Playground

During the lesson our lecturer invited us to think about our child hood games, where we used to play in the playground. It was very fun and at the same time nostalgic to remember those moments. We managed to remember and mansion several games:

• Hide and seek

• Catch

• Wolf

• Freeze

• Floor is lava

• Skipping rope

• Marbles

• Colour

• Monkey Bars

Then we categorised the games where you had to interact with others and use team work.

Team Work Games:

• Hide and seek

• Catch

• Wolf

• Freeze

Non-Team Work Games:

• Skipping rope

• Marbles

• Colour

• Monkey Bars

From all of these games, but is different from every individual, the player will go through: fun, rules, target or objective and gain experience.

The lecturer told us that in games the most important aspect is the player experience. If you enjoy playing a game you will keep on playing it over and over again, contrary if the game is boring. So, to help us in remembering the player experience in team work games, the lecturer brought us out side where we selected two games which where Hide and Seek and Freeze, we split into two teams according to the game and played for a few minutes.

Hide and Seek

When playing Hide and Seek, myself and Gilbert where chosen to find the others. As soon as we started splitting the teams, we already encountered a dilemma. We noticed that some of us knew the game with slightly different rules. The first thing to be done was to establish these rules so that everyone can agree on what we are playing, although I’m pretty sure that till today we still have not agreed on the same set of rules, but maybe this could have been caused because one was too much used to play the game in a manner that it automatically overrides the new set of rules they are trying to implement.

The rules where:

• Hunters (The ones searching) count till ‘50’ while the pray (The ones hiding) hide during that time window.

• Pray can move around constantly.

• Hunters goal is to find all pray

• Prays gaol is to hide and survive as long as they can

• If all pray is found, hunters win

• If a pray was spotted, the hunter has to call the name and place where the pray is, then both have to run back to the hunter’s base and touch base. If the hunter touches the base first the pray is eliminated from the game, whilst if the pray touches the base first the pray is free again.

• Hunters can use team work to eliminate pray. A hunter can spot a pray while the one most near the base can touch the base himself regardless if he/she spotted the pray.

Experience during game play (Hunters point of view since I was a hunter):

• Be sharp for sounds – Sounds can throw off a pry position easily.

• Be faster than pray.

• Collaborate with your team mate.

• Staying still makes searching easier since your vision is not shaking by footsteps.

Other experiences:

• Some of us where no longer as fit as they used to be.

• The real world, you get hurt.

• Taking advantage of mishaps (while still checking if your friend is ok).

• Vomiting, there where players who got nausea.

Freeze

Before playing Freeze we also agreed on a set of rules before we started playing. This time the lecturer added a rule herself. A boundary rule, out of bounce area, because of some light accidents that happened during hide and seek. The rules where:

• Hunters give a small amount of time till pray spreads out in the area.

• Pray has to not get caught.

• If a pray is caught, the pray has to freeze in place.

• Free pray can unfreeze (liberate) the frozen pray if touched.

• If all pray is caught, hunters win.

• Pray must survive as long as they can.

Experience during game play (Pray point of view):

• Be faster than hunters.

• Use obstacles in your favour

• Team work, unfreeze your friends, the more of the pray the harder for the hunters to win.

• Keeps you fit if done regularly.

• Competition between teams

Evaluation

One of the things that I would change in both games is to give a chance for the pray to win. For example, you can set a time limit to the game. If the pray survives during that time, pray wins. This would put more pressure on the hunters and give hope to the pray.

Both games are very simple. They got simple rules, no cost, no equipment needed. The only things required are your team mates, space and time. Freeze in particular, involves both teams running around which is very healthy for the players and will help them keep fit while enjoying themselves.

Both games get you to socialise, you can play the game with complete strangers but probably it will also serve as an ice breaker because eventually you will have to cooperate and talk to each other in a way or another.

Change of environment would change both games experience completely. For example, it would be much of a different experience if you play hide and seek in a rural environment instead of an urban