Playing Games?

Defintion: Game

A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports/games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an artistic layout such as Mahjong solitaire).
Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational or psychological role.

What is Play ?

Definition:

One of the ways children learn about themselves, the people around them, their environment and their community.
it's an essential part of every child’s life and important to their development.
through play, children learn to explore the world around them, develop and practice skills they will use throughout their lives.

Play is defined as behaviour that is freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated.

Clarification:

Freely chosen
means that or as free as is practicable given the constraints of the safety of the child.

Personally directed
is a process of trial and error; short cutting this process e.g. telling a child the ‘right way’ to hold a paint brush will deny children many of these first hand experiences. Wherever possible, the child should be in control of how they play.

Intrinsically motivated
Play is not performed for an external goal or reward. Play Workers should avoid contaminating the play process with their own agenda.

Play is essential for:
physical, emotional and spiritual growth
intellectual and educational development
social and behavioural skills.

A child’s capacity for positive development will be inhibited if denied access to a range of stimulating play opportunities.

Play often, though not always, implies a sense of fun for the child.

So what are the relationships and differences between the concepts of games and play?

Differences

Games

Structured activity
Has rules
Considered work/art?
Not in control of the process (set way)
Has a goal/reward

Play

Unstructured
Rules/no rules
Freedom
Process of trial and error (no set way)
No goal/reward

Similarities/Relationships/links

Undertaken for enjoyment
Educational
Fun
Immersive
Engaging
Challenging
Interactive
Mental/physical stimulation
Develop practical skills
Form of exercise
Awareness of self and others

So what is adaptive play?

It is extremely difficult to find a definition of adaptive play. Probably the best thing to do is to define each word or at least chose definitions that encompass what I believe to be the most significant.

Adaptive
· having a capacity for adaptation; "the adaptive coloring of a chameleon" wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
· Adaptive behavior is a type of behavior that is used to adjust to another type of behavior or situation. This is often characterized by a kind of behavior that allows an individual to substitute an unconstructive or disruptive behavior to something more constructive. ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive
· Of, pertaining to, characterized by or showing adaptation; making or made fit or suitable; Capable of being adapted or of adapting; susceptible of or undergoing accordant change; Of a trait: that helps an individual to function well in societyen.wiktionary.org/wiki/adaptive
· Adaptivity - The term “adaptivity” characterizes a computer system that adapts itself to changes in user-related or environmental characteristics. Such automatically performed adaptations base on the evaluation of the user behaviour and assumed user needs, or taking explicit user input into account. ...

Play

· participate in games or sport; "We played hockey all afternoon"; "play cards"; "Pele played for the Brazilian teams in many important matches"
· play on an instrument; "The band played all night long"
· act: play a role or part; "Gielgud played Hamlet"; "She wants to act Lady Macbeth, but she is too young for the role"; "She played the servant to her husband's master"
· be at play; be engaged in playful activity; amuse oneself in a way characteristic of children; "The kids were playing outside all day"; "I used to play with trucks as a little girl"
· perform music on (a musical instrument); "He plays the flute"; "Can you play on this old recorder?"
· act: pretend to have certain qualities or state of mind; "He acted the idiot"; "She plays deaf when the news are bad"
· bet or wager (money); "He played £20 on the new horse"; "She plays the races"
· engage in recreational activities rather than work; occupy oneself in a diversion; "On weekends I play"; "The students all recreate alike"
· pretend to be somebody in the framework of a game or playful activity; "Let's play like I am mommy"; "Play cowboy and Indians"
· emit recorded sound; "The tape was playing for hours"; "the stereo was playing Beethoven when I entered"
· perform on a certain location; "The prodigy played Carnegie Hall at the age of 16"; "She has been playing on Broadway for years"
· put (a card or piece) into play during a game, or act strategically as if in a card game; "He is playing his cards close to his chest"; "The Democrats still have some cards to play before they will concede the electoral victory"

‘Play is freely chosen; personally directed, intrinsically motivatedbehaviour that actively engages the child…Play can be fun or serious.Through play children explore social, material and imaginary worlds andtheir relationship with them, elaborating all the while a flexible range ofresponses to the challenges they encounter.’
Best Play - Children’s Play Council, NPFA, and PLAYLINK

So adaptive play could be defined as the adjustment of behaviour to complete tasks. Obviously, careful development of these tasks can help maintain engagement in a fun and immersive manner, something that has not been missed by the computer games industry or by educational establishments.

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, play with me and I understand.."~adapted from a Chinese proverb

Adaptive play

Adaptive play
[Module Descriptor]
This module provides experimental framework for the design and prototyping of collaborative environments using principles of game-play; structured interactions and/or mediated behaviour. A flexible approach is used to facilitate innovative development for collaborative play using novel interfaces and/or installation environments. Aspects of interaction design and physical computing are explored to inform individual or group projects. The module is informed by current research in related fields and has a technical underpinning.

[Aims]

To establish design strategies for adaptive play
To investigate theoretical frameworks to inform design and development processes
To enable innovative approaches to interaction design across new and evolving platforms

[Objectives]

By the end of this module students will be able to:
Identify design strategies and related conceptual to inform project development
Implement an effective prototype using a range of technologies
Articulate Synthesis of theory & practice through formal presentation
Apply Research techniques to articulate core principles

[Indicative Syllabus]

Historical overview of related works
Case studies of interface design, physical computing and play theory
Overview of Alife and adaptive approaches
Interface design sensors, controllers and control surfaces, Application of games design models to e-learning systems.
Use of commercial/open source hardware and software such as Max/MSP, Pure Data, Icube, Arduino

[Delivery]

The module will explore adaptivity and interaction through seminars, demonstrations play testing and production. The module supports experimental prototypes through small group production including workshops in max/msp, Icube, Arduino , controller modding, sensors/tracking. Module is supported through Seminar/workshop format.

[TheoryPractice]

At the end of the module you will be expected to be able to:
Establish production method and individual research process
Implement strategies, software and resources to develop adaptive play prototypes
Demonstrate a synthesis of theory & practice through formal presentation
Apply Research techniques to underpin design and development.

[Brief]

Course Work Requirements: Prototype, Documentation, Short Paper
Part 1 60% Prototype (individual or group)
A negotiated project, exploring interaction models, adaptivity and mediated play. The project should be managed and documented online (Project forum or Blog) with weekly production meetings with the module leader. You should consider methods to demonstrate adaptive features of the project, for example a documented experiment showing changes in participant behaviour in response to mediated events. Examples will be shown, play-tested and discussed.

Part 2 (term 1) 40% Short Paper (Individual)
A conference style short paper (6 pages max ) presenting your prototype, referencing related works, technologies or methods, summarise your contribution and evaluate the end product, making recommendations for extending the prototype as appropriate. Investigate an individual angle that informs the project. A conference format template is provided. Related research and published papers will be discussed. PDF versions will be available from the student portal
NB: Must submit local version to server for external examiner/module archive

[Minisite]

Each individual is expected to keep an evolving and up to date archive of ideas, experiments and related works; showing the evolution of concepts, design influences and related research

[Assessment]

60% Prototype (including short presentation/play-test/peer review)
40% Short Paper
Deadline: 24 March 2010

[Criteria]

[IDAT extended Computing Benchmarks]
C1 (LO1), C5 (LO2). C8 (LO3) C9 (LO5). P1 (LO1), P8 (LO3, 4), P9 (LO4). T4 (LO6), T6 (LO3), T7 (LO6).
[Support Material]
Resources are referenced/provided through the module website.

[Staff]

Module Leader: Joasia Krysa (joasia.krysa@plymouth.ac.uk)
Joasia Krysa will lead the module and offer workshops/seminars as appropriate to inform project development and guide development activity