[games_access] UN CRPD - what are games?

[Barrie Ellis]

I've not thought tons on it, but I like "Games" for those where the aim is mainly for entertainment and "Educational Games" where the intent is primarily to provide a learning environment above fun. Serious is a bit meaningless to me, and Casual is a bit meaningless for someone like Billy Mitchell who dedicated huge swathes of his life to games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. "Accessible Games" are those that you can play as an individual. They're my feelings at the minute.

Barrie


From: Thomas Westin 
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 9:13 AM
To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List 
Subject: Re: [games_access] UN CRPD - what are games?


The term "serious games" is bad and I prefer not to use it at all  The same issue is with "casual games" etc. Any game can be used seriously, casually, hard core etc. But the term "serious" is problematic in itself; any game can be considered serious, and any type of playing a game can also be used for non-entertainment purposes (the latter which was intended by Ben Sawyer et al when they coined the term). 


So, how to say it in a better way? I prefer replace "games" with "gaming". I.e. serious gaming or casual gaming. Then the focus is on the use of the games, not the design of the games. E.g. in two projects I've been involved in at a school between 2003-2012, we have been using e.g. WoW and now SWToR for pedagogical purposes, without modifying the games (which you can't with MMORPGs anyway).


Of course you could also say "use of games in non-entertainment contexts", to have a more academic description, but in daily talk, it is just too awkward. 


Mvh / Best regards
Thomas Westin
Stockholm University :: dsv.su.se :: +46 73-707 86 86



On 8Mar 2012, at 6:31 PM, Sandra Uhling wrote:


  Games
  * Hobby and Culture
  * Service (online games)

  Serious Games
  * Education (schools, work) and Information
  * Using Game Technology for serious products




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