The Work Kit of Design Fiction: Educational Games Critique
Game Metadata
The Work Kit Of Design Fiction is a “construction kit for imagining material cultural artifacts representing the symptoms and implications of all kinds of futures”. It is a card game that aims to help players learn about the field of Futures studies, as well as engage in Design Fiction as a methodology, which involves imagining discursive and cultural material artifacts to help people think about possible near futures. The game was designed and sold by the Near Future Laboratory.
Some background about the domain
This game was gifted to me by my Futures professor, who has used the game as an essential teaching tool in his futures studies classes. Futures studies is the study of possible, probable, and preferable futures, and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. The goal of futures studies is to explore the various ways in which the future may unfold, and to develop strategies and policies that can help individuals and organizations navigate this complex terrain.
Within futures studies, there is the practice of Design fiction, which is a method of using speculative design to explore and imagine possible futures. Design fiction involves creating objects or scenarios that are imbued with a sense of futurity, but are not necessarily intended to be produced or used in the present. These objects or scenarios can be used to spark discussions and debates about the future, and to help individuals and organizations explore different possible futures.
Educational Goals
This card game aims to help learners gain a better understanding Future studies as a discipline as well as engage in design fiction as a methodology. It is a toolkit that lets players prototype tangible objects based on prompts.
The game is structured like an Ad-Libs game, where players generate design ideas based on a combination of words and prompts. It’s a useful game if you want to exercise your creative thinking skills, where the outcome can be immediately applicable to your design projects, and stretching your imagination for what the future can be.
The only prior knowledge needed to play the game is a relative knowledge or awareness of Speculative design. I think speculative design can be an esoteric subject for someone who isn’t a designer. When I played the game with a non-designer, I had some trouble explaining the purpose and educational goal of the game. When I see it being played in a classroom where students were given a more formal introduction to the topic area, people picked up on the game much faster.
Game Elements
The game is entirely card-based. There are five different card types, which can be combined to create different prompts.
- Action: An action that the object can perform or an interaction afforded by the user. (Ex: Swipe, gamify, track, compress, recommend)
- Archetype: A specific “manifestation’’ or instance of that object, if the design fiction were to be actually created. (Ex: gift card, quick start guide, press release, magazine, packaging)
- Attribute: An attribute or feature of the object that is intangible but can influence its physical form and properties. (Ex: Handmade, plant-based, forbidden, ambiguous)
- Object: The actual type of object. (Ex: camera, drone, tattoo, lamp)
- Tone: An overall descriptor of the future in which this object may inhabit, or the immediate environment and context of the object. (Ex: Her-like, lonely, twee, failure, cyberpunk)
The gameplay loop is very simple. Players take turns drawing cards from each pile. There is usually an allotted amount of time to brainstorm or prototype an object, and players share their ideas. The game can be played only once, where players commit a lot of time into prototyping to a higher fidelity, or played multiple times, as a way to brainstorm multiple ideas or start conversations.
Learning Mechanisms
I believe the game primarily impacts the sense-making learning mechanism. By creating prompts that allows players to rapidly generate design fictions, players are able to compare multiple worked examples to gain a better understanding of what types of thought processes go into creating a good design fiction. The game also gives time for players to reflect and question their beliefs and assumptions through an optional card type that lets players give a rating to each design fiction created, adding a more competitive element to the game.
There are also a few learning mechanisms that I believe need to be employed in a classroom setting to support the game’s learning goals.
Pre-training: Teaching students background knowledge of speculative design, its goals and purposes, and its methodologies will be helpful in helping players understand the instructional goal of the game and overall increase their attention.
Worked example: For new players and students, a ‘design fiction’ can be much more easily understood if an example is shown. When I played the game with someone with no background knowledge, there was a little bit of disconnect in what Design fictions are and all the possible things it could be.
Overall Critique
I think The Work Kit of Design Fiction is a great educational game that is an effective way to teach students about creating design fictions. The nouns of the game mirror pretty accurately the strategies and ideas that are taken into consideration in speculative prototyping. The simplicity of the gameplay and the millions of possible permutations also gives the game a lot of replayability, and even when you become a domain expert it’s still a great way to get your creative juices flowing. When playing this game with my design classmates, I also had a lot of fun just treating it as a conversation starter or party game.