Category:Productive Play

Introduction

Social media, language learning apps, dating apps, mood-tracking apps, etc: the language of games repurposed in the context of data-extractivist software are just some of the examples of the blurring lines between play, leisure and labour releasing our collective dopamine for profit.
This trimester, gamification in its many forms will serve as a stepping stone to explore the many ways videogames, explicitly or implicitly, are making us more, not less, productive: predatory monetization schemes ( in-game advertising, micro-transactions, loot boxes, downloadable content, etc.), aspects of mod and fan culture, gold mining, etc.
Furthermore, according to author Vicky Osterweil, even when considered outside the direct sphere of production, videogames perform a reproductive role through the representation of capitalism as a system of natural laws through the dissemination of dominant ideologies, helping people function in an otherwise dysfunctional economy and society. Moreover, they may provide necessary down time and relaxation, allowing the worker to be regenerated and ready for another day.
Nonetheless, leisure is a contested space which is still unequally distributed. Associate professor Shira Chess proposes that feminist work must not only pay attention to leisure, but also to improving the quality of said leisure.
As such, how can we contribute to this project? Get ready to turn some of your leisure time into homework instead as we prod and poke the billion-dollar industry that always wants more.

Here you can find the summaries of the SI17 group meetings: SI17 summaries of group meetings

Week 1

Tuesday, January 11th

Kick-off Special Issue #17

Watching:

"Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper" : https://inv.riverside.rocks/watch?v=vTMF6xEiAaY

Assignment:

In preparation for our class next week, read File:Rules-of-play-defining-games.pdf of "Rules of Play - Game Design Fundamentals" by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman

Week 2

Tuesday, January 18th

With: Lidia, Manetta, Michael and Steve

Defining play and games
Blurrying the lines between labour and play: gamification and playbour
Getting started on a glossary of productive play

Today's pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/18012022
One sentence game ideas pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2022_onesentencegameideas

Reading:

File:Taylorism-gamification.pdf, by Jennifer Dewinter, Carly A. Kocurek and Randall Nichols
File:Fuchs2014.pdf by Mathias Fuchs
"Selfwork" by Karen Gregory, Kirsty Hendry, Jake Watts and Dave Young: https://reallifemag.com/selfwork/

Assignment:

In preparation for next week's session, please read the article 'Well Played" by Vicky Osterweil: https://reallifemag.com/well-played/

Wednesday, January 19th

Reading, Writing and Research Methods (RW&RM) session with Steve. Ideology, Old and New; in the aquarium 11:00-17:00

Pad:https://pad.xpub.nl/p/19012022

1) Today we will be looking at the development of the idea of ideology, referring to these three historical texts:

Marx and Engels (19th Century) - The Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas

File:Marx & EngelsRuling ClassRuling ideas.pdf

Gramsci (early 20th Century)- The History of the Subaltern Classes

File:Antonio-Gramsci-Selections-from-the-Prison-Notebooks.pdf

Hebdidge (Late 20th Century) - Subculture: The Meaning of Style

File:Dick Hebdige - Subculture The Meaning of Style -Routledge (1979).pdf

2) Reading ideology in everyday objects. We will break our day of reading and annotation with considerations of how ideologies are expressed in our day to day life.

Artwork:

Chad McCail robots run zombies for wealthy parasites...

http://www.chadmccail.co.uk/legacy/snake/snake.html

Notion publicity material: The Story of Tools and the Future of Work.

https://www.notion.so/about

How to organise your academic life: Notion for Students

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-1xk5jtCEc

Conrad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyTRORCMqME

16:00 Presentations = reading objects as objects of ideology

OUTCOMES:

Group 1 HAIR https://app.mural.co/t/gersandeschellinx5347/m/gersandeschellinx5347/1642602730710/9fa932915525c1806f1d42d6fca16d1850460ca0?fromVisitorModal=true&sender=uf53cc463fcfb1378069c3578

Group 2 NOISE CANCELLING DEVICES (kamo chae grgr mitsa) https://pad.xpub.nl/p/noice_cancelling_devices_turns_off_also_your_inner

HOMEWORK: Between now and your next session with Lidia, form reading groups and review the texts we have been looking at so far...make sure record is made of notes and discussions arising from your readings...

Week 3

Tuesday, January 25th

With: Lidia, Manetta, Michael and Steve

Games as reproductive technologies: the base-superstructure model, Adorno and Horkheimer's critique of the cultural industry, Stuart Hall's deconstruction of the popular
"Turning players into payers" / Predatory monetization schemes: in-game advertising, micro-transactions, loot boxes, downloadable content, NFTs, etc.

Reading/Watching:

"Notes on Deconstructing 'The Popular'" by Stuart Hall
"The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Videogame Monetization (The Jimquisition)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14
"Predatory monetization schemes in video games (e.g. 'loot boxes') and internet gaming disorder", by Daniel L. King and Paul H. Delfabbro
http://icantbelieveitsnotgambling.com/
"Super Mario Bros. 3: Pick a box; its contents will deceive you?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJASn5J4uO8

Further Reading:

"The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" from Dialectic of Enlightenment by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer
File:Basesuperstructure.pdf "Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory" by Raymond Williams
"Encoding, Decoding" by Stuart Hall
File:Digitalplay.pdf "Digital play: the interaction of technology, culture, and marketing" by Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Greig de Peuter
"We Are All Very Anxious" by the Institute for Precarious Consciousness

Today's pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/25012022

Assignment: Go into the reading or/and the mapping groups and further process the materials in the way you find the most helpful. And don't forget the weekly one-sentence game idea: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2022_onesentencegameideas

Week 4

Tuesday, February 1th

With: Lidia, Manetta, Michael and Steve

Digestive morning: Crystallizing thoughts on gamification, predatory monetization schemes in videogames, ideology and counter-hegemony
Individual tutorials for discussing first thoughts and ideas

Today's pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/01022022

Assignments:

Individually or in groups, read and annotate Chapter 2:"Game Modding: Cross-Over Mutation and Unwelcome Gifts" from "The Player’s Power to Change the Game" by Anne-Marie Schleiner (File:Annemarie.pdf)
Individually or in groups, select a game (boardgame, videogame, folk game, puzzle etc.) to play and play it. Similarly to what you were doing with Steve and reading ideology in everyday objects, read the ideology in these games: how is it present, both in terms of content, but also in terms of the mechanics, marketing, merchandising, etc?

Wednesday, February 2nd

RW&RM Session with Steve

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/02022022

NO NEW STUFF = we spend some time with the things we have already looked at.

11:00-16:30 we compile a glossary of terms.

16:30 group feedback session.

Glossary of productive play

At the end of the session we agreed to

MAKE TIME TO:

1) Transfer the definitions &c from the pad

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/02022022

to the wiki page

https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Glossary_of_productive_play

2) make sure all the key terms we have been using are in the glossary (ideology/gamification/hegemony &c) are on the wiki page

3)Feel free to add new ones

Week 5

Monday, February 7th

Prototyping

puzzles https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/~manetta/SI17/puzzles/
mazes & maps https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/~manetta/SI17/mazes-and-maps/

Optional:

encoding systems https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/~manetta/SI17/encoding-systems/

Pad of the day: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/SI17-prototyping-07022022

For next week: Bring a mini-game or puzzle that you made to class! Games and puzzles can be presented in a printed or digital form, that's up to you. Make sure that your game/puzzle is ready to be played by others.

Tuesday, February 8th

Modding and fan culture: ambivalence between incorporated prosumerism and tactical media

Reading:

Chapter 2: "Game Modding: Cross-Over Mutation and Unwelcome Gifts" from "The Player’s Power to Change the Game" by Anne-Marie Schleiner
"The Legends of Zelda: Fan Challenges to Dominant Video Game Narratives" by Kathryn Hemmann in Woke Gaming (ed. Kishonna Gray and David Leonard)