I want to start off by saying that throughout this 6-week intensive course I was able to learn a lot about games (of course) but also about play and gamification and how to design games that encourage different kinds of user engagement. This course has introduced me to many mind-blowing examples of how certain games and the act of play can change the world and help us come up with fitting solutions to the global issues of our past, present, and future.
Using these newfound skills and information, I was able to develop my own idea for a game – Member of Society – for our final creative project assignment. Through the making of my own game, I was able to experience first-hand just how complex innovative game design is in developing a game that deliberately challenges social norms and induces change in people’s behavior and their state of mind.

Member of Society – Paper Prototype from Media Factory on Vimeo.

First and foremost, Member of Society is a mobile game that engages in a form of ‘gamification’, because it is an “integration of game mechanics into non-game contexts” (Davies, Hjorth & Richardson 2021, p. 4). The game invites players to carry out certain tasks that provoke behavioral change and rewards people with a sense of accomplishment in circumstances that would otherwise go un-rewarded. The aim of the game is to get young adults to engage in certain activities that enhance their social, economic, physical, and psychological abilities, and might ultimately prepare them for adulthood. This is done through the gamification of real-life mundane tasks such as drawing up a budget plan, sleeping before 12, switching to reusable produce bags, and so on. Upon the completion of these tasks, players are rewarded with the opportunity to construct a building in their mobile worlds.
The physical game mechanics itself borrows certain elements from hybrid reality games (HRGs). This means that when engaging with the game, players exist simultaneously in both the real world and the game world (de Souza e Silva & Sutko 2008). In Member of Society, the real world occurs when the player is actually carrying out the tasks, and the game world occurs when the player is recording their progress, constructing their mobile townscape, and exploring other user’s worlds. Through the means of gamification and the game being set in hybrid reality environment, players are able to “merge ordinary life with play” (de Souza e Silva & Sutko 2008, p. 451) and, hopefully, step over the threshold of adulthood in a more comfortable and familiar manner.

There were some really great suggestions around certain game mechanics and elements that were discussed during the consultations and feedback sessions in class. However, I didn’t have enough time to fully incorporate them into my final game design. Of the many, the biggest three ideas are:
1. The exploration of more ‘in-depth’ task categories (e.g. cultural diversity, citizenship within community, gender and religion based activities, and so on…)
2. Construction of player identity and methods of self-expression (e.g. creating a representative ‘character/protagonist’ that reflects player’s own gender, ethnicity, age, etc…)
3. A feature that allows players to create their own tasks, keeping the game ever-evolving and open ended.
The first thing I would do if I were to continue with this project is take the time to thoroughly consider these points and work towards including them into the game. The ‘create your own task’ feature, in particular, would help steer the game towards becoming a more customizable platform for users and also promoting a stronger sense of the “you do you” ideal (acknowledging that the user knows what is best for themselves) – which is something that was suggested, by a fellow classmate, as being this game’s strongest selling point.

I personally think Member of Society has the potentials of becoming a great game and tool for young adults when it comes to learning about how to be more socially aware of the bigger community they are a part of as well as growing insight about their own physical and psychological environments.

References
Davies, H., Hjorth, L. & Richardson, I. 2021, Understanding Games and Game Cultures, Sage Publications.

De Souza e Silva, A. & Sutko, D. 2008, ‘Playing life and living play: how hybrid reality games reframe space, play, and the ordinary’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 25, iss. 5, pp. 447-465. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/15295030802468081