[-empyre-] playing vs productivity (and what does it has to do with videogames?)

[Cynthia Beth Rubin]

Rafael and all:

Thanks for the observation that the ultimate drive is to stay within the experience. This points to a  connection between video games and other immersive experiences.  

Think of Char Davies' early immersive VR work "Osmose" <http://www.immersence.com/osmose>, in which you had to learn the rules (special breathing techniques) in order to move through the space and have the full experience.  There was no competition - nothing to brag about (although some users found ways to brag).  This work is all about the experience itself being so alluring, so absorbing, that they wanted to move among the many non-heirarchical levels of the work just to be "in the experience".

A great example using a video gaming engine is Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli' s "Swan Quake" <http://www.swanquake.com>.  As in Char's work, we move through levels, with the experience itself as the goal, not competition.

Simon's observation that play is rehearsal is helpful for clarifying that games are not useless.  Rehearsal for young "learners," but perhaps we crave new experience and challenge at every stage?  

In this age of so much cultural production being tied to a supposed "market analysis," it is no wonder that mass produced games would be modeled after competitive activities, such as war and football.  After all, war (I have been told) is the ultimate challenge to be fully aware and alert - a challenge that we may need (crave) to stay fully alert as humans.

Therefore the challenge may be to produce inter-active activities that stimulate our need to be "on edge" and fully alert -- with competition as just one way to do this.

Cynthia

Cynthia B Rubin
http://CBRubin.net



On Nov 30, 2010, at 11:08 AM, Rafael Trindade wrote:

>  It's about winning, in order to stay within the experience; to keep the thing going on.

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