Approaching the Loot Box through Gamification

Special Issue #17

One-sentence game ideas

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2022_onesentencegameideas

Collective reading of the texts

Rules of play defining games with kamo and erica
Taylorism 2:0: Gamification, scientific management and the capitalist appropriation of play with alex, chae, kamo and erica
Gamification as twenty-first-century ideology with chae and erica
Notes on deconstructing the popular with alex, chae erica and kamo

solo reading and annotating

Well played by Vicky Osterweil

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

We are all very anxious by the Institute for Precarious Consciousness
Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory by Raymond Williams
Game Modding: Cross-Over Mutation and Unwelcome Gifts by Anne-Marie Schleiner
Wages against housework by Silvia Federici
Chapter 2: PWNing Leisure" from "Play Like a Feminist by Shira Chess"

How to turn players into payers map

with Supi, Emma and Gersande

Fanfiction Katamari

with erica and kamo

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/katamari-fanfiction
https://issue.xpub.nl/17/katamari/

Can gaming make a better world?

the karaoke video by chae
https://media.xpub.nl/2022/SI17/karaoke-Final.mp4

Re-writing the lyrics of Video killed the radio star to talk about gamification in real life.
The new lyrics will be used for karaoke performances

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/si17-karaoke

Lyrics final version

Let's get straight into it!

I wake up early every day to be the best
Don't close the mac cuz there's no need for me to rest
My job is like a game that's why I feelso blessed

Oh, a, oh

They took the fun out of my creativity (BUT)
I'm responsible for my stability (AND)
My mentor said 'Self-motivation is the key!

20 points
I did a good job!
50 points
I did a better job!

Gaming could make a promising world
Gaming should make a fulfilling world
Gamify your entire day
Oh-a-a-a oh

Waiting the host to let me enter the zoom call
Checking my emails while I'm having healthy lunch
My job is like a game but why I feel so stressed

Oh-a oh-a
Is this my leisure time?
Oh-a oh-a
Is this my working time?

Gaming could make a healthier world
Gaming should make a happier world
Manage life through all your apps
Get some rest and back to work"

Oh-a-aho oh x2

Gaming could make an easier world
Gaming should make a better world

If you fail then don't complain
Try your best and play the game
Life is better when you may
gamify all the way
Can't go on anymore x2

Gaming can't make a promising world
Gaming can't make a healthier world
Gaming can't make a happier world
Gaming can't make an easier world 
Gaming can't make a better world

Gaming can't make a fulfilling world 
Gaming can't make a healthier world" 
Gaming can't make a happier world
Gaming can't make an easier world
Gaming can't make a better world

Prototyping

Two prototyping experiments about the loot box
Τrying to generate puzzles through emojis

   #1st
   #LOOT BOX
   # it works like this
   # call the random function
   # define the characters that are going to be picked randomly
   # define with and height
   # then write a code that for the range of (height,width) it prints the random characters 
   #print ' '
   from random import choice
   characters = ['👓', '👠', '🧨', '📣', '⚽', '🦺', '🏳‍🌈', '💍','👑','💻','🚬','🍗','🧵']
   #numbers = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,]
   #height = 1
   for x in range(3):
       print(choice(characters), end=)
   print('  ')

   #2nd
   #Objects and assumptions
   from random import choice
   characters = ['🎮','💸','👔','👠', '🧨', '📣', '⚽', '🦺', '🏳‍🌈', '💍','👑','💻','🚬','🍗','🧵',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ',' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ']
   width = 50
   height = 50
   for y in range(height):
       for x in range(width):
           print(choice(characters), end=)
       print()

Reading Writing and Reasearch Methodologies

Noise cancelling devices with kamo, chae and erica

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

making the Glossary of productive play with everyone in class

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/02022022
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Glossary_of_productive_play

What is a loot box? with everyone in class

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/16022022-ste<3

Producing the loot boxes

How can we work together ?

For this trimester we decided that we wil have two people facilitating each meeting.
This helped us a lot.
And I feel that in this trimester we had a better communication.
A more horizontal desicion making. More efficient meetings.
page with our group meetings' summaries
But again. Several decisions left people dissatisfied.
In our last meeting we needed to decide on the content of the box. There was a lot of frustration and many people felt that their voices weren't heard in the end.
Ι see that when time is pushing and we need to make quick decisions for important things, there is the risk that the communication becomes more violent.
How can we work we together in a big team and each one of us would feel that has a desired place on it?
That is a process.
Then I started reading Mutual Aid to find some answers. (stil reading it)

After our last and dramatic meeting, we decided to dristibute the work in 3 different groups.
Team 1 would be responsible for the inside of the box, team 2 would be resposponsible for the box and team 3 would create the LB's public and experience during the launch.

Team 1 and 80000 notes

Team 1 (erica, kamo, mitsa and supi) needed to decide what would be inside of the loot box. Most of the people of the whole team, wanted to use the different contributions that each one of us has created during the classes.
Or group at first had a hard time:

To decide on which contributions would go inside the box
How the different contents would be connected to each other by one surface.
While trying different surfaces, several contents wouldn't work (for example the idea of printing all the contents on a jigsaw puzzle)
We didn't want to work on other people's projects so we needed to see what would be our role.

After our first long meeting, kamo and erica proposed the idea to print the whole publication on postit blocks. We continues with that idea

as most of our contents were text based
we wanted to experiment with the perfomativity of printing text into a postit format.
postits are widely used during working time: From writing down tasks, to mapping a whole wall with notes and instructions that are used during a production moment.
so we would have a format that speaks already about working time
letting us to play with the boundaries of working and leasure time

---> pad for the postit idea presentation and discussion
The next step was to see how the hell we would print on a postit format. We were quite ambitious, aiming on 900000 postit in total. 900 for 100 boxes.
Reality made us reformulate. As we couldn't outsource our print into postit format, we decided that we could print our blocks without gluing them.
In the end they were like memo notes, that could be easily spread and combined with each other. We were still working with our idea to use the language of production as a format to print on.

steps:

setting note generator with web to print (kamo)
talking with the print shops and arranging the outsourcing ( mostly erica with help from supi and mitsa)
printing all our contents to note format and play with them to understand the performativity of the format (we had a very nice collective moment spreading the prints on the table)
editing all of our contents (mostly mitsa on the collective ones. the individual ones were edited by its individual)
design of the notes : 1. how much text would be on the note 2. the size of the text 3. the position of the text 4. the index and the chapter page design (design in figma)
design desicions mostly from all of us
design details from kamo and supi

Resources

What each contect contributed to the box

What is a loot box? (collective definition of the loot box)
Crossword imaginary grid game (productive play, glossary definitions, games, gamification, ideology)
One-sentence game ideas (playiability, fiction)
Nim Fanfic (organisation, hierarchy, fiction, a bit cute and sad)
The murderous history of loot boxes (defining loot box through talking about mimic, appropriation)
Unfinished thoughts (productivity, play, blur, walking inside lootbox, adventure)
The leader (working environment sarcasm, cards, play, appropriating inspo quotes)
Connect[less] (networking critique, inspo, precarity,play)
X-quisite branch (collective drawing tool, play)
Katamari Fanfic (fiction, rolling, messy, accumulation critique, sarcasm)
Life Hacks (toxic positivity, cheap solutions, accesibility, optimisation, sarcasm)
Gaming can make a better world (gamification, work environment, working time and leisure time blur, karaoke,sing)

PDF of the printed publication

File:Si17-orange.pdf
File:Si17-purple.pdf

putting them inside boxes

helping on the assembling of the boxes
production line on putting the notes inside the boxes

si17 website

https://issue.xpub.nl/17/index.html
my role mostly on the curation of the contents