University of Arizona

The Bachelor of Arts in Games and Behavior will provide students with a broad understanding of important design principles and human behavior in serious and recreational games, but also the implications tied to gamification in society. Students will learn the basics of multimedia, storytelling, and sound technologies. This degree will also include courses that focus on the individual (e.g., psychology of simulations and play) and also courses that consider group or societal trends (e.g., inequality in the game and in the development environment; psychology of play in game communities). Issues of artistic game design alongside behavioral and societal trends related to games and gamification across sectors are the focus of this degree (e.g., education, health management, occupational training, social support, recreation). The degree will cover many aspects of game design and related social and societal factors without the need of extensive knowledge of computer programming.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Students will demonstrate facility using basic research methods, for example: research design, statistic and analysis; organization, identification, and location of data and information including open and closed access sources; and/or presentation of findings in oral, written and multi-media form, including proper use of and citation of sources.
• Students will acquire the skills, knowledge and self-understanding to communicate with and effectively work and interact across cultures and with diverse people and groups.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of career and further education options and opportunities open to them relative to their plan of study and will set goals and make plans beyond their expected graduation.
• Students will be able to recognize and analyses ethical and policy concerns raised by new technologies and will be able to apply ethical thinking to real world cases and craft effective solutions.
• Students will be able to identify and apply professional ethics and standards relevant to their career to aspirations.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of users¿ needs and rights, such as identifying target user groups for games, PR tools and platforms, analytics and metric tools, play testing and evaluation, monetization, models, information, protection, game related permissions on different ethical competence, professional ethics, quality steering, assurance, monitoring and social media utilization.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to design a game for various purposes, such as education, health and well-being, training and entertainment by incorporating best-practices related to gamification in all stages including challenges and fun factor, balancing, level design, scoring and progression, user interface, interaction mechanics, narration, functionality, usability and playability.
• Students will exhibit understanding of and skills related to varied approaches, tools, systems, platforms, devices, processes and their effective utilization for game development that are well established and currently used in the games industry.