Big Fiscal game meeting notes, Aug. 22
Common features of games that make them effective, Colleen Macklin
- They can model systems and complexities.
- They include embedded incentives (including to win)
- They spark dialogue and analysis beyond the game, which connects players and issues to other audiences.
- They are experiential and dynamic, so that players must make changes in the game environment.
- They create empathy be placing players in roles they may be unfamiliar with.
- They enable multiple solutions to challenges.
- Big Games, which are played in the real world, generate publicity and public interest.
The four “C’s” of Big Games, Frank Lantz
- Collaborative: they promote social interaction, richer communication, organization and teamwork,
- Creative: they are not top down, linear media; the players produce the game in a learning context through hands-on experience.
- Contagious: the actions of players draws attention to the players and the issues.
- Concrete: they deal with real world issues, take place in the real world, infect real world spaces with the imaginary power of the virtual.
- Big games are not about escape, but about engagement.
