Conf Talk

 Will talk about RA work, then my own research, show how they connect, demonstrates benefit
of having a lab space.

 Playing at Making Games

o "The digital landscape now includes a growing number of titles and tools aimed at
enabling children (and users of all ages) to participate in the creation, modification, and
distribution of games and related user-generated content (UGC). Children are not only
increasingly able shape digital game content, but also share their creations at a mass
level."

o Two primary aspects to research:

 "Aside from emerging work demonstrating the educational and skill-building
potential of these activities, we currently know very little about the actual
contents and practices involved in children's game making and game-related
UGC. There are key gaps in our knowledge of the frequency with which different
groups of children engage in such activities, the features and functionality of the
tools they use, how their content is shaped and moderated by companies who
provide the tools as well as by their access, or the contents of the games they
create."

 "Little is currently known about how these tools might be used by or be
specifically beneficial to children who are most often marginalized or excluded
from meaningful participation in digital culture. This has historically included a
range of groups, including girls, children with disabilities, rural children, Native
children, and children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds."

 "The first stage of research will comprise of two activities: a broad survey of
child users of user-generated content and game design tools, as well as a
comprehensive exploratory investigation of the design affordances of the game
design sites and tools they use most frequently."

 "The second stage will allow more in-depth exploration of these tools and their
users, through both interviews and focus groups (possibly through hands-on
workshops) with a sample of surveyed children as well as a content analysis of
their created games, levels, and other modifications."

 "Through these empirically grounded investigations into both these tools and
those who engage with them, we will lay the groundwork for recommendations
on how industry can make the design of their UGC game design tools more
inclusive for a broader audience of Canadian child creators."

 My own research covers similar ground, but from a more technology-based perspective.

 Want to see how games can be broken open, so that code is visible and alterable.

 Similar to modding, but more fundamental.

 Looking for ways in which building blocks of a game become a platform for further game
development.

 Spacewar

 Game programming language as OS, like Commodore BASIC

 Related, looking at historical cases where programming was considered part of play.

 Aim to design more open-ended platforms upon which to build fully-customizable games.

 Thinking of game as operating system.