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Advice on Teaching Game Design Merit Badge

KC_KC_
edited May 2013 in Board Games
So, the Boy Scouts of America (of which I am an assistant scoutmaster) has recently made an official game design merit badge. I have recently signed up to be a counselor for the badge, meaning I have to teach it and get the scouts to fufill the requirements linked here: http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Game_Design

What I am asking about here is any advice or strategies as to how to actually teach this to the kids in my troop (ages 12 to 17). I am afraid kids are going to sign up not expecting to think and analyze. I want them to earn and appreciate this badge!

The badge can focus around board games, video games or sports even, but I thought this section would have the most insightful view of the mechanical nature of gaming.

Comments

  • RochelleRochelle
    edited May 2013
    You should just watch all of the GeekNights videos on their various panels they have had in the past to get some good ideas.



    Even better, here is the playlist of their panels:

    That could be a good start.
    Post edited by Rochelle on
  • AprecheApreche
    You should quit the Boy Scouts until they let gays in.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Local troops do allow gay/Atheist/Unitarian boy scouts. It's the overall organization that sucks.
  • SailSail
    ^that
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited May 2013
    You should quit the Boy Scouts until they let gays in.
    Well, IIRC, it's only 18 days or so till we have a decision on that(May 20 for the national council), so I'd hold your horses before you start following Scott's advice.

    Or, y'know, you could be a force for change instead of punking out all cowardly-like. There is more than one option on the table. I mean, some people are gonna say it can't be done, but the Australian movement allows Girls, Gays, and any religion or lack thereof, and we started with the same rules as the BSA.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    You should quit the Boy Scouts until they let gays in.
    Well, IIRC, it's only 18 days or so till we have a decision on that(May 20 for the national council), so I'd hold your horses before you start following Scott's advice.
    The proposed resolution (which is the best-case scenario, at the moment) is to allow gay youth members, but not leaders, which is better, but still pretty bad.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited May 2013
    You should quit the Boy Scouts until they let gays in.
    Well, IIRC, it's only 18 days or so till we have a decision on that(May 20 for the national council), so I'd hold your horses before you start following Scott's advice.
    The proposed resolution (which is the best-case scenario, at the moment) is to allow gay youth members, but not leaders, which is better, but still pretty bad.
    True, but I'd expect that to be rectified before long, too - once you get enough openly gay members who are experienced and driven enough to become leaders - and a few will become leaders, mark my words - then it'll be done away with. It'll take a few more years, probably, but it'll happen faster than the current change being discussed.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • KC_KC_
    edited May 2013
    You should quit the Boy Scouts until they let gays in.
    It seems we have drifted from my intended topic...

    I'd be happy to discuss this matter more fully, but perhaps it would be appropriate to start a new thread on this topic? Can you suggest a category?

    The question I posed here is mostly for the benefit of the scouts I try to teach. While I can appreciate your anger at the organization as a whole, I hope my efforts to work within my particular Boy Scout troop are not so offensive as to warrant disregarding my query altogether. If so, perhaps I can convince you otherwise in the thread I suggested.
    Post edited by KC_ on
  • StarfoxStarfox
    It was a harsh way to say it, but Scott has a point. The Boy Scouts as a whole are a bigoted, intolerant organization. That's not to say that individual leaders or troops or kids are, but being a member of such an organization lends acceptance to those ideas, even if only tacitly.

    Put another way, where would you draw the line on resigning? What if they didn't let chubby kids in? What about black kids?
  • RochelleRochelle
    Better to try helping within the organization than just giving up and leaving.

    We can hope that over time they will learn to not be assholes

    Anyhoo, what sort if video games/board games do you think you will start with?
  • Jack DraigoJack Draigo
    To actually contribute to the topic at hand, I'd say make sure to keep the analytic aspect of game design as interesting as possible. Having been a former teenage boy, and an Eagle Scout, I know darn well our attention is easily diverted, and game design isn't as glamorous as we want to believe. Try to tie the merit badge in to current gaming trends; I know they'll probably be big on video games, so focus on those, but try to get the foot in the door for board games.
  • KC_KC_
    To actually contribute to the topic at hand, I'd say make sure to keep the analytic aspect of game design as interesting as possible. Having been a former teenage boy, and an Eagle Scout, I know darn well our attention is easily diverted, and game design isn't as glamorous as we want to believe. Try to tie the merit badge in to current gaming trends; I know they'll probably be big on video games, so focus on those, but try to get the foot in the door for board games.
    Thanks for actually focusing on the question, mate.

    Since it's obvious this conversation is going to happen here, I might as well make my case.

    I have been involved with the Boy Scouts since I was 12. The people there are my family and they've helped raise me as much as my parents. So, I'm not going to leave all of them because some corporation that isn't involved in our day-to-day operation has a screwed-up view and misguided policy. At the end of the day, it is I and the other leaders who decide who can participate, and to date I have never seen a boy who was disallowed for any reason. And yes, I even know some who are gay and/or atheist.

    I stay there as a leader because I believe this is the best way for me to do a lot of good for a lot of kids. If I quit, I'd only be hurting them, not the organization who would replace me with someone else - someone who might agree with the policies of intolerance and teach our kids the same. I stay because I believe Boy Scouts is a good organization at heart, but one that's seriously lost its way. Maybe if I can affect these kids and help make a few more of them into tolerant and intelligent adults, they will be the ones who make the right decisions in the future.

    Forgive the melodrama, but I'm not ready to abandon it all and forsake my scouts to make a political point to others. I'm choosing to stay and teach these kids how to accept others and design some freaking awesome board games, dammit!
  • KC_KC_
    edited May 2013
    Better to try helping within the organization than just giving up and leaving.

    We can hope that over time they will learn to not be assholes

    Anyhoo, what sort if video games/board games do you think you will start with?
    Exactly my point. Thanks Ro!

    I'm thinking something simple, but with a cool mechanic they can actually break down and analyze a little. I believe Rim & Scott told a story once about their introduction to Burning Wheel that would be awesome to pull on the scouts. When they were all given character roles to play, and then their instructor (was it Luke Crane himself?) walked off for a bathroom break (or so he said).

    By the time he came back, they were all arguing over a sword as their characters. They asked him, "So how do we play?" And he just responded, "Continue as you were."
    Post edited by KC_ on
  • lalanllalanl
    edited May 2013
    KC, I'm not sure what your background is, but you may be interested in Challenges for Game Designers and the book Rym and Scott keep mentioning, Characteristics of Games.

    These may be too complex for what you had in mind, but the end-of-chapter challenges in Challenges for Game Designers could be adapted into a small curriculum.

    It might be a good idea to provide them a bucket of assorted game bits, paper (and maybe a bunch of larger objects and balls if you want them to come up with a new sport), and come up with a few themes or challenges to choose from.

    I think it's pretty cool that BSA is doing this. Especially for the younger kids in your group. It's a good time to help them develop critical thinking skills.
    Post edited by lalanl on
  • AxelAxel
    This book by Jesse Schell is used by Game Design and Development professors at RIT to teach students basic Game Design. I find it has lots of point laid out in a good form. May have some good ideas.
  • KC_KC_
    I have started researching everything you guys mentioned here, particularly Characteristics of Games and Game Design and The Art of Game Design.

    That's a lot a ammunition for the badge. Thanks!
  • lalanllalanl
    If you feel like updating after you get to try it out, I'm interested to know how it goes. :)
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