Worlding through Play

Gamication—the use of game mechanics in conventionally nongame activities— has received attention in the eld of education. Games, however, are not reducible to the common mechanisms of gamication that target extrinsic motivation, and may also include elements such as role playing, world making, and collective storytelling. Here, the authors discuss the potential learning benets of largescale and situated alternate reality games (ARGs) that complicate conventional gamied systems. ‘ey also explore the scaling up of improvisational modes of play in these games from intimate groups to large collectives exceeding the size of typical classrooms. ‘ey use a case study of e Source (2013), an ARG they designed (with funding from the National Science Foundation) for urban youth of color from the South Side of Chicago in an out-of-school setting using play across several platforms. e Source aimed to promote the academic areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), as well as twenty-rst-century literacies and social justice. ‘e authors argue that such ARGs facilitate learning by engaging semictional and immersive play made !exible and extensible through game forms. ‘ey suggest that, although designers determine the challenges in an ARG, the players shape the experience and shared game world through collaborative actions.