A Method to the Magic: Observations from the Meaningful Play Conference
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a total video game nerd. I started playing video games when I was a small child, and now, 34 years later, I’m still playing them. I’ve even tried my hand at making a game or two, and now part of my job at Learning Equality is to find and integrate more meaningful games into our Kolibri learning platform.
That’s why I was delighted that I had the good fortune of being able to attend the Meaningful Play 2018 Conference, held at Michigan State University from October 11th through the 13th. The theme this year was “Exploring the Magic of Games,” and that magic was on full display. There were many innovative games on display, stories of great successes (and failures) when making games, and discussions on topics ranging from Virtual Reality to diversity and representation. For me, this conference was an opportunity to peek behind the curtain and see how the magic gets made.
I was very impressed by the amazingly diverse set of meaningful games I saw. There were games that focused on improving friendships, bullying and self-esteem, reducing stress and anxiety, the college experience, and even exploring the nature of abusive relationships. Many of these games touched upon five core themes that I saw during the conference.
Reflective and Mindful Play
There was a strong desire for more game experiences that provided opportunities for reflection and mindfulness. Tracy Fullerton shared Walden, a game that explored Henry David Thoreau’s love of nature by creating explicit moments for calm and reflection into the game. Alex Holowka, a game designer for Night in the Woods, highlighted how games can help us make sense of the world during challenging and confusing times like adolescence. Other games, like Depression Quest, about living with depression, and A Beautiful Story, about living in an abusive relationship, offer players ways to explore and reflect upon very serious issues of mental health.
One of my personal goals is to see more of these kinds of games make it into learning environments of all kinds, including Kolibri. The goal of education is to help us understand the world around us, and one of the most difficult things to understand sometimes can be our own emotions and the emotions of others. These games show us how playing as someone else, and seeing the world through their eyes, can actually help us to put our own lives and feelings into perspective and see them through a different lens.
Diversity and Inclusion in Games
Several presentations advocated for games that are inclusive and welcoming towards players of all ages, genders and races. In their exploration of how people relate between game characters and themselves, Anna Kasunic and Geoff Kaufman found that players often created characters that did not share their own age or gender, showing that games can be a way of exploring different experiences. Momoka Hayakawa discussed the way she and her colleagues ensured that the upcoming PBS series Hero Elementary contained a series of characters that were relatable to the children who would be watching the show and playing their games. Stephanie Jennings also discussed how games written from one person’s perspective could take on new meaning when played from the perspective of someone of a different age, gender or race, suggesting that it is not just the game designer who determines the experience; the player often makes the experience their own.
I think for education one of the biggest takeaways from this is that the learner isn’t just passively receiving learning, they are an active part of the experience, and it’s important to consider how the learner’s background and context may affect the learning experience they have.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
Of course, these days it would be surprising to see a game conference not exploring new frontiers of gaming, such as VR and AR. Schell Games demoed their game, HoloLAB Champions, which gave players access to a virtual chemistry lab without all the costly equipment or risk of explosions! Situated behind a virtual desk, players have access to a book with lots of experiments to perform and the game contains challenges as well, with a virtual game-show aesthetic.
Another interesting game I saw was called Play the Knave, which uses AR to create virtual recreations of plays using real actors. In it, players pick a virtual avatar (from Shakespearean era characters, to modern characters and even aliens!) and then reenact scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. Using a Microsoft Kinect camera, the actor’s movements are tracked and the virtual avatar mimics them. The virtual scene with the avatars along with the audio of the performers’ speech can be recorded and made into a video. This is really the same basic approach that is used to create all the Hollywood blockbusters, so it was fun to see it applied to education!
There were also numerous examples of games that incorporated physical or group play, such as The Tessera, DUST and Minnetrista Fairy Trails. Often these games would involve exploring the local environment, or hunting for clues in physical environments and inputting the answer into the software. These games definitely challenge the idea that games are isolated, software-only experiences, and have numerous implications for classroom use especially as it relates to encouraging blended learning.
Student Created Games and Rapid Prototyping
I found the use of 3D and on-demand printing to be particularly exciting because it makes designing and developing a board or card game something that is in reach for students, classrooms and independent developers.
There were several games that used this approach. Miner Madness is a student-created board game for teaching coding principles to players aged 12+, available for purchase online. Another board game, called Schooled (not yet available for purchase), is a board game designed to simulate the freshman year of college and serve as a college orientation primer. Finally, Friendship of Fools is an interesting card game designed to improve friendship through meaningful conversations. How the game works is that players draw cards with questions on them that they are to answer, some of which are very deep and meaningful. It was designed with the goal of getting people to quickly move past small talk and really get to know one-another.
The Importance of Failure and Experimentation
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, having the ability to experiment, iterate and fail as you develop new products and experiences is the one theme that was stressed repeatedly. One of my favorite quotes from the conference came from John Sharp, who said: “If you tried to make something and succeeded the first time, you probably weren’t trying hard enough.”
Some developers told very personal stories of failure, setbacks and obstacles that were very difficult to overcome. In almost all cases, though, their message in the end was one of hope. Rarely did they express regret over their decisions, and in fact felt that the experiences helped them to grow. In particular, one talk that really resonated with me was by Mars Ashton, who, in his talk about cancelling AXIS Descending, discussed all the great things that happened in his life as a result of developing the game, even though he wasn’t able to complete it.
The underlying message I took away from these very honest and open stories is that the secret to good development is not in learning how not to make mistakes, it is learning how to make them faster and learn more from them. If you wish to grow, you must be able to fail and make mistakes, and if you wish to succeed sooner you should plan for failure. I believe this is not just an lesson that applies to game development, but to any endeavor, including education.
One more thing…
Though it doesn’t quite fit in with any of the five core themes, one other area I found very exciting was in the growth of interactive storytelling. Sites such as the Twinery, which uses the Twine open source framework, allow people to create their own interactive stories where the reader’s choices determines the outcome. I think this is a great way to encourage creative thinking and make the reader a more active and engaged part of the creative experience.
While many of these games are purely text-based, I also saw a game called Golden Treasure that took this format to the next level, complete with graphics, animation, and music. The writing was very engaging and whimsical, as were the images, music, and effects that made these words come to life. I feel strongly that games such as this could be a “gateway drug to reading” for middle-schoolers who aren’t intrigued by reading in the age of the instant gratification offered by many video games and YouTube. You can download the demo from their website, and there’s a survey from the credits if you’d like to offer feedback!
There was so much more going on at the conference that I could never hope to get to it all in a single blog post, so I hope that when the conference proceedings are posted you take a look if you are interested! Keep an eye on the Meaningful Play web site to learn more.
To sum it all up: Practice rapid iteration. Fail early, fail often. Do something you believe in. Let everyone play. Stop and reflect. And whatever you do, don’t forget the magic!
