Trojan Horse Approach

Trojan Horse Approach is:

• One of the core pillars of the INDENTRO framework, used to catalyze and integrate human development in video games through subtle, underlying and subliminal ways.
  
• An irreverent metaphor based on how the Greeks used surreptitious strategies to win their war—in our case, an evolutionary (good) “inner battle” against our deeply ingrained patterns against growth and change. This metaphor can be also associated to the way some underlying computer programs can appear to perform certain actions, but in fact perform others (in our case, transformative outcomes).
  
• Leveraged in video games in order to fulfill the underlying purposes of promoting an integral type of human development through seemingly entertaining experiences.
  
• Applied to counterbalance (and solve) the issue that educational and developmental tools tend to not work as effectively if offered from a “top-down,” “forced upon,” or even “preachy” approach.
  
• Strategically leveraged in order to balance and integrate the 3 variables of entertainment (fun), market value (popularity) and human development in INDENTRO video games without giving a stronger emphasis to one in detriment to the other.

Games as “Trojan Horses” for Catalyzing and Integrating Human Development

In order to accomplish more effective and successful results, I see the feasibility of integral-developmental video games to be still dependant on using some kind of “tricky” but proactive strategy, due to specific marketing and developmental reasons. In terms of marketing reasons, video games are still mostly seen and purchased nowadays based on their entertainment value. Due to that, offering and selling games under self-help, self-improvement, wellness and personal growth labels could most certainly create initial resistance or bias from many game critics and players, which would tend to think that their entertainment value would be spoiled or lost. Actually, this is a real issue to be considered, which has been one of the main criticisms currently made in relation to some “serious games” designed to promote educational value in detriment (or limitation) of their entertainment value. In terms of human developmental reasons, the challenge is a bit different and subtler...

It is known by many different psychological schools and spiritual traditions that inner growth can be (and often is) a very challenging process, although extremely rewarding and worthwhile from a personal and broader human evolutionary perspective. In order to develop or integrate different aspects of their selves, sometimes people need to be proactively (and most important, ethically) guided through certain indirect, subtle, and underlying practices.

This “tricky” mentor/apprentice strategy is beautifully exemplified in the memorable movie Karate Kid (1984). In the story, an oblivious young apprentice gradually learns to engage in high level Karate fighting techniques by engaging in simple house shores such as cleaning windows in a certain circular way, as part of a subtle and skillful strategy of his mentor. As in the movie, these strategic actions can sometimes appear to be somewhat manipulative, non-sense or “tricky” at first glance, although they are often intended to catalyze or integrate growth in situations where people might face a lack of clarity, openness, will, or “guts” to move through certain challenging (and sometimes scary) aspects of their development. Accordingly, I envision video games acting as Trojan Horses aimed to catalyze and integrate inner growth through subtle, underlying, and subliminal ways.

These games would purposefully take into account some of the fundamental aspects of players’ profiles and realities based on various integral assessments and frameworks integrated in the INDENTRO framework (AQAL, ILP, Integral Play), and strategically adapt and explore their full potentialities of growth through various underlying developmental concepts and practices, based on advanced DDA technologies —dynamic difficulty adjustments, where video games can continually adapt to players’ development through ongoing feedback loops (Will Wright, 2008). Ideally, these “developmental tools” would need to be totally integrated and subtly embedded in the game design (e.g., game mechanics, dynamics, and storylines) and hence not forceful, literal, or even apparent at first glance.

These games would purposefully take into account some of the fundamental aspects of players’ profiles and realities based on various integral assessments and frameworks integrated in the INDENTRO framework (AQAL, ILP, Integral Play), and strategically adapt and explore their full potentialities of growth through various underlying developmental concepts and practices, based on advanced DDA technologies —dynamic difficulty adjustments, where video games can continually adapt to players’ development through ongoing feedback loops (Will Wright, 2008).

Ideally, these “developmental tools” would need to be totally integrated and subtly embedded in the game design (e.g., game mechanics, dynamics, and storylines) and hence not forceful, literal, or even apparent at first glance.

In my IMP academic research, I realized that these developmental tools would not work as effectively if offered from a “top-down,” “forced upon,” or even “preachy” approach (GDC, 2008; DeMaria, 2007; Gee 2003).

This trend is also gaining momentum through emerging alternative concepts such as “subvertainment”, persuasive games (Ian Bogost, 2007; Nick Fortugno, [Meaningful Play 2008]), collateral or tangential learning (James Portnow [MP 2008]), positive collateral impact (Rusel DeMaria, 2007), and others. As I noted, these approaches tend to share similar perspectives in relation to the critical need of incorporating moral, social, and educational messages into video games in subtler, indirect and underlying ways.

In my view, the integral-developmental approaches proposed by this article can complement these perspectives by specifically embracing deeper and more integrative kinds of human development as presented in the INDENTRO Framework. Not surprisingly, some of these approaches are not yet part of the “radar” scope of most contemporary academic and mainstream discussions based on video games, psychology, spirituality, sociology, and education.

Based on these concepts and ideas, I can already envision developmental video games being used not only by teachers and trainers (because this is already happening), but by all kinds of guides, mentors, life coaches, therapists and even spiritual leaders – ranging through myriad of fields such as education, therapy, business, fitness, wellness, personal growth, and even spirituality.

From this approach, both players and helping professionals could have a clearer and better sense of “how to” and “when to” use those video games to fulfill their various educational, developmental, therapeutic and spiritual purposes and aspirations. In some of these cases, letting players know they are “playing to grow” would be more important, rather than always approaching it subliminally, as long as they are open to this idea and the entertainment value (fun) is kept alive.

These trends could revolutionize how video games are perceived and purchased nowadays, potentially increasing their already strong appeal in unprecedented ways.