Game Jams as Pedagogic Playgrounds for Problem Deconstruction and Reflective Learning

Abstract

This research outlines lessons learned in leading social impact aimed game jams across communities, in Japan, India, and Malaysia. Instead of providing best practices for such events, this writing examines patterns demonstrated in how participants deconstruct societal problems and design experiences that reflect on them. The primary takeaway is the intense constraints of game jams encourage jammers to deconstruct the social impact challenges on which they have focused their games in unique ways. These deconstructions can be understood as a translation, seeking to convert participant interpretation of problem causes and their solutions. The authors posit that the most important outcomes for game jams are not necessarily the games produced, nor the practice earned in making games, but the learning that occurs through assessing a problem, translating into a playable experience and aiming to represent its essential elements as identified by the participants.