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Thursday, July 9 • 10:30am - 11:30am
Narrative

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Stories, Games, & Learning Through Play: An Analysis of Narrative Affordances in Game-Based Instruction
Stephen Slota, Michael Young, Roger Travis

Stories are the mechanism through which humans construct reality and make sense of the world around them. Yet, research on the positive effects of narrative in game-based and other learning environments is quite variable, and the relevance of narrative to the learning sciences is not well understood. Identifying precisely how narrative intertwines with human experience of the lived-in world requires the application of a situated cognition framework to understand recipient-content-context interactions as dynamic and co-determined. To begin unpacking this issue, a narrative-structured, game-based learning program, Project TECHNOLOGIA, was used to target in-context, on-the-fly dialogic interactions between narrative “producers” (i.e., instructors) and “recipients” (i.e., participating students). Results indicate that there may be value in pursuing narrative as an instructional game mechanic for complex social, cultural, and intellectual issues as well as the induction of real-world goal adoption. Recommendations for further research are provided.


“I Have To Tell You Something”: How Narrative and Pretend Play Intersect In Story Games
Sean Duncan, Chris Georgen, Lucas Cook, Joey Huang

In this paper, we explore learning and play within the context of rules-light, narratively-focused tabletop role-playing games, colloquially called “story games.” Focusing on data drawn from The Story Games Project, we highlight exchanges within a game session of the game Fiasco, which illustrate a negotiation of roles and collaborative narrative construction among players. With an emphasis on revoicing and pretend play, we discuss implicit mechanics which guide the enaction of roles within the play of these games, as well as the means by which players learn to embody different identities through play.


Metafiction in Videogames
James Cox

There have been doubts about the existence of metafiction within videogames. It may be related to the paucity of research that grounds metaficiton as a game relevant term. This discourse will briefly define what metafiction is and explore the existence of metafiction within fiction. In doing so, it will separate metafiction in videogames from credits and in-game instructions. A description of four types of metafiction in videogames (emergent metafiction: fiction that reveals itself to the player, immersive: fiction that brings the player into the fiction, internal: character-to-character, and external: designer-to-player) is discussed. Ultimately, the implication of metafiction in videogames is illuminated, and its potential impact on the future of game design summarized.

Moderators
Speakers
avatar for Sean Duncan

Sean Duncan

Assistant Professor, Indiana University
avatar for Joey Huang

Joey Huang

Indiana University Bloomington
I am a doctoral student in Indiana University’s Learning Sciences program. My research interests include affinity spaces, informal learning, and learning through social media. In particular, I am interested in developing creative and innovative learning environments. I recently... Read More →
avatar for James Earl Cox III

James Earl Cox III

Digital Wizard, Seemingly Pointless
Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017, James Earl Cox III completed a self-set challenge of making 100 games in 5 years. Co-founder of Seemingly Pointless, he holds a masters degree from the University of Southern California in Interactive Media and Game Design and is a Miami University... Read More →
avatar for Stephen Slota

Stephen Slota

Co-Founder, The Pericles Group, LLC
Steve (@steveslota) is an instructional design specialist and game design scientist at the University of Connecticut Health Center and a co-founder of The Pericles Group, LLC. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology: Cognition, Instruction, & Learning Technologies and has worked... Read More →
avatar for Roger Travis

Roger Travis

Storrs, CT, US, University of Connecticut, and The Pericles Group, LLC
Only connect: ancient epic to video games; teacher to student; gamer to gamer; fan to fan; parent to child; human being to human being.
avatar for Michael Young

Michael Young

Profesor, University of Connecticut
A situated cognitive view of learning on-the-fly in video game environments, through rich narratives, assessed through card play and understood as social participation, with an ecological psychology flare.


Thursday July 9, 2015 10:30am - 11:30am CDT
Inn Wisconsin

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