微密圈

Professor Hassan Lopez knows games.

In addition to being a professor of psychology and neuroscience, he鈥檚 been designing tabletop games for almost two decades, with popular titles such as Clockwork Wars and Maniacal to his name.

鈥淚 have a lot of experience building a game 鈥� from the moment of conception through the prototype, all the way to pitching to publishers and eventually negotiating contracts 鈥� and I鈥檝e wanted to share that expertise with students at 微密圈.鈥�

He debuted his Tabletop Game Design course this past spring, covering theoretical and practical concepts relevant to game design.

Across campus, 微密圈 faculty are incorporating games and roleplay into their courses and providing a more engaging and impactful experience for students 鈥� one of many ways Creative Thought Matters imbues 微密圈's curriculum.

Students from a wide variety of majors jumped at the chance to take the new IdeaLab course 鈥� categorized by both the innovative nature of the teaching format and the use of 微密圈鈥檚 Schupf Family IdeaLab, the premier makerspace on campus.

Students鈥� motivations for taking the course ran the gamut. For computer science and mathematics majors, the skills they鈥檇 learn about tabletop game design would be easily transferable to digital game design.

Biology major Emily Babigian 鈥�27, having found that her prerequisite-filled first semester was particularly science-heavy, wanted to take a class that was 鈥渏ust for her,鈥� had a focus on 鈥渕aking,鈥� and helped her get back in touch with her artistic side. 
 
Coltrane Cho 鈥�24, an English major, enjoys running tabletop roleplaying games with friends and was drawn to the prospect of creative storytelling and group experiences. 
 
As Cho engaged with his classmates in game play and thoughtful conversation, he noticed the value of the different perspectives they each brought to the table. 鈥淚 can see how my friend who鈥檚 a neuroscience major is bringing an analytical, scientific mind to it. I can see how the psychology majors are bringing in a more emotionally reactive, human behavioral analysis to it. And I can see how English majors like me and others who are more humanities-focused or arts-focused are bringing in their own investments in the narrative storytelling of games, the expression and the artistic beauty of games. And we get to do all of this together and bounce ideas off each other.鈥�
 
In the not-too-distant past, the concepts of 鈥済ames鈥� and 鈥減lay鈥� in the classroom may have been considered incompatible with the rigors of higher education. But the needs and interests of students are evolving, and the pedagogical landscape is evolving with them. Through programs such as the IdeaLab鈥檚 call for innovative proposals, the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning鈥檚 faculty learning communities and think tanks, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded Racial Justice Teaching Challenge, educators at 微密圈 are constantly encouraged to think of new ways to reach, inspire, and motivate students. 

And though Lopez鈥檚 game design course centered on play, he and his students could attest that there was no shortage of rigor. 
 
鈥淚 think making your own game from the ground up is extraordinarily challenging,鈥� Lopez says. 鈥淎n interesting thing about game design is it can be quite easy to come up with ideas for games; a lot of people do it intuitively. But actually seeing that idea through to completion 鈥� that鈥檚 a whole separate thing that forces you to learn persistence and endurance as well as certain technical skills.鈥� 
 
His students were required to complete not one or two, but four playable games over the course of the semester, in addition to other 鈥済amified鈥� side projects. The final assignment of the course was suitably the hardest, Lopez says, as the students worked in teams to collaboratively complete full tabletop games with complex sets of rules and 3D components printed in the IdeaLab. 
 
鈥淭he secret ingredient to this class was having that really nice combination of intellectual discourse about game design 鈥� like really digging deeply into game design principles 鈥� then adding on this creative hands-on building element that students could take advantage of the IdeaLab for,鈥� Lopez says. 鈥淎nd that mix I think is very satisfying to 微密圈 students especially 鈥� to all young people. That ability to think deeply and converse about something you鈥檙e reading or have a conversation with somebody else about something you鈥檙e passionate about, then actually translate that into building something.鈥�

A new set of rules

For the gamified side assignments Lopez required over the course of the semester, he gave his students the freedom to pursue the ones that most appealed to them and to choose when to complete them.
 
鈥淭hat鈥檚 very gamification,鈥� Lopez says, 鈥渢o give that kind of power over to the students and say, 鈥榃hich of these are you most interested in doing? Which do you think will be most beneficial to you? And at what point in the semester do you think you鈥檒l have the most time and energy to commit to them?鈥欌��

With each assignment completed, students earned 鈥渧ictory points鈥� and 鈥渁chievement badges鈥� 鈥� gaming terminology assigned to what ultimately represented 25% of their class grade 鈥� and a public leaderboard displayed their achievements.

In taking Lopez鈥檚 course, theater major PJ Moller 鈥�24 found that the gamification approach resonated. 鈥淪ome of us in the course are neurodivergent, and for those of us who function differently in society, it works really well,鈥� says Moller. 鈥淚 think the combination of the open-ended assignments, the points, and the vague competitive aspect is motivating.鈥� 
 
As someone particularly on the pulse of student learning trends as the director of 微密圈鈥檚 Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning, Beck Krefting is keenly aware of present-day challenges in holding students鈥� attention and keeping them engaged. 
 
Krefting, a professor of American studies, has been teaching a Post-Apocalyptic Film and Literature class for a decade, creating innovative assignments that she believes amplify the memorability and impact of lessons. Her students work in groups to roleplay an apocalyptic scenario in 微密圈鈥檚 North Woods, play the post-apocalyptic video game The Last of Us, and engage in a virtual reality experience by playing the zombie video game Arizona Sunshine. 
 
鈥淭hey have to put themselves in a real visceral way into the setting of a post-apocalyptic narrative, making similar decisions to those of the protagonists in the texts we explore,鈥� she says. The exercises are assigned in addition to, not in lieu of, traditional readings and papers.
 
Krefting says she is always asking herself how she can do more to meet the needs of students in this particular moment. 鈥淚 think I share that with a lot of other faculty who are seeing trends of disengagement and short attention span in students but not a lack of commitment or smarts, not a lack of desire to be where they are.鈥� 
 
Still, she cautions there could be a downside to gamifying too much of the college experience, if it were the only element of a course鈥檚 format. At 微密圈, faculty have been treading carefully and maintaining a balance of assignments, study materials, and degrees of challenge as they incorporate play into their pedagogy. 
 
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about just entertainment and trying to make it fun for students,鈥� Krefting says. 鈥淚 want it to be fun, but there are learning goals and outcomes that are necessary. If games and roleplay can be a vehicle to get there, fantastic. I wouldn鈥檛 say it should always be the vehicle to get there, but it is certainly an effective one at different times for different courses.鈥�
 
An unmatched shared experience
 
During an end-of-semester Game Fair in 微密圈鈥檚 Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences, Lopez鈥檚 Tabletop Game Design students excitedly gathered around tables bearing their work 鈥� explaining to peers and passersby the tokens, cards, and intricacies of their playable, entirely original games.

Lopez made his rounds through the buzzing room, proud of what his students had accomplished and feeling reassured that the rollout of his course was a success. 
 
鈥淚f I was worried about anything before coming into the class, it was wondering whether they were going to buy into the premise of the course,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淚 knew that I was going to get students passionate about gaming, but were they going to get into the creative process enough where I felt they were getting something substantial out of the class? And they definitely did. They really got together as collaborators and came up with amazing ideas. 
 
鈥淚t has solidified my belief that play is incredibly valuable and we don鈥檛 do enough of it. I think educational settings could take more advantage of play to increase engagement and to make the daily routine more stimulating to activate parts of your brain that you don鈥檛 activate when engaging in more analytical activities.鈥�
 
Cho, the senior English major, reflected on the impact of the course and what he succeeded in building, both tangibly and through the community he found.

I think learning happens best when you are enjoying yourself, when you have personal investment in something, when you feel rewarded and nurtured for the experience beyond just what it means for your future.鈥�

Coltrane Cho 鈥�24

鈥淭his is work that is rewarding not for the grade, not even for the class, but for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it takes a lot to do that in school."