Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio

The feeling of accomplishment
From game design perspective (Salen & Zimmerman 2004), games need
to have a proper, clearly recognisable end since that is the whole meaning
of playing. In most design games the outcome is not as important as the
path or means to reach it. The dialogue during the design game interests
me most: players’ concerns, wishes, experiences and expertise which
they bring into the discussion and the negotiation among several points
of views about what is the proper goal. In the case of “Stories as source
of inspiration”, where we used stories for marketing and design intentions,
it was essential to have time to accomplish both the individual and
the collaborative phase of the game and to generate some design ideas to
reach the feeling of accomplishment.
In the Value Game played out in “Co-designing University”, it was
enough if the group was able to negotiate the core values for the Design
Factory through the given characters and go through some of the statement
cards containing differing opinions and expectations on Design
Factory. But it was not necessary to go through all the cards; instead,
marking of the proper end was revealed in the beginning by stating “the
game ends when the time is up”. It remained the moderator’s task to decide
when the goal had been reached and the game could be stopped.
In most cases, the facilitator needs to be also an expert in the content,
to know what is relevant for the purpose of the design and what’s not.
Salen and Zimmerman (2004, p 258) stress that a clear goal is needed
to create a meaningful play. If the players cannot see how their actions
in a game could bring them closer to the goal, it is hard to find
reasons for the play. In co-design, to motivate the participants to play,
this becomes essential since playing a game is not meaningful as such.
The game should be clearly linked with the design goal. Participants expect
that playing a design game will lead them to increasing knowledge,
inspiration or novel ideas. If that cannot be communicated or shown
clearly enough, the play easily becomes irrelevant to the player. Thus,
when designing a design game, it is important to consider not only the
goal but also how the player’s actions in the game configure a meaningful
path to that goal.
Repetitiveness of design games
In game design generally, a designer needs to consider how to invite the
players to play a game repeatedly. Repetition may be a positive quality
of design games as well, as was suggested in the section on “Stories
as source of inspiration”, where the design game structure and material
made it possible for three different people to organise three different
co-design gatherings. However, design games are rarely played out
twice by the same people. Most design games discussed in this dissertation
have been played out more than once, but only the facilitators have
129