[-empyre-] Fwd: Re: Systems – Videogames of the oppressed / oppressive games

[James Morgan]

sorry if this is delayed or late, I have so many questions for the hosts,  
these start out to Johannes, but certainly anyone is welcome to reply:

Do you see Theater of the Oppressed as theater games?

I am particularly curious about the gamelike quality of the interaction,
this is still fairly new to me and this thought challenges one of my basic
assumptions.

> elements that are named under the heading of ludology, no? game  
> structures, plots
> and narrative, rule-based systems and their syntax, role playing, and so  
> on,
> and that a primary investment into gaming is the action of the gamer,  
> the direct immersion
> into the game system or simulated world; you don't watch other play  
> games ( as in an art
> gallery or theatre), you are a first person.

My limited reading in this space and in the space of game design shows a
tension between game mechanism and narrative which is rarely played out in
any substantial sense. Playing a game rarely prevents meta-level analysis,
the fact that this is where the message in in Boal's work makes me consider
it an added level of understanding within the structure of play.  The
magic circle in this case (the place where you enter the game) can be
interrogated from the perspective of the spoil sport. It is possible to
watch T.O. but the power of it is arrived at in the first person, with
agency and within the magic circle of play.

> I suppose we could debate James's suggestion that games can teach or are  
> a tool for possible education,

I am curious as to what your point of view on this is as well.  My point
was not to talk so much about games and formal education but to say that
games are inherently teaching tools.  If you do not learn to play the game
(videogame) you cannot participate, it is in the games interest to teach
you.  At this point though the question is what do you learn of value
(without it becoming edutainment) and how transferable is that to the
real world.  It is my belief that those are both best dealt with by the
teacher. As a teacher we wouldn't just drop a piece of media into a
classroom without some consideration for its appropriateness and
afterwards it is very rare to not provide some additional connecting
information.





On Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:54:33 -0700, Johannes Birringer
<Johannes.Birringer at brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> dear all
> interesting response from James, I'd like to pick up where he ends,
> [James Morgan schreibt]
>>> The rules and coded culture of the game create a powerful level of  
>>> control
> over the player, and perhaps it is the manipulation of that through some
> manner of live coding or game modding that creates a useful dialog within
> games of the oppressed, I do not know. I have not encountered this before
> but am anxious to learn more. On the other hand a sense of game playing  
> is
> at the heart of Theater of the Oppressed too, isn't it?
> Games cultivate motivation and teach, but they teach best how to play the
> game.
>>>
> and offer disagreement, as to this correlation. I believe the Theatre of  
> the Oppressed
> has nothing to do with games at all, if we are referring to computer  
> games and action
> games, and even more compositional games modeled/simulated like SIMS,  
> and I
> am trying here to make sense as i do not play games, but on occasion  
> have walked
> around Second Life and watched students "perform" (mimic or parody)  
> scenes
> of contortionist violence from First Person Shooter games.
> I would also have assumed from readings (in games studies) that games  
> involve
> elements that are named under the heading of ludology, no? game  
> structures, plots
> and narrative, rule-based systems and their syntax, role playing, and so  
> on,
> and that a primary investment into gaming is the action of the gamer,  
> the direct immersion
> into the game system or simulated world; you don't watch other play  
> games ( as in an art
> gallery or theatre), you are a first person.
> Following Brecht's street theatre scene in the Lehrstücke (learning  
> plays), the actor or
> as Boal later calls her, the "spect-actor," is involved in a rehearsal,  
> not or a syntax design or
> game rules, but precisely in critical discussion on how an oppressive  
> grammar can be
> changed, thus chancing outcomes otherwise considered predictable or  
> inevitable.
> As Frasca points out, in the Brazilian context, Boal and Freire worked  
> on raising sociopolitical
> awareness and action behavior, thus I also see them in a larger spectrum  
> of revolution (Cuba in 1959)
> and Marxist & socialist politics in América Lartina, and literacy  
> campaigns (educating working classed
> so they could speak for themselves).
>
>>> (Frasca schreibt]
> Certainly, the idea of using simulation and videogames for educational  
> purposes is far from new and was already extensively explored by  
> constructionism. The idea was developed by Seymour Papert through  
> Mindstorms (1985) and Logo, and it was continued by such authors as  
> Yasmin Kafai (Kafai 1995), whose students learned mathematics through  
> videogame design. The main problem with constructionism is that it was  
> not designed for dealing with social and humanities education. This can  
> be easily explained by many factors, including Papert's own background  
> as a mathematician and the election of the computer as their main tool.  
> Certainly, Kafai's students had to research Greek mythology to create  
> their videogames, but this was mainly a side effect, because their focus  
> was on mathematics. In fact constructionism's main success stories are  
> in the field of science education, and it does not seem to be the ideal  
> environment for critically discussing human and social matters.
> Paulo Freire's pedagogy was developed about the same time as  
> constructionism. In fact, they share many characteristics. However,  
> Freire had different goals (mainly adult literacy and the development of  
> critical attitudes towards reality in order to attain social change) and  
> settings (the Brazilian Nordeste, one of the poorest places of the  
> world). Unlike constructionism, his pedagogy offers great tools for  
> critical discussion and social awareness -- but it is not as well suited  
> for science education.
> What I am proposing here is to use Boalian techniques to develop a  
> complementary approach to constructionism that would allow the use of  
> videogames as tools for education and sociopolitical awareness.
>>>
> I suppose we could debate James's suggestion that games can teach or are  
> a tool for possible education,
> In the sense in which Paolo had critiqued the systemic,  arguing that  
> "games, simulations and interactive media are systems of rules, and  
> these rules produce meaning  as well: they define the relationships  
> between the purely  representational bits (images, sounds, text…) and  
> the agency of the  players within the system,"  it seems then that any  
> rehearsals we are disussing under this political lens would be
> regarding critical awarenesses, changes in behavior or action patterns  
> an consciousness of over-determinations and resistances to oppression,  
> and
>  "challenging the language of power, the infrastructures, the  modes,  
> genres and tropes of the dominant discourse which was omnipresent  in  
> videogame culture" [Paulo]
> quite so, Paulo, yes, and now it would interest me to hear where such  
> rehearsals are happening in the consumer sector?  or in the educational  
> sphere.  Some of you have already mentioned examples, but my concern  
> here is the much larger market of game consumption and how games also  
> tie into the movie and entertainment industries.
> As to Joseph DeLappe's narrative, I actually enjoyed it as a narrative  
> but it had some fictional elements, no? unlikely plot twists, biblical  
> allusions, and a Manichaean strand,  I thought (game narrative?)? would  
> you agree?   and
> in a sense the positive "outcome" and survival reminded me of Paolo's  
> earlier claim that games helped him to develop anti-colonial politics?   
> This mixing of virtual games and factual politics - can you address this  
> please, along the lines
> in which Claudia, i think, also asked: "how does the anti-industry  
> stance of videogame activists intersect with other movements in the  
> awake of Occupy and the Arab Spring?"
> with regards
> Johannes Birringer
> _______________________________________________
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> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
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-- 

james


Anything that can be made, can be made black.