Oct. 5, 2018 - I was invited by Phi Theta Kappa Honor Institute to present on my work using mixed reality escape room and digital games to teach college level philosophy courses. This is the presentation shown at the PTK Honor Institute. Access the interactive presentation here: http://bit.ly/dynamicsgames

1. Escape Rooms and Digital Games as Dynamics of Discovery:
Learn Moral Philosophies and Ethics Through Game Play and Game Design
Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute
Oct. 5, 2018

2. Hello! I am . . .
Sherry Jones
Philosophy & Game Studies Subject Matter Expert &
Lecturer, Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.
Chair-Elect, International Society for Technology in
Education Games and Simulations Professional Learning
Network
Animated Slides: http://bit.ly/dynamicsgames
About Me: http://about.me/sherryjones
Twitter: @autnes
Email: sherryjones.edtech@gmail.com

3. Mixed Reality Escape Rooms as
Dynamics of Discovery

4. “The dynamics of games enable the player to discover a game’s
implied ethics through interacting with the game mechanics.
All forms of games, such as live action physical games, board
games, and digital games are “thought experiments” or
interactive narratives that allow us to experience hypothetical
scenarios. Furthermore, the games enforce rules of conduct
that govern our in-game behaviors. The nature of games is
that they are “normative ethical machines” that impose certain
ethical rules through game mechanics.
-- Sherry Jones 4

5. “A mixed reality (MR) takes place at the liminal between real
and virtual worlds, in which physical and virtual objects
coexist or converge as phygitals.
A mixed reality escape room refers to a real-virtual liminal
space that traps the player within, using a combination of
physical and virtual contraptions and puzzles. Players must
solve the game in order to escape from the room.
-- Sherry Jones
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6. “An alternate reality narrative usually serves to bridge the
physical and virtual context layers of a mixed reality escape
room.
Essentially, the alternate reality narrative provides the player a
reason for the room’s existence, and the clues as the means of
escape.
-- Sherry Jones
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7. Orwell’s Utilitarian Thought Experiment in a Mixed
Reality Escape Room. 7

8. 8
“Don’t Freeze: Video
Introduction” (with The
Game Mole)

9. Suffering of the Individual.
Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, an ethics theory that
suggests the end justifies the means. 1984 shows how suffering
can be justified for maintaining the “happiness” of the majority.
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10. Game Design Elements for Creating an
Intertextual Mixed Reality Escape Room.
Theory
◈ Utilitarianism.
Narrative
◈ Situates players and the
escape room in the
alternate reality of 1984.
◈ Serves as a cohesive
element for connecting all
design possibilities.
Physical Objects
◈ Fliers.
◈ Letters.
◈ Clue Cards.
◈ Books.
◈ Telescreens.
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Virtual Objects
◈ Winston, the Ethics AI.
◈ Cards in the Matching
Game.
◈ Video Transmission.
◈ Virtual Spaces.
Characters
◈ Big Brother.
◈ The Game Mole.
◈ Secret Agents.
◈ The Decipher.
◈ The Prisoners (played by the
players).
Puzzles + Logic
◈ 3 Puzzles = 1) Ethics AI; 2)
The Matching Game; 3)
Flier Game.
◈ Solve puzzles #1 + #2 in
order to solve #3.
◈ Exit Code (recalls theory).

11. Jones’ Mixed Reality Escape Room In Action
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12. Converting College Classrooms Into Escape Rooms
to Drive Inquiry and Discovery
◈ Philosophy Escape Rooms - Jones has converted her philosophy and
rhetoric college classrooms into escape rooms.
◈ Assessment - The escape rooms were assigned as a form of assessment
of students’ comprehension of philosophical theories, and to inspire
students to consider possible research inquiries.
◈ Evaluation - After playing in the escape room (classroom), students
would inquire and discover the philosophical theory in play, and evaluate
Orwell’s vision of a totalitarian 1984.
◈ Research - Students would write a research paper based on the concepts
they encountered during the gameplay.
◈ Design - Students would co-design pieces of a future escape room.
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13. Digital Games as Dynamics of Discovery

14. The Ethics and Games Series
See my Youtube live series on teaching ethics with games!
http://bit.ly/ethicsandgames
❖ Kentucky Route Zero (October 2018).
❖ Observer (August 2018).
❖ Detention (July 2018).
❖ To the Moon (May 2018).
❖ The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (April 2018).
❖ Life Is Strange (March 2018).
❖ The Talos Principle (February 2018).
❖ Fallout Shelter (January 2018).

15. Fallout Shelter: Mobile Game Based on the
Fallout Series
❖ Fallout Shelter (2015) is a free-to-play simulation mobile game by Bethesda
Game Studios and Behaviour Interactive, a spin-off based on Fallout game
series.
❖ Released on Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, XBox One.
❖ Simulation of a post-nuclear apocalyptic America.
❖ Gameplay involves building and maintaining a fallout shelter, growing
population size, and completing quests to obtain resources for sustaining the
population.

16. Story of the Fallout Series
❖ Set in alternate history of U.S. 1950s atomic age when technologies
were powered by nuclear energy.
❖ 13 commonwealths ruled U.S. until capitalism and plutocracy
corrupted U.S. into a fascist police state.
❖ Surveillance, torture, experimentation, and public execution became
du jour citizen control methods.
❖ Great War (2077) led to global nuclear apocalypse (U.S., China, USSR,
and other nuclear capable nations launched weapons for 2 hours).

17. Story of the Fallout Series (Cont.)
❖ 1000 survivors lived in 122 Vaults built by govt. contractor Vault Tec.
❖ Vaults conducted unethical social and scientific experiments, e.g.
mutating residents via psychopathic drugs, virus, or radiation.
❖ Surface, aka The Wasteland, became completely irradiated. Surface
survivors became irradiated “ghouls.”
❖ Vaults were not opened until the year 2097 and later.
❖ It is not clear exactly when Fallout Shelter falls on the timeline.

18. Game Design Inspired by the 1950s

19. Vault-Tec Commercial from Fallout 3

20. 1950s Culture of Fear
❖ U.S. Sentiments During 1950s Post WWII (1939-1945) Era: National
and racial destiny, national solidarity, fear of degenerates, fear of
outsiders, paranoia, expansion of military power, infallible/
unquestionable leaders, authoritarianism, racism, sexism.
❖ Red Scare: Campaign to identify secret communist traitors in U.S.
❖ McCarthyism: Launch accusations of treason without evidence.
❖ Fear of Atomic Bomb: Creation of U.S. Nuclear Fallout Survival Guide.

21. Game Rhetoric: Job, Productivity, Efficiency
(33:00-37:08)

22. Game Rhetoric: Difficult Life (43:23-51:11)

23. Game Ethics: Values that the Game Espouses

24. Game Values: Capitalism and Authoritarianism
❖ Maximizing profit is the raison d’etre.
❖ Profit should be valued over social good.
❖ Providing social good is justified if and only if the act enables humans
to provide labor that increases profit.
❖ A human life is good insofar as it can perform efficient labor for
increasing profit.
❖ Human value is measured by the profit it can generate.
❖ Authoritarianism is good because it maximizes profit.
❖ Authoritarianism requires surveillance and oppression of the
citizens.

25. Game Values: Efficiency Warrants Eugenics
❖ Eugenics (greek for “Good Birth”) is a social philosophy, originated
from Plato, that contemplates on how to create better societies via
selective breeding (for eliminating undesirable human traits).
❖ Most countries have ended eugenics-based policies. U.S. still
implements some policies, such as the ban of incestual marriages.
❖ Fallout Shelter gameplay promotes eugenics based practices:
➢ Overseer (player) can selectively breed dwellers.
➢ Consequent children will carry the genetic traits of the parents.
➢ Children can inherit SPECIAL skills of the parents (when the
parents are equipped with certain items).

26. Vault Breeding: One Man Fathers Several Children

27. Game Values: Capitalism Justifies Ageism
❖ Fallout Shelter gameplay promotes ageism based practices:
➢ Overseer (player) can evict any dweller from the Vault at will,
without offering any justification to the dweller.
➢ Once a dweller reaches level 50 (max), the dweller can no longer
generate any caps (profit) for the Overseer.
➢ To raise efficiency and profit, the Overseer can evict the level 50
dweller, and train a younger dweller to replace the older dweller.
➢ Upon eviction, the dweller is stripped of weapons and armor that
could protect him/herself from the Wasteland.
➢ A dweller’s level could represent age. The eviction of the level 50
dwellers could be interpreted as an ageism-driven act.

28. Ethical Theories that Explain or Challenge
the Rhetoric of Fallout Shelter

29. What is Egoism?
❖ In philosophy, Egoism (latin. “Ego” means “I”) is an ethical theory
that presents either a descriptive or a normative position that an act
can be moral or rational if the act maximizes one’s self-interest.
❖ 3 Types of Egoism:
➢ Psychological Egoism: A descriptive position (and a metaethics)
that a person desires/is motivated to act only to maximize her
own self-interest.
➢ Ethical Egoism: A normative position that actions are morally
right if the actions maximize one’s self-interest.
➢ Rational Egoism: Claims that actions are rational if the actions
maximize one’s self-interest.

30. The Egoism of the Overseer
❖ In Fallout Shelter, the Overseer (the player) can make ethical or
unethical acts at will, without any intervention from the dwellers. The
Overseer has absolute power over the dwellers and the Vault.
❖ The Overseer asks the dwellers to perform various jobs, all for the
purpose of maximizing his/her self-interest, which is to gain profit.
❖ The Overseer maintains the Vault to secure the dweller’s lives,
because dwellers are needed to complete jobs and maximize
production. He/She is motivated to protect the Vault and the dwellers
to benefit his own welfare.

31. Observer: Game Design Inspired by Futurism,
Cyberpunk, and Orwell’s 1984.

32. Game Rhetoric: War and Corruption (11:55-14:03)

33. Game Rhetoric: Cybernetic Augmentation (47:26-52:15)

34. Questions? Comments?
Sherry Jones
Philosophy & Game Studies Subject Matter Expert &
Lecturer, Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.
Chair-Elect, International Society for Technology in
Education Games and Simulations Professional Learning
Network
Animated Slides: http://bit.ly/dynamicsgames
About Me: http://about.me/sherryjones
Twitter: @autnes
Email: sherryjones.edtech@gmail.com

35. CREDITS
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
◈ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
◈ Photographs by Unsplash
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