With several different businesses to choose from as you play through the game, players can gain insights into the differing impacts that an attack might have, and the various approaches that organisations might take to minimising the cost of an attack, and regaining access to their own data.

The Chat GPT component of the game gives players the opportunity to enter into negotiation with a ‘real’ (or real-time, at any rate), ransomeware organisation, while the cards are used to let players decide what actions they will take to resolve the situation, and how to spend their available cybersecurity budget.

James can come and facilitate this game in your organisation, as part of your security training provision. There are advantages to having an expert like James there to debrief the game, obviously, but mechnically, the game is simple enough to be run internally (subject to having a pro GPT account), once you know how to play. Get in touch with James via LinkedIn or check out his other services at the Bores Group Ltd website.

Also, don’t forget to book your place for the upcoming Play Secure Conference on the 21st and 22nd June, 2024. James has been running this for four years now, and it was this event which inspired the creation of this game. This year’s event is also dear to Ludogogy’s heart, as I’ll be speaking there on the use of ‘Keepsake’ Games for Wellness.

Show & Tell videos will all accumulate at the Show & Tell Page as they are published.

If you would like to appear in a Show & Tell episode, get in touch at info@ludogogy.co.uk

The post James Bore – The Ransomeware Game first appeared on Ludogogy.

Flow is a really sought after experience in game design. It’s really engaging and enthralling because players lose a sense of time and space when they are in the flow state. They become lost and completely enveloped in the game world.

But designing a game to engage players’ flow states is not an easy feat to accomplish. So, just how do you design games to that take advantage of this flow state?

This article outlines and describes the flow state in the player experience. It’ll also explain the most important and influential reasons for designing for flow. Flow state is comprised of a balance of goals and feedback and how both are reflected and influenced by perceptual control. So, this article will examine how these disparate elements work together to help players engage in that state.

Difficulty modulation is an important aspect to flow state in players. Games can’t be so easy so that players just fly by on autopilot. Likewise, they can’t be so hard that they become discouraged and lose the motivation to play them. Therefore, balancing the difficulty of a game is a critical part of designing for the flow state.

However, competitive orthogames introduce another factor in designing for the flow state: other players’ actions and abilities. Therefore, this article will examine how pre-developed knowledge from players influences how they play, act, and interact with other players in these competitive orthogames.

Finally, this article closes on the applied flow state in its use in games as well as the most critical considerations for game design and the application of games-based learning.

Flow Described

So what exactly is the flow state? It’s often a very beguiling and seductive experience. Flow state often occurs in game play when the player’s attention is a completely captured by the game and they lose all sense of time and space. However, the flow state is not just limited to games. Instead, creatives such as artists, musicians, and writers often experience the flow state when they are completely engrossed with their work.

In addition, talented athletes also experience the flow state when they are tasked with performing at the peak of their abilities.  Students can also experience the flow state when they are studying or pursuing subjects that they are naturally interested in and are intrinsically motivated to pursue.

While flow state can occur for many different people through many different activities; the effect remains the same. Someone in the flow state is completely absorbed in the task and are wholly focused on the activity. They are not distracted by music, conversation, or even digital notifications.

So flow state can occur in individuals others than gamers. But gaming is one of the most common elements that engages players so wholly and fully in this feeling. That’s because really great, challenging, and engaging games require players to think and concentrate on a task or activity. Such is the critical elements for the flow state and why it’s such as sought after outcome for game designers.

Why Design for Flow?

So what would even be the purpose of designing a game for the flow state if it’s something that’s only achieved on the player’s end? It’s because, as the designer,  it’s your responsibility to provide a structure for interaction so that players can more easily enter a flow state.

In addition, players who enter the flow state demonstrate a higher level of game performance that also translates over to increased academic performance. As a result, players undertake more challenges as well as become more immersed in the interactivity of games: both of which result in more positive outcomes with games-based learning.

This immersion that is a byproduct of flow state is also closely tied with the development of a playful learning experience. Especially one that provides players agency in determining how they want to play, interact, and learn.

Of course, player agency is an integral part of successful games. But how exactly do other formal game elements influence and affect players’ development of flow state in games?

Goals, Feedback, and Flow

One of the main formal elements of helping players enter a state of flow is to design and structure clear goals for players. These goals should be clear as well as convey relevant meaning to players when they appear in the game. Sometimes these goals are dependent on one another: such as attaining a specific sword for a player in an RPG in order to slay a specific creature. In this way, the sword represents a clear goal in a linear path towards achieving the goal (slaying the creature).

Players should also be provided feedback in their pursuit of these goals. This feedback should be immediate and appropriate for players in order to help them more easily enter the flow state. This is especially relevant for digital games as even a minuscule amount of lag between player actions and results could break a player’s sense of immersion.

This represents an area where serious games, learning games, and educational games can close the gap with commercially available entertainment games. By providing an individual feedback that is related (but not completely connected to learning outcomes); players can more easily enter the flow state that supports their continued engagement. Such continued play should then link other formal game elements such as game mechanics and dynamics to the ultimate learning outcome for players.

Likewise, the game doesn’t need to be the only vehicle for feedback. Getting feedback from other learners and players provides yet another dimension for individuals to learn and adjust. This feedback can come from competitive play with other players; cooperative collaboration; or through comparison of individual results. In addition, instructors and facilitators can also change game settings, rules, and structures in order to better accommodate players’ performance and overall activity within the game.

Perceptual Control

One of the most critical parts of developing a flow state for players is making sure that they have both the agency and the ability to control the outcome of their circumstances via the formal elements of the game. This perceptual control refers to the actual systems that players use to affect these outcomes. This form of control is what makes games much different from watching a movie, reading a book, or other forms of narratives. Perpetual control gives players the ability to affect and change outcomes.

However, this control is not monolithic. Instead, designers should set elements and structures through which players can exact that control in the game. This makes it so that while players may attain “mastery” of the controls in the game, it may not always indicate mastery of the game. An example of this are games may have very rudimentary controls (i.e. Guitar Hero). But the use of those controls, and how they are combined with other game dynamics, make it so that there exists an opportunity for players to enter a flow state through the use of more challenging formats to augment those controls though more difficult songs, challenges, and changing rhythms.

The development of player controls is perhaps the most difficult and critical for designers for helping players enter a flow state. That’s because really intuitive controls can make it so that the players become more easily engrossed in the game versus ineffective control schemes which cause players to lose interest in the game.

Player interest can be increased even more when player’s decisions cause different outcomes and impacts in the game based on their selections. As such, the game becomes more repayable as specific outcomes based on specific player controls are not guaranteed. This can come about through game design (i.e. rougelike games with procedurally generated levels) or it can come about through competitive games such as playing against opponents whose actions may not be as predicable.

Difficulty Modulation

Opposing players actions and reactions to others in the game represents one facet of difficulty modulation. This is because not all players have the same level of skills and interest in the game and therefore react differently according to game conditions. For designers this means creating games that have a “sweet spot” in its difficulty that doesn’t make the game too hard (or too easy) to master. Such pinpointing is part of designing games for players to more easily enter the flow state.

This represents a main challenge for designers of single player digital games. That’s because these games must change dynamically accordingly to the player in order to keep them engaged in this “sweet spot” of difficulty modulation. The same can be said for games-based learning as games that are too easy also don’t represent an adequate challenge for the player. They therefore risk falling into boredom. Likewise, games that are too hard make it so that they may stop playing the game out of frustration.

This doesn’t mean that players enter games at the sweet spot of difficulty modulation. On the contrary, players must start out at a level that is easy for them to adapt to the mechanics and dynamics of the game and then ease into more difficult challenges that further engage them in play. Specifically in instructor lead games-based learning; individuals can dynamically change the difficulty of a game in order to provide a negative feedback loop where the experience will adjust according to the performance of the learner.

Pre-Developed Knowledge and Flow

Sometimes players pre-developed or pre-achieved knowledge will be useful or important for determining if they enter a flow state when playing a game. While subjective experience with other games or other experiences can be helpful, knowing how one’s actions affect and influence the outcome of game play is also important to know.

This can be particularly impactful for games that require a high degree of coordination and difficult learning curve to perform well. These occur frequently in MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arena) which is a type of video game where two teams compete against one another to achieve in-game objectives. Games like DOTA require a significant amount of foreknowledge in order for participants to play and compete effectively. This high requirement can often be a barrier to players from entering the flow state; but can produce an experience of flow akin to what high performance athletes experience when they are performing at the top of their abilities.

The amount of foreknowledge can change considerably based on the application of games. For educational, learning, and serious games, this amount of pre-development knowledge should only minimally affect game play as learning the mechanics and dynamics of the game often go hand in hand with the learning outcomes of its design. However, care should be taken that if a when a flow state is entered by students in serious game design; that it serve the greater purpose and learning outcomes intended by instructors.

Competitive Experience and Flow

While games like DOTA and other MOBAs often require a high degree of pre-developed knowledge; the same cannot be said for other directly competitive games. Some specific abstract games require only knowledge of the game’s formal structures; while others require this as well as some advanced knowledge on tactics and strategy in order to be successful.

Perhaps the most important thing to consider when applying competitive games for teaching and learning is to pair players together of equal or similar skill level. Doing so ensures that players are provided with the correct degree of difficulty and are augmenting the game so that it is not too easy nor is it too difficult for players. The result of which is structure in which the flow state can be more easily entered for individuals.

This ranking and matchmaking should ideally change and increase to provide more competitive and able players more difficult opponents and challenges to attempt. This makes it so that the difficulty is increased relative to players abilities and the abilities of their competitors.

Unlike single player or campaign games, competitive games rely on the experience and interaction with a player with like or similar skill levels. This also relates and is connected to the social nature of games and how play provides a structure of interaction with other students, learners, and gamers.

Applied Flow

The use and value of flow in games was previously covered. But, how is flow applied in game design? The formal elements of games include mechanics, dynamics, components, aesthetics, and to some extent story and technology. Flow as a result is an outcome gained by players based on a careful construction of these formal elements that provides excellent feedback through difficulty modulation and goals through player control.

Flow is an important process to design and uphold in games, because it can often mean the difference between a widely successful commercial game and a mildly successful one. Ultimately, flow state is in the hands of players. They can achieve this through thoughtful game design and is something that is sought after by players: even though they may not be that explicit about it.

Likewise, more hobbyist and enthusiastic gamers may embark on their own mission to achieve flow state. This can come about through their review and study of games, game elements, and game situations. Professional poker players and others who make their living playing and competing with games often necessitate this.  However, the individual student and learner may not be prepared to make this kind of commitment.

Despite this, serious game designers can merge the applicable and relatively addictive nature of commercial games with the learning outcomes and educational achievements that serious games have to offer.

Flow Design Considerations

Ultimately games-based learning is about using games as a medium for teaching and learning. Games-based learning is based on experiential learning which focuses on learning as the transformation of experience into knowledge. The purpose of designing for flow is to give a player a good gaming experience: specifically one that they can use to meet an expected educational outcome.

Therefore, when designing for flow, designers should consider how potential changes to game components, mechanics, and formal structures may or may not take a player out of a state of flow. This balanced approach to game design also includes providing a wide variety of activities and difficulties for players to engage and experience the game. These don’t have to be unique opportunities; as common game mechanics and structures can be used regularly and applied in different contexts to provide unique game dynamics to players.

Therefore, when designing for flow, creators target three levels of player patterns: feeling the aesthetics for the game; examining and discerning the game’s dynamics; and finally mastering the game’s mechanics and dynamics. Following this, the best designed games also augment and adjust their tolerances for players’ interactions in order to make the game relatively challenging for the individual.

Games-Based Learning and Flow

Flow is an outcome from the most successful and addictive commercial games. It’s something that can also be designed for with educational, learning, and serious games. When using games-based learning, flow can be utilized as a way for learners to become deeply engaged in the learning process. Likewise, flow can also be accomplished in other mediums such as traditional college and university classes when examining curriculum from a game designer’s perspective.

Instructors, teachers, and professors educating in a more orthodox environment will highly prize the state of flow engaged by students as they become more deeply engaged with the learning material and the intended outcomes. However, like games designers, flow is achieved from two different perspectives: from players and learners engagement in the game and designers and instructors preparation of the game and learning materials.

Part of the way that educators can approach teaching and learning like a game designer is to focus on the experience of learning and game play. Specifically, they should focus on applications of learning outcomes outside of the classroom and game: thus providing learners with a wider perspective of what and how they can apply their newfound knowledge.

This is often best accomplished with serious games that are designed from the ground up with a learning outcome in mind. The closer that educators and designers can get to connecting cognitive activities in the game with both intended learning outcomes and practical applications; the better they can more wholly educate students while also emphasizing a prioritization of flow in game play.

Takeaways

This article covered how to design games for the flow state. Flow was described and defined in relation to game design. Specific reasons were offered for designing games for players’ flow states. The formal elements of games were identified: specifically goals, feedback, and perceptual player control as it relates to the development of the flow state.

Perceptual control was related to difficulty modulations and how changing challenges that adjust to player competency and efficacy help continue to engage players in the game and maintain their flow state. This was further complicated by games that require some kind of pre-developed knowledge in order to play more advanced games. Those advanced games also included competitive games where prior game knowledge is often necessary to compete and play at a higher level.

Finally, this article ended on applied flow for games as well as design considerations for integrating flow into game play. Lastly, the flow state in games-based learning was addressed in applications for educators and instructors.

This article was about designing games for flow state.   To learn more about gamification, check out the free course on Gamification Explained.

If you have enjoyed this article – consider getting yourself lifetime access to Dave’s Games-Based Learning Digital Library containing all of the content from the past two Games-Based Learning Virtual Conferences; past webinars and courses he’s created; as well as his complete back catalogue of articles; podcast episodes; and videos. And more content is being added all the time.

Readers of Ludogogy can get a $50 discount on this valuable resource by using this link.

The post How do you Design Games for Flow State first appeared on Ludogogy.

This deck has been carefully crafted to enable facilitators and business leaders to pick through specifi business objectives and evaluate any inherent risk.

Guided by the cards, you will facilitate an holistic conversation around all aspects of the objective, while drilling into the potential impacts of going ahead. The group will consider the implications of a range of universal risk categories as outlined on the ‘Risky Business’ cards to fully understand, measure and mitigate the risks.

The process will help the group to identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats contained within the objective and enable a confident transition to purposeful action.

Put simply, ‘Risky Business’ provides peace of mind when making those all important business decisions.

To coincide with each Show and Tell episode, Darren will be making the featured deck FREE for 30 days. So don’t forget to keep coming back to see what the featured deck of the month can do for you.

Free to use as often as you wish from the date this Show ‘n’ Tell drops, until early New Year (access via the ipsodeckso.com free membership option).

Ipsodeckso is a platform which is going to be of considerable interest to facilitators and coaches. It contains a number of great decks already, but also includes the capability for you to upload and use your own cards, for use on the same platform.

Show & Tell videos will all accumulate at the Show & Tell Page as they are published. You can also check out one of Darren’s games, ‘The Walking Dead’ which featured in a Ludogogy live play session.

If you would like to appear in a Show & Tell episode, get in touch at info@ludogogy.co.uk

The post Ipsodeckso – Risky Business first appeared on Ludogogy.

The Great Christmas Deck has two types of cards. The first contains a series of light-hearted festive-themed questions to get your players talking and getting to know one another a little bit better. Find out who thinks that Christmas presents should all be homemade, or which members of your team love, or hate, marzipan. Perfect for getting the fun started at your office end-of-year get-together. And once the conversation is flowing abit you can throw in some ‘Warm and Fuzzy’ conversational interludes, inviting folk to share their favourite memories of this special time of year.

The second deck recreates the fun, and maybe frustrating, experience of solving a sliding tile puzzle. With a suitably Christmassy image as your target, you have to slide your cards around the Ipsodeckso table (no cheating by lifting and dropping, please) utilising the single space to manoeuvre all the card into their correct places to complete the picture. Don’t forget that you can duplicate the URL of your Ipsodeckso window as many times as you like – to get the same card selection and layout – so why not run this as a competitive team challenge.

To coincide with each Show and Tell episode, Darren will be making the featured deck FREE for 30 days (in this case, BOTH decks until the festivities are over, early in the New Year). So don’t forget to keep coming back to see what the featured deck of the month can do for you.

Free to use as often as you wish from the date this Show ‘n’ Tell drops, until early New Year (access via the ipsodeckso.com free membership option).

Ipsodeckso is a platform which is going to be of considerable interest to facilitators and coaches. It contains a number of great decks already, but also includes the capability for you to upload and use your own cards, for use on the same platform.

Show & Tell videos will all accumulate at the Show & Tell Page as they are published. You can also check out one of Darren’s games, ‘The Walking Dead’ which featured in a Ludogogy live play session.

If you would like to appear in a Show & Tell episode, get in touch at info@ludogogy.co.uk

The post Ipsodeckso – Double Festive Gift for You first appeared on Ludogogy.

Accessibility is a concept that is often talked about in game design. Specifically when it comes to making games more accessible to a wider audience. But what does accessibility mean and what does it entail when designing games for entertainment, learning, or personal development?

This article will address how accessibility affects the player experience. We’ll dive deeply into why accessibility challenges make them the “wrong” kind of difficulty for players. This article will address accessibility as design considerations for the widest and most diverse audience. We’ll first cover designing with accessibility in mind from the start and then cover types of accessibility changes made in game design. Those changes include accessibility addressing motor movement; cognition; vision; hearing; and economics. This article will close on how designers can use accessibility to continually improve their practice and design.

The “wrong” kind of difficult

So what do we mean by accessibility? Accessibility generally means making something easy for other to use; engage; or understand. That’s already a broad definition; so for this article as it relates to game design, let’s tackle accessibility as a means of making a game available and playable to the widest possible audience. Preventing this kind of accessibility makes games the “wrong” kind of difficult.

Often designers think this means making something color blind friendly or translating a rule book into other languages. But accessibility means more than just that. Accessibility also means making games that players can play who have slower motor functions from being older.  Or emphasize another sense than just relying on vision.

Really, accessibility boils down to making sure that agency remains in the hands of the person most important to game design: the player. Making sure that the player can access and engage with a game on all levels regardless of their background makes them as accessible as possible. When they are not accessible; players often have to rely on other players to act or make decisions for them. That reduces their agency – and their decision making capabilities.

The widest possible audience

Accessibility means making games available for the widest possible audience. Of course this affects some types of games more than others. Video games that require sensitive motor input (think of a game like Overwatch) is probably not that accessible to someone with poor motor controls. Conversely; board games can address this through house rules or other player made changes to the game. But often these may not reflect the direction of the designer and can detract from the experience.

To truly make a game available for others, a designer has to think as the player. They must avoid approaching design decisions with specific pre-conceived notions of who their players will be. Instead, they have to concentrate on who their players are and design with their needs in mind.

Of course a game’s player base can be really diverse. As consequence, that means that accessibility design options can be as equally diverse.

Diversity and accessibility

Sometimes designers get hung up on accessibility meaning diversity and vice versa. While they reflect one another they are often a function from one to the other. Meaning that accessible games have the power to draw more diverse audiences. Likewise, diverse audiences are drawn to more accessible games.

That means that diverse audiences could also include those with different play styles. This is particularly prevalent in current board game designs where modes are created for players in mind. They could include a typical competitive “orthogame” mode where players compete against each other; a cooperative mode where players team up against the game; or even a solo mode.

Likewise table top games can include functions or features that make the game harder or easier according to players’ desires. Doing so ensure that the game remains fun – but accessible – for novice and experience players alike. Hanabi does this well with the introduction of the ”rainbow” cards in the deck. These make the game more challenging  – but also more satisfying to play for more experienced players.

Hanabi is available on Amazon

Accessibility from the start

Accessibility is also often something that is tacked on at the very end of the core game design and development process. But it doesn’t have to be? A designer who is accessibility minded will always look at a game and a design form the player’s perspective. They are always asking themselves how players with these abilities or these backgrounds can access and play the game.

Starting with accessibility in mind from the start makes accessibility a core function – and a feature – of a game. Rather than just a last minute design consideration.

That means that when designers start with accessibility in mind from the beginning they can integrate it into other areas of the design process. This could include art development; art direction; core loop development; and even how playtesting is conducted.

Types of accessibility changes

With accessibility consideration comes accessibility changes that can be implemented and adapted for the game. These range from the very basic; to intermediate changes; to more advanced changes.

Basic changes are easy to implement and are wide reaching. They apply to almost all game mechanics.  These can often be implemented at the end of the design process. This is compared to intermediate changes which require some planning and effort to be considered. More often than not these principles of good game design. When designers center on these, they can make accessibility a core feature of their game.

Advanced changes are implemented for players that may have profound impairments or may require specific niche mechanics. These advanced changes could require designers to make larges and more significant changes to the entire design process.

Motor movement

We often don’t think about motor movement when thinking about table top games. But often, motor movement – specifically as we pick and manipulate pieces of a table top game – are fundamental aspects of why we play. That means that motor movement encompasses how users will interact and engage with the physical elements of the game.

This is also relevant rearranging board elements to be accessible and readable for players. Perhaps one of the most common concerns in table top design is the creation of the common board with text that can only be read for one angle. Compare this to more accessible table top games like Dead Man’s Cabal which has modular common board elements that can be re-arranged and moved around at will. 

Tactility also comes into play when addressing players’ motor movements.  You can see this with the modern chess set where each pieces feels unique to the touch. This makes easier to distinguish between a bishop and a knight.

These tactile sensations become even more important for vision impaired players. Particularly when dealing with paper money in games. While the number of modern board games that use paper money is now becoming fewer and far between; tactility could still remain a challenge. That can be addressed by using card board chits of different sizes that indicate different denominations.

The layout of cards also affects motor movement for those that may not be able to grasp or fan out a hand of cards. This is particularly relevant for card games that have important information on all different areas of a card. That means that a motor impaired player who cannot easily shuffle or manipulate cards makes the game harder and less accessible for these players.

Well designed cards on the other hand have all pertinent info near opposite corners of the card. This makes it easier for cards to be fanned and the content more accessible for players. Think about a standard deck of playing cards and where card information lies there.

Cognitive: thinking & perceiving

Cognition is another accessibility aspect that often gets overlooked but is incredibly important. Cognition is about how your players think and perceive your game through the functions that you’ve laid out for it. In table top games we are usually introduced to it via the printed rulebook – but this could be challenging to read for those who are dyslexic.

That means that both a game manual and a quick start guide could help make your game more accessible for players.  Quick start guides are becoming more present for games that often have many moving parts. Root is a good example of a game with both a rules manual for reference as a well as a guide for play. Both address issues that players with ADD or ADHD may have consuming large amounts of text.

Root is available on Amazon

Of course game rules and how to play videos are now becoming more prevalent. These address some of these challenges. Though for both video and printed media, it’s important to use simple and clear language to remain accessible. For manuals it is best to use simple and clear formatting for references and rules explanation to aid readability.  

To further aid readability, it’s also important to make sure that text is provided on a high contrast background – rather than on top of other illustrations where it might not be easily read. It’s also best to highlight important key words, phrases, or glossary items in your game that are referred to often.

It also helps for players to determine which elements of the game are interactive or variable based on different game conditions.  One of the games in my collection The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire does this well in indicating what spaces are available for players to place pieces given different player counts. This isn’t the only game that includes this but these types of indexes in design help to make the game more accessible.

The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire is available on Amazon

Other additional touches that help smooth the player experience is to ensure that player aids are inclusive of different components in a game. This is especially helpful for games that have asymmetric player starting abilities. A cheat sheet that summarizes others’ abilities is incredibly useful. You can even go one step further and use necessary game components like player screens in Roll for the Galaxy and Keyflower to double as these player aids.

Roll for the Galaxy is available on Amazon

Keyflower is available on Amazon

Vision and sight

Vision is perhaps one of the most talked about accessibility items by table top designers. Though, it’s important to note that vision isn’t totally binary. Someone could have poor or limited eye sight which limits their interaction. This could come from players with cataracts, glaucoma, or other issues affecting their sight.

Of course visually based games won’t be totally 100% compatible to the visually impaired. Though this limitation could be played with. Games like Nyctophobia play with this aspect of sight and how players engage with the game.

Nyctophobia is available on Amazon

Though for most games with visual elements it often is the best case to provide all relevant and critical information on cards and components in as large as font as possible.  This can often be combined with specific symbols that differentiate player elements that are not just based on color.

While sighted players don’t often think about color accessibility; it’s often best practice to concentrate on how other color blind players may see the game. Relying on color alone might be easier in the meantime. But making sure that there are considerations made for how players will visually perceive the game are necessary measures to take.

Hearing and speech

Hearing is one way that information is communicated to players. Mostly this makes sense in video and digital games. But has applications in table top gaming as well. Consider high player interaction games such as Cosmic Encounter and Empires where table talk, negotiation, and communication are important. How are considerations made for players who have hearing and speech difficulties. Is there another way for them to interact?

Cosmic Encounter is available on Amazon

In addition, hearing and speech can influence design choices the same way that Nyctophobia does with vision and sight. Perhaps game designs can take into account certain players must communicate via speech and others via writing to pass along information. These changes provides accessibility consideration for players as well as a wider choice on difficulty levels.

Empires is available on Amazon

Economic accessibility

Economic accessibility is one of those considerations that may not often be included in concerns. After all, some games don’t even have a large enough margin to make their publishers or designers much money. But there is a concern with over producing games with miniatures, metal coins, and neoprene mats that may address these economically accessible concerns.

For many, board gaming is a luxury hobby. Players treat their games as such. But when addressing economic accessibility; designers and publishers must also think about price as a discriminating factor. How does the pricing of their game and the production of their components affect the player experience and influence accessibility to a wider audience?

Continual improvement

Designing accessibility within games is a continuous and ever evolving dialogue. It’s something that doesn’t need to be addressed with just the designer; but can be brought up with players, publishers, graphic artists, and manufacturers as well.

Perhaps one of the most critical places to address player accessibility is with play testers. Here is where these main concerns can be brought up with actual consumers of the medium. It’s here where the designer and the player can have the most open dialogue in order to answer the most important accessibility question:  how can I play this game?

Takeaways

This article addressed how accessibility affects the player experience. We dove deeply into why accessibility challenges make some games the “wrong” kind of difficult for players. This article addressed accessibility as design considerations for the widest and most diverse audience. The article covered designing with accessibility in mind from the start as well as different types of accessibility changes made in game design. Those changes include accessibility addressing motor movement; cognition; vision; hearing; and economics. The article closed on how designers can use accessibility to continually improve their practice and design.

This article was about accesibility in games.  To learn more about gamification, check out the free course on Gamification Explained.

If you have enjoyed this article – consider getting yourself lifetime access to Dave’s Games-Based Learning Digital Library containing all of the content from the past two Games-Based Learning Virtual Conferences; past webinars and courses he’s created; as well as his complete back catalogue of articles; podcast episodes; and videos. And more content is being added all the time.

Readers of Ludogogy can get a $50 discount on this valuable resource by using this link.

The post Accessibility in Games first appeared on Ludogogy.

And that’s why I like to try and come at it from a gameful perspective. The primary reason being that games can make scenarios less scary and allow us to be more curious and creative instead of overwhelmed. The secondary reason being that games can externalise our thought processes which makes the job at hand feel much more manageable. Thirdly it helps us to see things differently, something we often need to do with writing a CV and getting out of our own head!

I’m going to take you through a case study about how we used Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) to rewrite a CV in a coaching space.

Rob* was in a job that he hated. He worked in the IT department and after 8 years there, people still didn’t get his name right. He felt undervalued, dejected and frustrated that he wasn’t being seen. It was a tough environment and his outlook wasn’t overly positive about the ‘what next’. As a result, the idea of updating his CV felt demoralising and uninspiring; he didn’t resonate with having any achievements in his role and he couldn’t see how his work would be relevant to getting out of his company and to what he really wanted to do – journalism.

Rob hadn’t shared a lot of what was happening for him at work to his friends and family as he was embarrassed about how he was being treated. It also really affected his mood which meant that thinking about it caused him to shut down. However, he wanted to make a change and decided to try out coaching, a safe space where he could share and explore how to improve his work life. One day, off the back of a coaching session with me, we identified that Dungeons and Dragons was a favorite game of his, primarily for the character creation, story arc and quests. A somewhat random fact but one that suddenly triggered in motion a connection between games and identity and ultimately, writing his CV.

For those that don’t know, a character sheet in D&D is something every player creates in order to play the game. This character sheet is essentially a CV for the adventurer world – it informs you (and reminds you!) of what inspires your character, what has affected them in the past, what their strengths are and what they believe in. It brings to life all the things your character cares about and as a result, you understand them which in turn informs the way you respond and react in the game when it comes to decision making.

And so, when we started to apply a new language to Rob’s CVs and saw it with a lens of third person creativity, a whole new world opened up. We started to layer the terminology and the awareness of Rob’s experiences to his CV. In short, we created a character sheet.

This was powerful for a few reasons:

1. We named his character. This allowed him to step outside of himself.
2. The character was something he could draw and therefore visualise. They held artifacts and wore amour that represented his values and his strengths. He started to feel a connection to them which meant he was kinder to himself.
3. It gave space to acknowledge what he already had to take his next steps.
4. It clarified what his quest was and therefore what skills he either needed to add to his repertoire or where he needed to put his focus.
5. When things had creative names and title, it made it feel much more fun which meant that he felt much more compelled to take action
6. He could redefine his identity – he was no longer what people at work made him feel – he designed himself in his own world where he could start to understand himself and make positive change.

Once we started mapping out the character sheet, it opened a floodgate of realisations. From here, the resistance to writing and updating his CV was reduced – he had a whole host of notes about who he was and what he wanted and he felt confident about translating them into CV speak. Through games, we had found a new way for him to identify with himself. And not only that, he had fun doing that!

Whilst a D&D character sheet can sound very specific, the concept of externalising your experience is a common coaching concept. Take a look at this character sheet template and see what identity comes out for you!

*Not their real name

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Memory Lane is a deck made up of ‘Experience’ and ‘Timeline’ cards. Experiences are a number of different everday occurences or activities which all players will be familiar with, such as ‘Listening to Music’ or ‘Finding a Job’. The Timeline cards encourage conversations about how those experiences have changed over the lifetime of the players/learners. For example, they ask about your earliest personal encounter with the experience, or how you think it might look in the future.

Memory Lane is a great tool for facilitators to explore people’s readiness to accept change, and to make a start on helping an organisation to create a tailored approach to any particular change initiative,with consideration of their people’s attitudes and needs.

To coincide with each Show and Tell episode, Darren will be making the featured deck FREE for 30 days. So don’t forget to keep coming back to see what the featured deck of the month can do for you.

Free to use as often as you wish for 30 days from the date this Show ‘n’ Tell drops (until 24th November) (access via the ipsodeckso.com free membership option).

Ipsodeckso is a platform which is going to be of considerable interest to facilitators and coaches. It contains a number of great decks already, but also includes the capability for you to upload and use your own cards, for use on the same platform.

Show & Tell videos will all accumulate at the Show & Tell Page as they are published. You can also check out one of Darren’s games, ‘The Walking Dead’ which featured in a Ludogogy live play session.

If you would like to appear in a Show & Tell episode, get in touch at info@ludogogy.co.uk

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[ Download “Design Thinking - One Card Game” DesignThinking.zip – Downloaded 1057 times – 102.55 KB

You can download Design Thinking for free, but making a small donation via Kofi will help to support Ludogogy, and make it possible for us to develop more games for download.

Design Thinking is a game about taking, and responding to a brief from a clent, which only requires the single card – and a few commonly found resources for your ‘design team’ – pens, yarn or string, beads and counters. Play it with your learners to sharpen their active listening skills, and as an introduction to an important aspect of Design Thinking.

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You can download Meander for free, but making a small donation via Kofi will help to support Ludogogy, and make it possible for us to develop more games for download.

Meander is a game about Mindful Walking, which only requires the single card – and your imagination and willingness to play. You can play it in two modes. Question mode invites you to use the card and your walk to answer a question of significance for you, whereas Meander mode simply invites you to enjoy the experience of having your attention pulled from one thing to another as you walk.

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“I am happy to play with friends”

“I am happy to play with friends.”  This is what a student who didn’t reach out to other friends told me. Someone might think ‘Playing with friends is normal, so why does he/she say “happy”?’. Someone might find it to be very easy to do this, but others might not. A board game is the right tool to fill this gap.

Why board games?

First, the board game is a live education tool. One round of board game play takes between ten minutes and two or three hours. There is a flow during gameplay. In the board game ‘Tiletum’, a player becomes a merchant, contracts to trade in wool and iron, and invests in the establishment of a marketplace and construction of a large-scale cathedral. In the Korean board game ‘Wawagol Excavation Team’ which is about making your own dinosaur by assembling excavated bones, a player becomes a good fossil excavator, perfectly assembles dinosaur bones, and tries to display these. So, one round of these board games is enough to gain an immersive experience of a small sub-section of society within a short time.

Second, board games help players to practice life skills. In the board game ‘Gem Traders’, they practice the skills of bidding at auction and negotiation, when trading gems and money. In the Korean board game ‘Cubo Saurus’, players have to consider the best choices for their card decks, from a large number of alternatives. This makes players adopt strategic approaches. Socialisation occurs naturally when players have to interact when playing together, as they gradually gain knowledge and direct and indirect experience of other players’ thoughts and actions.

Lastly, the board game is a mirror of the player themselves. During board game play, a hidden ‘persona’ can come out. For example, one player may be obsessed with winning, another may benefit from the experience of being in “someone else’s shoes”. In educational settings, this can be utilised by using the ‘recording method’, where scenes of participants’ playing are recorded without editing. All players can be observed, and the player reflects on himself or herself. This can aid personal development. So, board games can contribute to the internal growth of players.

The Power of Boardgames

Some people just play board games so that they can have a fun time. But a board game has a strong hidden power. Board games strengthen communication skills. During play, communication is a necessary factor. In the process of hiding or revealing the player’s thoughts and intentions, various communication skills are learned, such as summarising opinions, effectively delivering clearly and briefly, and recognizing other players’ intentions.

In addition, comprehensive thinking skills can be enhanced. One of the core competencies in the future of education is comprehensive thinking skills. People face momentous choices in life. However, if they only judge and decide using one or two factors, it will be regrettable. The more factors that are considered, the better chance they have to make the best choice.

During board game play, we analyze various factors which affect our choices. Based on this, we can practice comprehensive thinking and decision making. Through this process, the decisive capacity for life can be increased.

Third, people can experience cooperation and competition. The board game ‘Hanabi’ is a cooperative game to attain a common goal, while ‘Splendor’ is a competitive game to attain an individual goal. There is no definite ‘better option’ between cooperation and competition. We can experience both the joy of cooperation and growth through competition when we play. In this way, beautiful growth based on the success and failure of cooperation and competition can be attained.

Takeaways

There are many discussions about future talent development and education in terms of the 4^th industrial revolution. Also, there is much emphasis on required competencies such as creativity, autonomy, and responsibility for the future of society. Playing various types of board game can contribute to increasing the relevant competencies for the future. At school, a board game which is attractive like this can be approached and tried in various ways. Let’s play today!

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