Preliminary proposal (2019)
The preliminary proposal to my research, as presented to the PPGDesign selection committee in 2019, was formatted according to the selection’s guidelines, and thus was somewhat concise. I had the opportunity to expand some ideas when I was interviewed by members of the committee.
However, in the months since, I have adapted that proposal, and its present formulation may be found below. My main objective here was to reduce the scope of the original proposal, which was probably too broad for a PhD research. Besides this, I also felt that a research in Design should produce something useful from the point of view of designers, instead of only submitting a theoretical perspective.
It is important to note that, according to the PPGDesign rules, the final thesis document, four years hence, may be written in English. Thus, I decided to write in English as much of my research documents as is feasible. This will help writing and submitting papers to foreign journals.
Theoretical foundation
Games are complex adaptive systems. There are many characteristics of a complex adaptive system (CAS), but some of them are particularly relevant here:
-
the system consists of multiple agents (the players) interacting with one another;
-
the system is adaptive; that is, players’ behavior is based on their past interactions, and current and past interactions together feed forward into future behavior;
-
a player’s behavior is the consequence of competing factors ranging from perceptual mechanics to social motivations;
-
the structures of the game emerge from interrelated patterns of experience, social interaction, and cognitive processes.
(Beckner, Clay et al., 2009. “Language Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position Paper”. Language Learning 59 (Suppl. 1): Language as a Complex Adaptive System. Edited by Nick C. Ellis and Diane Larsen-Freeman, pp. 1–26.)
Language is also a CAS, and allows for many insights in the nature of games. In my preliminary proposal, I intended to apply several theoretical perspectives from the study of languages to games. However, further investigation has indicated that this would be a major undertaking, perhaps too big for a time-constrained research. I have no abandoned this perspective, but it will at most provide some illustration and/or speculation in the research.
Research method
I will employ two main research methods: grounded theory and autoethnography.
Grounded Theory
“What are grounded theory methods? Stated simply, grounded theory methods consist of systematic, yet flexible guidelines for collecting and analyzing qualitative data to construct theories ‘grounded’ in the data themselves. The guidelines offer a set of general principles and heuristic devices rather than formulaic rules (see also Atkinson, Coffey, & Delamont, 2003). Thus, data form the foundation of our theory and our analysis of these data generates the concepts we construct. Grounded theorists collect data to develop theoretical analyses from the beginning of a project. We try to learn what occurs in the research settings we join and what our research participants’ lives are like. We study how they explain their statements and actions, and ask what analytic sense we can make of them.”
— Kathy Charmaz (2006), Constructing Grounded Theory. Los Angeles: SAGE.
The git system will be a great help in mapping the evolution of the theories, in search of theoretical saturation.
Autoethnography
“Autoethnography refers to ethnographic research, writing, story, and method that connect the autobiographical and personal to the cultural, social, and political. In autoethnography, the life of the researcher becomes a conscious part of what is studied.”
Lisa M. Given (ed.) (2006), The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Autoethnography is relevant for my research, just as it was relevant in my master’s, since I can use decades of personal knowledge about games and gamers.
The research object
This research will focus on game rules. In any given system, there are components and relationships between them. In a game, the game rules define what are its components, and also what are the relationships between them.
Game analysis usually stops at the components-rules stage. I propose to broaden this view, and to encompass the players in the analysis of games as complex adaptive systems. In this way, I can also study the relationships between players and rules.
Rules will also be studied as per their intrinsic characteristics, which are shared by all rules-based systems, such as corporate bylaws, or country statutes.
Rules are a designed artifact, and thus this research will also present guidelines on how to design rules.
Writing rules is a challenge. Game rules must function in two different levels: they must teach a new player, and they must work as a reference during play. In more complex games, these two functions will often be at odds.
http://dissertation.laerd.com/principles-of-research-ethics.php