Workshop: Designing games for Specific Contexts

Abstract

The claim is often made that games, especially serious games, support learning processes but evidence to support this assertion is frequently weak. Learning theories are seldom explicitly utilized in the design of digital games and thus tension arises when a multidisciplinary team works together towards designing a successful serious game. Game designers, technology developers and educational scientists may share a common aim to create a successful digital game, but often their thoughts on how this might be achieved differ significantly.For the last seven years we have been designing, developing, testing and analyzing digital games for learning which have dealt with a variety of topics including history, biodiversity and innovation. Our research has been supported by long running investigations into the areas of game research and educational sciences and has led us to conclude that a subtle, yet very relevant fact, has not been carefully analyzed in digital games for learning namely whether a game targets a global audience or a particular context. Our explorations focus on the design of games that are intentionally anchored in the players’ context and thus tied to a specific location. The evidence gathered indicates that it is viable to bridge the gap between formal and informal learning experiences of players and designers when the game is anchored in a specific context. Unfortunately, the term context is often misused and this makes it difficult to understand what we mean by it, or what elements we should consider when designing games in and for a context. In this workshop our aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the term context.The game workshop is built upon two assumptions: (i) everybody has played games and (ii) potentially everybody has the.ability to design games. We attempt to achieve the workshop's aim by promoting active discussions and sharing material relevant to the topic. Participants are also encouraged to design games anchored in a specific context utilizing the tools available. Our expectation is that after the workshop the participants would have gained a deeper insight into the importance of considering the role of context in their designs. We also aim to summarize our discussions and learning experiences from the workshop in an article.