Philosophy/Design Rationale
What is this game?
GameMaven is a tool
for gamers, rather than a game. It is designed to be distributed virally
amongst gamer communities, to enhance the thinking through, representation,
and communication of game strategies through the provision of a common,
visually clear, interactive natural language. This language would be
based on the concepts and techniques of Systems Thinking, a powerful
means of analyzing the problems and communicating the character of complex
systems. Systems Thinking is not simply a technical skill, but is a
humanistic discipline which sees itself as ideally the instinctive mode
of rational discourse for a lively community of debate.
The philosophy of GameMaven is that the lively communities of debate
already exist in games culture, and we need only to provide the interface
and conceptual toolkit of Systems Thinking as aids to understanding
games strategies as the analysis of complex systems, in order for young
people to enthusiastically adapt Systems Thinking as a natural language.
Further applications would be for the professional games development
community and in the teaching of games design.
Why create this
tool?
Most current systems thinking software aimed at the younger audience
have little scope for supporting systems thinking as a community-based
natural language framework.
Where does the tool look like?
A interactive, icon based virtual workspace for the collaborative diagramming
of systems concepts as related to games. Relationships and flows are
dynamically rendered, and there is the capacity to customize the visual
details of the tool to match the graphics associated with a particular
gaming communityi.
What platform
does the tool run on?
GameMaven is primarily aimed at the PC, as direct accompaniment to online
game communities. It could be accessed as a stand-alone application,
or be a component of a website forum/chatroom.
What is the goal
of the tool?
To aid players in communicating and discussing strategies for a variety
of games both online and offline.
To create Systems Thinking communities out of game communities.
To encourage Systems Thinking as an applied natural language amongst
young people.
To create a bridge between the games development and design community
and the Systems Thinking community.
What is different
about GameMaven?
It is unlike any systems thinking or systems modeling software currently
out there ñ it is unique in tapping into the cultural power of
the gamer communities, and in treating popular video games themselves
as complex systems. Most educational systems thinking software are either
abstract, somewhat austere modeling tools intended to work in a classroom
setting, or base themselves around the formal simulation of scientific
or management issues which have limited relevance for the younger audience
Who is the target audience? How will they learn through playing
the game?
Our target audience are young gamers who frequent game communities.
They will learn Systems Thinking through using GameMaven to support
their discussion in game communities. Another key audience would be
the game design community ñ professional developers, and game
design educators (for use in game design classes, such as within CMS
Games-To-Teach itself)
Describe the Controls
A visual, interactive WIMP environment which supports collaborative
use of systems thinking concepts through movable icon-based construction
of models.