High School Physical Education Health

What Makes a Good Game?

One only has to read any of the blogs and communiqués among the fans of computer games to get a ready understanding of what makes a good game. In general, there are two commonly agreed-upon principles:

1. It’s possible to increase in skill almost indefinitely (variety and complexity).
2. Score is directly proportional to skill for the most difficult tasks.

Of further interest is the idea that a good game is not necessarily directly equivalent to how fun a multiplayer game is. As Charles Kendrick, author of Designer’s Guide to Multiplayer Quake Gameplay, has commented:

I tend to lose interest in any game where it’s not possible to keep improving one’s ability, or where improvements in ability don’t show through in the game very much. If this isn’t at least a little bit true of you, then ignore this document, and go back to work on your "kill everyone on the level by pressing a button." But if you’re interested in creating a game with what I’ve defined as "good gameplay," or at least in creating a game that finds a balance between gameplay and more chaotic carnage, read on.

Essentially, Kendrick is speaking around a sense of a game being engaging. Engagement refers to the intensity and emotional quality of a person’s active involvement during a task. If someone is highly engaged, we see evidence of enthusiastic participation, with high degrees of effort and positive emotion.

To be really engaging, an activity should

• be structured so that players can decrease or increase the level of challenge in order to match their skills,
• be easy for players to isolate the activity from other stimuli that might interfere,
• have clear performance criteria to let people know how well or poorly they are doing,provide concrete feedback to tell them how well they are meeting the criteria,
• and have a broad range of challenges and possibly several qualitatively different ranges of challenges.

Student-designed games fit easily into this definition. Students have the freedom to design games that match their skill levels and that have clear scoring systems that provide them with feedback. As a result, it is not unusual to see games-making lessons characterized by serious and thoughtful engagement rather than more frivolous expressions of fun. As Rovegno and Bandhauer (1994) note from their experiences with student-designed games, "The true joy and deep fun individuals experience when they learn and participate in physical activities is not expressed through sport spectator behavior. There is great joy in playing hard, doing your best, learning movement, refining technique, and meeting the challenges of the game" (page 62).

Students do, however, need guidance as to what constitutes a good game. These characteristics need to be explicitly presented to students. In essence, their games must

• contribute to skill development;
• be safe;
• include, not eliminate, students from participation (elimination makes almost no pedagogical sense when one considers that the most likely students to be eliminated are those who have the least skill and in fact need the most practice);
• have high participation rates;and
• be structured so that all children are successful and are being challenged.

A good game, then, is one that is fun, fair, and safe for all participants. By fun, we mean that the game involves participants at an appropriate level of challenge from the perspectives of both skills and strategies. By fair, we mean that the game has a good balance so that success and scoring are not too easy or too hard. That is, there is a good balance between the offense and the defense so that neither one dominates play. By safe, we mean the game has rules that keep its participants physically safe, and there are no opportunities for students to be embarrassed or humiliated.

Your Group will need a written report including the following points: (50%)

1. A game name.

2. Rules.

3. Equipment.

4. Game description. 

5. Write up on how developed the game.

6. Any sources used.

7. Goup member names.

YOur group will present your game to the class: (50%)

1. Organization.

2. each group member is involved.

3. Rules described accuratly.

4. Saftey for all students is followed.

5. All students are have a position to play in the game.

Group Members: Create-a-game Rubric _______________________ ________________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ ________________________ Rules: _________/ 10 points Requirements for winning: _________/ 5 points Diagram of playing area: and _________/ 10 points Equipment list Relationship to Fitness: _________/ 5 points Cooperation & Teamwork: _________/ 10 points Activity level of players: _________/ 5 points Safety: _________/ 5 points Comments: _____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________