Towards a Model of Critical Gamification: Writing Games, Rules Deployment, and Real World Success
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The document discusses the concept of critical gamification, particularly in the context of writing games, which are defined as problem-solving activities that engage creativity through playful writing. It explores ifixit's technical writing project as an example of a social experience game that enhances engagement through structured creativity and real-world problem-solving. The author emphasizes the need for more empirical research on gamification and its potential ethical and rhetorical implications in educational settings.
![Writing Games
Definition
A problem-solving activity [involving writing],
approached with a playful attitude – Schell 2008](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/gettofranklincriticalgamification-140320210211-phpapp02/85/Towards-a-Model-of-Critical-Gamification-Writing-Games-Rules-Deployment-and-Real-World-Success-3-320.jpg)
Towards a Model of Critical Gamification: Writing Games, Rules Deployment, and Real World Success
- 1. TOWARDS A MODEL OF CRITICAL GAMIFICATION: WRITING GAMES, RULES DEPLOYMENT, AND REAL WORLD SUCCESS Guiseppe Getto gettog@ecu.edu Nathan Franklin nfinitum.nathan@gmail.com
- 2. What We’ll Cover What we mean by writing games iFixit’s writing game Towards a model of critical gamification Implications
- 3. Writing Games Definition A problem-solving activity [involving writing], approached with a playful attitude – Schell 2008
- 4. Writing Games, 2 Rules deployment Gamesfacilitate human contact, are enjoyable, use rules to create problems for people to solve, and engage creativity - Radoff 2011 The closer you get to this with rules you build, the better Thus rules deployment in writing games should be rhetorical (e.g. critical, epistemological, persuasive)
- 5. iFixit’s Writing Game TheTechnicalWriting Project (http://edu.ifixit.com/) Free devices and tool kits shipped to technical writing instructors Teaching and technical support Students create real documentation for the repair of devices
- 10. iFixit’s Writing Game, 6
- 11. iFixit’s Writing Game, 7
- 12. iFixit’s Writing Game, 8
- 13. Critical Gamification Some problems with gaming theory “Gamification is bullshit” - Bogost 2011 E.g., you can’t gamify anything that isn’t already a game But this essentializes a “game” as something that is a priori designated as a game, and rules out everything else So, because iFixit labels theirTechnical Writing Project a “project,” can it never be a game? Isn’t there more than one way for something to be a game?
- 14. Critical Gamification, 2 Some problems with gaming theory, 2 Definitions of games are too facile and don’t discriminate between different types of games Immersive Mobile vs. online vs. offline Social networks vs. individual Competitive vs. casual Micro games vs. large-scale games Gamified professional environments like classrooms
- 15. Critical Gamification, 3 Some problems with gaming theory, 3 We don’t have enough empirical research on gamification to say definitively if it works or not We know people like games Thus folks are busing gamifying things on the assumption people will like them more We need comparative studies between gamified situations and non-gamified situations
- 16. Critical Gamification, 4 Some problems with gaming theory, 4 Gaming studies uses “correlationism” to define what is and is not a game Correlationism = saying there is an a priori arrangement for all possible networks - Meillassoux2009 The response is “contingency” Network arrangements are always already contingent on the specific arrangement of both human and nonhuman actors that emerge within a given network - Latour 2005, Bennett 2009
- 17. Critical Gamification, 5 Some attempted solutions More empirical research on gamification! An open question: can gamification be critical? Meaning: Used rhetorically, but ethically - Rickert 2013 Used democratically rather than as a marketing ploy - Reeves and Read 2009, Chatfield 2010, Radoff 2011 Viewed as a way to change the ways actors relate to one another within a given network
- 18. Critical Gamification, 6 iFixit’sTechnicalWriting Projectis a “social experience game” (or an experience that uses game-like features to enhance engagement)- Radoff 2011 Successful rules deployment Turns technical documentation into a more social and more enjoyable experience Engages writers in “structured creativity” - Radoff 2011 Real world problems, e.g. new knowledge will be democratically negotiated with other users Thousands of engaged users from all over the world
- 19. Implications Certainly, not everything is a game Perhaps elements of games can be used critically for teaching and other forms of professional engagement Need more research! This critical gamification must be rhetorical, ethical, and based in the contingencies of specific networks