Planetary Collegium

Playful Play with Games: Linking Level Editing to Learning in Art and Design

Maia Engeli's paper "Playful Play with Games" argues that modifying the first-person shooter Unreal Tournament through level editing can serve as an effective learning process in art and design education.

• Maia Engeli argues that modifying the first-person shooter Unreal Tournament through level editing can serve as an effective learning process in art and design education, grounded in Donald Schön's concept of reflection-in-action.
• The paper frames game modding as co-authorship: players must understand a game's rules deeply in order to alter them meaningfully, producing experiential knowledge that students must internalize individually.
• The author proposes a three-level framework of meaning around games: meaningful play within the "magic circle" of gameplay, meaning beyond play carried into daily life, and creatively added meaning that arises when players modify a game's structure.