A Unit on Games

The Basics

Your primary goal in this assignment is to develop an original and arguable claim about a Video Game, Outdoor Game, or Board Game of your choice and a spreadsheet of features about that game that could be fed into the Steam recommendation algorithm.

The Process:

Step 1:

You will begin by writing a review of your chosen game. You need to start by deciding on the audience you plan to reach with this review and use that audience to determine for yourself elements that are typically decided for you by a professor, like:

  • Length: How long can you keep your audience’s attention? 
  • Citations: If you quote or paraphrase from something other than the thing you are reviewing, what citation style will you use? Hyperlinks are fairly common–check out a review at a major newspaper to get a sense of how they work
  • Tone: Will you be formal and offer balanced commentary or snarky with a visceral attack? Will you acknowledge that others will or have responded differently or not?
  • Extras: Images? Video? Audio? If you think your review needs something like this, I encourage you to incorporate it. If you would like your review to be presented primarily as a video or audio file, this is also fine. Your rough draft can be a script for your review or it can be a draft recording. 

Step 2:

We will use your review to extract features about the game you are reviewing and explore if/how those features might already be incorporated into Steam’s recommendation Algorithm.

We will read some articles about how Steam’s Algorithm Works:

We will get into groups and play card games. You may choose between playing War and Go Fish with your group. While playing, try to take notes on different features of the game. We will discuss how these games may fit into the Steam Algorithm.

A quick explanation about how to play Go Fish and War:

Go Fish:

  • Can be played with 2 to 6 people
  • 2 – 4 players each get 7 cards
  • 4 + players each get 5 cards
  • Person left of the dealer goes first
  • Start your turn by asking someone if they have a specific rank of card (Rank meaning the number like 4 or Jack, etc.)
  • You may only ask for a rank of card that you have at least one of
  • If the player that is asked has that rank of card they must give all cards of that rank in their hand to you.
  • If you get the cards you asked for, take another turn.
  • If the player doesn’t have the card you asked for, they will tell you “Go Fish”, and you will draw a card and end your turn
  • Once you have a four of a kind match, you may lay that match face up on the table, and continue your turn.
  • To win the game, you must have NO cards in your hand
  • If the deck runs out of cards, the player with the most matches wins

War:

  • Can play with 2 – 4 players
  • If two players – each player gets 26 cards
  • If three players – each player gets 17 cards
  • If 4 players – each player gets 13 cards
  • To start, place you cards face down on the table
  • Both players are not allowed to look at their own cards, or their opponents cards
  • Then, countdown, and flip the top card of your deck at the same time as your opponent
  • The player whose card is a higher value wins the round and takes both cards.
  • The ranking for cards is A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 from highest to lowest
  • I the cards that are flipped are the same rank then the players must go to “War”
  • When in War, the players must place three more cards face down, and then a fourth card face down. They will then count down and flip the fourth card, and the player with the better card will win all 10 cards
  • If they don’t have enough cards to play the war, then they must pace their last card face up, and this will be the card used to play the war
  • Play until one person wins all cards in the deck.

You may be wondering why I chose to use card games for an in-class activity. The reason is that they have a low barrier to entry are more accessible. That being said, there are a lot of different board games and card games you can play on steam such as: Risk, Monopoly, Poker, Blackjack, Uno, Battleship, and even Go Fish and War. I chose these specific card games because they are both super simple, typically shorter, and only require a minimum of two players and a deck of cards. Ultimately, having to classify card games will force the students to think outside of the box, allowing them to easily become familiar with the Steam Algorithm.

After our “feature extraction” exercise, you will work to revise your review and prepare a detailed spreadsheet of features for your chosen game

Format:

If you are creating a text review, please write your review in Microsoft Word and be sure to offer citations when you quote or paraphrase from other authors. If you create an audio or video review, please upload a Microsoft Word file with a link to the file.

Please prepare your spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel and follow the template we are developing together in class

An idea of what this spreadsheet may look like can be found here.

Frequently Asked Questions:

When is this project due?

The course schedule in our syllabus includes deadlines for drafting, and revision for this assignment. I strongly encourage you to follow this schedule so you can benefit from our class conversations about the writing process. 

How can I get feedback on my draft?

You can get feedback on your work at any stage in the process in a variety of ways:

  • In class: My absolute favorite way to provide feedback on drafts is by workshopping the draft in class. To do this, make sure you share the most up-to-date draft with me before class.
  • One-on-one: Make an appointment with me by e-mailing or talking to me before or after class.
  • At the Writing Center: Tutors at the writing center will encourage you to talk through your ideas and read whatever you’ve got written aloud. These 45-minute appointments are a fantastic way to improve your work. You can sign up for an appointment using the online schedule.

How do you grade?

I describe in the syllabus my approach to grading in this course. For this assignment, I provide below a framework for reflection that you can use, alongside detailed feedback from me, to decide the grade you should receive on the assignment. As long as you’ve written a project reflection that signals familiarity with my feedback and the framework for reflection, the grade you give yourself is the grade I will enter in the gradebook for the assignment.