Texts

Course GPT Policy

AI/GPT Usage Policy

Hey everyone! As we all know, AI is becoming a bigger part of just about every industry—including game design. While these tools can be super helpful, we want to make sure we’re using them in ways that actually help you learn and grow as designers. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of when—and how—you should (or shouldn’t) rely on AI for the various writing and activities you’ll encounter in this course:

1. Reflections

  • What it is: Reflective writing is the act of structuring thought through writing, often for self-examination and deeper understanding.
  • AI Use: Discouraged. Reflection is designed to be a meditative exercise that helps you build self-awareness and critical thinking skills. Using AI to generate reflective content would detract from the core intent of the assignments.

2. Content Creation/Brainstorming

  • What it is: This might include tasks like coming up with lines of story dialogue, generating names, or brainstorming NPC personalities.
  • AI Use: Permitted. We recognize that using AI for creative idea generation is already common in industry. Since these tasks are supplementary to core game design skills, feel free to use AI to assist in creating flavor text, character ideas, or other non-critical content.

3. Game Design Documentation

  • What it is: Formal or informal documentation of game concepts, rules, prototypes, and other essential design materials.
  • AI Use: Discouraged. Developing the ability to clearly communicate rules and concepts is a core skill in game design. Relying heavily on AI for these tasks can impede the development of your own technical writing and conceptual clarity.

Policy on Disclosure and Academic Integrity

  • Disclosure: Whenever AI is used—for any purpose—you must disclose its use. This includes citing specific text generated by AI, as well as acknowledging the tool(s) used and the nature of its contribution.
  • Academic Integrity: Failure to disclose AI use will be treated as a violation of the university Code of Academic Integrity. This policy applies to all written and creative submissions in this course.

Accommodations and Collaborative Learning

  • We believe in creating “creative structured challenges” that help each student grow in their own way. If you believe AI will meaningfully support your learning or if you have accessibility needs that could be addressed by AI use, we welcome a conversation to modify assignments so that they better serve you.
  • We will not penalize students for using AI tools if those tools are used within the boundaries set by each assignment’s guidelines. However, we strongly urge you to consider how AI might deprive you of the deeper learning experience you would gain by engaging in reflection or documentation tasks independently.
  • If you feel you have a compelling reason to use AI in a manner not covered by this policy, please discuss it with the instructor in advance.

NOTE: This policy was structured and polished with the assistance of ChatGPT 4o