VIDEO GAMES: Good and Good For You
A Comprehensive Process Book
Anand Hurkadli Student #03557784
Video Games: Good and Good For You A Comprehensive Process Book
Table of Contents Lab 01 Lab 02 Lab 03 Lab 04 Lab 05 Lab 06 Lab 07 Lab 08
07 15 19 23 27 33 37 45
Lab Project 01 A search for topics
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Activity 1.1: Self-Reflection My Thesis journey began with the exploration of all of my interests and passions. This activity was an enlightening one. Until now, I really haven’t taken the time to consider a lot of these questions. I was able to really explore the events and circumstances that shaped me and a designer and as an individual.
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Lab Project 1: Look for Topics
Activity 1.2: Automatic Writing To be completely honest, the last time I did any free writing I was in high school. It proved to be an invaluable tool for collecting my thoughts during these lab activities. I didn’t necessarily learn anything new, but it helped me to connect my ideas.
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Activity 1.3: News Scan Most of the articles I found interesting were about food, health and environmental issues. I’ve been passionate about these subjects for a long time, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise.
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Lab Project 1: Look for Topics
Activity 1.4: What’s Wrong? I wanted to become a graphics designer because I wanted to influence positive change in the world. There a great many things in the world that need fighting for, and I look forward to being able to do my part. The majority of my concerns had to do with hunger, agriculture and nutrition.
Not enough people are buying locally grown foods.
People don’t realize how important superheroes are to our culture.
There are a lot of great local farms in this area that raise their produce
It will be easy enough to get people to take notice. With the success of
and livestock naturally. There are even services that give local consumers
recent movies, superheroes are very popular right now. However, comics
more options (like coordinating pickups and delivery), but most people
have been around long before these films. If people can see how they
in the area are unaware that services like these even exist. This is some-
have been an important part of our culture, how they have affected us and
thing I can change by providing them information about when and where
the unique perspectives they have provided on our state as a nation, then
these resources are available and how they can use them.
many people would want to read the stories that inspired these movies.
The general public doesn’t appreciate of video games.
Americans need to eat less processed food.
This is something we can change, but but people need to know about
As a culture, we’ve lost our connection to real food. To restore that con-
the innovation happening in the industry and the indie games that are
nection, we need to change our perspective of healthy eating. How food
changing how we define the medium. People need to see how they are
is grown (or raised) is important. This is something I can change, if I can
affecting the way we tell stories, engage with others and the cognitive
focus on the experiences that motivate people to eat healthy. Events such
and social benefits they can have.
as farmer’s markets, co-op workshops and CSAs bring the community together and build even healthier eating habits.
More people need to play with LEGOs. This would require me the change the public perception of these building blocks and show the cognitive benefits of playing with them. More and more they are being used in education, therapy and as team building exercises for companies. A lot of artist and designers are also using them in very unique ways. I feel that there is an opportunity to bring these benefits to the general public.
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Activity 1.5: Personal Passions For this activity, I had to list the things that I am personally most passionate about. If I could do if I could do anything at all, I’d sell my house and buy a small farm. My family and I would grow our own vegetables and raise chickens. I prefer to work as part of a team, so I’d find a studio that works on socially and environmentally responsible design projects. I do love teaching, so I would probably continue to teach as an adjunct instructor.
Activity 1.6: Five Areas of Interest I then reviewed all the ideas came up with so far and found the following areas most interesting. I further explored these areas by discussing how I relate to them personally.
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Lab Project 1: Look for Topics
Activity 1.7: Five Topics for Investigation I explored these ideas further and distilled them into these five topics for investigation.
Video Games
Eating Locally
Step 1: Video games are changing the way we play, interact, and socialize
Step 1: Local food is fresher than store bought food, supports the local
with eachother.
economy, and it better for the environment.
Step 2: The general public doesn’t see their value.
Step 2: People don’t know how they can take advantage of local growers
Step 3: I will investigate ways to show the general public the value and diversity of this medium.
and what seasonal foods are available. Step 3: I will investigate ways to inform the public about where and when they can buy fresh produce from local farms.
Comic Books Step 1: Comic books are an important cultural artifact. Step 2: People are unaware of how intelligent this medium can be and the important social commentary it has provided us with. Step 3: I will investigate ways to inform the public on why they are relevant to us as a culture and motivate them to explore their rich history.
Playing Legos Step 1: Playing with Legos is good for the cognitive and affective development of adults. Step 2: People see them as a children’s toy. Step 3: I will investigate ways to inform the public on these benefits and how they can take advantage of them.
Experiencing Food Step 1: Americans eat too much processed food. Step 2: People aren’t concerned with how their food is grown, how it is made and what we are getting from it. Step 3: I will investigate ways to bring people back to the experiences that connect us to real food.
After carefully reviewsing the activities for this lab and doing some preliminary research on my five topics for investigation, I decided to move forward with video games as the topic for my thesis project.
Video Games Many parents think that video games are harmful to their children. They believe that they lead to violence, aggression and are socially isolating for their children. Recent studies have shown that kids who play faster paced action games can make accurate decisions faster. Driving games improve memory, focus, and multitasking abilities. Other video games encourage physical activity, improve motor skills and can even build a child’s self confidence. Step 1: Video Games have many cognitive and psychological benefits. Step 2: The majority of parents think that videogames have little or no value to their children. Step 3: I will investigate ways to help parents understand their value and make them want their kids to play more video games.
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Lab Project 02 Words + Pictures = Meaning
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Words + Pictures = Meaning To further explore these five topics, I chose the follwing words.
perspective game
fresh play value To explore the meaning of these words I spent a few days driving around with My iPhone. I considered the different meanings of each word in the hopes of seeing these topics from as many different perspectives as I could. After reviewing these photos and the previous lab, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to help parents gain a greater appreciation of video games by seeing the ways that they can benefit a kids cognitive and psychological development. This could be accomplished in a number of ways. WW Parents need to be much more involved in the video games their kids play. WW The ratings system needs to be easier to understand. WW Parent’s need to be more infored about the benefits of playing video games.
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Lab Project 03 What do you think?
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Lab Project 3: What Do You Think?
What do you think? Next, I was asked to visually represent my personal views on the topic of video games. Video games have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. Now that I’m a father, I’ve really had to look at their value to my kids. Not only have I played many video games over the years, I’ve also followed the developers of the games. I liked learning why games were made and how they were developed. I’ve always looked at them with a critical eye. Still, I took the time to research video games thoroughly. Many parents are still apprehensive when it comes to video games, so I researched that side of the issue as well to make sure I was addressing their issues as well. That being said, I came up with the following phrases…
All kids should know how to fight monsters. The monsters kids fight in video games represent greater challenges. Video games strengthen a kids ability to engage with not only those challenges, but challenges in real life. They helps kids stick with it as long as it takes, to get up after failure, and to try again.
Gamers play better with others. A common misconception about video games is that they are socially isolating. Many video games are social and designed for cooperative play. Even games that were designed as a single player experience are often played socially, with one person playing and the others in the room giving him advice.
It is amazing what your kids can learn without walls. Many video games encourage social interactions and give gamers the opportunity to achieve goals that they couldn’t achieve alone. They can also teach kids leadership skills by persuading and motivating others, mediating disputes, and offering them a chance to lead a team of other gamers. I used the phrase, “Video games can be good for kids” on each page. Since the goal of my thesis is to change the way that parents think about video games, I thought it best to make the intentions for my thesis project clear. I began experimenting with visual styles. I wanted to explore visual representations of what is real versus what is simulated in games. For this lab, I explored using photographs of real people and drew the simulated objects by hand.
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Lab Project 04
What are the important questions?
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What are the important questions? Once I finalized my TFI, I went back to researching the topic. I read a lot of articles, listened to the opinions of many experts in the fields of developmental psychology and education. After I felt I had enough information to work with, I employed the Socratic Method to come up with a list of questions to probe deeper into my topic.
Why do parents think video games have little or no value?
How do video games encourage other healthy behaviors?
WW What events have shaped the public perception of video games?
WW How does playing video games improve a kid’s academic performance?
WW How has parent’s views on video games changed in the past 5 years? 10 years?
WW How can playing video games encourage other healthy non-video game related activities?
WW What behaviors to parents commonly associate with kids who play too many video games?
WW What are the benefits of playing video games over other more traditional pastimes such as reading or doing playing chess?
How are playing video games beneficial for kids?
How can parents be better informed about the games their kids are playing?
From these questions, I selected these as the most important. Next, I created a booklet to present the questions that I found, show how I came upon those questions and explore some of the answers that I found interesting. Inside the booklet, I tried pushing the visual style I had used in lab project three in six different directions.
WW How do kids who play video games compare to kids that don’t? WW How does playing video game make kids more effective learners in the classroom? WW What evidence is there to support that video games improve learning?
WW What are the best ways to inform parents about video games? WW How will more informed parents boost the sales of games that are better for kids? WW How does the media take advantage of uninformed parents?
How can video games be harmful to kids? WW What claims that the media make are credible and supported by facts and research? WW What kind of limits should parents enforce when it comes to playing video games? WW What happens when parents don’t enforce these limits?
How can I help bring together parents and kids together to talk about video games? WW Why aren’t more parents involved with the games their kids are playing? WW How can I use the media to motivate parents to be more involved with what their kids are playing? WW How can kids help to engage their parents and encourage them to be more involved in what games they are playing?
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Lab Project 4: What Are The Important Questions?
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Lab Project 05 How are things connected?
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Part 01: All of the Connections Going over my pages and pages of notes, I looked at how things were related. I organized the information I found into categories and then explored the different connections between them. On a large poster board, I created six camps. 1. environmental impact 2. economic impact 3. political impact 4. cultural impact 5. personal impact 6. impact to the industry Each word or phrase was then placed in one of these categories. From there, I began drawing connections between them and then researched those connections further.
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Lab Project 5: How Are Things Connected?
Part 02: Process the Connections From these connections, I chose the eighteen that I found most interesting. For each, I chose a word and image to represent it. I tried to choose words and images that provided a unique representation of each connection.
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After processing all of these connections, I selected the ones that offered a new or interesting perspective of my topic. With these new perspectives, I began designing an executive summary to visually communicate my topic in a manner that was easy to understand. I chose the word “grit�, because persistence is a valuable learning skill that many video games can teach. I wanted it to be empowering and motivating, so I used the image of a young boy role-playing as an adventurer and holding the sword from Minecraft- which many parents (and their kids) would recognize. The quote I chose is from author and TED speaker Jane McGonigal. She advocates the use of new virtual and alternate reality technology (like video games) as a tool for collaboration in the real world.
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Lab Project 5: How Are Things Connected?
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Lab Project 06 Who is your audience?
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Lab Project 6: Who Is Your Audience?
Who is your audience? In this lab, I created six archetypes to represent the members of my audience. I tried to explore the diversity of my potential audience members. The “Supportive Teacher”, “The Stay at Home Mom” and the “Gamer Dad” are trying to be supportive, so they would be closer to the center. The “Concerned Citizen” and the “Hardcore Gamer” would be happier if kids didn’t play video games at all. I designed the cards to resemble ID badges from a videogame conference. These conferences are how the video game industry lets the media and general public know what is coming out and what is currently in development.
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Lab Project 7: Discuss Your Topic With Others
Lab Project 07 Discuss your topic with others
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Invitation and Planning Guide Next, I began planning for my discussion. I know a lot of people who are parents and have kids that play games, and even more that are gamers themselves. That being the case, I focused on participants who could offer different perspectives of the topic. I was able to find some developers within the video game industry and experts on early childhood education. I also spoke to a lot of people who grew up playing video games in the interest of finding how they were affected by the games they played. The availability of my participants was an issue. To work around it, I hosted two separate discussions. I held one live session locally, and one session online in my Adobe Connect classroom.
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Lab Project 1: Look for Topics
For my invitation, I used the vernacular of a common video game case. The guide for the discussion was the insert in the video game case. They were both provided to each of the participants at the discussion and the guide contained an overview of my topic, a list of preliminary questions, and a timeline of my event.
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The Discussion The discussions themselves were very productive. I provided a list of the preliminary questions in the guide, so my participants were ready to engage in discussion. I was reminded of how passionate gamers are and how much they care about others in the community. We spoke at length about how much of a positive influence video games were to my participants who had grown up playing them. Many of the parents were unaware of the benefits of playing video games or about the resources available to help them understand video game content.
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Lab Project 7: Discuss Your Topic With Others
I reviewed the recordings of both discussions, and found several insights that I thought would lead me to some unique and interesting design opportunities.
WW Having kids explain to their parents how they respond to game content will help them to understand their perspective.
WW The positive impacts of playing video games come from it’s interactivity which gives children more freedom and feedback.
WW A video game doesn’t have to be educational for a kid to benefit from playing it.
WW Video games are a great way to teach kids persistence.
WW Playing video games along with your kids can enhance their learning experience. WW Video games provide kids with a unique opportunity to interact and process information. WW Video game content has matured since violent games ruled the landscape.
WW The behavioral impacts of video games should be compared to those of other mediums such as television and film. WW The media are quick to blame video games for youth violence and aggression. WW Most parents just don’t understand and/ or use the ESRB ratings system.
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To present the insights I uncovered I created a poster. To represent my participants, I created avatars for each of them based on the video game that had the most impact on their lives. I also included quotes and photographs from the discussion as well as a list of the insights I gained from it.
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Lab Project 1: Look for Topics
Lab Project 08 Compilation Slides
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Project Summary Before moving on to my final slides, I created a project summary. I created outcomes based on my research and the insights I gained in my discussions. My conclusion was that parents need to be educated about the positive effects of playing video games, connect them to resources that will help them better understand them and inspire parents to engage their kids about the games they play and play more games with them.
Video Games: Good and Good for You Background
Opportunities
Video Games can provide kids with many cognitive and psychological benefits, but most parents are unaware of these benefits.
Create an organization whose goal is to educate parents about the positive effects of playing video games, connect them to resources that will help them better understand video games and inspire them to be more involved in the video games that their kids play. The organization would accomplish these objectives with three different deliverables.
Problem Video games are often the source of great controversy. This is due in large part to lack of knowledge, misinformation and the sensationalism of video game violence by the media.
Audience The audience for my thesis project is parents with kids who play video games.
Outcomes Educate my audience of the positive effects playing video games can have on their kids. Connect parents to resources that will help them understand game content and help the to make more informed choices for their kids. Inspire them to be more involved with the video games that their kids play and play more games with them.
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Lab Project 8: Compilation Slides
Design a new ratings system that is easier for them to understand. The new system would read more like a nutrition label and provide . I would develop an app that works closely with it so parents can further explore the content of the game through an intuitive and easy to navigate interactive experience. Design a video game review website and app that will provide parents with all the information they need about the games their kids play and inspire parents to learn more about them. This site would not only inform them of a video games content, it would also tell them some insight into the development of the game so they can better understand the motivations behind it. It would also inform parents of the benefits that their kids can get out of the game and how they can use video games to introduce kids to other healthy activities and learning opportunities. Design a series of interactive family gaming areas in a store like Best Buy or Target designed for parents to play, explore and learn about the games their kids love. I would design beautiful touch screen displays with helpful resources that will help inform their decisions, provide bright, colorful posters and signage that will help guide their shopping experience, and create inviting spaces for them to sit down and experience new games together.
I started experimenting with the visual style of my project early. By the time I needed to begin developing my slides, I had a pretty good idea of the visual direction I wanted to take. The three keywords I chose to explore were explore, virtual and strengthen. After creating mood boards for these words and reviewing my labs I created a visual system for my final presentation.
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Once I established a solid visual system, I focused on witing a script and creating a clear visual narrative using my project summary as a guide. Next I created the slides using InDesign, and then imported the slides into After Effects to sync them up with the audio and add some animation to my final presentation.
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Lab Project 8: Compilation Slides
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Lab Project 1: Look for Topics
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Academy of Art University GR600 Visual Communication Lab Fall 2015