INTRODUCTION
The Meaningful Play Conference took place at Michigan State University between October 9 and 11, 2008. The three day event featured a wealth of presenters, panels, papers, and posters. Attendees came from a diverse range of disciplines, including K-12 education, academics, entertainment, and private industry. The broad purpose of Meaningful Play 2008 was to investigate the potential of the digital gaming medium to be used for "serious" agendas, such as education, social awareness/change, and artistic expression.
Rather than merely posting my notes from each of the sessions (see my other post for those), I have decided to discuss just a few items that intrigued me during the conference.
DAVID VERSAW - TURNING GAMERS TO SOLDIERS: WAR GAMES IN THE MODERN MILITARY
Ironically enough, perhaps the most striking presentation for me during the three days did not involve gaming. David Versaw introduced the form of interactive video that his company, WILL Interactive [www.willinteractive.com], creates for high profile clients, such as the US Army, US Navy, and National Football League (NFL). Each interactive video program revolves around challenging the user to make deeply complex and difficult decisions. For example, the US Army employs interactive video to prepare soldiers to both make wise choices and deal with the unexpected outcomes that are a natural part of service. The NFL uses them to train its players on the ethics and effects of their off the field decisions, while high schools have used WILL's creations to educate students on gender, race, and sexuality discrimination.
What really struck me about WILL Interactive's productions were how emotionally and psychologically gripping they were. As someone who was not at all a stakeholder in the training (i.e. not a soldier; not an NFL superstar/owner), I had no reason to be affected by the samples shown during the presentation. However, in the few, short clips demonstrated, I found myself utterly absorbed in the narrative. I followed the stories intently and was wondering what my next decision would be. At the end of each clip, I was offered a selection of five possible paths to take... all of which were viable and none of which stuck out as the "correct" answer. What is further amazing about this process is that, as with "real life," there was no single "right" or "wrong" answer and my decision would alter some later outcome in the story.
Having gone through agonizing training systems in the past, including mind-numbing day-long seminars, mind-numbing computer based slide click-throughs, and mind-numbing 300 page binders of procedural documentation, I believe that interactive videos such as these are a well-received godsend to the world of professional development. Yet, it is not merely the novelty or comparison to alternatives that makes interactive video special, it is the sheer power with which it can engage users for the purpose of informing, evaluating, and changing fundamental attitudes. I believe that these interactive videos provide an example of the kind of user engagement that is desirable in alternative media forms, including games.
JARED RILEY - THE EMERGING FLASH GAME INDUSTRY AND THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEANINGFUL PLAY
Jared Riley, founder of Hero Interactive, gave a particularly eye-opening discussion on the current state of the Flash game industry. What I learned from this presentation is that the creation of Flash games, which I had always viewed as merely a side-stage hobbyist activity, can potentially be a (seemingly) lucrative full-time profession. Riley walked us through the erratic and rapidly changing business side of online Flash game development. When I look at the vast majority of free games contained on Flash portal sites, I am largely unimpressed. There are usually a top five or so that are rather impressive examples of what a Flash game can be, but beyond those, I think "I (could) do much better than that." What amazed me so much about this presentation, as a hobby Flash game maker myself, is that there is any monetary potential at all for content creators. I cannot speak to the upstart business potential in the industry, but as a hobbyist, any potential earnings from my creations are only an opportunity to fund something that I love to do anyway. I liken it to an amateur photographer submitting photos to a contest in order to finance new equipment purchases or an amateur writer publishing short fiction on the side. Any (literally, any) amount of funding that can be received as part of a hobby is just icing on the cake. If the money is not there, it is no loss, as the hobbyist would have been creating anyway out of his or her own personal enjoyment. Monetary potential in the Flash games industry is a rare, win-win, situation from the solo developer point of view.
LEIGH ANN CAPPELLO - ALL PLAY IS MEANINGFUL
One particularly fun portion of the conference was a speech by Leigh Ann Capello, titled All Play Is Meaningful. Thanks to her association with the Hasbro toy company, we were all provided with an extensive amount of Play-Doh. From the beginning of her speech, she encouraged us all to begin playing and being creative. Staying within the video game theme, I created a Play-Doh sculpture of the character Luigi from the Super Mario Brothers series of games (see image below).
PANEL - PLAYING WITH PUBLIC POLICY: GAMES TO INVOLVE AND INFORM THE PUBLIC
The discussion, which addressed how games can affect the public by informing, engaging, and influencing minds, was riveting and intriguing. Nick Fortugno, of Crazy Monkey Games [www.crazymonkeygames.com], advocated creating games with a specific agenda in mind, rather than trying to avoid bias in search of potentially unrealizable, pure objectivity. In contrast, Ian Bogost of Persuasive Games [www. persuasivegames.com], spoke of a journalistic ideal that attempts to remain documentary and objective as a responsibility of the profession, while still recognizing the inevitability of personal bias. I found both approaches to be compelling and neither to be a definitive solution. Thus, I do feel that "approaches" is apt terminology in this case. It essentially implies two different ways of solving the same challenge. I sympathize with the take of Fortugno, though I feel that I am less likely to be in a situation to use such a strong tactic. I have a particular distaste for propaganda, even in cases where it can be considered "good" propaganda. Hence, I lean more towards the ideal that serious games can be made to genuinely inform minds, regardless of the designer's personal agendas. Alas, unintentional and unrecognizable bias infiltrate all creations just by the mere fact that they created by humans. All in all, I value both perspectives and certainly do not see this topic as lacking in potential for further action and deliberation.
NICK FORTUGNO - THE PLAY OF PERSUASION: WHY "SERIOUS" ISN'T THE OPPOSITE OF FUN
Yet again, Nick Fortugno spurred interesting discussion by tackling what has surely been a fundamental question of serious games. That is, "do games have to be fun?" This is one of those endless debate topics, but I would like to attempt to put it to an end here and now (at least in my mind).
QUESTION: Do games have to be fun?
SHORT ANSWER: No.
LONGER ANSWER: No. You are absolutely free to create any video game that your heart desires. If it is an unsatisfying experience for users, it is not likely that many people will play it, nor will the message resonate with them, hence decreasing the likelihood that it will be effective.
QUESTION: Do games need to be fun?
SHORT ANSWER: Yes.
LONGER ANSWER: First, lets say "engaging" instead of fun, if only for the sake of explicitly stating that fun does not necessarily mean a "haha," frivolous waste of time (and irking Mr. Fortugno if he ever comes across this). Games do indeed need to be engaging, for it is through high interest and involvement that the greatest learning potential is achieved. The best playing serious games will be the best teaching serious games.
There you have it - I have officially solved the "fun" debate. There is no longer a need to discuss it further until someone creates a wildly effective, unengaging game.
CONCLUSION
I have highlighted just a few interesting topics that arose during my three days of Meaningful Play. There was far more to the conference than I could explain in any number of blog posts. I thoroughly enjoyed attending and feel much closer to the games and serious games industries, as well as the academic sides of gaming that extend beyond MSU. It is promising to see so many diverse individuals getting involved in gaming on a meaningful level. I will be posting my complete notes in a separate blog post, so stay tuned.
On a final note, I was surprised to find that Crossroads Village, a project for which I was the design team manager last Spring, was named the "most meaningful game" at the Meaningful Play conference. It is an honor and I congratulate my other team members. I hope to see a new version released soon and would like to see the game move forward to impact users thoughts and actions regarding world hunger.
UPDATE: My 50th official post on this blog - weeeeee!
