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ABSTRACT

In In this paper I outline an idea that I am researching more fully in my PhD dissertation: using modification of video games as an educational method to explore queer representation. This paper primarily focuses on educational concerns related to that approach: I first review discussions about the challenges surrounding game-based learning approaches and claim that some common points of skepticism in these discussions actually highlight the effectiveness of games for learning about queer representation. I also suggest that, as a genre, choice-based interactive fiction is ideal for exploratory learning about queer representation in comparison to other kinds of games. I then analyze educational uses of video game modification, noting that one of the most common approaches is educators modifying popular games for the classroom. I claim that approach could work especially well as a way to explore problems with representation in video games. I close the article with a short discussion about expanding upon this approach by building an easily-modifiable interactive fiction game to address issues with portrayals of queerness in mainstream games, a method I examine more fully in my PhD dissertation and through an associated digital game prototype. Overall, I argue that interactive fiction works are very well-suited to dealing with issues of representation and that modifiable interactive fiction games are an effective way to learn more about problems with representation in video games

CCS CONCEPTS

Human-centered computing • Applied Computing • Social and

professional topics

KEYWORDS

Education, Interactive Fiction, Modding, Queerness

ACM Reference Format: Kenton Taylor Howard. 2020. Learning about Queer Representation Through Mods: Reviewing Past Challenges and Outlining Future Approaches. In Proceedings of 2020 ACM Hypertext Conference (HT’20), July 13–15, Virtual Event. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 5 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3372923.3404780

1 Introduction

A cursory review of literature surrounding the topic reveals countless ways that games have been used at almost every education level and in almost every discipline. This usage is common despite skepticism that games can be effective learning tools in comparison to more traditional forms of classroom instruction or that they can teach students skills that can be employed outside of a digital environment. In this paper I outline an idea that I am researching more fully in my PhD dissertation: using modification of video games as an educational method to explore queer representation. This paper primarily focuses on educational concerns related to that approach: I first review counterarguments to the skepticism about game-based learning that are used by proponents of games in education and claim these counterarguments highlight the effectiveness of games for exploring issues related to representation. I also examine how game genres impact learning and argue that choice-based interactive fiction games are ideal for exploratory learning about queer representation in comparison to other kinds of games because their gameplay is easy to learn and because they often engage with issues of representation. I then analyze educational uses of video game modification, noting that one of the most common approaches is educators modifying popular games for use in specific courses or for teaching interdisciplinary skills; I also look at how students can learn by modifying games themselves both in and out of the classroom. I argue for educators creating their own mods in conjunction with having students develop mods as a learning strategy, claiming that the combination of approaches could work especially well as a way to explore problems with queer representation in video games. I close the article with a short discussion about using this strategy to address issues with portrayals of queerness in mainstream games that I expand upon in the next chapter. Overall, in this article I argue that interactive fiction works are very well-suited to dealing with issues of representation and that modification of

interactive fiction games is an effective way to explore queer representation.

2 Challenges with game-based learning

While skepticism surrounding usage of games in the classroom stems from many different concerns, first among those is that game-based approaches are not comparable to methods of instruction that are already in use. As such, many proponents of games in education challenge the effectiveness of traditional classroom instruction, arguing that game-based learning is better than traditional instruction in a variety of ways. Some scholars suggest that game-based learning is more applicable to modern life than traditional classroom instruction: for example, Gee argued that “the theory of learning in good video games fits better with the modern, high-tech, global world today’s children and teenagers live in than do the theories (and practices) of learning that they see in school” [1]. Gee suggested that younger students learn more from games than they learn from materials such as textbooks because those students are accustomed to learning from digital sources already, making games useful because they keep students more interested in learning. Gee’s claim does not focus on the content of educational games: instead, the fact that they keep students engaged is important. While the content of learning games is worth considering, the ability of games to engage students is useful when addressing issues like queer representation, as it allows games to generate interest in issues that a player might not otherwise learn about. Because of this element, a player who encounters a queer character in a game might be more willing explore that character’s narrative than that person would when encountering a queer character in another medium, especially if there is a gameplay advantage or central mechanic associated with doing so. A game focused on letting players explore issues related to queer representation, such as Life in the Megapocalypse, the game prototype I made for this project, could therefore encourage players to engage more directly with that kind of representation and generate more interest in learning about it.

Another common point of skepticism about video gamebased learning focuses on whether games can achieve transference, which is the ability for people to contextualize skills they learned in an educational setting within the real world. This skepticism arises from concerns that skills learned in a game might not be transferable in the way that skills learned through traditional classroom instruction are: a person who plays an educational game might only be learning how to play that game. This concern is why many learning games, such as the “Traffic Mania” and “Parking Mania” minigames found on the Cool Math Games website for children, simulate real world tasks and settings: the idea is to make the application of the skills learned through the game obvious to aid in transference. Of course, such games do not actually teach children how to drive or park a car: instead, the real-world setting contextualizes what the students learn from the game so that they can see how

the information could be used to complete an everyday task. Learning games that are aimed at simulating real world tasks are not as useful for the kinds of exploratory learning best suited to issues like queer representation, however, and simulation of the real world is not the only way games can be used in educational settings: Hopkins and Roberts argued that “[basing] the value of educational games on the basis of ‘real-world’ connections is… unduly restrictive” [2] because that approach ignores the many potential ways that games can be used for other kinds of learning. While simulating real world tasks in the games described above is a useful approach for aiding in transference of math skills, one of the most powerful elements of games is their ability to model hypothetical settings that allow people to explore ideas that they cannot otherwise explore in real life. This factor means that games could be ideal for the kind of exploratory learning that is best suited to issues like queer representation because they can create settings and situations that do not currently exist. This element of games creates a learning environment in which, for example, players can explore what things would be like in a world where queer people receive a majority of the focus rather than straight ones, a scenario I explore in Life in the Megapocalypse.

3 Interactive fiction as a framework for learning

While using games for learning is popular despite the skepticism surround them, most games are chosen for reasons like cost, system compatibility, or because they are a good fit for the subject at hand. While those are good reasons to choose a game, considerations about genre are critical because educators often expect that students will be able to play a variety of games, ignoring the fact that some game genres are more complex than others. An example of this view would be when Gee claimed that “poor children and teenagers do play video games, even if they have to find a computer or game console at school, in a library or community center, or at a friend’s house” [1]: he was arguing against the idea that using games for teaching could be a problem for students with less time to access a computer at home. Gee was likely right that such students play games in other settings, but he could have underestimated the amount of time required to learn complex game genres. This assumption is a problem because games that can be quite time-consuming to learn, such as turn-based strategy games, are often used in the classroom: for example, Pagnotti and Russell [3] and Wainwright

[4] used Civilization IV to create lessons for college world history courses. In both cases the game worked well, but these successes may have been because the students involved had regular computer access and plenty of time to learn the systems of the game. In contrast, someone who only has access to a computer for short periods of time could struggle to learn Civilization IV: a typical game can take dozens of hours, and mastering the game can take much longer than that. Using strategy games as learning tools might therefore cause a student to struggle with the complexity of the genre instead of learning about the intended educational objectives, especially if the student’s

available time to learn the game is limited. On the other hand, interactive fiction games are ideal for teaching: they typically distill gameplay down to the player entering simple text commands or selecting choices from a menu of options, both gameplay systems that are relatively easy to learn. As a genre, interactive fiction allows players to focus on making choices and to consider potential narrative outcomes they might have in the context of the game’s story rather than learning complex gameplay mechanics, a useful design for a game that focuses on queer stories that are not often addressed by video games, which is why I chose that genre for Life in the Megapocalypse.

4 Game modification and education

As I outlined above, choice-based interactive fiction games are useful for the approach I am proposing because they are much easier to learn how to play in comparison to other games. This quality is also particularly useful when employing modification as an educational approach: choice-based interactive fiction games are easier to modify than other kinds of games because modifying them typically does not involve learning advanced programming skills. Modified games have rarely been used in an educational context to explore issues like queer representation, however, which is surprising because modification seems like a promising educational method that could bridge game design, creative writing, and various other skills into an interdisciplinary learning experience that would be quite appropriate for exploring such an issue. Modified games have been used for learning in the past, however, and one of the most common approaches is an educator modifying an existing game for use in the classroom; similar approaches have also been used outside the classroom as well to teach interdisciplinary skills. While such approaches are promising, situations in which students have actually been asked to modify games themselves as a learning experience are rare, though research on such approaches and on self-driven learning in modding communities suggests that modding could be a beneficial educational strategy as well. Modifying a game for use in the classroom is a good starting point, but the less-utilized approach of having students modify games themselves is also very promising and should be employed as an educational strategy more frequently. I also argue that both approaches could be particularly useful for learning about queer representation.

When discussing potential uses of modified games for educational purposes, many argue that educators should modify games for a particular discipline, and this approach seems to be one of the most common ways that modification of games is used in educational settings. Brown et al. argued that educators could “modify or adapt an existing game or software and incorporate educational content to achieve science learning” [13] and they highlighted several successful modified games that were used for such a purpose in science classes in higher education, suggesting that modification is an effective method in that discipline. An example of such a mod is Smaldone et al.’s PolyCraft World, which was created to teach chemistry at the

college level. The creators designed the mod to link the chemistry concepts they wanted students to learn to game’s mechanics, constructing the game such that “learning more science makes the game more fun and the player more powerful in the game” [14]. Educators who create their own game mods can construct them in a similar fashion, helping to address the concerns about transference in regards to educational games that I discussed in the previous section. This approach highlights one of the biggest benefits of creating educational mods: educators can ensure that when students are learning the core gameplay elements of the game they are also learning the desired material by designing the game mod so that learning the game’s mechanics is synonymous with learning the educational material. This factor is why I built Life in the Megapocalypse myself: while it is not a mod of another game, I built it to be easily modifiable by others, and creating it myself allowed me to construct the game such that learning more about the game’s queer characters gives players a gameplay advantage. This structure encourages players to explore the narratives of those characters so that players naturally learn more about queer representation as they play, and the game’s easily modifiable nature allows players to expand the game’s narrative in their own ways if they wish.

While designing mods for specific educational purposes is a useful strategy, there is an issue with that approach: creating mods for complex games requires programing and game design skill that not all educators have. As such, a key element to consider when designing educational mods is also choosing games that are easy to modify, especially if the creator expects others to adapt the mod for their own purposes. This factor is why Minecraft is one of the most frequently chosen games for making educational mods: modding tools for the game are easily accessible through a free software development kit and the tools are well-documented on the game’s official wiki, as well as on many other fan sites, making mod creation for Minecraft relatively easy in comparison to other games. Mods for the game have been used at a variety of educational levels and in many disciplines: the Polycraft World mod described earlier, for example, is a Minecraft mod used in science higher education. In addition, Al-Washmi et al. created a Minecraft Mod “developed specifically to get children to play collaboratively while engaging in mathematics” [15], showing its potential for collaborative learning. They claimed they chose the game because of the “ease with which it can be used to allow investigation of educational ideas” [15], demonstrating that it is easy to modify the game to achieve a variety of learning outcomes. Minecraft mods have also been used outside of classroom environments: Wendel et al. created a “collaborative multiplayer game specifically for enhancing teamwork and collaboration” [16] and tested it with 28 participants in groups of 4 [16], suggesting that it taught several team-building skills very well. While Minecraft seems to be a very popular game for these purposes and is a very solid choice because it is easy to modify, I argue that modifiable choice-based interactive fiction games might be even better suited for learning about representation. Such games are also

easily modifiable using tools like Ink and place more of a focus on narrative elements than on gameplay mechanics and level design, as Minecraft does. This factor is why I built Life in the Megapocalypse in the Inky scripting engine: Inky naturally emphasizes storytelling due to its text-heavy presentation, though it is still flexible enough to create gameplay mechanics with a reasonable amount of depth. Inky also has qualities in common with Minecraft that make it useful: it is freely available, has a great deal of documentation, and the developers provide a sample game to help users get started with building content.

5 Conclusion

I have argued in this paper that interactive fiction games are an ideal tool for helping people explore queer representation and that modification of games is likewise an effective method for creating games they are well-suited for learning related concepts. I believe that such an approach could be applied to a variety of issues, and games are notorious for having many of those: problematic portrayals of race, gender, and sexuality have plagued gaming culture for a long time, and while games as a whole have gotten better at handling those issues, many franchises still have quite a ways to go in terms of inclusion. That being said, I do not survey all of these issues in my PhD dissertation or suggest that this approach could address all issues of representation in games: such problems are complex and require solutions that are tailored to the particulars of each issue. I do think this approach is adaptable enough to address many issues surrounding queer representation in games, however, and in my dissertation work I provide examples of how it could be used by turning to problematic portrayals of queerness in mainstream games. I also lay out the design of an easily modifiable game I built specifically for this purpose, Life in the Megapocalypse. Finally, I propose the structure of an in-depth study into the effectiveness of this approach that I plan on conducting as post-dissertation work. This paper provides a look into the educational potential of this new idea that others can build on as well as a review of some potential challenges that other researchers might encounter when doing this kind of work.

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