Re: [-empyre-] games experimentation

[Simon Biggs <simon@littlepig.org.uk>]

For those who are able to get to Bradford, UK...

In 1997 The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford,
UK, initiated a project resulting in the establishment of a permanent
gallery dealing with the history, culture and social aspects of digital
media and, specifically, its impact upon visual culture (opened 1999, budget
GBP£1 million). Whilst the purpose of the exhibition was to cover a broad
field of issues it was decided early on (by the curators Malcolm Ferris and
Simon Biggs) to feature a significant section devoted to computer games.
London based design group Shoevegas (some of the same people behind the
digital dance ensemble Igloo) were commissioned to design this specific part
of the exhibition. This involved not only designing the environment,
lighting and "furniture" in which the individual games oriented exhibits
would appear but also designing the hard/software systems that would allow
games from over four decades to be shown and, most importantly, played by
visitors to the gallery. This involved developing and integrating various
software solutions, O/S simulators, novel physical interfaces, documentary
non-linear narratives and an overall user interface to bind everything
together. This process involved over a year of conceptual, exhibition and
software research, development and design.

The NMPFT games exhibition includes numerous historical games as well as a
number of more recent vintage (at that time). One of these, Quake Arena, was
selected as particularly suitable for customisation to the gallery
environment. A physical multi-player "arena" was installed at the centre of
the gallery space where up to four players can engage in live play. The game
environment the players engage one another in (and which other visitors can
view on large overhead screens) is a "virtual" replica of the museum the
exhibit is located in, including some of the other exhibits in the
galleries. The players are situated in "chairs" wired into the technology
platform, facing one another on a small stage and with their own game
monitors and interfaces, large screens above their heads facing outwards to
the larger gallery space. Other visitors to the exhibition can watch the
process of play, thus establishing game play as spectacle and as
museological exhibit.

The thinking here was to create an overall show where not only would
visitors be able to look at and reflect upon computer games in society and
games culture, and within the larger context of issues concerning technology
and society, but where they could also play them and watch others playing
them, thus placing the role of game-player and the concept of game-play as
an exhibit in its own right. An anthropological angle could be infered here.

Just felt that this might be of direct relevance to the dicussion here.

Best

Simon


On 18.06.04 06:14, "Melanie Swalwell" <Melanie.Swalwell@vuw.ac.nz> wrote:

> Hi Helen, everyone,
> 
> Helen wrote:
>> The in-museum LAN sounds fascinating? I would be interested to know what game
>> were they playing and if it was team based?
> Was it very performative by nature? Where they there as a form on installation
> in the gallery? Did the museum attempt to explain or contextualise the
> activity to visitors? Where visitors invited to play? - What was the response
> of visitors?
> 
> To clarify: it was a LAN group using the museum's space - a large room that
> looked like it was normally used for talks, trainings, etc - to run their own
> 24 hour LAN event.  The LAN group and institution are building a relationship
> that struck me as quite innovative and novel, on both sides.  People played a
> wide range of games with lots of team based competitions organised -
> Counterstrike, various versions of Battlefield, Farcry, etc. + driving games,
> you name it.  This event wasn't in the main gallery space but I gather there
> is a larger LAN like this being planned, where spectators will be encouraged
> and able to come and have a look, inbetween one exhibition coming down and
> another going up.  This will be a kind of installation, I guess.  I'm looking
> forward to it.  It's great spectator-sport! and not something that non-gamers
> often get a chance to see.  It'll be interesting to see how the lanners find
> it.
> 
> Melanie
> _______________________________________________
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> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
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Simon Biggs
simon@littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

Research Professor
Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/cri/adrc/research2/

Senior Research Fellow
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge