EDGE

Overview: Introduction to Transformative Game Design

Welcome to our unit Introduction to Transformative Game Design! This course explores foundational concepts and practices to consider when designing for transformative impacts. In addition to lectures, discussions, and journals, you will also be playing at least one game and designing a game.

Most class activities are asynchronous, meaning that you will submit your work on specific due dates, but there are no assigned class times where you must log in. These activities are typically discussion boards, journals, peer reviews, and major assignments. 

Discussion forum engagement is the lifeblood of the course. Since we are all in different time zones, please post your initial discussions the night before the class day. Then, engage in the discussion forum by responding to two (2) of your peers in Ask a Question, Answer a Question format. See the Discussion Forum Instructions in the Unit for more information.

Reflection journals are viewable only by your instructors. In Reflection journals, you will consider the work you have read, watched, and discussed all week and tie it to your personal thoughts and experiences.

Playtesting and feedback sessions will take place over video conferencing within your peer group. We recommend Zoom, as Uppsala provides this software for free linked here. We will give you options for groups, but you will schedule meeting times within your group. Please try to be as flexible as possible with one another, as we are logging in from various parts of the world and have different schedules of availability. 

• You must playtest and receive feedback from your peers on your game twice during this course. 
• Each group member’s playtest should be a maximum of 1 hour — maximum of 45 min for game play and 15 min total for feedback.
• You will also have another session where you will play a nano-game together, so plan for a minimum of three (3) sessions total. 

Major Assignments are papers you will write for the class. Major Assignments 1 and 2 are key benchmarks for advancing to the next course, Transformative Game Design 1. 

Your Game Design Document will help you practice writing facilitation instructions for your games in the future. 

Please familiarize yourself with the contents of the course including the syllabus, the calendar, and the units, then take your Orientation Quiz, which is linked in this Unit.

Resources in Each Unit

Each Unit Overview will feature several important sources, so make sure you read the Overview first. These materials will be organized as follows:

• Required materials: These are materials you need to examine to complete your assignments in the Unit.
• Recommended materials: These are lists of materials from which you can choose a specified number of sources to examine for your assignments, e.g., choosing two sources from a linked bibliography. You are not required to read all of them. 
• Choose one (1) of the following to examine: In these cases, you have a choice between different forms of media from the same author with similar content, usually a video or a reading.
• Optional materials on similar content: These resources feature similar content as your required materials, e.g., a video containing similar content as your textbook chapter. As some student learn better by watching, listening, or reading, for example, these materials may be supportive of different modes of learning.
• Additional materials on these topics (not required): These are assigned materials on these topics from previous versions of the course in case you want to dive deeper into the content.
• Further readings in the field as whole: This list features several longer books on topics related to role-playing game studies overall for future reference.

Unit 1 will provide basic information on role-playing games, including tabletop, larp, and freeform. We will also introduce transformative role-playing game design.

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In this Unit, we will cover:

• Orientation Quiz
• Introduction to Tabletop Role-playing Games
• Introduction to Live Action Role-playing Games (larp) 
• Transformative Game Design
• Safety in role-playing games

Note: Some of the materials below may not be available outside of this course. We have linked resources that are open access. Do not distribute PDFs. 

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Required materials:

Videos:

• Bowman, Sarah Lynne. 2021. “Introduction to Tabletop Role-playing Games — Sarah Lynne Bowman.” Transformative Play Initiative. YouTube, December 31.
• Bowman, Sarah Lynne. 2021. “Introduction to Live Action Role-playing Games (Larp) — Sarah Lynne Bowman.” Transformative Play Initiative. YouTube, December 5.
• Bowman, Sarah Bowman. 2022. “Safety in Role-playing Games I: Introduction — Sarah Lynne Bowman.” Transformative Play Initiative, February 4.
• Bowman, Sarah Bowman. 2022. “Safety in Role playing Games Part III: During the Game — Sarah Lynne Bowman.” Transformative Play Initiative, February 4.

Readings:

• Bowman, Sarah Lynne, Elektra Diakolambrianou, and Simon Brind. In review. “Foreward.” In Transformative Role-playing Game Design, edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman, Elektra Diakolambrianou, and Simon Brind, 11-13. Transformative Play Research Series. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala University Press.
• Bowman, Sarah Lynne, Elektra Diakolambrianou, Angie Bandhoesingh, Alessandro Giovannucci, and Taisto Suominen. In review. “Chapter 1: A Brief Introduction to Role-playing Games and Cousin Activities.” In Transformative Role-playing Game Design, edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman, Elektra Diakolambrianou, and Simon Brind, 14-38. Transformative Play Research Series. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala University Press.
• Bowman, Sarah Lynne, Elektra Diakolambrianou, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, and Josefin Westborg. In review. “Chapter 2: Transformative Role-playing Games: Types, Purposes, and Features.” In Transformative Role-playing Game Design, edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman, Elektra Diakolambrianou, and Simon Brind, 39-65. Transformative Play Research Series. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala University Press.

#Feminism Scenarios:

Review the following introductory readings:

• Bushyager, Misha, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling. 2017. “Front Matter.” In #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology, edited by Misha Bushyager, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling. Pelgrane Press, Ltd.
• Bushyager, Misha, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling. 2017. “How to Play.” In #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology, edited by Misha Bushyager, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling. Pelgrane Press, Ltd.

Choose one (1) scenario to play with your group:

• Boss, Emily Care. 2017. “Ma, Can I Help You With That.” In #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology, edited by Misha Bushyager, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling, 61-62. Pelgrane Press, Ltd.
• Beltrán, Strix. 2017. “Möbius.” In #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology, edited by Misha Bushyager, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling, 15-16. Pelgrane Press, Ltd.
• Bowman, Sarah Lynne. 2017. “Curtain Call.” In #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology, edited by Misha Bushyager, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling, 71-72. Pelgrane Press, Ltd.
• Kemper, Jonaya. “Slumber Party.” In #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology, edited by Misha Bushyager, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling, 19-20. Pelgrane Press, Ltd.
• Wei, Eva. 2017. “How to Be Ava White.” In #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology, edited by Misha Bushyager, Lizzie Stark, and Anna Westerling, 52-53. Pelgrane Press, Ltd.