The Grassroots Game Conference: A Review

Posted by on November 22, 2013

By Noel Li, PHENND Technology and Social Media Intern

Hello!  My name is Noel Li, and I am a master’s candidate for the Learning Science & Technologies program at the Graduate School of Education at University of Pennsylvania.  As the Technology and Social Media Intern at PHENND, I hope to explore the intersection of music, education, and technology in both formal and informal learning environments.

I recently had the opportunity to attend three days of the Grassroots Game Conference in Philadelphia in mid-October [Conference was held from October 10-14].  Each day had an overarching theme – “Collision of Art and Games”; “Collision of Music and Games”; and “K12 Game Creation for STEM.” These different themes helped me to see gaming through a different lens.

The speakers who presented on the “Collision of Art and Games” presented the idea that gaming is an art-form. Tassos Stevens, an artist and theater maker, directed a play called “A Small Town Anywhere,” where the audience members were the actors and improvised on stage.  He considers the stage as a free space for an interactive storytelling experience. Stevens also helped develop an iPhone game called “Papa Sangre” where there are no visuals, spinning off of a new idea in gaming that videos games do not necessarily have to have video. The player relies solely on sound to navigate the play space. “Papa Sangre” is a horror-themed game; the player hears footsteps as he is walking and feedback comes in the form of sound when the player steps on items like chicken bones or a child’s squeaky toy. Stevens, using these two examples, argued that the idea that our conception of art should not be limited to the traditional canvas on easel, but rather could be expanded to include platforms in which creativity is explored using different senses.

Music was another medium presenters explored at the conference. The session “Collision of Music and Games,” showcased how music is currently intersecting with the gaming field.  Dr. Youngmoo Kim of Drexel University created an iPhone application in conjunction with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Designed to help concert attendees explore different aspects of the live music, this “app” gives concert attendees a roadmap of the music being played, along with program notes on the history of the music and the composer.  Other options include scrolling through the actual music score or being alerted when specific motifs come up in the music.  All of this is synced to the music being played by the orchestra players, requiring the app to track and analyze the live performance.  Dr. Teresa Nakra of The College of New Jersey shared her convictions on how the future of classical music is in video games.  She herself experienced the collision of music and games when one of her graduate projects, an electronic baton designed to sense a conductor’s movements, was eventually incorporated into the development of the Nintendo Wii.  Through music, gaming has been changed and improved.

Innovations in K-12 education have also been introduced by the gaming community.  Speakers presented ideas on how K-12 education could better embrace technology.  For example, given that gaming develops persistence and stamina in the player through long hours of playing, what if teachers thought the same way as game developers and crafted lesson plans which would keep students engaged for 40+hours?  From what the speakers shared, it does not matter if the student likes the game or not, but it is the feeling of authoring something that provides the intrinsic motivation needed to persist at a task. Lucien Vattel of Gamedesk shared how things have changed from the “grandfather’s generation” to “today’s generation,” arguing that that we now live in a participatory culture.  With that in mind, he wanted to create a portal for teachers to share lesson plans with technology integration and participatory culture built in.  Called “Educade” (www.educade.org) this website contains scores of lesson plans that are aligned with the Common Core that maximize student learning and participation.  Yasmin Kafai of University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education spoke about the gamification of education and the idea that “serious fun” is possible.  Her project “eCrafting Circles” (www.ecrafting.org) seeks to bring today’s engineers and technologists together through online learning and creative projects.

In summary, viewing gaming through the lens of art, music and education encourages interdisciplinary thinking.  This opens up doors to opportunities in participatory culture, with gaming being diversified beyond traditional means of usage and entertainment. I encourage you to consider how gaming intersects with your area of expertise!

Picture #1: Speaker Tassos Stevens presenting

Picture #2: Youngmoo Kim sharing about the Philadelphia Orchestra iPhone app

Picture #3: Lucien Vattel’s depiction of participatory culture

Picture #4: Yasmin Kafai sharing on the gamification of education