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Open Source Software, Computer Games, and other Socio-Technical

ProcessesWalt Scacchi

Institute for Software Researchand

University of California IrvineIrvine, CA 92697-3425 USA

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~wscacchi

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Game Culture and Technology• Games as immersive, experiential literary

form -- game play as emergent narrative• Gaming as rapidly growing global industry• “Modding” and making games as practice-

based learning and career development• Games as new media and cultural form• Game culture as social movement

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Game play as emergent narrative and storymaking

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Game World StatsGame World Stats

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What is free/open source software development?

• Free (as in “freedom”) vs. open source– Freedom to access, browse/view, study, modify and

redistribute the source code– Free is always open, but open is not always free

• F/OSSD is not “software engineering”– Different: F/OSSD can be faster, better, and cheaper

than SE in some circumstances• F/OSSD involves more software development tools, Web

resources, and personal computing resources

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OSS Development Models

• Free Software (GPL)• Open Source (BSD/MIT, Mozilla, Apache)• Corporate Source (Hewlett-Packard)• Consortium/Alliance (OSDL, SugarCRM)• Corporate-Sponsored (IBM-Eclipse, Sun-

Netbeans, Sun-OpenOffice, HP-Gelato)• Shared Source (Microsoft)• Community Source (Sakai, Westwood)

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OSSD Project Characteristics• OSS Developers are always users of what they build,

while OSS users (>1%) are also OSS developers• Requires “critical mass” of contributors and OSS

components connected through socio-technical interaction networks

• OSSD projects emerge/evolve via bricolage– Unanticipated architectural (de)compositions– Multi-project component integrations

• OSSD teams use 10-50 OSSD tools to support their development work

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OSSD Project Characteristics• Operational code early and often--actively improved and

continuously adapted• Post-facto software system requirements and design

– OSSD is not Software Engineering– OSSD has its own “-ilities” which differ from those for SE

• Caution: the vast majority of OSSD projects fail to grow or to produce a beta release.

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F/OSS Processes for Requirements or Design

• F/OSS Requirements/Designs – not explicit– not formal

• F/OSS Requirements/Designs are embedded within “informalisms”– Example OSS informalisms to follow (as

screenshot displays)

• F/OSS Requirements/Design processes are different from their SE counterparts.

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Evolutionary redevelopment, reinvention, and redistribution

• One recurring evolutionary dynamic of F/OSSD is reinvention– Reinvention enables continuous improvement

• F/OSS evolve through continuously emerging mutations (incremental innovation/adaptation)– Expressed, recombined, redistributed via

incremental releases

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Evolutionary redevelopment, reinvention, and redistribution

• F/OSS systems co-evolve with their development community– Success of one depends on the success of the other

• Closed legacy systems may be revitalized via opening and redistribution of their source– When enthusiastic user-developers want their cultural

experience with such systems to be maintained.

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Project management and career development

• F/OSSD projects self-organize as a meritocractic role-hierarchy and virtual project management– Meritocracies embrace incremental innovations over

radical innovations– VPM requires people to act in leadership roles based

on skill, availability, and belief in project community

• F/OSS developers want to learn about new stuff (tools, techniques, skills, etc.), have fun building software, exercise their technical skill, try out new kinds of systems to develop, and/or interconnect multiple F/OSSD projects (freedom of choice and expression).

25(images from A.J. Kim, Community Building on the Web, 2000)

A meritocractic role hierarchy for F/OSSD

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Making games as career development

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Socio-technical and cultural evolution processes

• New processes under study– Joining and contributing to a project in progress– Role-task migration: from project periphery to center– Alliance formation and community development

• Independent and autonomous project communities can interlink via social networks that manipulate objects of interaction– Enables possible exponential growth of interacting and

interdependent community as socio-technical interaction network

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Game related R&D effortsGame related R&D efforts

• oneone research problem for game research problem for game

software developmentsoftware development

• visual and performing arts visual and performing arts – Games as cultural mediaGames as cultural media

• science and technology educationscience and technology education– Games for informal education in scienceGames for informal education in science

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(One) software development (One) software development research problem for gamesresearch problem for games

• What is the What is the bestbest way to rapidly create way to rapidly create networked games, game worlds, and play networked games, game worlds, and play experience?experience?– ““best” => best” =>

• faster, better, cheaperfaster, better, cheaper• open source (e.g., BSD/MIT style license)open source (e.g., BSD/MIT style license)• (global) community-based development, (global) community-based development,

contribution and supportcontribution and support• Fun, enjoyable, intrinsically motivating, Fun, enjoyable, intrinsically motivating,

disruptive, etc.disruptive, etc.

• Modification, Construction, or Generation?Modification, Construction, or Generation?

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Games as a new medium

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Informal Science Education

• Science Games

• (Mechanical) Systems Engineering Game

• Dinosaur and Life Science Game– Physical game linked to online/virtual game– Venue for action research

• Games for Libraries

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CERN Quantum GameCERN Quantum Game

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T.Rex

• Game story task 1 (grades 1-2)– How does a T.Rex stand and run with short arms

(front legs) and a long tail?– How might the tail help the dinosaur when eating?

• Domain requirement: must address national/CA science education standards

• Example learning task: Place and (re)size tail and neck vertebra into “see-saw” balance system

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• Demonstrates see-saw like T.Rex engineering

• Kids add tail segments to achieve correct balance for raptor skeleton

T.Rex SEE-SAWBALANCE PUZZLE

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Computer Games in Libraries

• Libraries as community centers for games culture and technology

• New game opportunities for public libraries– Science learning games– Game-based graphic novels– Game modding– Library-specific games

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Library-Specific Games

• Knowledge Quest – navigational, adventure/discovery game– find and assemble knowledge from library

resources– acquire practice and skill of library researcher– resident librarians as game masters/mentors– “open source” game engine, content

development, and community participation

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Summary observationsSummary observations• We find F/OSSD is helping to drive computer We find F/OSSD is helping to drive computer

game culture and technologygame culture and technology• We seek to break down barriers between art, We seek to break down barriers between art,

science, technology, culture through computer science, technology, culture through computer games, game environments, and open source games, game environments, and open source experiencesexperiences

• We seek to create a new generation of informal We seek to create a new generation of informal learning tools and techniques, together learning tools and techniques, together with a global community of developers and with a global community of developers and users, through a massively shared, users, through a massively shared, participatory collaborative learning participatory collaborative learning environments.environments.

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Further information

• ISR OSS Research site: www.isr.uci.edu/research-open-source.html

• UCI Game Lab: www.ucgamelab.net• MASSIVE summit: www.isr.uci.edu/events/massive/• W. Scacchi,

Free/Open Source Software Development Practices in the Computer Game Community, IEEE Software, 21(1), 59-67, January/February 2004.

• W. Scacchi, When Worlds Collide: Emerging Patterns of Intersection and Segmentation when Computerization Movements Interact, working paper, presented at the Social Informatics Workshop,  March 2005.

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Acknowledgements

• Mark Ackerman (UMichigan), Margaret Elliott (ISR), Les Gasser (UIUC), Chris Jensen (ISR), Robert Nideffer (UCI Game Lab), John Noll (Santa Clara U), also others at ISR and UCI Game Lab.

• National Science Foundation (no endorsement implied) #0083075, #0205679, #0205724, and #0350754.

• Discovery Science Center