Games + Learning + Society Conference Proceedings

In early 2022, the City College of New York (CCNY) and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment announced a new public pathway to careers in the gaming industries and related fields. This presentation explores some highlights from the 2021 study undertaken for Science and Arts Engagement New York (SAENY), a not for profit, and CCNY to learn from high school-aged youth the role games play in their lives, families and communities. It highlights key lessons learned about youth and games while sharing techniques developed to surface examples of youth agency within gaming ecosystems.

In this exploratory case study, we investigate how a collegiate esports team makes sense of gameplay data visualizations. Through our intervention we introduced the team to new data collection practices, provided data analysis and visualization support, and organized sensemaking sessions with the team to discuss implications of the analytics. Through an exploratory analysis of video footage, we identified three different sensemaking activities.

Accessible games are valued, doable and ultimately, accessible design is teachable. While the game community has been increasing its accessibility efforts, it can still feel challenging for design teams to prioritize and design for accessibility, particularly on games for learning. Some guidelines can be overwhelming and intimidating and may present contradictions when addressing different players’ needs. Learners need an opportunity to think through accessibility needs on a spectrum, consider categories (such as visual, hearing, motor and cognitive), and review designs in ways that are meaningful and doable. Designers and design students can learn accessibility design through a collaborative and participatory process. This established accessibility framework has been designed to help a facilitator guide participants through best practices on accessibility and apply it to the design process of transformational games. This collaborative learning leads to shared reflection on how to best teach accessibility and can be adjusted for use in formal classes or informal professional settings tailored based on the participants' needs.