Playing and Fixing Broken Games: A Design-Oriented Activity for Engaging in Designerly Ways of Thinking

• In Event: Play, Maker Space, and Designerly Ways of Knowing

Abstract

Game design activities are popular for helping students think and engage with problems as designers. Designing games, however, makes demands on cognitive and institutional resources that render the task more formidable than anticipated. This paper explores one potential response to the challenges of game design by focusing instead on a play and fixing activity that leverages broken games. We ask: how might playing and fixing broken games position students to think in designerly ways? Our results suggest that participants demonstrated quick and sustained engagement with thinking as designers, drew from multiple designerly modes non-linearly, and focused on problem identification. These results lead us to believe broken games hold potential for helping learners think in designerly ways.

Authors

• Luis Enrique Perez Cortes, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Arizona State University

• Yuchan (Blanche) Gao, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Taylor M Kessner, Arizona State University

• Elisabeth R. Gee, Arizona State University