Using Play to Enhance
Learning about Objects:
OOPSLA '02 Workshop
William C. Wake
William.Wake@acm.org
Nov. 12, 2002
Links to the "Play" Community
The mailing list for this group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/play-to-learn-oo/
Attendees
Games People are Using
Alistair Cockburn: OO design exercise: get into a small group,
and design a coffee machine. Then simulate it and see where it
works or doesn't.
Jane Chandler. "Patterns Happy Families." (See below.)
John Towell –
MOOs as demonstrating object concepts, and as objects of study.
? – Lego robots
as an interviewing technique – lets you watch teamwork and
problem-solving. (Steve Freeman and Tim McKinnon have a Lego game
too.)
Sample Games
We spent about a third of the time trying out games that people
had created.
- Pattern Cocktail
(Joshua Kerievsky) – Get a pattern card without looking at
it. Hold it up to your forehead so you can't see it. Then go around
talking to people as if at a cocktail party. They'll give you
clues, so you can eventually guess your pattern.
- Patterns Happy
Families (Jane Chandler) - a "Go Fish"-like card game where you try
to find matching parts of Alexandrian building patterns.
- Dungeons &
Patterns (Steve Metsker & Bill Wake) – Played one room.
The puzzle showed an elf talking to another elf in the back room,
and the players had to guess the pattern.
- Coffee Machine
(Alistair Cockburn) – Did a quick design session and
critique. Our machine could be convinced to give out free
cups.
Game "Frames"
From Thiagi (in the simulation and games community): a game
structure where you can plug in your own content.
- Poker, Rummy –
combining things (melds)
- War –
comparing
- Clue – finding
clues, building hypotheses
- Charades,
Drawing
- Jigsaw puzzle
Game Uses
- Experiential
- Identification
- Do something and
reflect
- Role playing (e.g.,
dancer and choreographer)
- Competition and peer
pressure as motivators
- Have a motivating
experience and extract lessons from it. Key debrief question: "What
was it like for you?"
- Mr. Potato Head
– put things wrong and laugh – but you're building a
model of what "bad" looks like. Same for software diagrams etc.
(Alistair's idea?)
- Given an object
interaction diagram, could you create the objects for it (fitting
them to the problem). (Joe Bergin's idea?)
- Given several control
patterns: star, connected graph, cycles, chains, cake, etc. could
you tell.
- Two-sided cards for
objects – one for their own interface, one they show the
world (e.g., parent type). (Daniel Steinberg)
- Shower curtain rings
and weedwhacker cord – to demonstrate CORBA interactions.
(Dropped ring is like a dropped message.) (Joshua)
- Suggestion for
patterns: Use noun names for patterns ("Compressed Time" rather
than "Compress Time")
- Is it a pattern
language or a catalog?
Dimensions
We spent some time talking about the dimensions of games and
their features.
Steve Metsker proposed a curve: (different types of games may be
good at teaching different things)
Data
Mixed
Concepts
Card games
Board games
Role play
The group identified:
Game Features
- Goal
directedness
- Probabilistic
moves
- (Im)perfect information
- Open/closed
world
- Express own
information or ideas
Goals
- Create
- Identify
- Accomplish
- Explore
Tools: Card, board,
roleplay etc.
We broke into two groups and tried to create two new games.
(Generally unsuccessfully.)
The pattern language has a start of a catalog; it will be a
challenge, but could be extended. It also should be related to the
pedagogical patterns work.
Resources
Books
- Teaching with your mouth
shut, Finkel
- Books by Thiagi (www.thiagi.com)
Commercial Games
- The Incredible Machine
- Apples to Apples
Links