Papers by Laureline Chiapello
Games and Culture
Since the seventies, the definition of scientific knowledge has undergone major shifts. However, ... more Since the seventies, the definition of scientific knowledge has undergone major shifts. However, game researchers do not sufficiently reflect upon those epistemological changes. This paper suggests that to make game studies more inclusive—for women especially and diverse voices in general—game researchers need to shift from traditional, objective epistemologies toward pragmatist ones instead. To support such an argument, this paper first focuses on the central concepts of pragmatist feminist epistemology: experience, rationality, situation and fallibilism. Those concepts are then used for a rereading of game studies epistemological stances. I argue that game studies initially adhered to traditional epistemologies, which formed hostile attitudes toward women and minorities in the field. On the contrary, several authors now develop their scholarship congruently with a feminist pragmatist epistemology. Their works are analyzed to observe how pragmatist feminist concepts concretely mani...
Handbook of Research Methods on Creativity
DRS2016: Future-Focused Thinking
Donald Schön was one of the most influential scholars in the design field; his work was and still... more Donald Schön was one of the most influential scholars in the design field; his work was and still is among the most highly cited. But how and why do scholars cite Schön’s work? What do these citations do? In this paper, we present a content analysis of 63 texts published at the last two DRS conferences in an effort to understand the function of citations of Donald Schön’s work. We find scholars primarily cite Schön’s work either to support their own research topics, methods or methodologies, and arguments or to credit Schön for his concepts or ideas. And we observe few instances of citations that engage critically with Schön or build on his ideas. Our conclusions suggest that a deeper understanding of citation function would be an interesting and important project.
Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, 2021
A ludo mix occurs when a variety of media are organized around one or several central games. Whil... more A ludo mix occurs when a variety of media are organized around one or several central games. While this might be an opportunity to build worlds and create new intellectual properties, it is also a marketing strategy. These two perspectives are often contradictory, and are difficult for game designers to address: how to design games in a ludo mix? Firstly, I establish a theoretical foundation, and suggest that a definition of ludo mix can encompass the game designer’s experience more explicitly by relying on the pragmatist concept of “aesthetic experience” by John Dewey. Based on this perspective, I will demonstrate how Dewey’s concepts complement the works of two major thinkers in Japanese media studies, Eiji Ōtsuka and Hiroki Azuma. Secondly, I validate the usefulness of Dewey’s concepts for game designers by employing them in a “project-grounded” research approach. This particular project involves nine students enrolled in a narrative game design class, working on the franchise Ag...
What do players “know” when they know how to play a game? This question was of high interest for ... more What do players “know” when they know how to play a game? This question was of high interest for a group of Quebecois video game designers crafting tutorials for “casual games”. This gaming trend opened video gaming to new groups of players, some of whom had no previous gaming knowledge. Teaching them how to play thus became a significant challenge for game designers. This paper will undertake a philosophical examination to better understand how game designers crafted tutorials for these new players. The results suggest that designers question their implicit understanding of the concept of “knowledge” fairly deeply in order to meet their audiences’ needs. They reject a “spectatorial” vision of knowledge and embrace a more pragmatic one—creating in-game tutorials where playing and learning are unified.
Casual games are one of the main phenomena in the video game industry, but remain under-explored ... more Casual games are one of the main phenomena in the video game industry, but remain under-explored and are not highly regarded. Scientific definitions are scarce, inconsistent, and often disconnected from actual games. Further, theoretical models for game design, centered on gameplay, often fall short in defining casual games. The objective of this study is to use Donald Schön's model of the reflective practitioner to shed a new light on casual games through the collection of professional knowledge of game designers. This study follows a qualitative approach with phenomenological inspiration. Eight one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with casual game designers who were asked to provide a narrative of their professional practice. Results show that traditional game design concepts remain relevant for understanding and defining casual games, but need to be reworked in the light of new experiences and contexts in gaming. Namely, challenge is no longer synonymous with ...
Articles, 2021
En matière de jeu vidéo, la province de Québec est vue comme un pôle de « créativité ». La comple... more En matière de jeu vidéo, la province de Québec est vue comme un pôle de « créativité ». La complexité des phénomènes socioculturels nous pousse à nous interroger sur le sens de ce concept souvent invoqué et valorisé. Qu’entend-on par créativité, qui ou qu’est-ce qui est créatif ? Cet article s’appuie sur une version constructiviste du modèle des 4 P’s (product, process, people, press) pour exposer les limites de la créativité dans l’industrie québécoise du jeu vidéo, en particulier à Montréal. Le modèle adopté ici permet de s’attarder sur différentes dimensions interreliées de la créativité, depuis les politiques économiques gouvernementales jusqu’aux processus de création en passant par les produits créés et les personnes impliquées. Les résultats montrent à première vue une inquiétante absence de créativité. Mais c’est davantage le manque de théorisation et d’opérationnalisation du concept dans le contexte du jeu vidéo québécois qui pose problème. Si l’on souhaite que la province ...
The Journal of Creative Behavior, 2021
Design Studies, 2018
Donald Sch€ on was one of the most influential scholars in the design field; his work was and sti... more Donald Sch€ on was one of the most influential scholars in the design field; his work was and still is among the most highly cited. But how and why do scholars cite Sch€ on's work? In this paper, we present a content analysis of 120 texts published at the last four DRS conferences in order to understand the function of citations of Sch€ on's work. We find scholars primarily cite Sch€ on either to support their research topics, methods or methodologies, and arguments or to credit Sch€ on for concepts or ideas. We observe few instances of citations that engage critically with Sch€ on or build on his ideas. Our conclusions suggest that a deeper understanding of citation function would be an interesting and important project.
The Design Journal, 2017
Schön's model of design as a reflective conversation with the situation is one of the most import... more Schön's model of design as a reflective conversation with the situation is one of the most important models in design research, but it is not often criticized. This paper questions Schön's vision of values by contrasting it with Dewey's vision. It presents a case study from the video game industry to show the difference between Schön's and Dewey's value system. Game designers were interviewed about their values concerning casual games. The results show that some designers have had a change of values during a project: they moved from a negative position on casual games to a positive one. In terms of Schön's fixed appreciative system, a change of values is unusual, and it risks jeopardizing the design project. But this fixedness is contradictory with the idea of conversation with the situation, and Dewey's vision of values, which is more flexible, demonstrates stronger coherence with the model.
11th EAD Conference Proceedings: The Value Of Design Research, 2016
This paper analyses creativity issues in the video game industry using Schön's work on "frames". ... more This paper analyses creativity issues in the video game industry using Schön's work on "frames". Specifically, "frame creation" is considered a key part of designers' creative process, and this concept will be discussed in relation to Schön's "constants": practitioners' media, language, repertoire, appreciative systems, overarching theories and role frames. These constants are often overlooked; however, this study explains how they can help researchers to better understand issues related to creativity.
While the casual game market is expanding, there are increasingly few research projects and explo... more While the casual game market is expanding, there are increasingly few research projects and explorations about the definition of this game style. Existing definitions are contradictory and some areas, like casual game design practice, remain under-explored. Using game designers' professional knowledge, this study aims to provide a new understanding and perspective towards definitions of casual games. Results contradict previous studies that have advocated for a radical shift in casual game design values. Outcomes indicate that certain traditional concepts like challenge are still valuable in understanding casual games. The discussion illustrates how different traditional concepts fit with the casual game trend and how some recent assertions about casual game definitions might be deceptive for game designers.
RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne, 2015
At a time when the video game industry is booming in Canada and game studies departments begin to... more At a time when the video game industry is booming in Canada and game studies departments begin to emerge in universities, this article assesses the evolution of video game design theories. These can be considered as the combination of two worlds, design theories and video game studies, a union that seems largely under-examined. Using a theoretical model drawn from design theory, namely “the eclipse of the object,” this article reveals similarities between design and video game design theories. It argues that the parallels that can be drawn between these theories constitute the basis for a shared theoretical outlook. Building on this commonality, this paper concludes with some suggestions concerning research, pedagogy, and the video gaming industry that aim at unifying these two domains.
Sciences du jeu, 2015
Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 6 avril 2021. La revue Sciences du jeu est mise à dis... more Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 6 avril 2021. La revue Sciences du jeu est mise à disposition selon les termes de la Licence Creative Commons Attribution-Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale-Pas de Modification 4.0 International. Le designer de jeux vidéo comme agent d'évolution à l'ère du jeu casual Sciences du jeu, 4 | 2015 Le designer de jeux vidéo comme agent d'évolution à l'ère du jeu casual Sciences du jeu, 4 | 2015
Proceedings of DRS
While Schön's work is prominent in design literature, some of its concepts stay unclear. In this ... more While Schön's work is prominent in design literature, some of its concepts stay unclear. In this paper we examine the distinctions Schön made in 1992 between "reflection-in-action" and "reflection on reflection-in-action" (or "conversation with the situation" and "reflective conversation with the situation"). To clarify the meaning of these two terms, we will refer to pragmatist philosophy, using Dewey's work on inquiry and epistemology. Our results show that there is indeed a difference between the two expressions. Moreover, revisiting Dewey's and Schön's work allows for a new visual representation of the reflection-inaction process, which can then be used as a tool to enhance the designers' reflection on reflection-inaction .
Notre terrain d'expérimentation se focalise sur la pratique et la créativité du designer de jeux.... more Notre terrain d'expérimentation se focalise sur la pratique et la créativité du designer de jeux. Nous examinons des dizaines de projets de design au sein du Baccalauréat de l'École des arts Numériques, de l'Animation et du Design (NAD-UQAC). Dans une approche de rechercheprojet-collaborative inspirée des travaux d'Alain Findeli et Serge Desgagné, nos participants sont les étudiants ainsi que les designers de l'entreprise de jeux vidéo montréalaise Juicy Beast. Nos résultats proposent une vision où le designer devient un enquêteur (au sens pragmatiste), cherchant à structurer une situation indéterminée. Il doit pour cela dialoguer avec cette situation afin d'éviter de sombrer dans un agir rigide. Il doit aussi valoriser le raisonnement par abduction (raisonnement métaphorique) pour explorer des problèmes et trouver de nouvelles idées de solution. Enfin, il ne peut se contenter « d'avoir des idées » : il doit transformer concrètement la situation à l'aide de différents prototypes. Le modèle de l'enquête pragmatiste informe aussi le processus de la recherche, et le chercheur est à son tour un enquêteur qui examine une situation intellectuelle indéterminée. Notre recherche est ainsi une « enquête sur l'enquête ». La philosophie pragmatiste est une voie épistémologique qui produit des connaissances sur la recherche, la pratique et l'enseignement, participant ainsi à la transformation et l'amélioration du monde.
Proceedings of the first ACM SIGCHI annual symposium on Computer-human interaction in play, 2014
Innovation and creativity seem to be mere buzzwords, but the quest for innovation and creativity ... more Innovation and creativity seem to be mere buzzwords, but the quest for innovation and creativity by game companies is very real. This Ph.D. dissertation suggests adopting a new p erspective on these concepts by abandoning a managerial attitude and favoring a design approach. The design process of video games is understudied, and this research aims to create a model of video game design activity, using the already existing Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.
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Papers by Laureline Chiapello