Registration will be in the prefunction space outside Simmons A in the Tepper Building on the CMU campus.

Opening and Closing

Join the Organizing Team of Meaningful Play 2024 for our opening remarks.

Keynote

Presented by David Gagnon In the 1970s, Joan Cooney and others reimagined television as a tool for education and inclusion. Today, we have a similar opportunity with video games. While public media still revolves around broadcast models, we, as creators of interactive experiences, understand the power of games to inspire, affirm, and co-create with players. It’s time to build a new kind of public media—one that is free, inclusive, and interactive at its core.

Paper Presentations

Featuring 3 papers and a Q&A: Going From a “Well Made Slideshow” to a Full Game: Insights From the Development of an Urban Planning Educational Game 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM - Presented by Kutub Gandhi Designing a Game to Teach about Educational Paths to STEM Careers 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM - Presented by Paul Gestwicki Game Mechanics and Aesthetics Design Framework in Digital Therapeutics for Stroke-related Visual Impairment 11:30 AM - 11:45 AM - Presented by Bryan Kim Q&A11:45 AM - 12:00 PM

Interactive Session

Hosted Session - see abstract

Paper Presentations

Featuring 3 papers and a Q&A: They're So Gender: An Exploratory Model of Avatar Creation and Identification for Transgender, Nonbinary and Gender Diverse Video Game Players 1:00 PM - 1:15 PM - Presented by Xan Smith Using a Multi-Dimensional Model of Gender to Assess Learning with Different Game-Based Learning Narratives 1:15 PM - 1:30 PM - Presented by Hayden Stec Behavioral Influence Through Controllable Avatar Cars (Avacars): Applying the Technology Acceptance Model and Social Cognitive Theory in Electric Vehicle Games 1:30 PM - 1:45 PM - Presented by Chaeyun Lim Q&A1:45 PM - 2:00 PM

Interactive Session
Play Session

How do you create successful learning ecosystems? In this live-action role-playing game, you'll learn the five core skills to build a playful learning ecosystem in your own community. Or come to see how live-action role-playing can be a transformational educational experience!

Paper Presentations

Featuring 3 papers and a Q&A: Using Tabletop Games to Facilitate Engagement in the Writing ClassroomWithdrawn 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM - Presented by Anthony Chatfield Forms, Uses, and Trends in Undergraduate Student Game Design Sketchbooks 2:45 PM - 3:00 PM - Presented by Christopher Totten A Million Ways to GM: Tabletop GMing as Situated Learning 3:00 PM - 3:15 PM - Presented by William White Q&A3:15 PM - 3:30 PM

Paper Presentations

Featuring 3 papers and a Q&A: Desperate Infrastructures: An Analysis of Elemental Life Cycles and Infrastructure in OFF (2008) 4:00 PM - 4:15 PM - Presented by Dana Hunt-Locklear The Horror of the Fifth Wall: Acknowledgment of Artifice as Existential Horror 4:15 PM - 4:30 PM - Presented by Justin Tokarski Human-Machine Guitar Hero: Developing a cooperative AI agent a human player can play with. 4:30 PM - 4:45 PM - Presented by Nik Kim Q&A4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Interactive Session

Giving and getting high-quality feedback can be challenging, especially for experiential media such as games. The EOTA method supports key features of high-quality feedback, e.g. being diverse, justified, and critical. You'll learn how to use the method for playtesting, in classrooms, or in your workplace, and you'll go home with materials to help you run it yourself.

Play Session

A great rabbi once said the gates of prayer are sometimes open, and other times they are closed. But who guards those gates? In this game, you’ll portray someone who processes requests for a god or other mythic figure. (Gods are busy. That’s why they have staff.) Only one of today’s petitions might make it to the Big Boss, but which will it be? And what rituals will your team prescribe for each petitioner? The Gates Are Open is a freeform larp for 3 or more players. The entire game can be played around a table, using pens and paper. You can play it in-person as a silent committee / note-passing / gesture game, or remotely via Discord or Zoom. This game is loosely based on Dear God by Halden Ingwersen, an elegant and poignant game that has lived rent-free in my head ever since I first read it. I hope this game preserves some of the reverence and mystery of the original. The Gates Are Open was originally designed for the 2023 Golden Cobra Challenge.

Reception

During the Conference Reception and Games Showcase, you are invited to view the Posters that have been accepted to the conference. Poster Presenters have been invited to circulate, and to spend time at their poster to discuss their work with conference attendees.

Reception