Social, Environmental and Ethical
dimensions of
Games Design:
Week 7 - Learning Outcomes
On the 16th November we had brief session covering the learning outcomes for the Project Proposal Module. This allowed us to establish what had to be done in order to fulfil each outcome to the best of our ability. One of which was the 'social, environmental and ethical dimensions of Games Design.
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My lecture notes for this topic can be found within Week 7 of my Notion which can be found here: https://www.notion.so/WEEK-7-ffa8fd966a5944ea9a97fb9be6642e37
Phase 3 - Identifying the Learning Outcomes & Applying this to my work
Purpose for Research
To expand my knowledge on the social, environmental and ethical dimensions of Games Design, in order to apply this to my own work. I will be using this page to explore these dimensions in depth and explain how I can apply this to my own proposal.
THE UN'S 17
GLOBAL GOALS
Research Link:
Sustainable Development Goals
"These goals have the power to create a better world by 2030"
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Come together for the people and our planet
A GAMES DESIGNERS APPROACH
As a Games Designer it's my responsibility to take these global goals into consideration and design products which are environmentally friendly, as well as consider social and ethical dimensions in design. Throughout this project I intend to use these global goals as a guide to create an impactful product.
SOCIAL DIMENSIONS IN DESIGN
GOAL 3 OF 17
"Good Health and Well-being"
Research Link:
GLOBAL GOALS
To begin looking into the social factors of design, I will start by looking at Goal 3 of 'The Global Goals' which "ensures healthy lives and promotes well-being for all at all ages". The Global Goals website consists of their current targets and goals in action to fulfil this.
RAISING AWARENESS
@theglobalgoals on Instagram have posted to raise awareness for health and well-being, especially during the pandemic. They have raised awareness around being supportive to those around you as well as encouraging thanks to all key/health workers.
TARGET 3.4
HOW CAN WE GET INVOLVED?
One of their current targets is to "promote mental health and well-being". Kiera and I are currently working towards this with our project. We aim to supply players with the means to reflect and manage negative thoughts and feelings, as well as raising awareness around the topic. Our proposed idea can potentially be used to assist this and support the UN's global goal.
A section of their website is labelled 'things to do' which outlines ides for supporting each goal. For Goal 3, it was suggested to take care of your own mental health as well as talk to others and seek help if it's needed. This ties in with our current game idea as we intend to offer people with a space or medium to escape, providing them with the tools to regulate their emotions and manage challenging thoughts/feelings.
APPLYING THIS TO MY GAMES DESIGN
We can incorporate this into our design by thinking about what people need. In terms of mental health we know we want to provide people with support in a more up-lifting and playful way. We have also briefly touched on providing schools/workplaces with an intervention to support this - so this is our way to contribute. We can also consider to spread the word of our game and our intentional through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts linked to 'The Global Goals' - to share our efforts to explore this goal and act upon it.
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Throughout the duration of the project, I will be referencing mental health and regulation a lot, which relates back to the social dimensions of my design.
THE TEN PRINCIPLES OF ACTIVE DESIGN
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While surfing the internet I came across this interesting article based on the principles of active design. These principles are usually used as a base for built environments - it outlines how to create a stronger and healthier community through design. Although this doesn't exactly apply to Games Design, I thought it would be useful considering we are thinking of taking forward the idea of a physical space.
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Why are these principles used?
These principles are used to encourage and promote physical activity! Similar to how we'd like to encourage physical movement and observation of our physical space.
Research Link:
https://www.breeam.com/news/delivering-health-wellbeing-benefits-with-active-design/?cn-reloaded=1
"Active design aims to make the most of health and wellbeing benefits of physical activity by empowering people to be more active through the way development is designed, using well researched principles to influence how people interact with the built environment. These solutions aim to tackle major health, environmental and social and challenges, adding value to projects and ultimately supporting public services by making people happier and healthier"
EXAMPLES OF DESIGN FEATURES THAT PROMOTE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY:​
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Sustainable transport
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Public transport links
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Inclusive Design!
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Safe and appealing
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Access to public green spaces
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Good air quality
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A space to deliver multiple benefits
APPLYING THIS TO MY GAMES DESIGN:​
​I can keep these features into consideration when designing the physical experience, because It'll be important for me to consider accessibility of the space as well as inclusive design. I plan to look into Accessibility as a whole to familiarise myself of how to design with this in mind. I have already covered this topic in my Inclusive Design section but I'd like to read about it in relation to Games Design.
ACCESSIBILITY
"HOW TO DESIGN A SOCIAL GAME:"
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I came across this article regarding social games. It covers the most important aspect of this which is Accessibility! The hierarchy of social games design begins with accessibility, ensuring anyone who wants to play, can play.
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WHAT DOES ACCESSIBILITY MEAN?
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Accessibility means a language players can understand
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A platform they can use
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A price point that players can afford/access
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Tutorials, instructions and guidance
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Subtitles for those hard of hearing or deaf
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Font sizes for those with glasses or struggle with sight
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"Basic technical stability"
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More information regarding this can be found within my Inclusive Design page.
"Accessibility will make or break your game. If players cannot play your game, they cannot play your game"
THE HIERARCHY OF SOCIAL GAMES DESIGN
EXAMPLES OF ACCESSIBILITY IN GAMES DESIGN
ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS IN DESIGN
Environmental Issues in Design and Technology
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THE DESIGN CHALLENGE
Design and build products that:
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People need
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Are safe to use
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Do not pollute the earth or harm the environment
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Do not destroy wildlife habitats
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Do not waste finite resources
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Our Environment -
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Our surroundings
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Naturally occurring things - trees, rivers, air, plant life, climate, temperature, moisture levels etc.
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Environmental damage on a larger scale has global consequences which can't be repaired.
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"We need the natural environment for our survival and for our well being".
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Example - Transport
One of the most significant environmental impacts are related to transport systems. In London, there are frequent traffic jams and standstill which leads to air pollution from car engines which impact peoples health, create global warming and climate change. This website states that one of the greatest challenges for designers is to develop 'clean sources of energy' that can be used for transport.
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Research Link:
https://www.notesandsketches.co.uk/Environmental_issues_in_design_and_technology.html
"Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environment of particular areas" - Wikipedia.
APPLYING THIS TO MY GAMES DESIGN:​
Using what I have learned from social and inclusive design, I can make sure to take into consideration the factor of Accessibility as the most important. This will involve considering the set up of a physical space, how accessible this might be to wheelchair users, the option for advanced controls in mobile/console gaming, subtitles, audio descriptions and external devices. Taking into account Inclusive Design will ensure I design a game suitable for everyone despite any form of difference between us. Considering every user makes the design overall more accessible and inclusive - meaning it can be used by anyone anywhere. For my current project, two of my concepts involve physical spaces so it will be important to consider the navigation of this physical space and how players might use it. My third concept is currently set to be on mobile platform meaning we would have to think about advanced controls and settings to enable people to map their controls differently or adjust features. During the duration of my project, I plan to consider these factors and test with a variety of users to ensure my design is as accessible and inclusive as it can be.
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HOW TO CONSIDER THESE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS IN DESIGN?
Architectural Features
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Image Link:
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Consider green spaces
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Water Use
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Proportions of space
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Orientation of buildings
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Radiation Control
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Structure and Construction
"DESIGNING THE PRODUCTS TO MEET ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES"
Design our products to meet environmental challenges.
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ECO-DESIGN
An approach that aims to reduce a products environmental impact throughout its entire life cycle, from manufacture to use.
Research Link:
Eco-Design Benefits
Eco-Design preserves non-renewable resources, prevents pollution and considers potential danger for animals and plants.
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“nearly 80% of a product’s environmental impact can be improved through eco-design".
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It increases knowledge about the product's impact on the environment.
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Creates ethical value - enables other companies to implement similar.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS OF GAMES DESIGN
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How can we design games with environmental factors in mind?
To begin to apply this to Games Design I thought I'd read up on why games are bad for the environment, and from this establish ways we can overcome these issues. With a clear understanding of what makes Design environmentally-unfriendly, I can do my best to integrate whats needed to change this.
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PLAYING VIDEO GAMES CAN BE BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT - WHY?
"From plastic packaging to fossil fuel energy consumption"
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WHERE DOES IT STEM FROM?
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The amount of electricity consoles require - fossil fuel power plants which produce Co2.
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Physical waste of game packaging
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Length of games when it impacts play-time/duration of play
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HOW CAN WE CHANGE THIS?
Already game companies are becoming more aware of their environmental impact so are making the necessary changes to reduce it.
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EXAMPLE: Ubisoft put an end to physical instruction manuals to reduce waste.
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Research Link:
https://screenrant.com/video-game-environmental-impact-reports-carbon-footprint-energy/
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Help the UN achieve the Global Goals
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Level up in the battle against Climate Change
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Form a new alliance for action
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The future lies in our hands
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"Play for the planet"​
"From plastic packaging to fossil fuel energy consumption"
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PACKAGING
​If I end up designing a physical game, whether that's a board-game or a PS5 game, the packaging is an important factor to consider in terms of environmental dimensions. Most physical games consist of a carbonate disc, plastic case and paper covers/leaflets. These essentially all end up in the bin!
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HOW CAN WE OVERCOME THIS?
Digital games also require a large amount of energy consumption due to download times and broadband! This still doesn't eliminate the environmental impact of gaming - however is still better than nothing.
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'Sega' plans to ship their PC games in recycled packaging to better the environment.
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PS4 and XBOX One have 'energy-saving modes' making their consoles more energy-efficient.
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Nintendo to look into 'greener practises'. They already produce less CO2 than other consoles.
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During the design of my game, platform/console is something incredibly important to consider. Environmental dimensions to consider will involve the efficiency of different technology and the amount of emissions produced in order to identify what will be most environmentally friendly.
EXAMPLE - Untitled Goose Game
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Debut line of 'eco-packaging' made with 100% post-consumer, recycled materials.
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No harmful inks
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Biodegradable plastic shrink wrap which breaks down after 1-3 years
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Sticker is made from fully biodegradable sugar cane waste
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Still feels premium, elegant and substantial.
Research Link:
EXAMPLE - List of Playstation Active Power Consumption
Research Link:
Energy Efficiency - Playstation's approach to Eco-Design
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This section of Playstation's website outlines the average power consumption measurements for Playstation 3 to Playstation 5 console models sold since 2015.
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APPLYING THIS TO MY GAMES DESIGN:​
I can apply the environmental factors of design to my own project by considering materials used for promotional material, packaging and physical spaces. Kiera and I have established our 3 ideas, 2 of which use physical spaces to achieve an immersive, engaging environment. However, we have briefly touched on the idea of constructing our own space if we were to take this further into Phase 4 and Semester Two. I can apply my knowledge environmental design to ensure we consider where our materials come from, if they are sustainably sourced and if not, how can we be more sustainable? It would be necessary to identify sustainable/eco-friendly materials to construct the space such as non-toxic paint, sustainable wood and eco-friendly projectors/screens. This will also involve considering power/energy consumption - referring to 'Playstation's approach to Eco-Design', it would be necessary for us to look into the consumption of particular technologies/devices that we were considering and highlight the most environmentally friendly choices. Overall, we should aim for our design to be as environmentally friendly as possible starting with manufacture and all the way through to use.
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Later on in Semester Two, we can consider promotional material for our game however, must think about the resources we use such as recyclable and biodegradable materials to reduce waste and creation of landfills. The 'Untitled Goose Game' packaging is a perfect example of how we should do better to be more eco-friendly and advertise our game in a more sustainable way.
ETHICAL DIMENSIONS IN DESIGN
"THE PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL DESIGN"
How can we use them?
Research Link:
This article breaks down the main principles of ethical design and elaborates on good and bad design examples to take note of.
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WHAT IS ETHICAL DESIGN?
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Creating great products along side your moral, beliefs and principles of your business.
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Designers must take responsibility of ethical efforts.
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Focus on 'human-oriented' values throughout the process.
THE ETHICAL HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
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Similar to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Hierarchy of Games Design, this hierarchy revolves around the core of ethical design in respect to human rights, effort and experience.
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This pyramid was created by Aral Balkan and Laura Kalbag:
The idea of this is that each layer depends on the one beneath, and without it, it will collapse!
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The basic principles that fulfil this hierarchy of needs are as follows:
USABILITY
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A basic requirement - the design of the project/product should give what players need, want and demand! As well as be easy and pleasant to use. If the design of our project doesn't meet the players needs then this is considered a design failure.
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Jakob Nielsen defined Usability into five core components:
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Learnability - How easy is it for first-time users?
Efficiency - How quickly can users perform tasks?
Memorability - What is the experience for returning users?
Errors - How many errors do users make and how severe are these errors?
Satisfaction - How pleasant it to to use the design?
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In terms of the design of our project, it must be intuitive and safe to use. An example of great user experience is how 'Walgreens' (An American pharmacy) support their users with an app that reminds customers to take their pills and vitamins.
ACCESSIBILITY
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As I have covered before, accessibility must be considered during the design and development process of any product, service or project. This involves thinking about both your target audience and the users that might have been unintentionally left out - this links back to my Inclusive Design research. This involves considering every user such as those with disabilities and adapting your design to be as accessible as it can be. This might require assistive technology.
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It's suggested to think about who our 'user base' is. In our case this will be students around ages 16-21. Then we must think about who is excluded from this, and if they were to play our game, what might the experience be like for them? In order to design inline with this, we will be required to carry out user testing with a variety of people and ensure that we consider every element of accessibility.
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This means everyone and anyone can play our game - "Accessible design benefits everyone!"
PRIVACY
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Examples of bad ethical design, specifically looking at privacy issues:
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Alexa - listening to our conversations and saving data
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Google - monitoring what we do, what we search and using cookies
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Facebook - reading private messages
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THE BEST ETHICAL DESIGN PRACTICE:
"Develop designs that only collect personal information that is in the best interest of the users".
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This is certainly something I'd need to read more about because I am unaware of the control we have over this, but it's definitely something to consider.
USER INVOLVEMENT
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We are designing for the User - As we have been doing, it'll be necessary to continue testing and gathering responses from these users. It allows us to focus on their demands, wants and needs and design them an experience which benefits them. This article outlines the philosophy of 'Human-Centred Design' which I have already applied to my project and can be found here: User Research. The philosophy outlines the importance of understanding the user you are designing for and constantly involving the user to identify problems or issues that your product/service might help with.
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In this case, Kiera and I have established our target audience by thinking about the needs of our target user and how we can design a gameplay experience to help with this. We also outlined their pain-points, contexts, requirements and solutions. Understanding this can help us to design inline with our user and make sure our design fulfils their expectations/needs. Furthermore, the needs of our users are to manage and cope with stress, overwhelm and anxiety that might be caused in the workplace/at school/university, as a result of workload or overloading responsibility. From this we established ways we could help this, which firstly led to our topic of Regulation - this involved helping them from a psychological sense. We then thought about the context of the users needs, essentially where they would need/play our game the most which we found to be on campus or at school. Lastly, our idea generation involved ways we could provide users with an accessible experience which encouraged regulation and evoked feelings of calm and ease in our players. From here we identified the use of a physical space and possible intervention.
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USER TESTING
Conducting user testing will make the flaws in our design clearer which will cause us to make changes and test again until it's just right. Design Thinking - how design will improve the user's experience.
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SUSTAINABILITY
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As highlighted previously, it's important to consider the impact of our design on the environment, resources and climate. We must consider things like energy consumption and eco-friendly materials to design our game as sustainable as we possibly can.
SO, HOW CAN WE MAKE OUR DESIGN MORE ETHICAL?
1. We can design more ethically by thinking about these principles and applying them to our design practice from the start. Essentially, at the beginning of Week 1 in Semester two, we should be considering the accessibility of our design and add elements of this before it's too late.
2. Keep in contact with users - involve the people we are serving at all times! Don't forget about the limitations of our design, continue to test and make adaptions according to the needs of the user. Top tip - don't make assumptions or biased decisions. We must plan to do as much user and play testing as possible to gather feedback and make adjustments according to this.
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3. 'Dark Reality' Sessions - this involves asking the hard questions to identify weakness, issues and consequences that might arise. These are challenging questions that helps you think about your product/service/design in a different light:
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What are the long-term effects on economy, society, and the environment?
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Who benefits/loses from your design? Who is excluded? (Inclusive Design only)
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How could your design be misused?
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During the design and testing stages of our game, we can ask these questions to challenge our design and make sure we have all the answers.
APPLYING THIS TO MY GAMES DESIGN:​
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To make sure we apply ethical factors to the design of our game, we must keep in mind these principles and the ethical hierarchy of needs. From my research I have learned that the most important thing to consider is the User. This involves what users need but more importantly how we can design something to fulfil this - taking into account sustainability, accessibility and user involvement all blended into one. The use of a hierarchy has taught me that each aspect of this is important and one relies on the other - without it, the design will fail. During Semester two I will be sure to apply these principles to my design and challenge Kiera (my teammate) and I with the hard questions that'll make us think about the design of our game from different perspectives and points of view. This way we can eliminate risks and overcome limitations.
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User Research - In Phase 3, I elaborate on User needs.
REFLECTION & SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND ETHICAL DIMENSIONS OF DESIGN:​
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To conclude my research, I am now aware of the steps I need to take to consider these three dimensions of design and by doing so, it'll push my teammate and I to achieve something more effective and successful. I am enthusiastic towards applying environmental design factors to the design of a physical space - if we are to take this idea forward. I think this is something that could be really interesting, considering different sustainable materials we can find to construct the space. In addition to this, I will be sure to carry out as much user-testing as I can throughout the duration of this project, especially to focus on the thoughts and feelings of the user during our experience to make sure they feel the way we intend them to. (We can achieve this through prototypes, testing ad experience-mapping). It'll be necessary to test interactions, mechanics, sound and visuals to ensure they have the desired effect on users which results in emotional and physical regulation, as well as evoking feelings of calm, relaxation, comfort, safety and ease. In our Project Proposal we can mention the use of heart rate monitors such as Apple watches and Fit Bits to measure physical regulation during tests, to evaluate whether or not our gameplay experience is effective or not. To finish off, the main purpose of our design involves benefitting mental health and promotes well-being which links back to the UN's 17 Global Goals and relates to the 'social' dimensions of our design. As this is the most important aspect of our game, it's necessary to evaluate how well we do this, again through the means of testing, prototyping and making changes as we go.