Strangely, despite the established history of Recreation Studies programs, modern game programs in academia rarely have contact with them; the odd program will involve a game psychology course, or a weird base in "communication" studies, but that's as close as it gets. These bridges have not yet been built, in spite of the commonalities between television media studies and game violence studies, and in spite of the clear data gathering and social programming applications of sociology on game design. Game designers frequently approach the design process as either artistic, mathematical or "interdisciplinary" beyond description, ignoring the fact that games - and play - are, above and before all other things, human.
The study of sociology responds to human complexity through the application of deductive, not inductive, reason. How would games change if, instead of firing blindly under the auspices of art, designers instead learned the fundamentals of charting human behavioral patterns and studied the basics of play on a social - not just cognitive - level? If we admitted that play is not impermeably mysterious and sought to temper our art with data, and the study of human nature in action? How would game development change if, instead of saying "I think this might be fun," a game designer started with "field tests show that nine out of 10 people in our target demographic find this mechanic fun"?
A Perfect Storm
The University of Waterloo and its surrounding region, whether knowing or not, possess a rare game design education trinity: a phenomenally strong sociology program in the study of recreation; a world-renowned technology center and computer science hub; and proximity to a strong, established game studio in the form of Denis Dyack's Silicon Knights. But is a game design curriculum on the horizon?
"I suspect we might get there eventually," Dr. Mannell says. Dr. Avedon agrees, and says that he raised the subject of a Chair of Ludology with the university - but the discussion concluded that such a cross-disciplinary position would have to be planned very carefully. Would that other universities smelling the fresh blood of this hot new field of study elected such care and wisdom.
Building scaffolding on a frontier is unavoidably difficult. But I hope that Waterloo makes the attempt.
"Unfortunately, throughout the ages, there have been those who have not only downplayed the virtues of recreation and its modalities, but have negated its life generating force - indicating that recreation is destructive to the real world. These negative voices have been around since the dawn of time, yet humanity continues to 'sing instead of talking, and dance instead of walking,' and continues to invent games." - Dr. Elliot Avedon
Erin Hoffman is a professional game designer, freelance writer, and hobbyist troublemaker. She moderates Gamewatch.org and fights crime on the streets by night.
