-
You are reading the Hubbub blog. We write about work we've done and (occasionally) things we find interesting. A feed is also available.
Similar posts
Featured posts
- Engaging sleep mode
- Shifting from Gamification to Playful Design
- ‘Playful Design for Activism’ at E‑Motive Day 2015
- New Planning Methods
- Procedural Instruments Enable Powerful Ways of Making and Seeing Playable Systems
- Designing Playful Museum Exhibitions
- Three Perspectives on Serious Games
- Five Behaviour Design Principles You Never Suspected Would Work
- Video of our Playing with Rules workshop at Mozilla Festival 2013
-
Recent posts
Archives
- March 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
Playing with Rules workshop at Lift Conference Geneva 2014
We ran our “Playing with Rules” workshop at Lift Conference in Geneva earlier this year. We’d hosted it once before at Mozilla Festival and before that it was part of our consulting repertoire as an exercise for clients. Above is a video of the outcomes we had this time around.
In the weeknotes I link to above there are some takeaways already, but I thought it would be useful to document them here for posterity. We continue to be interested in running this as a workshop at future events, but we try to take iterative design to heart and change things about the format each time around.
In this case, we mainly focused on improving the on-boarding. We spent some time discussing the background of the game everyone started with; a variation of Pachisi known in NL as “Mens erger je niet!” (“Do not get annoyed, man!”). We also tried to create a common frame of reference for the admittedly slippery term “social issue”. Definitions are hardly ever useful, so we provided some description of the dynamics we’re interested in (conflict in society between various groups) and listed some obvious examples (unemployment, racism, widespread government spying, etc.)
Most importantly, we stepped through some example rules changes, which we took from the games created by players at Mozilla Festival. By simply showing the act of articulating a design goal, defining a rules change, playing the adjusted game and finally reflecting on the experience we got everyone on the same page as to the work part of the workshop. This is what we would be doing for the next few hours.
One thing I really like about our setup is that before we get started people can already join a table and start playing the game as it is. This is a superb ice breaker and a natural result of the workshop setup.
Looking back, what stood out for us were a few things:
The starter game might affect the issues participants are inclined to choose. For example, we had a game about road rage, which is a great fit for the setup of Parcheesi, because it already involves a race around the board. We’ve also seen quite a few games about immigration, which again are a good fit because you’re moving pawns from one area on the board into another area. It might be interesting to start from a different boardgame the next time around. Or demand from participants that they pick a theme that seems at odds with the game as it is.
Adapting a boardgame is a very effective way for novices to become acquainted with game design. It is also a great basis for getting comfortable with the notion of iterative design in general. Finally, making a game about a subject, in a diverse group, is an interesting way to facilitate a discussion. It focuses conversation on what can be expressed as systems and what can be modeled in a way that is directly experienceable. In this way, it’s an odd but effective way of rational thinking and empathy combined.