Candles Tarot Joysticks
*.*.-* Candles, tarot & joysticks *-.*.*
Introduction
Rituals can be understood as instruments in the struggle for the exercise of power. Organized by repetition, they (re)connect the individual to the collective, creating a vision towards a given perception of society. Participation in this creative act is determined by several factors, for example, a ritual’s function, its relationship to hegemonic power, a collective’s politics and objectives, etc.
Similarly, videogames create worlds. Often, those worlds mirror our own, reproducing certain ideals and values as norms through their narrative, game play, design, etc. This trimester we will be exploring world-building characteristics found both in rituals and videogames. We will critically consider those worlds, identifying the key points and elements through which specific videogames and rituals circulate political, cultural and social values. While this world-building might be interpreted from an angle of implicit and explicit bias rooted in hegemonic values, we will mostly investigate the generative, creative possibilities of such characteristics.
We will be looking at rituals and their overlap with video games as a way to explore "forbidden" or otherwise lost knowledge erased by oppressive systems (e.g. witch hunts). Understanding (video) games and rituals as gateways to alternative ways of relating to Nature, each other and (re)production of life, labour, etc, we will play together by writing fanfiction and spells, developing rituals, analysing and creating games together. Candles, tarot cards and joysticks... ready, go!
Week 1
Monday, January 9th
With: Lídia, Artemis, Michael, Steve, Manetta, Joseph
Morning
- Kick-off Special Issue #20
- Round of introductions
- Conversation about rituals
- One sentence rituals pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2023_onesentenceritualideas
Afternoon
- Read and annotate 'The Bare Facts of Ritual' by Jonathan Z. Smith. In groups of 2, select one characteristic of ritual found in the text that you thought was particularly insightful, and justify your choice.
Pad of the day: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/09012023
Assignment for next week:
- In preparation for our class next week, read and annotate the chapter "Defining Games" in 'Rules of Play - Game Design Fundamentals' by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
Week 2
Monday, January 16th
With: Lídia and Artemis
Morning
- Recap about rituals
- Defining play and games based on annotations of the text
Afternoon
- Mapping exercise: In groups of 2, based on the material we have studied so far, work on a map of the common the characteristics and differences between games and rituals; for each characteristic, pick also a picture/video/reference/scent/sound to explain it further.
Pad of the day: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/16012023
Assignment for next week: Questioning the magic circle:
- In preparation for next week's session, please read and annotate the following texts:
- "The Ruling Class and the Ruling Ideas" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
- "Well Played" by Vicky Osterweil
Tuesday 17th
Prototyping
- Preparations:
- go through the Python notebook of last trimester again (see the PDF version, the booklet PDF version if you want to print it, or find the notebook at
breadcubeinshared > notebooks > SI19 > hello-python.ipynb) - watch parts of GET LAMP: a documentary made by Jason Scott about the early days of interactive fiction and more specifically text adventure games, published in 2010. You can ask Michael for the special collectors item edition DVD, or watch it here (the documentary starts at 7m30s).
- go through the Python notebook of last trimester again (see the PDF version, the booklet PDF version if you want to print it, or find the notebook at
- Morning (Joseph & Manetta): Introduction prototyping trimester 2 SI20 + small text based games LAN party
- Afternoon (Manetta): Python basics revisited, Python text adventure game
- For next week: Make a text adventure game using the elements of Python that we covered so far: variables, lists, loops, strings, numbers, etc.
Pad of the day: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/SI20-prototyping-week-2
Wednesday 18th
Methods with Steve
Week 3
Monday, January 23th
With: Lídia and Artemis
Morning
- Games and rituals as reproductive technologies: the base-superstructure model, Adorno and Horkheimer's critique of the culture industries, Durkheim's definition of ritual
Afternoon:
- In groups of 2, read, annotate and/or map one of the following texts:
- 'Notes on Deconstructing The Popular' by Stuart Hall
- 'Political Ritual and Social Integration' by Steven Lukes
- "Game Modding: Cross-Over Mutation and Unwelcome Gifts" from The Player’s Power to Change the Game by Anne-Marie Schleiner (File:Annemarie.pdf)
Further Reading:
- "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" from Dialectic of Enlightenment by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer
- "Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory" by Raymond Williams
- "Encoding, Decoding" by Stuart Hall
- "Digital play: the interaction of technology, culture, and marketing" by Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Greig de Peuter
Assignment:
- Individually or in groups, select a game (boardgame, videogame, folk game, puzzle etc.) to play and play it. 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?
Tuesday 24th
Prototyping
- Morning (Manetta): discuss text adventure games
- Afternoon (Joseph): more text-based adventures - game design concepts (example monkey island)
- For next week:
Wednesday, January 25th
Methods with Steve: Ritual, ideology in the everyday.
Week 4
Monday, January 30th
With: Lídia and Artemis
Morning
- Brief history of witchcraft and the witch hunt
Afternoon
- Writing fan fictions of the games selected as last week's assignment
Tuesday 31th
Prototyping
- Morning (Joseph): discuss text adventure games
- Afternoon (Manetta): taking an exploratory approach: MUD servers
- For next week:
Wednesday, February 1st
Methods Steve: Fan fiction (continued)
Week 5
Monday, February 6th
With: Lídia and Artemis
Morning
- Digestive morning: Crystallizing thoughts on the shared characteristics of rituals and videogames, ideology and counter-hegemony
Afternoon
- Individual tutorials for discussing first thoughts and ideas
Tuesday, February 7th
Prototyping
- Morning (Manetta): discuss assignment
- Afternoon: no class
- For next week:
- Play the following games in your browser:
- Come up with a simple clicker game that you can make next week. Sketch it on paper!
Thursday, February 9th
Special Workshop Day 1: forces of (home) automation - hacking robotic vacuum cleaners
Friday, February 10th
Special Workshop Day 2: forces of (home) automation - hacking robotic vacuum cleaners
Week 6
Monday, February 13th
With: Lídia and Artemis
- Production mode: engage
Morning
- Introduction to the oracle deck as a format
Afternoon
- Try out different oracle decks and think of how to mod them
Assignment:
- Go into the oracle deck groups and further work on your modding of the original materials in the way you find the most helpful.
Tuesday, 14th February
- Morning (Manetta & Joseph): discuss assignment
- Afternoon (Joseph & Manetta): introduce JS, making a clicker game
- For next class (week 9): Work on your clicker game and finish it for the next prototyping class!
Wednesday 15th February
Methods with Steve
Week 7
Monday, February 20th+
- Production mode - Study week
Week 8
Monday, February 27th+
- Spring Holiday
Week 9
Monday, March 6th
With: Lídia and Artemis
- Production mode: engage
Tuesday, March 7th
Prototyping
- Morning (Manetta & Joseph): discuss clicker games
- Afternoon (Manetta & Joseph): Prototyping SI20
Week 10
Monday, March 13th
With: Lídia and Artemis
- Production mode: engage
Tuesday, March 14th
Prototyping
- Morning (Manetta & Joseph): SI20 prototyping support
- Afternoon (Manetta & Joseph): SI20 prototyping support
Week 11
Monday, March 20th
With: Lídia and Artemis
- Editorial and production support
Tuesday, March 21th
Prototyping
- Morning (Manetta & Joseph): SI20 prototyping support
- Afternoon (Manetta & Joseph): SI20 prototyping support
Week 12
Monday, March 27th
With: Lídia and Artemis
- Editorial and production support
Tuesday, March 28th
Prototyping
- Morning (Manetta & Joseph): SI20 prototyping support
- Afternoon (Manetta & Joseph): SI20 prototyping support
Friday, March 31st
- Launch at Page Not Found!