The Game of Life

The path game I chose to explore this week is The Game of Life. I played the game with my partner Melissa. The goal of the game is to navigate the game board (your life) through college (if you so choose), your career, marriage, birth of children, home ownership, and many other aspects of life, such as sending your kids to summer school for $5,000 (sigh), dealing with home floods, and adopting puppies, etc. The game took about 30 minutes to play, setup was quick and the rules were straightforward. Some decisions had to be made (such as whether to go to college) but largely the game was random, relying mainly on the spinner in the middle of the board (not dice) to advance your token (car) along the board.

Below, I have created an autobiography of sorts about the life I lived in...The Game of Life.

The Life and Times of Ryan J. Tucci

A Story of Success, Love, Loss, and Sailboat Purchasing

I started my journey in life by deciding to go to college. Both my parents and my high school guidance counselor encouraged me to pursue post secondary education. Although I admit it was partly due to pressure from my parents and a growing societal trend to get a degree, I made my choice, packed my lime green station wagon, and set off on my college career.

I made it through college very quickly with only a single speeding ticket on my record. I made my parents proud by becoming a doctor!

After my college graduation, I started a very successful practice and met my wife Meredith. We were married and soon began our exciting life together. We purchased a ranch-style home outside of town. Both Meredith and I loved the idea of raising our family in the clean country air.

My first child was born - a daughter named Jessica! Things seemed to be going really well for me; I learned sign language and even managed to find time to run for Congress! However, my home flooded and I was sued for malpractice (allegedly!) by another player. Luckily, I had a great lawyer and avoided conviction (I had a card that protected me from litigation).

After that, things seemed to go really well for me. I purchased beautiful art, invested in a long term investment (every time a player spun the number 6, I made $5,000) and purchased a new SUV.

I sent my daughter Jessica to Summer School for $5,000. I struggled coming to terms with this as the sciences came so naturally to me. My second child, Justin, was born shortly after.

I purchased a sailboat and visited an old soldier's home. It was at this time my first child Jessica made me a Grandfather (whoa, there seems to be a huge missing piece of my life between Justin’s birth and becoming a grandfather!).

I retired with $1,335,000 at Country Side Acres… a very successful life/career if you ask me.

See family photo below.

Assessment criteria

Completed assessment tool for The Game of Life here.

Blank assessment tool for path games here.

Typically, path games make use of dice or a spinner to navigate the player through the game board. I constructed this week’s assessment tool to look like path game. The player scores each criteria I have chosen to include from 1-6 (this is done visually using a dice). The player then advances the play token forward based on the score given on the game board below. The closer the token gets to the end of the game board, the better overall rating the game scored.

According to Jane McGonigal in Reality is Broken chapter 2, the second fix for reality is emotional activation: “compared with games, reality is depressing. Games focus our energy, with relentless optimism, on something we’re good at and enjoy” (p. 38). When playing The Game of Life, this statement takes on quite an ironic meaning. While we may consider our real lives depressing, this game might make your life more exciting. In The Game of Life, I was a doctor, had two children, a sailboat, a new SUV, made over $100,000/year and was sued by a fellow player! Much more exciting than my real life! For that reason, I included How exciting was this game to play? to my assessment criteria. Overall, I thought The Game of Life provided a decent amount of excitement throughout the gameplay experience.

Similarly, in chapter 3 of her book, McGonigal argues that games offer people clearer missions and more satisfying, hands-on work (p. 55), which translates into more satisfying work. McGonigal states that more satisfying work includes two criteria: first, a clear goal, and second, actionable next steps toward achieving that goal (p.55). I have decided to incorporate this into my assessment of my path game because I think that good games provide a number of goals to complete throughout the game, while the player is on their way to the final goal. How satisfying was it to play this game? Although very simple, The Game of Life challenges players to manage their money, in both collection and loss (random life events). The Game of Life also forces players to periodically make decisions that will affect their “life” such as: whether they go to college, what house to purchase, etc. Playing The Game of Life made me think of avatar or character creation in games like World of Warcraft or Dungeons & Dragons. According to Trepte & Reinecke (2010), “the player’s identification with the avatar seems to be crucial for experiencing entertainment, but is not necessarily tied to similarity” (p. 180). I thought that this was an interesting statement and the growth of the player's “character” in The Game of Life makes me think success in the game would be directly connected to the player’s enjoyment and satisfaction playing the game. I was a successful doctor in The Game of Life, making lots of money and purchasing new SUVs and sailboats which made me really enjoy the game. After reading the Trepte & Reinecke article I began wondering how my satisfaction of the game was influenced by my identification with the character I was playing, even if it wasn’t necessarily tied to similarities. For that reason, I wanted to include this aspect in my assessment criteria.

I always like to include rules as one of the criteria when I assess the games that I play since I would suggest that rules are one of the most fundamental aspect of games. According to Kapp (2012), rules set out the number of players, how to score points, and outline what is allowed. Several authors cite rules as a core feature of games, including Kapp (2012), Michael & Chen (2005), and McGonigal (2011). For this reason, including rules as an area of assessment was important. I want to ensure game rules are written in a way that does not leave the player guessing or interpreting rules.

I have included aesthetics as one of my assessment criteria in the exploration of this week’s path game. According to Kapp (2012), visual elements are present in all games and are an important element. Without effective visual cues, the game runs a serious risk of reducing the overall experience of the player. Similarly, Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek (2004) argue that the definition of aesthetics should not be limited to just to visual cues, but should also include: sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, social, discovery, expression and time investment (p. 2). The Game of Life used excellent visual elements throughout the game. The cards are well illustrated, the board includes 3D buildings that pop up off the board, there are hills that add additional visual elements, but one of the most aesthetically pleasing features, and one that really immerses the player in the game, is the token that you advance around the board. The game token is a car that you can add family members too as you get married and have children. It’s a great feature. The game also incorporates a mix of sensations (pleasure), fantasy (at least when I play I love to roleplay my character jokingly), and narrative (story) as Hunicke, LeBlanc, Zubek describe.

I also wanted to include the assessment of the game’s level of difficulty, or challenge. According to McGonigal (2011), creating a perfect balance between a hard challenge and achievability is the key to effectively providing the user with the feedback to know their skills within a game are progressing and that they are getting better (p. 24). The Game of Life is not very challenging, since most of the decisions being made are completely random and up to chance, by spinning the wheel (to advance your token). I would argue that most traditional path games have this issue, especially games like The Game of Life, Candyland, and Snakes & Ladders.

In the end, my game assessment includes the following criteria:

• How exciting was this game to play?
• How satisfying was the game to play?
• How clearly written were the rules?
• How aesthetically pleasing is the game?
• How challenging is the game?

Identify IS Content

I thought The Game of Life had interesting game mechanics that could be used for IS content. I thought it might be interesting to change the player token (car) into a student with a book bag. As the student progresses through the path (the game board) they can collect library material. In The Game of Life, players get married and have children adding the family members to the car as they move along the board. Instead, when exploring IS content, players could add books to their bag as they moved through the board. At the end of the path, players are awarded points for getting a variety of sources, fiction, non-fiction, biographies, maps, movies, audio books, etc.

References

Hunicke, R., LeBlanc, M., & Zubek, R. (2004). MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research. In Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Challenges in Game AI 4(1). Retrieved from http://www.aaai.org/Papers/Workshops/2004/WS-04-04/WS04-04-001.pdf

Kapp, K.M. (2012). The Gamification of learning and instruction: game-based method and strategies for training and education. Retrieved from http://discover.sjlibrary.org/iii/encore_sjsu/record/C__Rb5018864

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world. NY: Penguin Press.

Michael, D. R., and Chen, S.L. (2005). Serious games: Games that educate, train, and inform. Boston: Course Technology.

Trepte, S., & Reinecke, L. (2010). Avatar creation and video game enjoyment: Effects of life-satisfaction, game competitiveness, and identification with the avatar. Journal of Media Psychology, 22(4), 171-184. doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000022