1. Philosophies of Play
1.1. Newman
1.1.1. Paidea & Ludus
1.1.2. play can be exploratory, open and free-roaming just as it is puzzle oriented and rule based
1.2. Huizinga
1.2.1. Play is a free activity in which rules are both pre-determined and negotiable
1.2.1.1. Elements of Play
1.2.1.2. Inclusionary & exclusionary
1.2.1.3. Functions of Play
1.2.1.4. Mimicry & Beauty
1.3. Caillois
1.3.1. Play is when an individual chooses to engage in an activity out of their own desire to do so. One will decide when, where, and length of time.
2. Game Design
2.1. Story
2.1.1. interactive and emersvie
2.1.2. cut-scenes
2.1.3. linear or non-linear
2.2. Audience
2.2.1. importance of character selection - gender and race inclusive
2.2.2. perspective?
2.3. Genre
2.3.1. for example. action, adventure, puzzle
2.3.2. some authors note that it is difficult to cross genre's as you run the risk of alienating both
2.4. Language
2.5. Objective
2.5.1. enjoyable
2.5.2. educational
2.5.3. grinding?
2.5.4. rules
2.5.4.1. scoring
2.6. Platform
2.6.1. personal computer?
2.6.2. web-based?
2.6.3. tablet?
2.6.4. mobile?
2.7. graphics
2.7.1. sound
2.8. critical play
3. Games & Learning
3.1. Serious Play
3.1.1. culture of commercial games
3.1.1.1. educational game design could learn from commercial games
3.2. How research is conducted
3.2.1. implications of circumstances surrounding research participants, see: Jenson, Fisher, & de Castell, 2011
3.3. Gamifying learning
3.3.1. relationship between academic learning and gaming
3.3.1.1. subjects such as language and P.E have shown positive improvements through the use of games
3.3.1.2. playing games is linked to both positive and negative impacts/outcomes
3.4. importance of collaborative goal to improve learning
3.5. ecological approach
4. Gender in Gameplay
4.1. Gender roles & sterotypes
4.1.1. female characters are rarely protagonists, often not even active players
4.1.2. women seen as casual gamers
4.2. Abuse in online gaming
4.2.1. importance of creating awareness (see link)
4.2.1.1. modifications to online gaming (penalties for harassing behaviour
4.3. Female game design
4.3.1. see Dames making games
4.3.2. women are still underrepresented in game design companies
4.4. hyper-feminization/ hyper-masculinization
4.5. male play privilege
5. Race in Gameplay
5.1. Racism in game genre
5.1.1. example. survival horror games such as Resident Evil 5
5.2. Racism in character (protagonist and antagonist - play mechanics
5.2.1. Whitness is normal - protagonist usually white male
5.3. Discourse
5.3.1. racism in gaming blogs
5.3.2. reaction to racist games through the use of blogs/discussion boards
6. MMOG's
6.1. WOW
6.1.1. game culture