General provisions

The course is part of Master´s Programme in Transformative Game Design, 60 c

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university, and Introduction to Transformative Game Design, 7.5 credits, and Transformative Game Design 1, 7.5 credits. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of Cultivating Transformational Communities, the student should be able to:

• Knowledge of the Field: Discuss topics, themes, and theories related to building and managing communities featuring transformative analog role-playing games with an emphasis on safety and inclusion.
• Develop, Facilitate, and Playtest: Design, experience, iterate, and critique games, safety structures, and community building practices related to transformative analog role-playing games that have specific growth related goals and themes relevant to inclusion.
• Perform Academic, Professional, and Reflective Writing: Compose written texts and other communication materials on game design, safety practices, and community building related to transformative analog role-playing games in various formats for distinct audiences.

Content

Building on the work done in previous transformative game design courses (Intro to Transformative Game Design, Transformative Game Design 1 and 2), this course explores the potential of play communities as containers for personal and social change. Students study various playful spaces and their affordances for exploring identity, creating empowering social systems, and approaching complex problems. This course examines best practices from leisure, therapeutic, and educational playful communities with an emphasis on establishing and maintaining safety to explore edges for growth. This course emphasizes the importance of intentionality, goal-setting, transparency, agreements, accountability, and responsibility in establishing functional group dynamics.

This course also emphasizes designing and facilitating transformative role-playing games, as well as procedures for off-game negotiation, communication, integration, and processing. Students learn various workshopping, safety, and debriefing techniques. During the course students design an autobiographical game, as well as create a game design document, safety design, and community building plan, which they will describe in academic and professional papers.

Instruction

The course is delivered through asynchronous group discussions, lectures, and flexibly scheduled synchronous group meetings. Curricular materials may include some or all of the following: video-recordings, research articles, popular texts, game design documents, etc. Students will create tangible game design related projects (mainly within analog role-playing games), alone or in teams, and play and test their games. Students will show and critically discuss the results with their peers, the teacher, and other researchers/stakeholders where indicated. Feedback and guidance on writing will be provided throughout the course.

Assessment

The basis for assessment is the students' active participation in course-related activities, presenting regular progress of deliverables and adhering to deadlines. Deliverables include oral presentations and written assignments.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University´s disability coordinator.

Other directives

The course replaces 5SD318, Cultivating Transformational Communities, 7.5 credits