The GameBling Game Jam: Game Jams as a Method for Studying Gambling Games
The GameBling Game Jam:
Game Jams as a Method for Studying Gambling Games
Pauline
Hoebanx*, Idun Isdrake*, Sylvia Kairouz*, Bart Simon*, & Martin French*
*Concordia University
Abstract: Gambling scholars may be unfamiliar with the research methods used by their colleagues in game studies. Yet, as gambling becomes gamified, and gaming becomes gamblified, the intersection between our two fields continues to grow. The GameBling game jam, which took place in 2022 at Concordia University, proposed to explore this growing intersection by applying a game making and game studies method—the game jam (see, for instance, Kultima 2015; Meriläinen et al., 2020; Ruberg & Shaw, 2017)—to a gambling object—the slot machine. This post argues that game jams can be used in gambling studies to learn more about public perceptions of slot machines, to reverse-engineer black-boxed gambling algorithms, or even to help new research interests emerge through the process of game creation. We ultimately propose that the practice of creating games from scratch in a limited time frame, or "game jamming," is an innovative research method that can help uncover new ways to think about and question social science concepts.
Introduction
Gambling scholars may be
unfamiliar with the research methods used by their colleagues in game studies.
Yet, as gambling becomes gamified, and gaming becomes gamblified, the
intersection between our two fields continues to grow. The GameBling
game jam, which took place in 2022 at Concordia University, proposed to explore
this growing intersection by applying a game making and game studies method—the
game jam (see, for instance, Kultima 2015; Meriläinen et al., 2020; Ruberg
& Shaw, 2017)—to a gambling object—the slot machine.
Slot machine games
developed at the same time as industrial modernity in the 19th
century and have been long emblematic of the complex relation between humans
and machines
This post argues that
game jams can be used in gambling studies to learn more about public
perceptions of slot machines, to reverse-engineer black-boxed gambling
algorithms, or even to help new research interests emerge through the process
of game creation. We ultimately propose that the practice of creating games
from scratch in a limited time frame, or "game jamming," is an
innovative research method that can help uncover new ways to think about and
question social science concepts. Jamming gives direct access to the ways in
which social relations are materially enacted and mediated and allows
researchers to explore this in ways that normal social science methods
cannot. In this review of the event, we
first provide a brief overview of gaming and gambling studies, before
presenting the games created during the game jam, and concluding with a
discussion of its implications for gambling research.
Game
Jams in a Nutshell
While there are
different ways of defining the field of game studies, scholars who adopt this
moniker often study games and play in all their diversity, their cultures,
political economies, and the social fabrics, geographies and temporalities in
which they are embedded
Game studies
scholars—particularly in video game studies—are increasingly advocating for the
use of game jams as a collaborative and interdisciplinary research method
(Balli, 2018; Cook et al., 2015; Ramzan & Reid, 2016). Game jams are events
in which individuals or teams attempt to create a game from scratch in a
limited amount of time—this can range from an hour, such as in the 0h game jam
Gambling studies is the
study of games of chance. Games of chance usually involve a wager or a bet, and
their outcome (winning or losing) usually cannot be determined by skill alone
The
GameBling Game Jam
On the 12th and 13th
of February 2022, Concordia University in Montreal hosted the GameBling Game
Jam, on the theme of slot machine design. The game jam was organized by the
Technoculture, Art, and Games Research Centre
The GameBling Game Jam aimed
to provide a space for creation to tap into the participants’ representations
of slot machines by developing games that enchanted and enticed users to think
critically about the visual pleasures, haptic feedback, soundscapes,
temporalities, and other affordances that have been (and continue to be)
associated with this genre of gameplay.
Sixteen participants met over two
days for a game jam designed to deconstruct and prototype slot machine games.
They formed six teams. The call for participants stated that anyone could join,
regardless of coding experience, because three programmers were hired to
provide teams with coding assistance. The students and programmers who
participated received a $300 bursary. The organizers of the jam emphasized that
it was a no crunch event. Participants were not required to submit a finished
game, and in-progress ideas were welcome. The theme was presented in an introductory game created by Idun
Isdrake, one of the jam organizers (Isdrake, 2022b).
The teams presented six games
during a public showcase on the final day of the game jam, held in Gather
Town. Each game was a playable prototype with a unique take on slot
machines. We will go over each of these games in the following section.
The Games
Time
Out: A Soothing Machine Reflection
"Taking time to relax,
reflect, and affirm yourself" (game description; Cardinal, Maïer-Zucchino,
Ventura Sanchez, Abukasm, & Roberts, 2022)
The creators of this game
challenged themselves to use slot machine mechanics to create a non-gambling
game. Time Out was designed as a wellness app that transports its users
away from their daily lives for a few moments. Players can listen to soothing
sounds—a crackling fire, a flowing river —while tapping the pastel-colored
screen to produce musical notes and meditative questions like "What would
you do if there was no tomorrow?" or "What makes you feel
powerful?" At first glance, the game appears to have no relation to slot
machines. However, the app displays three dots that randomly change colors,
reminiscent of slot machine reels, which are always spinning and sometimes land
on winning combinations, but are difficult to control.
"In this interactive fiction
game, you play and make choices as a casino worker cleaning up after
hours." (game description; Dwyer, Isdrake, French, & El Mir, 2022)
In this choose-your-own-adventure
game, the player takes on the role of a casino employee cleaning up after
hours. The game is mostly text-based, with some brightly-colored illustrations
of slot machines to accompany it. The player progresses through the game by
selecting options like "grab a cloth and start cleaning" or "use
your screwdriver to repair the [damaged slot machine]" (Dwyer et al.,
2022).
When attempting to repair the damaged slot machine, the casino employee is transported into the
machine's interior. The player is then trapped, only able to look out
at the patrons playing the slot machine. The options presented to the player
can send them into an endless loop, similar to the control loops exerted by
slot machines on their players.
"Try to get three hot cards in
a row to get a hot streak!" (game description; Hoebanx, 2022)
This game was inspired by the
language used by some slot machine players—slot machines that pay out are
referred to as "hot," and those that do not are referred to as
"cold." The player begins the game with $0 and has the option of
selecting a card. The cards are either "hot," which means that they
win a random amount of money, or "cold," which means that they lose a
random amount. At each turn, the player is told how much money they have, and
is given the option of picking another card or cashing out their winnings. If
the player's earnings fall below zero, the screen displays the message:
"Please leave." In this game, it is easy to keep clicking on
"Draw another card" until all earnings are lost.
Cashino
and Cashing
These two games were designed to
complement each other.
In this 2-bit game, the player
controls a character seemingly stuck in a square room filled with slot
machines, a key, and a rat. The player can pick up the key, but there are no
doors to use it on. When the player tries to interact with the rat, the dialogue
"Why?" appears. The player has to search for options to exit, which
is a challenging task as they are given no indications on where to go or what
to do. They are stuck. This was a prototype for the second game, Cashing
(Isdrake, 2022a)
Cashing – stay a while and listen
"The idea was to zoom in on
the Bitsy game Cashino and continue the critical play on casino games
and their labyrinth, deceiving design to keep people spending/spinning. We
wanted a minimalist take with as few loud, colorful, stereotyped visuals as
possible, opposite of casino games.
We also wanted to create an empty,
disturbing feeling of being trapped and alone, wandering around a glitchy
soundscape including noise from ventilation, players breathing, underwater
atmos, and in the final level, a few clips from a Sex Pistols concert in London
as a call to rebel against the system."(game description; Isdrake &
Cheema, 2022).
When the game starts, all the
player can see is a door in front of them, and they can hear creepy noises:
machinery, distorted music, and electronic grizzling. The door remains closed.
Looking around, the player can see a glowing blue box, a staircase leading to
the ceiling, and a green slot machine. It seems impossible to interact with
these objects, and all the player can do is wander around this desolate casino,
listening to the layered soundscape, and fall from the stairs, only to return
to the empty casino room. If the player persists on climbing and falling from
the stairs, their fourth attempt is rewarded with the door opening, and Sex
Pistol music can be heard.
"The game that’ll make you
feel all sorts of 😁🤑🤬😭!" (game
description; Jobin, Lynch, Parmentier, & Luna Barahona, 2022)
At first glance, this virtual
reality game is simply a slot machine simulator. The player can pull a lever on
the side of an old-school slot machine and see reels of emojis start to spin.
However, if the player peeks behind the slot machine, they will find a dusty
room with three rusted knobs labeled ‘jackpot’, ‘losses’, and ‘bet’. The player
can manipulate the odds of winning on the machine by turning the knobs. If the
player returns to the front of the slot machine, they will find a sunny glade
full of trees and flowers.
Discussion
It is interesting in the context of
game studies to wonder why the form and mechanics of modern casino slot machine
games have remained more or less static over time given the rich historical
variation of coin-op arcade machines on the one hand and video games on the
other. The tendency would be to perceive slot machine gaming as being
institutionalized by the cultural logics and economics of casino gambling, but
this would be to neglect the importance of the symbolic and material
interaction between human and machine with slots.
The games created during the
GameBling Game Jam bring up interesting questions about slot machines, our
interaction with them, and their perception in the collective imagination. The
games focused on various aspects of slot machine gambling, such as losing
control of the game (Time Out), manipulating the odds of winning (Casino
after Dark and the Pursuit of 😁), casino design (Cashing
and Cashino), and player superstitions (Hot Hot Cold). Apart from
Time Out, where the slot machine is reduced to its randomly blinking
lights, and Hot Hot Cold, where only winning or losing money remains,
slot machines appear as physical objects in each game. It's worth noting that
in the majority of these games, the game designers chose to keep the setting of
slot machine gambling, with players interacting with the slot
machine-as-object.
Players are encouraged to look
around the slot machines in games where slot machines figure as objects (and
even peek inside in The Pursuit of 😁 and Casino after
Dark). This exemplifies a literal interpretation of critical thinking, in
which the design of a slot machine is achieved by viewing slot machines from a
different angle. This implies that gamblers must be removed from the slot
machine game in order to critically reflect on it.
While the jam theme was not
explicitly negative, all of the games portrayed slot machines negatively. This
was even true for Time Out, the meditation app that disguises itself as
a reversal of slot machines, or a 'good' slot machine. According to the
narrative chosen by the GameBling teams, slot machines are generally
portrayed negatively in the collective imagination. Each game depicts the loss
of control over the outcomes of slot machine gambling in a different way.
Cashino and Cashing are the best examples of this portrayal: the
character is trapped in a box with no way out. Other games, such as Casino
after Dark and The Pursuit of 😁, demonstrate that the
house always wins at the expense of the player.
The theme of the GameBling game jam
focused on a type of gambling game, but not on how the participants should
interpret it. The paths chosen by each team reveal interesting ways to think
about slot machines, such as the idea that stepping away from the game is
necessary if a player wishes to understand how little control they have over
the outcome of the game.
Conclusion
The GameBling game jam was an
experimental event, that proposed testing a new methodology for gambling
studies. We found that despite very different games, common themes emerged,
such as the themes of manipulation and control of the player by the machine.
Such themes demonstrate a negative association with slot machines by our
participants.
Participants and organizers were
pleased with the game jam's results. They discovered that creating a game
encouraged innovative and creative thinking and allowed them to collaborate
across disciplines. The objective of this game jam was exploratory and
experimental, but there is no doubt that a more targeted approach could also produce
interesting outcomes, such as encouraging participants to create
awareness-raising games.
In order to learn more about game
jams as possible gambling research methods, we will host a second edition of
the GameBling Game Jam in February 2023. We also propose to conduct
interviews with past participants about their thought processes and experiences
during the creation of their games to gain further understanding of the ways
that game jams open up new research avenues.
Idun
Isdrake
is a game designer, film director and PhD researcher at Concordia University.
Their work is concerned with Nordic/Arctic Futurism, ranging from landscape
photography and art house games and film, to innovation in cyborg interfaces
and AI systems. Isdrake is a recipient of several film and game awards and
founded Sweden's first game innovation lab and game art gallery, contributing
to increased diversity, social wellbeing, and digital literacy in several
sectors. They have master degrees in Film and Archaeology, and a wide selection
of course credits in geology, photography, fine arts, interaction design,
information technologies and cognitive sciences. Portfolio at www.isdrake.com
Sylvia Kairouz
is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at
Concordia University. She has published extensively in sociology, social
epidemiology and public health journals and won the Brain Star Award of the
Canadian Institute of Health Research for her innovative work on the role of
social contexts in alcohol consumption. She is currently engaged in funded
research examining comprehensive multilevel models of determinants of gambling
behaviours. She holds an FQRSC research chair on the study of gambling and is
the head of the Lifestyle and Addiction Research Lab at Concordia University,
and the scientific co-director of the HERMES research team.
Bart
Simon
is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at
Concordia University. His research is focused on the areas of science and
technology studies, critical post-humanism and everyday technocultures with
specific interests in digital culture, games and virtual worlds, and
simulation, surveillance and social control. In 2004, Simon launched the
Montreal GameCODE project, a Concordia-based research initiative to examine the
cultural impact of digital games. In 2009 he became the director of a new
broader cross-faculty research initiative in Technoculture, Art and Games
(TAG).
Martin French is an
associate professor with the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at
Concordia University. His research examines the social dimensions of technology
with an empirical focus on communications & information technology (CIT).
Martin is currently leading a research project examining how ‘risky’,
‘dangerous’ and ‘contested’ forms of consumption are sensed, surveyed, and
governed in contemporary life. He is also the director of the JREN research
team at Concordia University’s Research Chair on Gambling.
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