Analog Games Research Articles

Players as Rock Stars

Music-based social interaction games are a recent, specific niche of analog games that are made possible through the advent of music streaming and widespread availability of music playback. This article investigates the card game Song Saga (2020) as an explorative case study for such social interaction games, and explores the possibilities in the application of quantitative and qualitative text corpus analysis for such games and musicology/game studies in general. Analyzing both the paratexts and the text of Song Saga, the article explains how Song Saga invites its players to view themselves and their biographies through the lens of rock stardom. In this sense, the design of the game ultimately conceptualizes music as a universal biographic asset and replaces the music’s creator as the music’s protagonist with the recipient.

Finding My Meeple: How Eight Secondary Educators Use Analog Gaming to Engage and Motivate Students

Although more research has been conducted on game-based learning in secondary-level classrooms in recent years, much of that research focuses on the digital realm as opposed to analog games such as board or card games. Moreover, research concerning analog games often takes the form of design-based research or explorations of how thinking manifests during gameplay. Thus, more research is necessary to provide a fuller view of (1) how secondary-level teachers currently make use of analog games as learning tools in their classrooms and (2) the affordances such teachers have experienced when implementing analog games as teaching tools. In this qualitative study, the researcher interviewed eight middle and high school teachers of various disciplines and from various locations in the United States who employ analog game-based learning. Examined through a theoretical framework of Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory and Ryan and Deci's work in Self-Determination, a number of themes emerged during those semi-structured interviews, including the enjoyment experienced by both teachers and students while using analog-based games as learning tools; improved levels of engagement and motivation; the appeal of analog games for learners who benefit from interacting with physical objects; and the rewards of using games in class, including positive social interaction. Furthermore, participants discussed the importance of aligning lesson objectives with gameplay; the value of post-play reflection; the power of games to offer valuable simulation-based learning experiences; and the challenge of student hesitation due to fear of failure or competition during gameplay. These themes suggest the potential for analog-based games to be used as valuable learning tools, so long as the teacher knows how and when to use such tools. Finally, the researcher calls for further study to aid educators in aligning their choices of games with the kinds of students who make up their classrooms so that fewer students experience the fear of failure and, thus, disengage with the game-based learning experience.

The Table and the Tomb: Positioning Trans Power and Play Amid Fantasy Realism in Dungeons & Dragons

This article contends with the transphobic logics perpetuated by the “world's greatest roleplaying game,” Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Bringing together game texts and scraped social media data from reactionary D&D fans, I argue that despite cursory improvements in official representation, D&D's hostility to trans play is inscribed in the game's engagement of fantasy realism—a culturally sculpted “common sense” that rearticulates the logics of established fantasy media. From sex-swap curses in Gygax's “Tomb of Horrors” (1978) to the shapechanging “blessed elves of Corellon” (2017), D&D's approach to fantasy realism mechanically and narratively excludes trans bodies, vilifies trans stories, and diminishes trans power. Drawing on the work of analog game and trans media scholars, I use this case study to center trans power in tabletop gaming and explore D&D's relationship with fantasy realism by asking Whose fantasy? and Whose reality?

An Analog Game-Based Intervention and a Playability Analysis in the Elderly - A Pilot Study

Introduction: Gamed-based interventions (GBI) in old people is an interesting topic for aging-well purposes, however, few studies exist focused on the assessment of multimodal interactive experience (emotions, skills, engagement, etc), and most of them used digital games. Therefore, validation of analog GBIs, when implemented in the geriatric field, should be completed with a playability analysis. Aim: To characterise a multicomponent playability analysis, considering (i) emotional state changes, and (ii) the perceived experience during the implementation of an analog gamed-based short-term intervention in the institutionalized elderly person. Method: A pre and post-test study was conducted during four weeks of intervention through an analogue game. Participants were elderly people institutionalised in a Residential Home for the Elderly in the central region of Portugal. Playability is assessed before and after the sessions with analogue games, using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) (0-10) of emotions and a questionnaire about participants’ perceptions of game-based experience. Results: Thirteen elderly people (9 women/4 men) with a mean age of 80±9.32 years participated in the study. A total of 48 states of tiredness/excitement, calmness/anxiety, and sadness/joy were recorded: 44,4% of participants increased their level of excitement; 66,7% decreased their level of excitement. The serious aims of the game were well perceived while maintaining the perception of the playful and fun character. Conclusion: The positive emotional changes in the elderly might be a sign of self-perceived novelty and challenge in the game. A good perception of the serious purpose of the game is associated with a positive emotional state, which encourages the adoption of proficiency feedback mode in the game. This pilot study was a relevant contribution to the continuing progression of playability analysis in elderly therapeutic contexts.

Roundtable] Analogue Co-Design: Opportunities, Challenges and Other Nuances

Co-design is linked to a range of advantages, encompassing enhancements in idea generation, service or product development processes, decision-making, cooperation, creativity, as well as long-term satisfaction and loyalty among clients and users (Steen, 2013; Steen et al., 2011). Despite its widespread use as a strategic approach, co-design has received less scholarly attention, and critical discussions regarding its underlying concepts are infrequent. The occurrence of this particular circumstance can perhaps be attributed to the widespread practice of categorizing projects as co-design, which may lead to a dilution or confusion of conceptual understanding (Steen, 2013). In the field of games, especially at an academic level, the idea of co-design has been used mainly to describe processes of horizontalizing research design, aligned with participatory paradigms (Brown, 2022; Hall, 1975). Specifically, where the player no longer plays a completely passive role, but co-creates the gaming world together with the designers (De Jans et al., 2017; Loos et al., 2019; Pedersen & Buur, 2000). Or when the games (applied as a serious game) deliver a tool for ideation and the co-creation of projects and solutions to a specific problem (Sousa, 2021). Here, we have invited two of the most prominent duos of contemporary analog game designers – Isra/Shei and Inka Brand/Markus Brand – to reflect on how they complement and oppose each other in this process. Relational and gender characteristics, how they impact the creative process, and the players’ vision of the games created, among many other issues, will be reflected here.

“Public Interest” and the (Potential) Social Impact of Board Games: The Role of the “Strategic Twist”, Definition and Scope

Modern board games – precisely after what has been dubbed the “renaissance” of analog games since the publication of Catan and the consequent affirmation of the “German games” – have served for a vast reflection in the field of metagame. In this text it is considered that the effects following what is called “strategic twist” in modern board games, allow reflecting about the dynamics of the field of leisure/ludicity from two aspects: the orientation of games towards strategy; and the strategic character of the transition of/in the milieu. One must understand how the “twist” can be thought about and what can be thought about the political-philosophical reflections that address the “public interest”, and how these two fields can be broadly intertwined. With this theoretical-societal connection, the aim here is to move on from the role that the “strategic twist” plays in calling the “public interest” attention for the practice of this type of activity (the impact of a new dissemination of games), to the “public interest”, that may have reciprocally provided it; and to how something like this “interest” can be treated in the games themselves. Finally, also how some light can be shed on it by the combination and choice of some game mechanics. The intersection of these two domains also prepares us to talk about serious issues in the future.

Cosmologia cromatica

Color can be considered a complex system that responds to certain constants. These dynamics reveal a structure that has strong analogies with cosmologies of different cultures and eras. For example, the white light of the sun as the first principle from which all colors are born by diffraction, or the triad of primary colors that contains and produces the other colors, or the tensions between the complementary colors that enhance or cancel each other out. These structural relationships, at the basis of pictorial syntax, suggest comparisons with analogous structures that we find in nature, in individual and social psychology, in philosophical and theological constructions, in sapiential texts. The survey undertaken seeks to bring out common structures in the analogue game between different levels of experience and knowledge.

Playing at the school table: Systematic literature review of board, tabletop, and other analog game-based learning approaches.

The unique characteristics of games have led scientific research to increasingly focus on their potential role in learning processes. Currently, their effectiveness in fostering experiential learning and skill acquisition in several areas is already supported by the existing evidence, mainly about the potential of digital games. Paradoxically, the current post-digital era seems to have led to a growing popularity of analog games. The present Systematic Literature Review aimed to map the existing literature on the potential of board, tabletop, or other analog games in learning processes. It intended to systematize the contemporary state of the art (2012-2022) around the pedagogical role of these games, their effectiveness, the promoted learning outcomes, the methodological aspects of the interventions, the used games-including mechanics and other characteristics-and the current discussions around inclusion and accessibility in analog game-based learning. Adopting the PRISMA methodology, we searched ACM Digital Library, EBSCO, ERIC, Scopus-Elsevier, and Web of Science databases, as well as other peer-reviewed "grey literature" sources. The search resulted in an initial sample of 2,741 articles that was then screened by inclusion and exclusion criteria previously defined according to the research objectives. We obtained a final sample of 45 articles. To formulate the mapping of existing research, these studies were analyzed using a combination of statistical, content, and critical analysis procedures. The obtained results support the role of board, tabletop, and other analog games in educational contexts-based on their educational potential-with a broad range of knowledge, cognitive, and psychological outcomes. The study also emphasized the relevance of these games in the promotion of soft skills and other aspects typically associated with meaningful learning, such as engagement, satisfaction, flexibility, and freedom of experimentation. However, important limitations were found in a fair amount of the pedagogical approaches studied, which can be mostly attributed to the low prevalence of modern board games that relate what is intended to be learned to aspects of game design and have little to no consideration of accessibility and inclusion aspects in these studies.

Inaugural Editorial: A Lighthouse for Games and Playable Media

In games and playable media, almost nothing is as it was at the turn of the millennium. Digital and analog games have exploded in reach, diversity, and relevance. Digital platforms and globalisation have shifted and fragmented their centres of gravity and how they are made and played. Games are converging with other media, technologies, and arts into a wide field of playable media. Games research has similarly exploded in volume and fragmented into disciplinary specialisms. All this can be deeply disorienting. The journal Games: Research and Practice wants to offer a lighthouse that helps readers orient themselves in this new, ever-shifting reality of games industry and games research.

Playing the Classics: Constructing a Digital Game Adaptation Database

Abstract Due in no small part to the proliferation of accessible game design software, digital crowd-funding infrastructure, and academic programs in game studies, the amount of video games based upon works of ‘classic’ literature and drama has grown exponentially in the last few decades. In order to help scholars and educators get a foothold in the world of video game adaptations, the ‘Remixing the Classics’ scholarly network initiated a Video Game Adaptation Database in the summer of 2022. This companion piece to the database will help orient the uninitiated by explaining the project’s origin, methodology, and organisational criteria, as well as provide an introduction to some of the formal, generic, intertextual, and accessibility concerns involved in studying game adaptations. Along the way, it aims to introduce readers to a variety of game adaptations both in and outside of the database, including Walden, a game (USC Game Innovation Lab 2017), Elsinore (Golden Glitch 2019), and Toho’s infamous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1988). VITA: John Sanders is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English and the Humanities at Reed College, where he teaches classes on literature, new media, and classical Hollywood genre film. His current research involves theorising an approach to studying digital and analog game adaptations as intertextual systems of experience. His work has appeared in journals such as gamevironments and First-Person Scholar as well as in presentations at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, the Literature/Film Association conference, and PAX East. Outside of academia, John has worked as a curriculum designer, site director, and instructor for local summer enrichment programs. John currently splits his time between Portland and his partner’s home in Denville, New Jersey, which they share with their three dogs: Neo, Henry, and Mr. Darcy.

Game-based learning as a gateway for promoting financial literacy – how games in economics influence students’ financial interest

The teaching of financial literacy through game-based approaches is legitimized by the ability of game-based learning (GBL) to simulate financial decisions that young people have not yet encountered in their lives due to limited legal capacity and economic dependence on the parental home. Although results on the general effectiveness of games are already available, the question about for which students GBL is effective in teaching financial literacy has not yet been researched in depth. Based on pedagogical interest theory, a pre–post design (n = 50; 30 female students) was conducted to investigate the effects of high school students’ individual prerequisites on their game experience and their development of situational interest by playing an analog game and debriefing. The main findings indicate that a higher level of prior motivation for this topic has a positive effect on game experience and situational interest. A high level of prior knowledge and leisure activities concerning finance may have a somewhat negative effect. Such games are particularly suitable for students who are aware of the subjective significance of finance but have not previously had the opportunity to engage with this topic for different reasons.

Network of Games: An Ecology of Games Informing Integral and Inclusive City Developments

This article analyzes possibilities for connecting individual city games for building a network of games working together. City gaming works along with the understanding that cities are self-organizing systems, influenced by multiple bottom-up and top-down actors with varying interests and powers. Affordable housing, climate adaptation, or area development are examples of urgent urban challenges city games typically focus on. The assumption is that if these specialized games could be linked, then a large game infrastructure built as a modular system, can offer various game combinations responding to urban challenges in an integral and holistic way. To test a working game network, city games, models, and digital apps have been linked through their shared datasets as well as game interfaces. Two city experiments have been conducted in two Dutch cities—Amsterdam and Breda—which enabled the testing to function as “constructive design research.” In Amsterdam (Klimaatspel) two separate city games were connected through their datasets, while in Breda (Play the Koepel) datasets and interfaces merged to create a new game. Used data models are the Energy Transition Model developed by Quintel and the urban plan cost simulator software of Urban Reality. Used game interfaces (digital and analog) include the Typeform, the Network of Games app, the Urban Reality simulator, and the Play the City table-top game format. The testing considered two different approaches for a potential game network. The first option assumes an all-encompassing digital app, reformatting and involving various games and models in a single interface. The second option is an open approach that looks to link custom-made games with existing interfaces. The second option allows both simultaneous and sequential linking. Two experiments utilizing sequential and simultaneous integration of diverse digital tools suggest that a collection of interfaces connecting to each other throughout the entire process from a digital poll to an app, a simulator or a webinar, or analog game sessions is more effective than a single mobile phone app for all potential game interactions. Considering city games as an ecology of city tools that can be linked to one another becomes through this study a concrete goal to reach. Through combining specialized games, addressing complex city challenges becomes possible. This step enables a more effective participation environment for diverse experts and non-experts.

Viewer types in game live streams: questionnaire development and validation

Producing and consuming live-streamed content is a growing trend attracting many people today. While the actual content that is streamed is diverse, one especially popular context is games. Streamers of gaming content broadcast how they play digital or analog games, attracting several thousand viewers at once. Previous scientific work has revealed that different motivations drive people to become viewers, which apparently impacts how they interact with the offered features and which streamers’ behaviors they appreciate. In this paper, we wanted to understand whether viewers’ motivations can be formulated as viewer types and systematically measured. We present an exploratory factor analysis (followed by a validation study) with which we developed a 25-item questionnaire assessing five different viewer types. In addition, we analyzed the predictive validity of the viewer types for existing and potential live stream features. We were able to show that a relationship between the assessed viewer type and preferences for streamers’ behaviors and features in a stream exists, which can guide fellow researchers and streamers to understand viewers better and potentially provide more suitable experiences.

Children are more social when playing analog games together than digital games

Digital media are being used more and more frequently by children and for a wide variety of functions. However, there are no studies to date that examine the effect of such use on peer interactions and the occurrence of prosocial behavior in peers. For parents, it has been found that when using digital media only few parents respond responsively to their children's attempts at interaction and also very rarely, they communicate with them verbally and nonverbally.In the present study, we investigated how playing a game in a digital versus analog form influences interactions (especially prosocial behavior) of peers.We used an experimental situation, where 24 dyads of 4-10-year-old children were examined. Each of the dyads was randomly assigned to a condition where they played either a digital or analog game together. Various interaction parameters and prosocial behavior during and after the game were analyzed.Results show that children in the analog condition communicated verbally with each other more often, responded more often to interaction attempts of their partners and showed less often negative forms of interaction and more often positive forms of interaction than children in the digital condition. However, the type of medium had no influence on prosocial behavior after the game situation. These results suggest that the format of a game (digital vs. analog) has a decisive influence on peer interactions concerning their communication during but not their prosocial behavior after the game situation.

An Instructional Design Model for TPACK Object-Based Mathematics Card Games

Purpose: This study examined TPACK model as it relates to teacher’s knowledge categories such as methods of teaching subject matter (content knowledge) curriculum knowledge, knowledge about technology and pedagogical know-how etc. Approach/Methodology/Design: Conceptual analysis was discussed to establish content selection, performance procedure and problem-solving while designing an object-based game. Among the templates identified and used for Object-Based Game model are analog game model, managing learning procedure etc. The study adopted formative research in order to elucidate functional concepts and variables within the study. Findings: Games are repertoire of teaching aids and research paradigm which revolves philosophical learning theories and gaming processes. The quality of game developed depends on the qualifications; i.e. proficiency in mathematical theories and their interrelations to suit instructional concepts of game development and creative thinking abilities, pedagogical skills are required to identify learning pattern. There is a need to incorporate self-motivated experience scenes such as gaming, which characterize play and activity as being the young child’s most powerful tool in all areas of learning particularly Mathematics. Practical Implications: The study presents practical implications for teachers of mathematics. Contextualization helps learners to link new ideas to prior knowledge, and the proposed model in this study could be validated and applied in teaching mathematic concepts. Originality/value: The study adopted formative research in order to elucidate functional concepts and variables within the study. Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) object-based Mathematic card games model is designed as powerful and potential learning tools.

Better Game Worlds by Design: The GAS Framework for Designing and Analyzing Games Based on Socio-Ecological Systems Thinking, Demonstrated on Nusfjord (2017)

The goal of this article is to propose Game World Design and Analysis for Socio-Ecological Systems (GAS), a framework for the design and analysis of game worlds through socio-ecological systems lenses. Game World Design and Analysis for Socio-Ecological Systems invites designers to a structured reflection of their choices regarding game world correspondence with a real or fictional reference system (assessed through accuracy, comprehensiveness, and balance) and game world consistency. The framework spells out the main elements to be included in the game world for that to be a credible socio-ecological system. The GAS framework is demonstrated on Nusfjord (2017) as an exemplar of natural resource management–themed analog game. The framework is built using an interdisciplinary approach to game studies, history, media and literary studies, and natural resource management research. The application of the framework has the potential of making the design and analysis of game worlds more relevant to the sustainability discourse of the 21st Century.

Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games

Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games

Bridging the Analog-Digital divide: critical literacies and procedural design in young people’s game-making practices

ABSTRACT Over the past several decades, the concept of critical literacy has been applied to an increasing range of multimodal texts mediated by digital technologies. Expressive forms such as fan-fiction, digital storytelling, and gaming have presented unique opportunities forunderstanding critical literacy practices. Within the more specific field of game studies, a growing body of scholarship demonstrates how issues of ideology, politics, and power are woven into and expressed through the medium of games – whether digital or analog. This paper builds on this tradition by offering a critical analysis of a semiotic resource that digital and analog games share – the designed processes that shape experiences of meaning-making through acts of play. Examining data from a study of teens’ participation in a library-based board game-making workshop, this paper highlights the ways participants engaged in critical literacy practices when asked to address a social issue through game design. The paper draws on techniques of discourse analysis to demonstrate how participants engaged with ideological dimensions of procedural literacy through design-centered discourse. Findings suggest that viewing game-making through the lens of procedurality can be a generative way to explore critical literacy practices in relation to contemporary social issues.

Serious games in business process management: a systematic literature review

PurposeThis study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) on serious games in the BPM domain, in order to answer: RQ1 – what are BPM games' learning objectives and design characteristics? RQ2 – How rigorously each BPM game was evaluated in terms of their effectiveness and entertainment?.Design/methodology/approachWe followed the PRISMA statement method and systematic literature review standards. Selected studies were analyzed using qualitative evidence synthesis.FindingsWe found 37 references that describe 15 serious games within the BPM domain. Games are diverse, ranging from analog games that need a few hours to complete to complex digital games that require many sessions. Game evaluation should be generally improved as 27 publications can be considered as quasi-experimental or nonexperimental and potentially biased.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should focus on developing new games about process implementation and using other notations besides BPMN. More studies testing the reliability and validity of existing games in different settings and using more rigorous experimental designs are also necessary. Practitioners can identify thoroughly evaluated games relevant to their learning objectives.Originality/valueThis is the first SLR about BPM games. It consolidates the literature, analyzes, describes and categorizes 15 games with respect to their internal characteristics and evaluation reliability.

Testing an analogue game to promote peer support and person‐centredness in education for people with diabetes: A realist evaluation

AimTo explore the outcomes of testing an analogue game to incorporate person‐centredness and peer dialogues in group‐based diabetes education targeting people with diabetes.DesignRealist evaluation using quantitative and qualitative methods to explore context, mechanisms and outcomes of the intervention.MethodsIn March–July 2019, the game was tested among 76 people with type 2 diabetes and 17 professionals in 19 settings across nine Danish municipalities. Data consisted of game tests, interviews and questionnaires. Data were analysed using systematic text condensation and descriptive statistics.ResultsOutcomes of using the game were as follows: (a) a playful atmosphere; (b) active engagement; c) reflections on diabetes‐specific experiences; (d) focused dialogues; (e) professionals gaining insight into the needs of participants; and (f) professionals experiencing peer dialogue as important to incorporate into education. Questionnaire responses showed that 92% people with diabetes and 94% professionals found that the game incorporated person‐centredness and peer dialogues into education.