Digital Games As Action and Text in the English and Literacy Classroom

Pedagogies: An International Journal Vol. 6, No. 2, April–June 2011, 130–143

FOCUS ARTICLES Literacy into action: digital games as action and text in the English and literacy classroom Thomas Apperleya∗ and Catherine Beavisb aSchool of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia; bSchool of Education and Professional Studies, Grifﬁth University, QLD, Australia (Received 7 December 2009; ﬁnal version received 31 May 2010)

Using data gathered from a three-year research project exploring digital literacy and pedagogy with respect to video games, including classroom games-based pedagogy and curriculum and ethnographic research on students’ digital game playing, this article locates and explores a key conceptual problem facing the incorporation of digital games into English and literacy classroom activities. This challenge is deﬁned as “action” and refers to the non-visual and non-textual elements of gameplay. This challenge is explored both theoretically and through a practical discussion of various strategies developed by teachers in the project to approach this issue. The article draws on contemporary game studies in order to map out and highlight several key areas where action-based projects lead to critical reﬂection. Keywords: computer game and literacy; game literacy; digital literacy and pedagogy; game studies

Literacy into action Writing and research around new literacies and Web 2.0 have presented well theorized understandings and examples of how the English and literacy curriculum can be recon- ceptualized to encompass multimedia and digital forms (Alverman, 2002; Corio, Knobel, Lanshear, & Leu, 2008; Willet, Robinson, & Marsh, 2009). The richness and complexity of video, computer or digital games, and what they have to tell us about literacy and learning, is compellingly argued by a number of theorists, in particular James Gee (2003), while others (Beavis, 2001; Buckingham & Burn, 2007; Carr, Buckingham, Burn, & Schott, 2006) explore how digital games might be incorporated into classroom teaching. While many theoretical advances have been made, the practical implications of using digital games in the classroom are still playing out in schools. At one level the challenges presented for curriculum are obvious: literacy researchers, policymakers, schools and teachers need to identify which texts and literacies to attend to, and how. However, just how assessment, curriculum and pedagogy might respond to addressing digital knowledges, literacies and texts is less clear. This paper focuses on a central challenge that emerged in the course of a three-year project exploring issues and possibilities for literacy and English pedagogy and curriculum

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

ISSN 1554-480X print/ISSN 1554-4818 online © 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/1554480X.2011.554620 http://www.informaworld.com Pedagogies: An International Journal 131 offered by young people’s interest in digital games and the culture of gaming. The project was built on the proposition that studying digital games and young people’s engagement with digital culture might provide the basis for understanding more about our students and their lifeworlds, in order to both strengthen existing literacies and identify new forms of literacy and literacy practice. It had three strands with different concerns: the ﬁrst focused on digital games as cultural forms; the second on the place of digital games in students’ out- of-school worlds; and the third on issues surrounding the incorporation of digital games by teachers within the English/literacy classroom. From the start of the project, the challenge that emerged across all strands was how to conceptualize digital games. Could digital games be conceived of as “texts” in the English curriculum in the same manner as traditional texts? In what sense could they be understood as literate forms entailing (multi)modal elements, multiliteracies and literacy practices? Did such a view acknowledge the active, changing, situated nature of gameplay? Did it account for the interconnections between games, players and online contexts and the glob- alized connections entailed? Clearly, digital games sat uncomfortably in traditional and even new literacy parameters for several reasons: most notably because digital gameplay is active, in the sense that digital games require actions from the player in order to be played (Galloway, 2006). How to conceive games – as text and/or action – characterized every juncture of the research and emerged through the units developed by the teachers involved as part of their action research. While the tension between game as text and action is “old news” in the gaming world (Frasca, 2003), little has been done to address the implications of the multi-dimensional nature of digital games for teachers working with games in the English classroom. This article focuses on the question of digital games as text and action by examining how the issue emerged and played out across the units and activities undertaken by teachers and students. It presents perspectives on digital games drawn from a new literacies framework and from a game studies framework (see Apperley, 2010), using the concept of “paratexts”, which spans both literacy and game studies ﬁelds, as a way of organizing how the text/action question might be addressed – if not resolved – in a school context.

Digital games in the classroom The project worked with five secondary schools across a three-year period from 2007 to 2009. The teachers involved worked with classes ranging from Years 7 to12. Over the course of the larger project, teachers developed individual action-research projects, entailing the teaching of game-based units with their students. The units ranged widely in the games used and approaches taken (see Table 1). Games chosen ranged from narrative, quest-based epics with film and literary convergences, through sandbox games, like The Simpsons: Hit and run (Radical Entertainment, 2003) and Grand theft auto III (DMA Games, 2002); “serious” games; fantasy sports games; and games created by students. Activities undertaken included comparative analysis across platforms or between games and players, retrospective reflection on themselves as players, the viewing and analysis of an extensive historical games exhibition, games-related writing, drama, games reviews and the production of games. In 2008–2009, the range of activities undertaken across classrooms in the study varied considerably. At one extreme, units were developed that worked within frameworks exploring games as one set of digital texts amongst others, utilizing a range of texts and literacy activities to strengthen understanding and literate competence in various forms (see Table 1, column 1). At the other extreme, a unit was developed that focused on teaching IT 132 T. Apperley and C. Beavis

Table 1. Game-based units developed across the ﬁve schools. Suburban State Suburban State Suburban Catholic Rural Catholic Suburban Private High School 1 High School 2 Boy’s High School Boys’ High School High School

Serious games Project with Play and analysis Game design Project using project focusing Nintendo DS. of SuperCoach, project using notions of on La Focus on “at risk” a fantasy sports Game Maker archetypes to Molleindustria’s students game using software explore The McDonald’s statistics from videogame videogame AFL characters Students Design and oral Discussion and Development of Project comparing collaborated on presentation of reﬂection upon drama and videogames to producing a videogame students, own creative quest narratives game wiki that paratext gaming histories performance contained game pieces based on reviews and videogames and discussions of games that game genres students have designed Making games Critique of Analysis of Presenting in using PowerPoint videogames videogame written and oral slides using Freebody violence, form of a pitch and Luke’s comparing for a game (1990) four Grand theft auto concept resources model III with The Simpsons: Hit and run

design skills. “Making” was extended beyond imaginative conceptualization into the phys- ical creation of students’ own games or redesigning – “modding” – elements of existing commercial games. Table 1 provides an overview of the digital games and software used by the teachers during the course of the project.

A model for literacy in action Digital games are – to a greater or lesser extent – dynamic: they are enacted through play. For digital game players, appreciating how their actions in the game will influence future actions by the computer, themselves and other players (both opponents and collaborators) constitutes a key area of knowledge and expertise. The classroom units foreground questions raised when this dimension of games and gameplay intersects with notions of literacy, particularly those relating to the extent that digital games may be conceptualized as flexible and dynamic systems. The concept has been described in a number of ways: “algorithm” (Galloway, 2006; Wark, 2007); “cybernetic feedback loop” (Freidman, 1995, 1999); “pro- cedural rhetoric” (Bogost, 2007); and “systems” (Salen, 2008; Zimmerman, 2009). How did the classroom units take account of these dimensions? How did students in our study demonstrate their knowledge of digital games as dynamic systems that they enact? Can knowledge like this be contextualized in terms of action as well as traditional literacies? A central aim of the project, arising from these questions and the case studies presented here, is to provide a framework to support games-based literacy pedagogy. In planning with teachers, analysing their reflections on the classroom units and students’ work and in our own reading and discussion about literacy and digital games, we Pedagogies: An International Journal 133 draw extensively on Consalvo’s (2007) adaptation of Genette’s (1997) notion of “paratexts”. “Paratexts” refers to both texts and the surrounding materials that frame their consumption, shape the readers’ experience of a text and give meaning to the act of reading. For Consalvo (2007), the term refers specifically to the “communication and artefacts relating to [a game, that] spring up like mushrooms” (p. 8) around it. Paratexts is an umbrella concept that connects the familiar notion of intertextuality – the processes of reading texts as linked and “always already” known and the need for a diversity of texts to be part of any literacy/English programme – to explicit industry-based practices, partici- pation in global culture and existing practices of digital gameplay. Elsewhere we explored the potential usefulness of paratexts in relation to digital games, identity and schooling, with a particular focus on how use of paratexts in curriculum has the advantage of drawing on students’ existing out-of-school literacy practices (Gutierrez & Beavis, 2010; see also Walsh & Apperley, 2008, 2009). In this article, we explore how the concept and actuality of digital game paratexts provides a framework for bringing together the diverse curriculum units that teachers developed to work through the issue of digital games as both text and action.

Literacy and action through paratexts “Paratexts” is a useful concept for mapping units and activities developed by the teachers and undertaken by students in the project. It is crucial for supplying distinctions that identify and examine how core features and dimensions of text and action were differentially shared or combined. Table 2 outlines core features of paratexts as part of “real world” digital culture under the headings “Using paratexts”, “Paratextual design” and “Game design”. In addition to identifying central elements and features of each engagement, the mapping (see Table 2) highlights two key dimensions of games and gameplay that tend to elude constructions of digital games as merely text or action. First, playing digital games and understanding the play of digital games is closely related to game design. While there are fascinating parallels, one does not “appreciate” or “enjoy” a game in the same way as one may enjoy a novel. A literal understanding of the structure of a game, and the actions this structure permits, is required to play, rather than the implied or tacit level of understanding

Table 2. Paratextual dimensions of game culture and gameplay. Using paratexts Paratextual design Game design

Using paratextual resources “Productive” paratextual design Game design (Game maker) Level design (Warcraft III) Focus on traditional literacy and Links to traditional literacy Modding (Second life [Linden multiliteracy practices: writing, art, genres Research, 2003]) Draws information from a A space where critical literacy Possibility of creative and number of different “textual” practices in relation to games spontaneous interventions platforms (Internet, television, are strongly demonstrated (Spore [Maxis, 2008], The etc.) Sims) Critical in the sense that the Demonstrates and requires Critical understanding on formal sources must be found and critical understanding of game game elements (e.g., why evaluated (and paratextual) design, games have levels, cut scenes, history, genres, and aesthetics etc.) The information is used or Critical understanding of the enacted during gameplay relations between structure and visual/narrative content 134 T. Apperley and C. Beavis associated with reading. Second, paratexts reveal how digital games take on meanings and roles in students’ lifeworlds outside of the immediate “immersive” activity of playing the games themselves. They take the emphasis away from the – often mechanical – process of playing the game and focus on the contemplative, creative, imaginative and productive elements of digital gameplay, rather than the compulsive “twitch” of constant action. Actions in digital games are not made wildly, although there is a large degree of experi- mentation – which necessarily involves learning from mistakes – during the course of play. Through familiarizing themselves with the movements, patterns and rhythms of games, players develop an understanding of how to act in games, through an understanding of how the game acts and how it responds to their actions (see Friedman, 1995, 1999; Galloway, 2006). The structural knowledge of digital games design that is encouraged and developed through play is considered an integral part of digital game literacy (Buckingham & Burn, 2007; Salen, 2007; Zimmerman, 2009). The categories that we suggest all involve an understanding of digital game design, although each category enacts this understanding in a different manner. If playing digital games successfully requires knowledge of game design in the form of “gaming literacy”, can this literacy be regarded as reflective or critical? The notion that digital games consist of actions does not necessarily mean that these actions are undertaken thoughtlessly, nor that there is no critical reflection during the course of play. Players constantly evaluate and re-evaluate the game, their own performance and the performance of others. However, educators must be able to recognize and support these reflective moments in order to highlight their critical elements to students. All three areas of game culture listed in Table 2 contain ample opportunity for critical reflection. We suggest that this is an area that requires further investigation by scholars interested in using digital games to support students in developing traditional literacies, multiliteracies and the peculiar literacies of action involved in digital gameplay.

Paratexts in the classroom Mapping the classroom units designed by the teachers who participated in the project against the categories outlined in Table 2 provides insights into how the teachers conceived of digital games as text or action in relation to English curriculum and the links they built between the two. The classroom activities have taken up paratexts and paratextual production in different ways. These activities have been incorporated into the curricula with different concerns and planned outcomes. The significance of digital games and paratexts within the curriculum has also varied: some schools focused on developing students’ understanding of digital games, while others used digital games to support traditional literacies and forms of knowledge. For example, one school used digital games alongside the Lord of the Rings trilogy and analyses of archetypes drawn from myths to discuss narrative structure in both digital games and literature. To demonstrate how paratexts are useful for fostering a critical understanding of digital games actions and designs, and to provide a map for classroom design, the categories from Table 2 are expanded below with reference to units undertaken in particular schools. We take three units that fit predominately into each of the three categories. We then discuss how each of the units sits within that category, and how their positioning along this spectrum shaped the activities of the teachers and students. These examples consider how literacy and critical literacy might be enhanced by the incorporation of “action” in various forms. An important element in this work with digital games was the use of intertextuality as a frame of reference. Some units, such as that on Lord of the Rings and archetypes, drew Pedagogies: An International Journal 135 explicitly on film and literary references. Others, such as the unit on The Simpsons: Hit and run and Grand theft auto III, drew on other forms of media to encourage critical evaluation and analysis of representation and reading processes and to develop deeper insights into the popularity and marketing of games (Beavis & O’Mara, 2010). Such connections are familiar territory for English teachers and demonstrate a rich framework for approaching print and multi-modal texts. However, in this paper, our specific concern is to pursue the possibilities offered by the notion of paratexts, for developing students’ understanding of games as action.

Using paratexts The use of paratexts (see Table 2, column 1) during digital gameplay introduces crucial moments of reflection. This is because players must remove themseves from the immediate responses that maintain the feedback between player and machine, to examine a text outside the “immersive” game world. The motivations for using a paratext vary, although Consalvo (2007) points out that they often relate to streamlining or customizing the player’s experience, by circumventing irritations, advancing quickly to more interesting areas or glossing over elements of play that do not fit with an individual player’s style of play. The term paratext covers a wide variety of techniques, texts, technologies and practices. Comprehensive work covers the field as a whole (Consalvo, 2007; Newman, 2008), while other scholars explore particular areas: game-inspired art, both professional (Bittanti, 2006) and fan (Schott & Burn, 2007); machinima – animated films using game engines (Lowood, 2007); walkthroughs – step-by-step descriptions of how to play the game (Ashton & Newman, 2010; Consalvo, 2003); modding (Postigo, 2007; Sotamaa, 2007); and game design (Salen, 2007). Certainly all are tangible artefacts of digital gameplay (Consalvo, 2007, p. 8), but in this section our interest is focused on a particular subset of paratexts, often called walkthroughs, FAQs or strategy guides, that the players use to guide and contextualize their actions in the digital game. We suggest that using paratextual materials to guide themselves through digital games constitutes a form of research for players. This operates as critical literacy on three levels. First, students have to find paratexts, using a variety of different sources. While many large-budget releases will be accompanied by official strategy guides (that may cost up to 50% of the price of the game in Australia), players will also, for various reasons, often also access similar unofficial materials through the Internet. Second, players have to evaluate the reliability of their sources. This is of particular importance in developing critical literacy, often involving the evaluation of official industry-based communications against similar content produced unofficially, either by experts or by peers in the community of players. Players using paratexts in this context are confronted by dozens of possible guides. Finally, players must enact and experiment with paratexts. This is both an important part of assess- ing their usefulness and a return to the original purpose of playing the game. As players work through the game with the aid of the guide, they may return to searching the Internet for better guides or for ones with more expansive coverage of a particular issue they have with the game. This supports critical literacy because players are constantly reassessing how they play the game and evaluating their own experience in light of the paratexts they are using. It also supports a knowledge of design because it provides a comprehensive overview of the whole space of the game, through which the player may take only one path or use a particular strategy. The unit on SuperCoach (Herald Sun, 2007) in the Suburban Catholic Boys High School, for example, exemplifies the use of paratexts in promoting critical reading and 136 T. Apperley and C. Beavis detached evaluation (Gutierrez & Beavis, 2010). SuperCoach is a fantasy sports game based on the Australia Football League (AFL), which plays Australian-rules football. In SuperCoach, players create teams based on the performance of “real” players and compete against each other on a weekly basis. The online game is run by a group of major daily newspapers, owned by News Corporation, with over 300,000 active accounts in the 2009 season. The already existing interest in the game among the student body of the school led one teacher involved in the project, Joel, to develop curriculum examining the game. Joel was interested to see how serious students were about the game and the lengths to which they would go to do background research into their choices. As is the case with many more conventional digital games, playing the fantasy sports game SuperCoach involved traversal and integration of both online and traditional texts of many kinds. To play SuperCoach well, players need to draw on a repertoire of constantly changing information presented in diverse media forms and to analyse, evaluate and synthesize this information to succeed. The media forms used include: print texts, such as newspaper reports of the AFL games; commentaries on particular players’ abil- ities; visual texts, often with verbal captions or commentary; replays from AFL games; statistical information about individual players’ performance; radio commentaries and discussions; television football shows that include interviews with players (serious comments, satire, buffoonery and parody); and the “informed opinions” of any number of classmates, relatives and other experts. As Lemke (2007) notes in relation to reading online:

You can’t really get at the meaning of various forms piecemeal: you have to integrate the text with its fellow travellers, cross-contextualizing them by one another, to get at the kinds of meanings being made and stored. (as cited in Alverman, 2008, p. 15)

To play the game effectively – to win – players rely on paratextual information, but also, crucially, distance themselves from their own passions and emotions as supporters of individual teams, in order to evaluate the information presented by paratexts in a cool, considered manner.

Paratextual design In the context of critical literacy, paratextual design is a crucial activity that allows students to become involved in multi-modal production (see Table 2, column 2). Paratextual production engages similar critical faculties to those required for the reading and analysis of existing paratexts, but requires that the skills be enacted in a variety of modes, supporting both multi-modal (e.g., after-action reports, machinima) and traditional text-based literacies (e.g., FAQs, walkthroughs, wikis). Paratextual production ranges on a spectrum from highly creative to strongly generic. Examples of creative paratextual production include videogame-inspired artworks, music and narratives, while player-produced walkthroughs follow narrowly formulated genre conventions. Within this spectrum are a variety of practices that also engage Web 2.0 technologies, using peer-to-peer platforms like YouTube to share player-designed and player-created tuto- rials on aspects of gameplay. Paratextual production is not necessarily game-centred, unlike other paratextual use. It is not about making actions within the game world, but rather about producing material that supplements the experience of the game world or even using the game world as a platform of production. The latter activity involves using either an in- game function – for example, the photo taking function in The Sims (Maxis, 2000) and Grand theft auto: Vice city (Rockstar Vienna, 2003); the simple music creation tools in Electroplankton (Indies Zero, 2006); the movie-making functions in Driv3r (Reﬂections Pedagogies: An International Journal 137

Interactive, 2004) and The movies (Lionhead Studios, 2005) – or another piece of screen, sound or motion capture software combined with simple editing tools, to create content. An example of the production of paratexts as critical literacy grew out of work in the “Serious games” unit in one of the metropolitan schools. Serious games are a new genre or category of digital games that both emerged from and demonstrate the growing importance of gaming in educational and pedagogical contexts. As a genre it is difficult to clearly define, because it is applied to games that have been developed in a number of different contexts, for example, advertising, education, journalism and public relations. While diverse, the genre is united by a sense of didactic purpose. Serious games propose purposeful play with meaningful outcomes; they aim to bring an issue, or issues, to the players’ attention through play (see Michael & Chen, 2005). In the unit, the students were asked to play, and answer questions about, a number of serious games – games designed explicitly to teach, including La Molleindustria’s (2006) McDonald’s videogame – with the final part of the six-week unit focused on apply- ing their knowledge of serious games to entertainment games. Majida,1 a student with a Middle Eastern background, designed a new character for an existing game as a part of the final assessment task. Majida added a new character to the PC role-playing game Sacred (Ascaron, 2004), one of the games that she was currently playing. The new character was a female who used magic powers focused on the control over the element of earth and evoked magic through dance. She both drew and wrote a description of her character, providing information about her powers, history and back-story, and an account of how her character worked in relation to the mechanics of the game. The character’s appearance and aesthetic was Middle Eastern. Majida’s character was a way of writing back to the game – a critical take on two noticeable absences. As she commented, while the setting and appearance of the game was strongly Middle Eastern, with deserts, palm trees and so on, there were no Arab characters. Her avatar was both Arabic and sexy, evoking particular ways of being and femininity, connecting to her own sense of identity and self in the “outside” world. In addition to building stronger connections between Majida and Sacred’sgameplay, the intro- duction of her avatar addressed the almost total absence of female characters in the game. Majida’s character, while a critique of Sacred at some levels, was described in the technical language of the play and dynamics of the game world. The character was defined by game mechanics – elemental magic, powers, skills – as much as it was defined by its ethnicity or gender. So while demonstrating a form of critical literacy about the game, Majida’s project also shows her knowledge of Sacred’s design. Her project illustrates that the benefit of analysing digital games in class need not be limited to critique, because critique often involves also engaging with the game on the level of design. The ways in which Majida’s design works also as critique supports the multi-modal approaches to literacy that are advocated in many curriculum guidelines. By reacting to digital games in this manner, students like Majida develop new skills or have their existing skills contextualized within the curriculum. This analysis of Majida’s project demonstrates the two key utilities of paratexts in the English and literacy classroom: first, they bridge traditional and “new” forms of literacy; and, second, they draw upon contemporary culture and often upon students’ own out-of-school literacy practices.

Game design The various practices of game design (see Table 2, column 3) sustain a reﬂective space for critical literacy. Again, this refers to a spectrum of activities, ranging from producing new objects within a particular game, to using simple game design software like Game Maker (YoYo Games, 1999), as was the case with the unit in the Rural Catholic Boys High School (see Table 1). 138 T. Apperley and C. Beavis

Many contemporary games now include some element of design, although the flexibil- ity that is available is often quite limited compared to that offered by specific game design software like Game maker. Within games, the design element is often relatively superfi- cial, for example, the detailed custom design of players’ avatars in role-playing games like Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks, 2008) and Mass effect 2 (BioWare, 2010). However, some games include features allowing players to generate new objects for use in the game, which have an impact on the actions taken in the game world. For example, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and bolts (Rare, 2008) allows players to design different vehicles for the protagonist, which subsequently determine how the player moves through and acts in the game space. Features that allow players to create new levels for games have become increasingly common, lead- ing to the longevity of classic games like Counter-strike (Valve Software, 2000), Warcraft III: Reign of chaos (Blizzard Entertainment, 2002) and StarCraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 1998). Other games like Sid Meier’s civilization IV (Firaxis Games, 2004) are almost com- pletely customizable, but some forms of customization require the player to edit the source code of the game using a software development kit that is packaged with the game. Level design has become a feature that is incorporated even in high-profile digital games aimed at casual audiences like LittleBig planet (Media Molecule, 2008), Mod racer nations (United Front Games, 2010) and WarioWare: DIY (Nintendo SPD, 2010). The various kinds of design activities, however, engage students with the notion of game action on a critical level, because they are implicitly conducting a form of critique during the process of design. Designing a game, or using an in-game tool to design content, also allows for critical reflection on how possible designs and actions are established – and constrained – by digital game genres. Furthermore, the process of design also allows the students to experience the negotiation between their desired performance for the game and the technical affordances available to them. Understanding what the affordances of the genre enable and constrain is an important element in developing sophisticated and critical perspectives on both texts and design. One of the project schools, the Rural Catholic Boys High School (see Table 1), explicitly taught game design using the Game maker software, where John, the English teacher con- cerned, was also the students’ teacher for IT (Beavis & O’Mara, 2010). Other schools also encouraged students to make games, using software more readily available in the English classroom. Sam, a 12-year-old boy described as having “learning difficulties” and certainly a reluctant writer and class participant, created the game Wizardry using the tools and affordances of Microsoft PowerPoint as part of the Gamorama wiki, at Suburban High School 1(seeTable1). Wizardry (see Figure 1) is a puzzle game framed by two screens of text outlining the narrative concerning an ancient battle between two wizards – Astaroth, who “seized power from the other wizards in a bloody coup”, and Seth, the one wizard who survived. In the game, your character, played by the cursor, has to move quickly to hide and escape from Astaroth, levelling up through screens filled with simple but effective images and quite a high level of difficulty, until at last Astaroth is beaten: “And so Seth ruled the land justly and fairly to the end of his days”. Sam’s game is an imaginative, creative endeavour that demonstrates his knowledge of related games and the capacity of the software, which enables creativity, pleasure and design. As in the example of Majida, Sam’s engagement with game design demonstrates how students’ work with paratexts serves the purpose of engagement with both design and critique and allows them to explore their own multi- modal literacy and design practice by creating texts that bring together both traditional and new modes of expression. Pedagogies: An International Journal 139

Figure 1. The ﬁrst slide from Wizardy.

Digital games, English, literacy – working in the English classroom Table 3 maps these examples against the three categories of paratextual dimensions of gameplay to demonstrate how each is characterized. SuperCoach and the “Using paratexts” are the closest to familiar uses and understandings of text and literacy; Wizardry and “Game design” the closest to “action”. In this sense, reading from left to right and designing curriculum along these lines, indicates a vector for conceptualizing digital games as action and as text that transcends traditional forms of text and literacy. Moving from left to right entails shifting from literary and literacy-based conceptions of digital games as primarily texts to be read and nested amongst other print and visual multi-modal texts, towards an understanding also grounded in production and design. In a different sense, however, all three columns and examples show the intimate relationship of text and action, critical and literary forms of reading, response, creativity and literacy practices to those of situated games play and design. Through paratexts, students are able to engage with the dynamism of action in digital games on a number of levels. By thinking through and approaching the issue of games as action, or, at least, not merely as text, this article has both outlined models and examples of digital game curriculum that support critical approaches to digital games as text and has segued into the multi-modal literacy and design practices of paratexts and game design. The juxtaposition of game studies and literacy perspectives on digital games has proved valuable in working towards the development of a model for games literacy for use in English and literacy education (see Apperley, 2010; Beavis, O’Mara, & McNiece, in press). However, this connection raises challenges in relation to the constructions of literacy and subject English. In part, the challenge relates directly to contemporary struggles over what English (and literacy) should do and be; with how traditional priorities, forms of organization and concerns might be reconﬁgured in “a curriculum built for change” (Tweddle, 1995, p. 3); and with texts and literacies extended to include multi-modal and 140 T. Apperley and C. Beavis Wizardry PowerPoint to create new story not a game but a technology, but draws on related casual games features of games, both narrative (e.g., characters, back story, images, language – and as puzzle or action – progress through the game) narrative and the challenge. Remaining slides require player to dodge, move up levels to win Uses affordances of Uses PowerPoint – Incorporates generic Figure 1 sets the ) Game ) Warcraft The sims narrative , ); Level / ); Modding Game design Spore Second life understanding on formal game elements (e.g., why games have levels, cut scenes etc.) and spontaneous interventions ( maker design ( III ( content understanding of the relations between structure and visual Critical Possibility of creative Critical Game design ( Sacred female character into the game critiques this absence familiar representations of Arabic female characters and desert iconography to ﬁt into the game, with associated features, roles and qualities character based on knowledge of generic and narrative requirements of the game The insertion of a Player relies on The character needs Player creates literacy practices in relation to games are strongly demonstrated literacy practices: writing, art, genres requires critical understanding of game (and paratextual) design, history, genres and aesthetics paratextual design Paratextual design A space where critical Links to traditional Demonstrates and “Productive” Supercoach and reportage, newspaper reports, commentary and photos, TV review shows, statistics etc print, oral and visual texts, play and compete online useful sources of information and distinguish between credibility of sources and reportage, newspaper reports, commentary and photos, TV review shows, statistics etc decisions based on detached evaluation of information TV and radio vision Read and evaluate Players must locate TV and radio vision Players need to make from a number of different “textual” platforms (Internet, television etc.) literacy and multiliteracy that the sources must be found and evaluated resources used or enacted during gameplay Draws information Focus on traditional Critical in the sense Table 3. Summary of classroom unitsUsing according paratexts to paratextual dimensions. Using paratextual The information is Pedagogies: An International Journal 141 digital forms. The attendant questions range from the place of aesthetics through to issues of pedagogy and assessment, values and identity. In part, however, the challenges presented to constructions of literacy and curriculum relate to the knowledge, orientations, professional development, resources and skills that teachers require to move strongly in the direction of design. It may be that bringing together the diverse elements and directions entailed in working with both action and textual perspectives means this work is best done across, rather than within, subject boundaries, meaning that curriculum, pedagogy and assessment must be shaped accordingly. Whatever the case, and however it is organized, it is clear that connecting into the world of digital games and bringing their study – both analysis and making – into the classroom, enriches understandings of contemporary texts and literacies, expands repertoires of practice and engages students in the lively exploration of the rich and complex world of digital games and cultures.

Acknowledgements The research on which this paper reports, Literacy in the digital world of the twenty-ﬁrst century: Learning from computer games (Beavis, Bradford, O’Mara, & Walsh, 2007–2009) is funded by the Australian Research Council. Industry Partners: The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, The Victorian Association for the Teaching of English, The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Victoria. Research Fellow: Thomas Apperley. Additional research assistance: Amanda Gutierrez.

Note 1. All names of students have been changed to protect their anonymity.

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