Dan Norton speaks about "Filament Games" at the 2012 Serious Play Conference ABSTRACT: In this presentation, Dan will walk the audience through a spiffy new design tool that his organization is tentatively calling the Geemotizer. The Geemotizer is an analysis tool for learning games, applying James Paul Gee’s 36 original learning principles from his book “What Videogames Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy”. After demonstrating the tool, we’ll unveil useful categories of a game’s strengths that can help designers and critics evaluate learning games, both during development and after deployment.

2. The Book
Seriously, read this
book.

3. The Question
Objectives Into Mechanics
How Does That Work?

4. Philosophy
Learning Objectives
Gameplay Verbs Empowered Identity Interactive Systems

5. The Principles
1. Active, Critical Learning Principle
2. Design Principle
3. Semiotic Principle
4. Semiotic Domains Principle
5. Meta-level thinking about Semiotic Domain Principle
6. "Psychosocial Moratorium" Principle
7. Committed Learning Principle
8. Identity Principle
9. Self-Knowledge Principle
10. Amplification of Input Principle
11. Achievement Principle
12. Practice Principle
13. Ongoing Learning Principle
14. "Regime of Competence" Principle
15. Probing Principle
16. Multiple Routes Principle
17. Situated Meaning Principle
18. Text Principle
19. Intertextual Principle
20. Multimodal Principle
21. "Material Intelligence" Principle
22. Intuitive Knowledge Principle
23. Subset Principle
24. Incremental Principle

6. An Example
1) All aspects of the the learning
environment (including ways in which
the semiotic domain is designed and
presented) are set up to encourage
active and critical, not passive, learning.

7. Turn it Into a Tool!
Does this apply to your
game?
Does this not apply to
your game, or does
your game need to be
improved to address
this?

8. Turn it Into a Tool!
1) All aspects of the the learning environment (including ways in which the
semiotic domain is designed and presented) are set up to encourage active and
critical, not passive, learning.
Is the player being Is the player being
allowed the freedom to directly instructed to
explore and learn by perform tasks without
doing, not by being choice or context as to
told? why?

9. Spreadsheet Madness!
<Fire it Up>
http://www.tinyurl.com/spcgee2

10. Turn it Into a Tool!
Is the player being Is the player being
allowed the freedom to directly instructed to
explore and learn by perform tasks without
doing, not by being choice or context as to
told? why?

11. Your Turn!
Let's Talk About Games and crank up
the Geemotizer!!!!!!

12. Contact
Dan White
CEO
white@filamentgames.com
Dan Norton
Creative Director
norton@filamentgames.com
Maurice Cheeks
Sales & Outreach Director
mocheeks@filamentgames.com

13. Useful Links:
www.seriousplayconference.com
www.seriousgamesdirectory.com
www.seriousgamesassociation.com
Contact:
sbohle@seriousgamesassociation.com