"Live action" describes a wide range of activities, from sports, to real-time roleplaying, to playground/party games. Careful choices about mechanics, abstraction, and communication help create an engaging experience without physical or emotional harm.

Mia Consalvo asks students for examples illustrating how game designers construct ethical systems, how users act within those systems, and the role of community norms. How do players connect behavioral standards inside and outside the game world?

The 3rd team assignment is to design a simulation for psychiatry residents interacting with agitated patients. Dr. Cezar Cimpeanu and Dr. James Cartreine present an overview of the problem and discuss their research on effective conflict resolution.

Following last lecture's presentation of the final project assignment, a conflict mediation training simulation for psychiatric student doctors, students brainstorm their ideas for game concepts, mechanics, and abstraction models.

Games have emerged in recent decades as a rich artistic medium, combining elements from audiovisual, interactive, and performance art traditions. Abe Stein talks about aesthetics and meaning in games, and their relation to various modern art movements.

Many games incorporate story elements, to drive the plot, set the scene, create engaging characters, etc. Some even use player actions to build an open-ended adventure. Clara Fernandez-Vara talks about how and why to use stories in games.

A panel of game developers from the Education Arcade and Learning Games Network talk about their research, effectively connecting learning and games, engaging a target audience, defining and evaluating success, and common design pitfalls.

Sequels can improve on the original: fixing problems, adding new features, targeting an established fanbase, etc. This connection can also constrain the sequel concept and discourage new users. Sara Verrilli describes her experiences with the Thief games.

To build a good simulation, identify relevant features in the source and assumptions in the resulting model. Students explore the meaning of games' choices about what to include, simplify, and abstract, and generate ideas for their next assignment.

After feedback on the first assignment, the class covers the basics of intellectual property in the gaming industry. Successful adaptations often incorporate popular elements and distinctive aesthetics from the original media.

Puzzles are a popular type of game, characterized by a strict ruleset and (ideally) a single solution. They may appear on their own or embedded into a larger narrative, sometimes representing a similar real-life mechanism (e.g. unlocking a door).

Today's reading analyzes user motivation along two axes: interest in the world vs. fellow players, gaining knowledge vs. proficiency. Students discuss the utility of this taxonomy, how games encourage these interactions, and come up with their own frames.

Games contain various skill requirements, chance elements, and information availability, which guide strategy development. Changing the balance between these factors can create very different player experiences.

This lecture reviews the concepts of information flow and uncertainty, analyzing well-known games in these terms. Examples include Scrabble, Go Fish, Mario Kart, Monopoly, chess, poker, War, and Settlers of Catan. Next, students consider feedback loops.

Today's reading, by theorist Roger Caillois, examines the various interactions between players and spectators of games. Students then brainstorm ideas for their first team project: designing a card game for 2-4 players.

Abe Stein talks about how to brainstorm constructively, despite social pressure and interpersonal dynamics. Students practice generating ideas individually and in groups, ending with concepts for the first team project, a card game for 2-4 players.

Before games come to market, they undergo several tests: Are there technical glitches? Can players easily get started? Is the gameplay what the designers intended? Sara Verrilli discusses how and why to conduct focus testing.

The assigned readings introduced two frameworks for designing games: formal abstract design and MDA (Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics). Students play a primitive board game and apply these analytic tools, then modify the rules and repeat the exercise.

This lecture begins by exploring what a game is (and isn't) and defining the terms "mechanic" and "dynamic". Designers identify the core mechanic and dynamic of a game to help guide iterative playtesting and optimization.