Building the Labyrinth:
Adapting Video Game Design Concepts for Writing Course Design


Craig McKenney, Highline Community College

 

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Abstract

 Changing the Rules

Rebuilding the Game

Engagement

Rigor

Achievement

Playing the Game

 Game Over

Works Cited

 

 
“Writing unfolds like a game (jeu) that invariably goes beyond its own rules and transgresses its limits.”
- Michel Foucault, What Is an Author?

 


 

Game Over

Play in an academic setting has been met with much skepticism, but I continue to argue that student response and interest spikes when these types of games--more specifically in this case the design concepts of the games--can be utilized in the classroom or even an individual assignment as a starting point.  This can mean a lot of work (more work than the usual load) in the planning stages.  Dependent on the level of institutional support and the network of colleagues and contacts required to pull some of these ideas off, the instructor can have varying degrees of success.  Admittedly, one of my games tanked pretty quickly due to my lack of experience.  I don't regret my decision to do the game, bust as it was, because my willingness to play with the traditional format of my class rewarded me with student investment that I had not seen in a long time.  Instructors simply need to build the labyrinth, and students will willingly enter it.

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