actionable vs. emancipatory game design research
DESCRIPTION
My keynote at the Games: Design & Research conference at Volda, Norway, June 3rd, 2010, discussing the challenges of building bridges between academic game research and game design & development.TRANSCRIPT
Ac#onable vs. Emancipatory Game (Design) Research
Capturing Game Design: Who Should Care?
Aki Järvinen Lead Social Designer, Ph.D.
May 31, 2010
Aki Järvinen has a unique mix of experience from:
Mobile game design Online & Social game design Online gambling design Board game design User experience design Business development Academic research & development
Since 2009, focusing on Social Games: • first doing contract work for startups both in the US & Scandinavia • from January 2010, as the Lead Social Designer at Digital Chocolate Helsinki Studio
Aki Järvinen, Social Game Developer, Ph.D
DChoc: From Mobile to Social Games
The Problem
and puPng it into context
Goals of the talk • The talk discusses the different interests for knowledge
between those researching game design, those prac#cing it, and those doing both.
• What are the key pragma#c aspects of game design in a commercial context that o/en make it theory-‐aversive?
• Can game design ac#vity be captured for research purposes, and more importantly what domains of knowledge would that serve?
• What is the role of design management in this? • The talks aims at giving researchers sensi#vity towards the
challenges game designers face daily, and places game design prac#ces into the contexts of design management.
Problem formula#on • How can game studies/research produce results that are ac9onable for game design, and who are the stakeholders in this?
• Caveat: Not all game-‐related research needs to contribute to prac#cal game design – but be honest about it!
• Yet: Ac#onable results best emerge from the prac#cal experience of design within marketplace and management constraints; when academic problem formula#on combines with the tacit knowledge of game design prac#ces
Contextualiza#on of the problem
• Jürgen Habermas: Knowledge Cons#tu#ve Interests
• ’Habermas' basic claim is that different forms of knowledge with different object domains and standards of validity are cons#tuted by different interests that are founded in dis#nct forms of human ac9vity.’
Design & Research
Clarifica#on: I do not believe that only u#litarian research is useful; I do believe in the
tradi#onal role of academia
Design • ‘Every problem posed to a designer demands that the constraints of technology, ergonomics, produc#on, and the marketplace be factored in and a balance be achieved.’
• ‘Design [...] is a process of crea#on and decision making.’
• Design and corporate strategy: Design is a tool for making strategy visible
(Borja de Mozota: Design Management, 2004)
Design management • ‘Design management is the planned implementa#on of design in a company to help the company achieve its objec#ves.’ (ibid.)
• Academically studied by, e.g., Brigije Borja de Mozota in Paris
• Why is this important? – because the game designer reports to whomever is responsible for design/studio management
– thus the knowledge gained from, e.g. research, is subject to evalua#on in an organiza#onal structure
Design as Process: The 4 Cs • Crea.vity • Complexity
• Compromise
• Choice • = Design is both a crea#ve and a management process
• Which of these does your research address?
Design Research • Three possible dimensions:
– Research for design – Research into design – Research as design
(Lunenfeld in Laurel [ed.] Design Research, 2004)
• Q: In your work, do you explicitly iden#fy your work belonging into one or more of these dimensions?
Who are the actors in GDR? • ‘designer is an entrepreneur, an authority in aesthe#cs, and an ini#ator of change in the society’
• players – the ones who want to have fun • researchers – those who try to observe and understand, from various perspec#ves?
Game Design Researcher’s posi#on?
How to be cuPng edge? • E.g. with the metrics-‐driven development in the social games industry, it is very difficult to do academic research (outside technology) that is cuPng edge
• -‐ from afar!
• Poten#al of methods such as Ac#on research and Ethnography
Gallup part 1 • Q: How many of you do research with the inten#on/belief that it can contribute to/inform game design in prac#ce?
Gallup part 2 • Q: How many of you do research with the inten#on/belief that it can contribute to/inform commercial game design in prac#ce?
Ac#onable or Emancipatory?
Ask this of your research; which kind of knowledge is it targe#ng?
The Ques#on of Ac#onable • How to surpass the insufficient ‘theory vs. prac#ce’ dis#nc#on?
• How about: research that either creates ac#onable vs. ‘non-‐ac#onable’ results? – Ac#onable implies immediacy, applica#on
– Non-‐ac#onable implies reflec#on, emancipa#on
• Yet ‘non’ is a nega#on with connota#ons • Therefore let’s call it Emancipatory:
– Emancipa.on: ‘set free, esp. from legal, social, or poli.cal restric.ons’
Habermas’ categories [reference (.doc)]
Commercial Game Design
Academic Game Research
Emancipatory research results tend to be:
• Descrip9ve – rather than prescrip#ve – in tone • ‘Packaged’ into academic discourse • Non-‐specific in terms of demographics
• Or, too specific to the point of being marginal • At best inspira9onal for ac#onable purposes, yet may
demand an extra layer of interpreta9on (i.e. a specific skillset) in order to be ac#onable
• Example: ‘Game layers of DJ Hero‘ -‐ Games as Services project, University of Tampere, Finlandhjp://futureplayproject.wordpress.com/resources/
Ac#onable results tend to be: • such that relate explicitly to a specific design domain &
problem – note the parallel to crea9vity oren being domain-‐specific
• prescrip9ve • tangible – repackaged for the design stakeholders • such that discuss consequences for exis#ng business/
educa#on/development models or methods
• pragma9c: Something you can sell to your boss in commercial contexts
• Example: Gamespace project -‐ hjp://gamelab.uta.fi/gamespacetool/
Conclusions • Claim: Any research that does not aim at ac#onable results cannot call itself ‘design research’ or anything ‘design’ for that majer – even ‘design theory’ implies prac#ce!
• If your goal is to produce emancipatory knowledge, just call your work game studies or game research!
• Whichever road you choose, in the process you will come to define your primary audience
• ...and it is them who should care.
Thank you.
Emancipatory contact:
aki@gameswithoutron#ers.net
Ac#onable contact:
http://www.facebook.com/socialgamesbook