Research in Context Report - Intro

Introduction

Since starting the Game Design Masters course, I have always stated that I wish to do more than just make a game, by this I mean to make a game that does more than just entertain, to provide some benefit to society through some transformative means. This has led into researching contemporary game formats that lend themselves to therapy or some other socially beneficial construct.

Understanding this research pathway has informed me on the types of individuals to speak to during the ‘Personal Research Studies’ section of his report. Firstly I have conducted a semi-structured interview with Dr Dean Marshall a lecturer in Psychology with the aim to ask questions on how this understanding can lead into a more successful development of a traditional tabletop role playing game like dungeons and dragons which he also runs separately from his teaching by understanding how the level of information given to players can change the outcomes of their decision making processes. The second individual is Emily Short, creative director of FailBetter games and author of ‘NPC conversation systems’ with an extensive blog on her journey to create immersive conversations in narrative games. Discussing how important conversations are in providing the players with the correct level of information to make informed decisions.

Alongside this I have attended a series of lectures and the Yorkshire Games Festival for the ‘Practitioner Lecture Series’ section of the report choosing to evaluate the talks by Gary Bratchford who used photography to produce pro-social events and groups to counteract negative thoughts and conventions within a set destination as well as Jim Thompson who discussed including playfulness in all creative ventures and evaluating how playfulness could be added to therapy with the purpose of increasing engagement from a younger audience to avoid reactance theory.