Devlog 2

This week in class we took a look at folk games and did a simple exercise where we grouped up, picked a folk game off of a website, and put our own little twist or modification on it. This was really to just get our creativity to start moving a tiny bit and help us begin to understand some of the designing process. In order to make sure that our adjusted folk game was as close to functional as possible we had to think about 6 attributes: Actions, Goals, Rules, Objects, Playspace, and Players. Our game, Group Juggling, is a simple toss and catch game between a group of at least about 5 people. This game can realistically be played in any space that has a decent amount of room to move around, which actually fits in with Huizinga saying “All play moves and has its being within a play-ground marked off beforehand either materially or ideally” (Calleja). In our case, the play-ground for Group Juggling is set ideally. Some of the new dynamics we introduced included multiple objects, we used bean bags, being juggled at once and an elimination style in which a player would be out or eliminated upon failing to catch a bean bag. One of my personal concerns during the designing stage was “What if we end up with something that doesn’t actually elicit fun or play?” Once we got to the actual play testing part of the process, though, I understood that the bean bags are “given meaning and purpose through the act of crafting the rules … in other words, the act of game design” (Macklin and Sharp). Creating and refining some of the rules of a simple game of Group Juggling made tossing bean bags between multiple people feel special. But more than just tossing bean bags made this game feel fun and exciting, in addition “it’s the players that ultimately make the game come to life” (Macklin and Sharp). The most important learning point in this exercise for me was learning about the people that I was playing with and their tendencies when it comes to how they toss an object to someone else. There was this unspoken rule and atmosphere of respect to make sure that bean bags weren’t being thrown with unnecessary force or that people were 100% honest when they were out. In reflection, it would seem we all acted in this way for the sake of play, to make sure that the game remained fun for everyone involved.