Reading 06 For Research Topic ‘A pre-digital history of Games and Narrative’
Week 6 Reflection:
Despite this being yet
another difficult undertaking, I was happy that I was able to identify the
common themes; although there were additional ones that I could have included,
I decided that it was more important to focus on those that occurred the most
frequently. It was challenging for me to describe the concepts on a single
page. It is difficult for me to choose which details to highlight while
providing a summary. It is possible that I may have missed some of
the important details. Since I am also behind on this section, I can only
hope that the paragraphs I have completed include all of the important
information.
It is nice to
see the work coming together. I am still behind on some other tasks, but I am
hoping to catch up and be better with my time management in the next while.
Breaking down the different parts of the assignments is the hardest part for me;
however, I am quite pleased with how I have managed to put this assignment into smaller doable parts. If I concentrate on one item at a time it is better
than trying to do all the tasks and getting none done on time. This is an important
lesson for me.
THEMES
In researching the ten academic
articles on the resurrection of board games, card games, and tabletop
role-playing games (TTRPG) a number of themes emerged, Community, Computational
Thinking, Education, Problem Solving and Digitisation.
Community:
The theme of Community was
evident in the annotations. In many of the articles, the importance of community
was referred to. While board games and particularly tabletop role-playing
games have always been popular, they had declined in the years before 2010.
Then a resurgence saw a rise in spending. However, contrary to what might have
been expected, the internet actually helped make them more popular instead of
pushing people into videogames. Researchers such as Bayeck, (2020), Wu, (2014),
and Rogerson (2015) believe this is because of the sense of community that RPGs
causes. Boardgamegeek is an online forum and community that is purely for board
game and card game content and encourages people ‘to socialize and engage with
one another’ (Bayeck, 2020). The site is updated on a real-time basis and has
over two million registered users (BGG, 2022).
Another positive of the internet is a rise in people watching others
play board games through forums like You tube. It was also evident in the
articles that the sense of community is not just seen at home where they can
bring families together. This is an important theme the articles support colleges
and schools using boardgames to help students build a sense of community and
collaboration and a sense of belonging.
Figure 16 The relationship between computer science (CS),
computational thinking (CT), programming and computing (Digital Promise, 2022).
Computational Thinking
The theme of Computational
Thinking was evident in the annotations. Yoo et al. (2019) conducted a study that
showed that boardgames ‘can facilitate an increase in computational thinking’. Using
board games to assist in the development of Computational For learning and
working in the twenty-first century, the researchers in the articles reviewed
that computational thinking is a necessary skill set. Computational Thinking
involves problem-solving and logical thinking and can create opportunities for
collaboration. This important theme has led researchers to believe these games
should be incorporated into schools to increase logical skills in a fun and educational setting.
Education
The theme of Education is evident in the annotations Just like computational thinking, the role of boardgames is
promoted by researchers in an educational setting. Studies show that these
games can help students work together to increase maths skills, logical
thinking without them even knowing as Thompson (2015) argues ‘you can’t call a
game educational if you want anyone to think it’s fun’. Researcher such as Cornillie et al. (2012), also highlights that these games
might help students who are trying to learn a new language. The instructions
of these games involve a lot of reading and require a high level of
understanding and is a way to get students to learn in a fun way, in an educational
setting.
Problem Solving
A common theme among many of the
articles was the fact that problem-solving skills are improved when people
participate in boardgames. Problems are solved through imagination and critical
thinking skills. Dungeons and Dragons are singled out by Sidhu and Carter (2021)
who note that ‘D&D players are also honing their critical and creative
problem-solving abilities'. TTRPGs create an opportunity for people to work
together or alone to adapt to storylines and character creation. The
researchers argue that these are life skills where people have to adapt in real
life and solve problems. Problem-solving skills are required in most work
setting, but they are also a life-skill, this research shows that the theme is
important and gaming might be a good way to increase these skills.
Digitalisation
The theme of digitalisation was almost
constant throughout the texts. The old games are being updated in digital form,
they are being designed to be interactive and in some cases, they are being
streamed on a variety of platforms (Bayeck, 2020).
Another prevalent subject was the increasing popularity of role-playing
games and technology, with some researchers attempting to incorporate
artificial intelligence into video games (Buruk et al, 2017). A collaborative
effort between computer designers and publishers, players, and digital game
creators is underway to consider how a physical boardgame may be transformed
into an interactive computer game. It is possible that digitization will
benefit the player community by allowing more advanced players to be supported
and/or by making the game more accessible to new audiences. This prominent theme
looks set to remain as designers use technology to bring the old up-to-date.
References:
Digital Promise. (2022). What
is Computational Thinking? [Online]. Available from: https://digitalpromise.org/initiative/computational-thinking/computational-thinking-for-next-generation-science/what-is-computational-thinking/
[Accessed: 13 April 2022]
Ungureanu, C. (2019). Man Sitting under Tree [Image]. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/themeisle/46350096835/in/photolist-2dBNmYB-NyzvGH-2mJNWkf-2moAqqF-2cTXj2W-2jDoYsi-Bzg1FG-2mWhQ8B-HiCifd-kVRfU5-27V2Kqv-HGpAs3-2jKyKhP-yk7qJ2-2fv85Aw-RR1Joj-cWRTP-NQzmnm-2j5bSph-2kRwHJR-2na38a2-2kYhgqf-DJfXaz-FXTPuD-4u8T8j-2mViZAr-QGVFRB-2kVsrbu-4u8Szw-2kGoP7D-2juJAA1-5G48cA-7GRvP7-FQktTG-2irsSGc-KjZ2JC-2hRDWW1-2mc9JMP-4KG4pL-2mAcu5p-QZbvp1-2kEZpVy-6L8B3S-2k4gJYn-2nfV3Mu-2mXewnN-2mgsiGb-2eAxsvH-2ne7AhS-Y2NjXU [Accessed: 16 May 2022]
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