This is a supplement to “Game Design as Multimodal Intervention: Exploring Cuban Media Reality Through the Ethnographic Video Game PakeTown” by STEFFEN KÖHN and NESTOR SIRÉ. Read the article here.

In the article “Game Design as Multimodal Intervention: Exploring Cuban Media Reality Through the Ethnographic Video Game PakeTown,” Steffen Köhn and Nestor Siré examine the development of a mobile video game that depicts the history of alternative media distribution in Cuba. The focus of the article is on the game as a multimodal intervention created through collaboration between anthropologist, artist, and game studio. By reflecting on how PakeTown generated new forms of knowledge and engagement beyond traditional ethnographic methods, Köhn and Siré explore how game design can become a mode of inquiry. Developed in partnership with ConWiro, one of Cuba’s first private game studios, the project also sheds light on how digital creators navigate political and technological constraints and how local media consumption takes shape amid broader social transformations.

This supplement describes three classroom activities you might use with this article.

Two men sitting at a desk in front of two monitors where data files are copied.

A customer is having their USB stick filled with new media content at a local data copy store in Camagüey, Cuba. Image Courtesy of Nestor Siré.

A screenshot captured from one of the advanced levels in the game. Screenshot from PakeTown. Steffen Köhn, Nestor Siré, ConWiro, 2021.

Activity 1: Playing Through Ethnography

Objective: Experience el paquete semanal as a lived practice through gameplay.

Play the game through at least two levels. While playing, take notes on:

  • The types of media distributed in each decade

  • The social or political challenges simulated (e.g., state surveillance, equipment theft)

  • Interactions with NPC customers and economic decision-making

Then, discuss as a class:

  • What ethnographic insights does the game communicate?

  • How does the procedural rhetoric (the rules and goals) shape your understanding of Cuba’s informal media economy?

  • What was immersive or surprising about the game as an anthropological text?

Activity 2: Designing Ethnographic Simulation Mechanics

Objective: Reflect on ethnographic method by designing a small mechanic or feature.

In small groups, pick a theme from the game (e.g., paqueteros, satellite antennas) or contemporary Cuban reality (increasing e.g. blackouts).

  • Design a new mini-game, level, or mechanic that could be added to PakeTown. Describe:

  • What ethnographic insight it conveys

  • How the player would interact with it

  • Why this perspective matters

Share concepts with the class and critique how these extensions could deepen or challenge the existing narrative.

Activity 3: PakeTown as a Field Device

Objective: Analyze how PakeTown acted as an ethnographic tool during research.

Read the section in the article about how the game itself became an elicitation tool during fieldwork (e.g., playtesting in copy shops, feedback on design).

In pairs or small groups, consider:

  • What makes a game a “field device”?

  • How did feedback loops between developers, researchers, and users reshape the ethnographic process?

  • Could you envision a research project where a similar tool (game, video, VR, etc.) becomes the site of fieldwork, not just its representation?

PakeTown (as seen on the screen in the background) is the subject of discussion on a Cuban YouTube channel dedicated to video games. Screenshot from the YouTube video Paketown | Reseña . Videojuego Cubano. Courtesy of Fate Studios, 2022.

  UPDATED MAY 24, 2025