how to design reflective games
How can we design games to encourage reflection? According to this paper, reflective pieces are best done through personalized design, but if you're making mass media, you won’t know your players nor could you design something personal for them even if you did.
One way is to foster specific aesthetics around certain topics. For example, the game LAYOFF is about, well, layoffs. The mechanics are like bejeweled, except instead of swapping jewels around, you swap employees — employees with backstories and names and faces. When you “clear out” some employees, they fall sadly into an unemployment office. These mechanics foster aesthetics of dehumanization and optimization, getting players to reflect on the dehumanization and optimization inherent in the corporate world.
Furthermore, teach via rules and outcomes
Some other tips from a paper I first-authored on the topic:
- focus on projection and intellectual exploration as a way to allow players to reflect on their own experiences and philosophies.
- Think about the conversation your player is having with the implied designer. The game mechanics, story elements, and aesthetics all contribute to this conversation. Is the implied designer coming off as a mentor guiding the player through their thoughts, or are they being condescending towards the player?
See: Reflective Game Design-Khaled
Random other thoughts:
- Try to create a player profile and encourage reflection based on that profile.
- Reflect on things that happened within the game. See Overwatch’s play of the game system.
