thing (Thomas)