This is the text of the Master's Thesis that I defended on April 2001 at IDT (Georgia Insitute of Technology), under the supervision of Dr. Janet Murray. The web text is 99.9% complete (it is currently missing some annotations, which are availble at the pdf version). Please feel free to contact me at f r a s c a (at) l u d o l o g y (dot) o r g, or visit my www.ludology.org, my game theory and research portal

This is just part of my current research on videogames - my main goal is to contribute to the development of a ludology, a discipline that studies games in general (and videogames in particular). This Thesis may be of interest for videogame researchers, but also people interested in hypertext, MUDs, the so-called "interactive-narrative", computers and education, constructivism, the work of Augusto Boal, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and last, but not least, the Theater of the Oppressed.

SUMMARY

This thesis examines the potential of videogames as a medium for fostering critical thinking and discussion about social and personal problems.  This analysis focuses on simulation as a representational form, which unlike others such as narrative, creates models that not only display the characteristics of the source system, but also reproduce its behavior by means of a set of rules.  Therefore, videogames have the potential to represent reality not as a collection of images or texts, but as a dynamic system that can evolve and change.

After studying how the process of interpretation functions in simulations, I propose to adapt the basic elements of the work of drama theorist Augusto Boal into videogame design. Boal created a set of techniques for participative theater that raises the spectators’ awareness about their reality and encourages personal and social change.

I propose two examples of how these goals could be attained by using videogames. One is based on a popular videogame that simulates suburban life. By modifying its design, I suggest ways for players to deconstruct the simulation’s ideological assumptions and discuss alternative constructions that reflect their personal opinions. The second, uses videogame design in order to allow players to present their personal problems as unresolved simulations that will be shared and discussed among peers.

(This chapter is part of Gonzalo Frasca's Thesis. Get the full text here).