Values at Play
About
The Book
Curriculum
Game Tools
Research and Resources
Interviews with Game Designers
About
Values at Play investigated how designers can be more intentional about the ways in which they integrate human values into their game-based systems.
Since 2005, our team has tested and created a values based, human centered designed college curriculum that is openly available on this site. We also developed novel games which integrate values and tools for other designers and learners. The team’s digital game LAYOFF attracted over 1 million players in its first week of release and educated players about the financial crisis. Our board game VEXATA helps middle school students learn to “read” game mechanics and develop a game literacy with values in mind. Finally, the urban games PHOTOPOLIS and the Massively Multiplayer series explore how players can envision human values as they manifest in everyday life across cultures, and was launched with players in New York, Beijing, and Shanghai.
From ~2007-2025, Values at Play had its own website at valuesatplay.org. Some of its contents have been archived here. See below for more information related to Values at Play.
The Book
All games express and embody human values, providing a compelling arena in which we play out beliefs and ideas. “Big ideas” such as justice, equity, honesty, and cooperation—as well as other kinds of ideas, including violence, exploitation, and greed— may emerge in games whether designers intend them or not. In this book, Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum present Values at Play, a theoretical and practical framework for identifying socially recognized moral and political values in digital games. Values at Play can also serve as a guide to designers who seek to implement values in the conception and design of their games. After developing a theoretical foundation for their proposal, Flanagan and Nissenbaum provide detailed examinations of selected games, demonstrating the many ways in which values are embedded in them. They introduce the Values at Play heuristic, a systematic approach for incorporating values into the game design process. Interspersed among the book’s chapters are texts by designers who have put Values at Play into practice by accepting values as a design constraint like any other, offering a real-world perspective on the design challenges involved.
Comments on Values at Play
“Values at Play in Digital Games gives the reader a powerful set of tools for examining the cultural, ethical, and political meanings of video games, and reminds us that a consideration of the values embodied in digital play is an integral part of the game design process.”
Richard Lemarchand, Associate Professor, University of Southern California; Lead Designer, Uncharted
“Values at Play in Digital Games is an invaluable toolbox for understanding the values embedded in existing games and for making new games that express the values we believe in.”
Jesper Juul, video game theorist; author of Half-Real and The Art of Failure
“Flanagan and Nissenbaum boldly step into the deep and turbulent waters of aesthetics and values in games. An essential read for designers who believe in the power of games to change minds.”
Asi Burak, President, Games for Change; Faculty at the School of Visual Arts
Reviews
Curriculum
The Values at Play (VAP) project was conceived with the intent of investigating how video game designers consciously and unconsciously embed social values into video games through narratives and game mechanics. This curriculum, a corollary of the research project, will introduce designers to a systematic method for discovering, analyzing, and integrating values and meaningful, critical play into their design work. All of the materials associated with the curriculum are available on this page as downloadable documents.
If you would like further information on trying this curriculum segment in a course, please contact us: contact (at) tiltfactor (dot) org.
Teaching & Curriculum Guide
The guide contains a unit for introducing game designers to the concept of values embedded in games. The unit is divided into four lesson plans and covers the three segments of the Values at Play design methodology.
Values at Play — Curriculum
Design Journals
- Design Journal prompts (.docx)
Class Readings
- Belman, J. & Flanagan, M. “Designing Games to Foster Empathy.” Cognitive Technology 14(2), 2009, pp. 5-15.
- Belman, J. (2007). Game reviews. game_reviews.pdf
- Bogost, I. (2006). Playing Politics: Videogames for Politics, Activism, and Advocacy. First Monday, 11(9), Special Issue #7: Command Lines: The Emergence of Governance in Cyberspace.
- https://firstmonday.org/issues/special11_9/bogost/index.html
- Flanagan, M. & Nissenbaum, H. (2007). A game design methodology to incorporate social activist themes. Proceedings of CHI 2007. New York: ACM Press, 181–190. vap-chifinal06sub.pdf
- Frasca, G. (2004). Videogames of the oppressed.
- https://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/firstperson/Boalian
- Friedman, B. & Nissenbaum, H. (1996). Bias in computer systems. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 14(3), 330–347.
- Latour, B. (1994). Where are the missing masses? Sociology of a door. In Wiebe Bijker and John Law (Eds.) Shaping technology/Building society: Studies in sociotechnical change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 225–259.
- https://www.brunolatour.fr/articles/article/050.html
- Mental Health Alliance Blasts Manhunt 2
- https://kotaku.com/gaming/bang-your-head/mental-health-allianceblasts-manhunt-2-318129.php
- Norman, D.A. (2004). Affordances and design.
- https://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordances_and.html
- Orr, M. (2005). User-centered design.
- https://linuxgazette.net/116/orr.html
- “Saving the World, One Video Game at a Time” (New York Times, July 23, 2006):
- https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/arts/23thom.html?ex=1185076800&en=2365cab8f8972ab8&ei=5070
- Winner, L. (1988). Do artifacts have politics? In L. Winner, The whale and the reactor: A search for limits in an age of high technology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 19–39.
- https://epl.scu.edu:16080/~stsvalues/readings/Winner.pdf
- Zimmerman, E. (2003). Play as research: The iterative design process.
- https://www.ericzimmerman.com/texts/Iterative_Design.htm
- Other Available Readings
- Erickson, T. (2000). Lingua francas for design: Sacred places and pattern languages.
- https://www.visi.com/~snowfall/LinguaFranca_DIS2000.html
- Flanagan, M., Nissenbaum, H., Belman, J., & Diamond, J. (2007). A method for discovering values in digital games. To be presented at the annual conference of the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), Tokyo, Japan.
- method_digra2007.pdf
Teaching Materials
- VAP FAQ & Quick Reference
- Grow-a-game! cards overview
- Grow-a-game! cards instructions
- Printable set of Grow-a-Game Cards (this may take a while…)
Research Materials
- VAP Game Design Codebook
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
Game Tools
Design Methodology – The VAP design methodology is described in several research papers located on this site.
VAP Quick Reference vapquickref.pdf
Grow-A-Game Cards
Tiltfactor is delighted to be able to share some design methods with the public. Developed as part of Values at Play, the Grow-A-Game cards are widely in use in both K-12 and University classrooms.
Using Grow-A-Game, groups of people brainstorm novel game ideas which prioritize human values. While no prior game design experience is necessary, both experienced designers and those new to the field will have fun making games.
Overview
Apprentice Edition
Classic Edition
Expert Edition
Digital Edition
Grow-A-Story (coming soon)
Order Grow-A-Game Cards
You can order Grow-A-Game cards from Tiltfactor.
A printable version is also available for download:
Grow-a-game! cards overview
Grow-a-game! cards instructions
Printable set of Grow-a-Game Cards (this may take a while…)
There was also a digital version of Grow-A-Game for iOS, but has since been discontinued.
Articles And Reviews
“Grow a Game.” Blacklodge, June 26, 2011.
Hing, Geoffrey. “Gaming summit aims to encourage girls in technology.” Medill Reports, April 8, 2010.
Schroyen, Joel. “Tilt Factor – Game Design for Social Change.” FUN, Anyone?, March 4, 2010.
Glaves, Rachel. “Designing Fun: Games Design Lessons for User Experience.” Adaptive Path, June 3, 2009.
“The Grow-A-Game Exercise.” The Pretentious Gamer, June 2, 2009.
Abbott, Michael. “GLS: Embedding Social Activist Principles In Game Design.” Gamasutra, July 18, 2008.
Design Documents
from the Tiltfactor Design Team
Balanceador del Ecosistema
Big River
Fingerprints
Greenwoods (Screens only)
Lay Off Game
Media Mogulism
Monsters of Prog
More More More
Pests
Timber
Towers of the Empire
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
Research and Resources
Below is a list of articles and documents related to Values of Play, which covers such topics as: design methodology, design methodologies, critical play, human centered design, game design, values in games, ethics in games, game mechanics, meaningful play.
Report on Findings, Publications, Dissemination, and Future Directions
Project Documents + Proceedings
Belman, Jonathan, Flanagan, Mary, Nissenbaum, Helen, and Diamond, Jim. “Grow-A-Game: A Tool for Values Conscious Design and Analysis of Digital Games.” Proceedings of DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play. Hilversum: The Netherlands, 14-17 2011.
Belman, J., Flanagan, M., and Nissenbaum, H. “Exploring the Creative Potential of Values Conscious Design: Students’ Experiences with the VAP Curriculum.” Eludamos: The Journal for Computer Game Culture 4(1) 2010.
Belman, J. & Flanagan, M. “Designing Games to Foster Empathy.” Cognitive Technology 14(2), 2009, pp. 5-15.
Belman, J., Flanagan M., and Nissenbaum, H. (2009). Instructional Methods and Curricula for Values Conscious Design. Loading: The Official Journal of the Canadian Games Studies Association, 3(4).
Mary Flanagan, Helen Nissenbaum, Jim Diamond, and Jonathan Belman. “A Method for Discovering Values in Digital Games.” Full paper presented at Situated Play DiGRA ’07 (Tokyo, JP September 24-28, 2007)
Mary Flanagan, and Helen Nissenbaum. “A Game Design Methodology to Incorporate Activist Themes.” Proceedings of the CHI 2007 conference, 28 April – May 3, San Jose, California.
M. Flanagan, D. Howe, and H. Nissenbaum, Values in Design: Theory and Practice (pdf). In Information Technology and Moral Philosophy, Jeroen van den Hoven and John Weckert (eds.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
Mary Flanagan, Daniel C. Howe, Helen Nissenbaum. “New Design Methods for Activist Gaming” Proceedings from DiGRA 2005, 16-20 June, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Mary Flanagan, “Troubling ‘Games for Girls’: Notes from the Edge of Game Design.” Proceedings from DiGRA 2005, 16-20 June, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Mary Flanagan, Daniel C. Howe, Helen Nissenbaum. “Values at Play: Design Tradeoffs in Socially-Oriented Game Design” Proceedings of the CHI 2005 conference on Human factors in computing systems. CHI 2005, 2-7 April, Portland, Oregon. New York: ACM Press.
Other Bibliography
M. Flanagan, “Next Level: Women’s Digital Activism through Gaming.” Digital Media Revisited. Edited by Andrew Morrison, Gunnar Liestøl & Terje Rasmussen. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003, 359 – 388.
M. Flanagan, “Developing Virtual Performance Spaces.” American Puppetry. Ed. Phyllis T. Dircks. New York: Theatre Library Association, 2004.
M. Flanagan, “Hyperbodies, Hyperknowledge: Women in Games, Women in Cyberpunk, and Strategies of Resistance.” reload: rethinking women + cyberculture . Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002, 425-454.
M. Flanagan, “navigable narratives: gender +narrative spatiality in virtual worlds.” Art Journal. Vol 59 no. 3, Fall 2000, 74 – 85.
M. Flanagan, “Response to Celia Pearce: About Computer Gaming.” First Person. Ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan. Cambridge: MIT Press. (2003).
M. Flanagan, “Mobile Identities, Digital Stars, & Post-Cinematic Selves.” Wide Angle: Issue on Digitality & the Memory of Cinema. 21:3, 1999.
A. Barth, A. Datta, J.C. Mitchell, and H. Nissenbaum, Privacy and Contextual Integrity: Framework and Applications (pdf). Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, May 2006.
Y. Benkler and H. Nissenbaum, Commons-Based Peer Production and Virtue (MS Word). The Journal of Political Philosophy, forthcoming 2006.
H. Nissenbaum, Privacy as Contextual Integrity (pdf). Washington Law Review, v79 #1, February 04, 2004. 119-158.
H. Nissenbaum, Hackers and the Contested Ontology of Cyberspace (pdf) New Media and Society, v6, #2, 2004. 195-217
H. Nissenbaum, Will Security Enhance Trust Online, or Supplant It? (pdf) In P. Kramer and K. Cook (eds.) Trust and Distrust Within Organizations: Emerging Perspectives, Enduring Questions, Russell Sage Publications, 2004. 155-188.
H. Nissenbaum, New Research Norms for a New Medium (pdf) In The Commodification of Information. N. Elkin-Koren and N. Netanel (editors) The Hague: Kluwer Academic Press, 2002. 433-457.
L. Introna and H. Nissenbaum. Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matters (pdf). The Information Society, 16(3):1-17, 2000.
Related Articles By Team Members
B. Friedman and H. Nissenbaum, “Bias in Computer Systems” (pdf) ACM Transactions on Information Systems July 1996. 330-347.