Coding conduct: Games, Play, and Human Conduct Between Technical Code and Social Framing
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The document discusses how code and algorithms shape social conduct by establishing meanings through social interactions and interpretive processes. It highlights the concepts of gamification and playful design, emphasizing the necessity of intrinsic motivation and the complex interplay between game design elements and social contexts. The paper poses critical questions about restructuring systems for enjoyment, understanding frames of play, and designing to prevent 'gaming the system.'
Coding conduct: Games, Play, and Human Conduct Between Technical Code and Social Framing
- 1. coding conduct Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets) Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research November 5, 2012, ITU Copenhagen cb
- 2. We live in a code/space
- 12. HOW ALGORITHMS SHAPE OUR WORLD
- 13. HOW ALGORITHMS SHAPE OUR WORLD
- 14. HOW ALGORITHMS SHAPE OUR WORLD
- 15. Code is political: It governs conduct
- 16. Some actively use code to govern conduct
- 17. how does code shape conduct?
- 18. 1. »Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them.« 2. »The meaning of such things is derived from ... the social interaction that one has with one‘s fellows.« 3. »These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters.« Herbert Blumer symbolic interactionism (1969: 2)
- 19. No social meaning = inert object
- 20. how does code shape conduct, mediated by social meanings? (and vice versa)
- 21. W OG OR R PR K ES IN S frames social norms & understandings appropriate, configure, frame offloaded & stabilized in cues, facilitates re-cues, resists situated conduct affordances experience code material rules, cues, capabilities
- 22. Sociotechnical systems Information ecologies Situated action Embodied interaction Social contextures ... This is not a new question
- 24. »What if we decided to use everything we know about game design to fix what‘s wrong with reality?« Jane McGonigal reality is broken (2011: 7)
- 25. Health
- 26. Environment
- 27. Education
- 28. Life
- 30. persuasive technology Using computing technology to change attitudes and behaviours gamification Using game design elements in non-game contexts video game play The interaction of play as a frame and digital games as artefacts
- 31. »Gamification is bullshit.« Ian Bogost gamification is bullshit (2011) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4294/persuasive_games_shell_games.php
- 32. »By putting game design elements into non-game contexts, gamification is a perfect natural experiment to study how code shapes conduct, mediated by social meanings (and vice versa) – and thus, move game design research forward.« Me here (now) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4294/persuasive_games_shell_games.php
- 33. two moves forward 1. From games as interventions in systems to the gameful redesign of systems 2. From designing game artefacts to the playful (re)framing of situations
- 34. 1 Gamification is confused and unsystemic.
- 35. si on fu 1 Con # The fun in games is »rewards«
- 36. Score: 964,000,000,000,000 (You rock!) Earn 1,000,000,000,000 points
- 37. Extrinsic motivation http://www.flickr.com/photos/diego_rivera/4261964210
- 38. Intrinsic motivation http://www.flickr.com/photos/areyoumyrik/308908967
- 39. »Fun is just another word for learning.« Raph Koster a theory of fun for game design (2005)
- 40. »Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. With games, learning is the drug.« Raph Koster a theory of fun for game design (2005)
- 41. »An understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.« Edward Deci, Richard Ryan the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)
- 42. »An understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.« Edward Deci, Richard Ryan the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)
- 43. Con(fusion) #1 The fun in playing games chiefly arises from intrinsic enjoyment, not extrinsic incentives.
- 44. si on fu 2 Con # You can »just add« game elements http://www.flickr.com/photos/apartmentlife/6559123353/
- 46. Game Atoms model/skill goal actions rule system success! / failure! challenge feedback immediate/progress
- 47. Fun arises from iteracting with a system
- 48. Adding elements changes system dynamics http://www.flickr.com/photos/8147452@N05/2913356030/sizes/o/
- 49. Systems bound the effect of added elements
- 50. Con(fusion) #2 »Gaminess« is not a feature you can »just add«.
- 51. 2 motivational affordances How do game design elements interact with social contexts to afford intrinsic motivation?
- 52. Practice Data Designer-driven Analytics-driven Heuristics, methods Tests, predictive models Taxonomy Theory Researcher-driven Researcher-driven Patterns Models (PENS, flow, …)
- 53. Practice Data Designer-driven Analytics-driven Heuristics, methods Tests, predictive models mostly anecdotal evidence little explanatory grounding Taxonomy Theory Researcher-driven Researcher-driven Patterns Models (PENS, flow, …)
- 54. Practice Data Designer-driven Analytics-driven Heuristics, methods Tests, predictive models trapped in local maxima/ not generative no explanatory grounding no learnable understanding Taxonomy Theory Researcher-driven Researcher-driven Patterns Models (PENS, flow, …)
- 55. Practice Data Designer-driven Analytics-driven Heuristics, methods Tests, predictive models not granular enough no actionable form Taxonomy Theory Researcher-driven Researcher-driven Patterns Models (PENS, flow, …)
- 56. Practice Data Designer-driven Analytics-driven Heuristics, methods Tests, predictive models either descriptive or assumption-based, then prone to post hoc and success fallacies no explanatory grounding Taxonomy Theory Researcher-driven Researcher-driven Patterns Models (PENS, flow, …)
- 57. Practice Data Designer-driven Analytics-driven Heuristics, methods Tests, predictive models Motivational Affordances Theoretically grounded, empirical, granular, actionable game design Taxonomy Theory Researcher-driven Researcher-driven Patterns Models (PENS, flow, …)
- 59. +
- 61. motivational affordances 1. How can we connect design patterns to psychological research (and generate new)? 2. How do pattern variations empirically affect experience, motivation, behaviour? 3. How do patterns interact in their effects? 4. How are pattern effects mediated by frames (and other context factors)?
- 62. W OG OR R PR K ES IN S frames social norms & understandings appropriate, configure, frame offloaded & stabilized in cues, facilitates re-cues, resists situated conduct affordances experience code material rules, cues, capabilities
- 63. 3 gameful design How to (re)structure a system to facilitate motivation, using game design as a lens?
- 64. »Still feels add-on to me …« http://www.flickr.com/photos/apartmentlife/6559123353/
- 65. »These are two types of change: one that occurs within a given system which itself remains unchanged, and one whose occurrence changes the system itself… Second-order change is thus change of change.« Paul Watzlawick et al. change (1974: 10)
- 66. »Mowing the lawn or waiting in a dentist’s office can become enjoyable provided one restructures the activity by providing goals, rules, and the other elements of enjoyment to be reviewed below.« Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi flow (1990: 51)
- 67. »Mowing the lawn or waiting in a dentist’s office can become enjoyable provided one restructures the activity by providing goals, rules, and the other elements of enjoyment to be reviewed below.« Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi flow (1990: 51)
- 68. How might we ... restructure a system to support intrinsic enjoyment, using game design as a lens?
- 69. Games & game design as lenses
- 70. Put differently If this were a game, it what ways would it be broken?
- 71. Games in Undergrad > Undergrad as game
- 72. Games in school > School as game
- 73. Games in class > Class as game
- 74. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike52ad/4675696269 How to design a gameful classroom?
- 76. The Game Atoms of Classroom Learning model/skill goal actions rule system success! / failure! challenge feedback immediate/progress
- 77. Goals: Intransparent; little choice; no small, attainable goals Rules: Often intransparent Challenge: Not adjusted to individual skill Feedback: Slow, demotivating decay instead of http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike52ad/4675696269 building progress towards goals
- 79. gameful design 1. What methods are currently in use in designing games and gameful systems? 2. How can we ground the various methods and their effects theoretically? 3. What are the effects of the different methods – for designers and end products? 4. How can we iteratetively amend and test game and gameful design methods?
- 80. 4 Gamification is thinking inside the box.
- 83. The Box
- 84. Game The Box A designed artifact
- 85. Game The Box A designed artifact
- 86. Game The Box A designed artifact Playing A frame of engagement
- 88. debugging playtesting/reviewing presenting gameplay making a machinima a scientific study learning (serious games) sports (e-sports) work (goldfarming)
- 89. »I need to be very routinized; I mustn’t let myself drift.« »I hammer it through.« »Often, you have to force yourself to do it.« »You’re under real pressure.« »It’s extremely exhausting.« »It wears you out.« »My friends usually cannot comprehend how stressful this is.«
- 90. »Sometimes, you have to play, you have to get further – and then, play is work.«
- 92. Question What makes the best game (elements) tedious work?
- 93. »I would call it a game – but I did not play it.«
- 94. Designed artefact »I would call it a game – but I did not play it.« Social frame
- 95. The frame of play
- 96. A frame is »the definition of a situation«: »basic frameworks of understanding available in our society for making sense out of events (and) … principles of organization which govern events ... and our subjective involvement in them.« Erving Goffman frame analysis (1974: 8, 10-11)
- 97. Are you »using« or »playing« it?
- 100. > Jonas Linderoth digra nordic (2012)
- 101. »The magic circle jerk doesn’t exist. Nobody really takes the hard line that everyone wants to criticize. I’m sick of the magic circle jerk. Let’s bury the bastard.« Eric Zimmerman jerked around by the magic circle (2012)
- 102. »This has been a common thread in criticisms of the magic circle: ... theorists claim to counter Huizinga, Salen and Zimmerman by stressing the exact social nature of the magic circle that Huizinga, Salen and Zimmerman also stress.« Jesper Juul the magic circle and the puzzle piece (2008: 59)
- 103. »The magic circle is the boundary that players negotiate. (…) Game scholarship should be about analyzing the conventions of this boundary, and how and when this boundary is created and negotiated.« Jesper Juul the magic circle and the puzzle piece (2008: 62)
- 104. So ... What about this frame of video game play?
- 105. 5 framing video game play What does the frame of video game play entail, and how is it co-constructed by users and artefacts?
- 106. »Sometimes, you have to play, you have to get further – and then, play is work.«
- 107. e nt em 1 El # »First and foremost, all play is a voluntary activity.« Johan Huizinga homo ludens (1938/1950: 7)
- 108. »The key element of an optimal experience is that it is an end in itself.« Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi flow (1990: 67)
- 109. »An understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.« Edward Deci, Richard Ryan the what and why of goal pursuits (2000)
- 110. e nt em 2 El # Detached engrossment http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulgorman/1392988135
- 111. e nt em 3 El # Shared autotelic focus http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/439410200
- 112. »It is through a community of people who care more about fun than winning that the Well-Played game happens.« Bernie de Koven the well-played game (1978: 5)
- 113. e nt em 4 El # »Gamesmanship« http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulgorman/1392988135
- 114. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlatimer/5173242541 e nt em 5 El # As-if
- 115. Chinese Gold Farming? http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliandibbell/234192868/sizes/o/in/set-72157594279649151/
- 116. Keyings are »conventions by which a given activity, ... meaningful in terms of some primary framework, is transformed into something patterned on this activity but seen by the participants to be something quite else.« Erving Goffman frame analysis (1974: 43-44)
- 117. For instance: A »rehearsal« http://www.flickr.com/photos/900hp/3961828112/sizes/o/
- 118. leisurely game play keyings E-Sports Goldfarming Modes/ Review play creative agendas Analytic play ...
- 119. leisurely game play keyings E-Sports Goldfarming Modes/ Review play creative agendas Analytic play ... autonomous in-autonomous autotelic focus instrumental focus gamesmanship professional norms detached engrossment professional distance as-if gearing into the world factual-material gearing
- 120. leisurely game play keyings E-Sports Goldfarming Modes/ Review play creative agendas Analytic play ... little norming high norming autonomous in-autonomous autotelic focus instrumental focus gamesmanship professional norms detached engrossment professional distance as-if gearing into the world factual-material gearing
- 121. leisurely game play keyings E-Sports Goldfarming Modes/ Review play creative agendas Analytic play ... little norming high norming autonomous in-autonomous autotelic focus instrumental focus gamesmanship professional norms detached engrossment professional distance as-if gearing into the world factual-material gearing
- 122. Modes of play • Manifold, acquired in video game socialisation, historically and culturally divergent • Bind »motivational relevancies«, social setup, game genre • Govern • Inhabitable roles • (Displayed) attentive engrossment • (Displayed) emotion and attitude • Values, norms, rules, cues for behaviour • Transformation rules: Gearing into the world
- 123. Pippin was first!
- 125. perceived as thwarts controlling autonomy – feedback motivation + perceived as supports informing competence
- 126. Autonomy: Instrumental, not autotelic; little meaningful choice, little connection to personal goals and needs, often controlling feedback Shared focus: Demonstrating proficiency, avoiding failure, following rules, maximizing grades http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike52ad/4675696269 Gearing into the world: High factual stakes
- 127. W OG OR R PR K ES IN S frames social norms & understandings appropriate, configure, frame offloaded & stabilized in cues, facilitates re-cues, resists situated conduct affordances experience code material rules, cues, capabilities
- 128. 6 gaming the system How does implementing explicit rule systems affect framings?
- 129. »A social shout-out«
- 131. »A personal diary«
- 135. Reframing as strategic instrumental action http://www.rasmusen.org/x/images/pd.jpg
- 137. »It is through a community of people who care more about fun than winning that the Well-Played game happens.« Bernie de Koven the well-played game (1978: 5)
- 139. In short: a ludic framing Paidia Ludus play game improvisation skill, effort exploration strategizing tumultuous ordered immoderate rule-bound Roger Caillois man, play, and games (1958)
- 140. <Insert Dilbert cartoon here> … fixates thinking inside the system, ...
- 141. … blends out = creates »externalities«, ...
- 142. So you also played EcoChallengeTM?
- 143. … crowds out communal ethics ...
- 144. … and encourages »gaming the system« http://www.flickr.com/photos/5tein/2347819903
- 146. »The more a quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.« Donald T. Campbell assessing the impact of planned social change (1976)
- 147. gaming the system 1. What are the forms, causes, and effects of gaming the system across social domains? 2. How does the design and social context of systems invite a »ludic« framing? 3. How can we design socio-technical systems to avoid and/or alleviate »gaming the system«?
- 148. W OG OR R PR K ES IN S frames social norms & understandings appropriate, configure, frame offloaded & stabilized in cues, facilitates re-cues, resists situated conduct affordances experience code material rules, cues, capabilities
- 149. 7 Playful design How can we design to invite a playful framing and thus, playful conduct?
- 150. Play
- 151. What we usually design http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlerone/405730185/sizes/o/
- 152. Who decides whether this is play (or playing is allowed)
- 153. »How can I design a rigid structure that facilitates spontaneous behaviour?« Sylvan Steenhuis evoking playfulness in public space (2012: 6)
- 157. playful design 1. What characterises a playful frame? 2. What are effective methods, strategies, patterns for inviting a playful (re)framing? 3. How do the standing frames of different contexts impact playful reframing, and how to take them into account?
- 158. how does code shape conduct, mediated by social meanings? (and vice versa)
- 159. W OG OR R PR K ES IN S frames social norms & understandings appropriate, configure, frame offloaded & stabilized in cues, facilitates re-cues, resists situated conduct affordances experience code material rules, cues, capabilities
- 160. in summary 1. How can we (re)structure socio-technical systems to afford intrinsic enjoyment? 2. What are the frames of (video game) play, and how are they situationally produced? 3. How do we design socio-technical systems to alleviate gaming the system? 4. How do we design to invite playful (re)framing and thus, playful conduct?