Taipei Ludographic
Game Design Workshop Theory, Discussion, and
Example Games Online INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, SIMULATION GAMES, AND COMPUTER GAME TECHNOLOGY ELAINE M. RAYBOURN
Excerpts from the following paper were presented by Elaine M. Raybourn for the panel "Advanced Simulation Game Design" at the 1997 Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning (ABSEL) Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana. INTRODUCTION Play is an underrated component of the cultural learning and socialization process. Nevertheless it is through play that children are first made aware of the appropriate behaviors, norms, and rules of a culture. As adults, the learning process continues though structured social activities, or rule-governed communication behaviors. According to Eric Berne (1964), author of Games People Play, human relationships and communication are comprised of game-playing behaviors such as following or violating cultural scripts and rules. It may be said that playing games either for fun, relational satisfaction, or social learning is a natural human phenomenon. Games have long provided a structured environment for quickly learning complex behaviors. Most games used in a professional context fall into the following categories: teaching, training, operations, research, therapy, and entertainment (Shubik, 1975; 1989). Among the fields that most use games for teaching and training are management science, economics, psychology, sociology, political science, military science, and education. Games used to replicate and teach behavioral models and processes that employ the use of a human in a particular role, actual or simulated, are called simulation games (Shubik, 1975). | |
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