Transforming public space into a Persuasive Playground ! ! ! !
through ludic interventions
Indholdsfortegnelse 1. Introduction
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2. Method
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3. Design Description
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4. Theoretical framework
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5. Design process
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6. Evaluating the playful experience of Lost in Limbo
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7. Discussion
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8. Final Remarks
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1. Introduction! In recent years there has been a growing interest in public, participatory and guerrilla acts. These creative events use the city as a dynamic and political mice-en-scene and raise questions regarding reception and consumption of objects within urban settings. I find especially the site-specific games and transmedia play experiences interesting because it builds upon existing locative assets, physical qualities and social conditions. Meaning that urban space is packed with cultural game resources that we know from traditional games and that also opens up for new innovative playful experiences that uses new mechanics based on the physical affordance and the flow of the space (Norman, 2002). This paper is written while interning at the Berlin-based organization, Invisible Playground who explores the social mechanics, technical infrastructures, places and non-places of cities by installing experience systems on top of them. Developed at the intersection of site-specific theater and transmedia gameplay, these systems grant participants entry onto the invisible playgrounds they walk across every day without noticing. It reminds us that, in the words of the philosopher of urban space Henri Lefebvre; “the space of play has coexisted and still coexists with spaces of exchange and circulation, political space and cultural space� (Geyh, 2006). Creating an intriguing and safe frame is important for playing, which is why I would like to explore the art of persuasive environment. This paper is therefore about how the urban space posses’ great potential for playful and aesthetically rich experiences by drawing on strong sensory and cultural stimulation. I have researched this through a design project where I have explored playful and poetic performance art that focused on a persuasive play environment. This matters because it is interesting how embodied exploration of urban space and sensory stimulation from physical affordance, can amplify a safe play universe, enabled by a narrative play and social structure. At the same time the physical affordance is bound to cultural associations, which influence the cognitive visualization of the game narrative. The interpretation of a space, buildings, and physical objects is deeply influenced by the soul of a given place, allowing for unique and meaningful expression to unfold. These games are interesting because the context of the playing field change the game atmosphere and suggest certain playful interactions. Furthermore, it is interesting to design within natural urban environment and re-actable spaces where you can interact physically with the cultural traces in probes, both created and left behind by collective network. It provides possibilities to enhance urban qualities and through the play constellations surreal optic, flip around the perception into a hyper reality. The collaboration between simple probes and storytelling in an urban play context can also intensify this experience of a surreal and lifelike game universe, where the boundaries between real life and fiction is blurred. Therefore it is interesting to explore in which way probes, rules, storytelling has to be designed, so it fits to the context of playful urbanism and which challenges in the game mechanics is important to take into considerations, in this kind of constellation. At last, it is interesting to explore which social restrings and interaction between participants that are significant different from not site specific street games, since they have a great influence on the experience of the game. Research question: How do ludic Interventions transform public spaces into an urban playground?
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2. Method Learning through design is one the most well used method in the design field because it is a constructive and pragmatic approach to get a deep understanding of a given design field (Buxton, 2007). Given that I have choosen to supplement the research of this paper with designing my own site-specific play concept. It is very crucial for me that I design play and not games since there is a distinct difference in the social structure. The design project is well-rooted in a theoretical framework. Especially two theoreticians, Caillois (1961) and Dekoven (2002) has had a substantial influence on the concept development process given that they have developed universal and acknowledged play theory. Furthermore I have conducted two semi-structured interviews with tree coworkers, where we reflected on Invisible playgrounds design approach and on the playful experience I designed. The interviews was conducted within Kvale og Brinkmann guidelines about interviews (2009). I became an intern at Invisible Playground because I admire their site specific games and the way they experiment with transforming public space into a playground by making the game benefitting from urban space affordance and using it as a game resource. Being part of the Invisible playground where various playful projects is developed has taught me a lot about which aspects are important when designing interesting playful experiences. I recognize many theoretical aspects from the academia, but being totally immersed into an everyday where everything is centered on play, have given me a more holistic and pragmatic knowledge about play, which I can not be read in the textbooks. Especially seeing the play experiences and games being played out life has enriched my design toolbox. Observing social interactions unfold, based on the instructed game mechanics has learned me a lot about this field. Furthermore, discussions after new concepts has been tested, has expanded my perspectives on what games are, what they are capable of and what they can be used for. It has been beneficial to an intern at Invisible Playground during the design process since I had access to various resources like probe archive and advisory from coworkers. I got access to their community that consists of players who enjoy and admire Invisible playgrounds work. Everyone who would like to play was invited to the public event - Open playground – that aims to involve the public in the design process by testing rapid play concepts and get feedback in an early phase. Having an academic focus while interning and at the same time having access to these resources, while writing this paper, has provided a synergy and solid basis for learning about how ludic interventions transform public spaces into an urban playground.
Figure 1 - Selected play concept designed by Invisible playground that benefits from the resources in urban space.
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3. Design Description When exploring how ludic interventions transform public spaces into an urban playground, I focused on the physical affordance (Norman, 2002) and the art of creating persuasive environment that lures players to be playful. My design project has its roots in an interest in combining site-specific games with performance art, street art, philosophy and play instead of game. To provide the reader with the necessary context for my explorations here is a short description of the playful experience I designed. Lost in Limbo sought to create a playful experience in an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere that tried to lure players into using their body as a tool for expression and through this change the perception of the surrounding.
Figur 2 - Interpreted and embodied wishes from the lost souls on the residential walls
Narrative
We are right now surrounded by street art and colors in a place called Limbo – a place between life and death. All the faces you see on these walls are the faces of people who is lying in a coma being trapped in limbo because they have one last thing they want to experience before they can find peace. The lost souls can not fulfill their wish by themselves so you are a united team that have to collaborate on bodily enact the lost souls wish to their last melody.
Rules
Find your lost soul by matching your mask with face and name on the wall. Find the name on the mp3 and listen to what the last wish is - and why they can not die before this wish has been fulfilled. Get your team to help you bodily enact your characters last wish to their melody.
Game loop
Players repeatedly has to match their mask with the faces from the walls with street art. Players also has to repeatedly use imagination; spontaneity and bodily enactment to solve the task from the lost souls and each time they developed new skills. Thereby evolving as a team and experiencing the feeling of success when completing a new task in collaboration.
Goal
For each fulfilled wish the team gets a balloon in which they put their mask on. The lost soul has then moved from the wall into the player’s body and into a balloon to symbolize the liberation. Once all the souls have been freed they will travel together to the heaven by all of the players letting go of the balloons to the tones of poetic music.
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4. Theoretical framework At first I had various ideas for which type of game characteristics I wanted to benefit from when designing a playful experience. Through Caillois I learned the different kind of game mechanics that a game can use, which I had put into use (1961). Even though a lot of games is not only one pure type, one of the hardest part of the design process was to narrow down what should be the key facilitator of interaction. One of the first choices I had to make was if I wanted a game with a range of social structures to control interaction or if I wanted more free playful experiences, in which social interaction is more defined by players. At Invisible Playground I experienced the qualities of well-structured games that used the urban flow or physical qualities in a playful way and have been very inspired by that. However, I am more drawn to designing experiences that is more experimental, free and open to spontaneity, so play won the battle over game. Categorizing play By reflecting on the four game types developed by Caillois (1961), I was able to make core design choices and narrow down the interaction possibilities. My reflection on his theory is: Agõn: The skills that were being tested did not focus on strength or speed, but more on creative intelligence. The games were supposed to be placed in the teams that were competing against each other but given technical challenges with the mp3-players, I had to modify to be played as one united group. The games then lacked of the competing element that creates a dynamic, where people push each other and are co-competition. Even though it was interesting to see how the group dynamic worked in one united group, even though is was not optimal. There was not anything at stake or no one who were the best. With a big group the participants could of course loose pride but in the game they could not loose and there were no one else to beat. The players won the game together by collaborating. Whether of not they succeeded, depended on how each group member acted, what they provided to the game and how they as a united group collaborated. But as Dekoven points out that play is not about the game mechanics but about when they group feel that they have succeeded together: “it's not the game that decides who among us plays well, nor is it winning the game that determines success.” (Dekoven, 2002, p. 7). Alea: Since the play field area had to be explored in order to find the faces, there were an equal chance of winning – both if it had been played in teams but also personally winning, when freeing the soul after a bodily enactment had been done. Incorporating the pleasure of not knowing what was going to happen was one the design focuses from the beginning. By adding the uncertainty of when who should perform what, I tried to make the outcome during the game unpredictable, which Caillois (1961) and Dekoven (2002) states as an important factor for making the activity exciting. Mimicry: Lost in Limbo was inspired by the games that used minor role-playing as a key element (not as much as Live Action Role Playing (LARP)), where mimicking the real roles provides players with new skills and open up a window of new interaction possibilities. Since this has various qualities, it will be discussed later. The mimic element manifested itself by each player had to be one of the lost souls personalities and bodily mimicking their last wishes. Ilynx: Lost in Limbo was not designed to create a feeling of vertigo which players often get from wild bodily actions that releases a adrenalin rush and feeling of lack of control. However it was used as a spontanelously action in the ritual of embodying the last wishes e.g. when one player lifted another one in order to make him fly with a jetpack, he probably felt some dizzy rush. However, this is was very much up to the players and not conscientiously incorporated into the game. !
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Summary In short Lost in Limbo uses mostly mimicry given that it a narrative play where you can only win if you mimic life real actions. It aim to create an exploration drive through and benefits from a competition form that relies on creative intelligence. In Figure 3 I have illustrated how one can define the play activity in relation to Caillois terms (1961).
Figur 3 - Caillois Classication of games (1961)
Playing well together In games with a well-defined social structure it can be easier for players to know how to act and thereby collaborate on creating a well-played games, which is the titel of Dekovens book from 2002. I have used his theoretical guidelines to optimize the possibilities for a well-played experience. Structures for play In order to create the right frames for social interaction, there have to be boundaries and conditions for players to know how to act. The playing activity only makes sense within these boundaries as it provides meaning to the social activity (Dekoven, 2002, p. 13). It is important to have some boundaries and conventions that provide clarity for what social interaction is requested and appropriate for when the game is over and what is the goal. Without providing a goal and direction for the players to play in, there is no common understanding for them and what they are trying to do with each other and the game loses its drive (Dekoven, 2002, p. 11). The fun community Dekoven (2002) introduces the term fun community that refers to the individuals that is part of the playful experience but is not limited to the players only (p. 15-20). Dekoven also points out that we are having fun in relation to how well we play, which very much rely on the willingness of everybody to play (2002, p.12). Our willingness depends on various factors, but feeling safe and trusting each other is a substantial part of this. Since the framed success of the players depended on collaborating in the bodily enactment and battle against another team, one might say that there was not anything at stake because players could not loose to another team. However, a much higher risk is the feeling of losing pride when acting silly in a playful experience. In the social constellation it is important to feel safe in order to be silly and people feel safe when they trust each other (Dekoven, 2002, p. 17). The design consideration for creating a safe environment where it is expected to act silly is from my point of view one of the most important aspects in playful experiences, this will be discussed later in the paper. Given the loose social structure for which the social interaction could enfold in Lost in Limbo, it relied deeply on the good and motivated players that wanted to see the game develop and keep the game going for as long as it was a pleasurable activity (Dekoven, 2002, p. 21-47).
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Surroundings Most playful activities that are played in traditional and agreed play fields have spectators and they have agreed to join the fun community consciously. One of the most different aspects when playing in an urban space is consideration for the existing urban environment. This co-existence both provides interesting interaction possibilities and also demands deep respect for other users of the shared space (Albrechtslund, 2007). Bypassing people that either feels lured into being a part of the fun community or bypassing that resist being involved, is an interesting external factor that both can reinforce and harm the fun community. Spectators can be very positive for fun community because they sometimes make the player accomplish better results, because they know that they are being watched (Dekoven, 2002, p. 42). Since Lost in Limbo took place at a residential it was expected that there would be accidental spectator that would join. Some perhaps did not plan to be a part of the fun community but visuals, sounds and a playful atmosphere invited them to be a part of playful activity and this is one of the aspects of the referred the art of creating an persuasive environment. From the start it was high prioritized to create a playful experience that would have low entry barriers and therefore was easy to join. When players had their mask on it was clear who was part of the game but every time a wish had been fulfilled masks were transfered to balloons. Being a part of the fun community without playing is also a satisfying activity because you are part of something bigger than yourself. For the fun community it is also satisfying to be part of something that the surrounding world find interesting, since it symbolize a external validating for the play activity being meaningful and interesting. The chance of stumbling into accidental play activities’ is more common in urban play compared traditional games that demands a clear playing field, which makes these invisible playgrounds in urban space interesting.
5. Design process I wanted to use the physical environment as part of key interaction in the game that also could support the narrative. Inspired by critical design I wanted to design a playful experience that could create reflections and discussion by being serious without being too serious. As discussed creating a persuasive environment for both spectators to feel intrigued to join and for players to be playful in, was also a design focus. Before landing on Lost in Limbo I did benefit from visual thinking, sketching and prototyping on various play concept, which transformed abstract ideas into tangible concepts. When designing games I doodle and play with physical objects in order to think because I believe that it is only when we start to put our ideas into the world that we start to realize their weaknesses and strength. At the same time feed new ideas because of the visualization. The faster we do make our ideas tangible the faster our ideas develope (Buxton, 2007). A crucial step of the sketching were to explore the urban wilderness, since the context both influences the experiences and is a great inspirational source for what can used as game mechanics (see figure 4). !
Figur 4 - Sketching resources in urban space and on paper!
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Play field exploration Cities has a wide range of functions and serve wide range of aspirations. Urban space is therefore complex, changeable and consists of millions of relations and impressions which both makes it an interesting but also a complex setting to design playful experiences in. The physical elements in urban space, and in particular street art, are filled with street level politics and philosophy that reveals the locals opinions shaped by cultural discourse and conditions e.g. expressed by street art and urban installations. These physical objects are ‘in your face’ and hard to avoid relating too, which therefore makes them interesting to design within.
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Figur 6 – Play field exploration at Mehringsplatz (Berlin), which was close to the office.
! When finding a suitable location for a game it is interesting to design around the urban flow because both abandoned and over-stimulated spaces provides different resources for the game. I found that one of the most interesting street games designed by Invisible Playground builds upon existing locative assets, physical qualities and historical- and social conditions (at the Berlin Wall or trains). Normally Invisible Playground choose their play fields based on the physical affordances and flow and rules of the urban space, but the location where the Open Playground took place was already decided before hand. As one of my colleges though pointed, it is sometime more interesting to be given a location that at first glance seem boring and mundane and then analyze the environment to unlock great potential for play (Interview A). With fixed locations designers has to be more creative in relation to playful transformation and perception of what can be used as game material. Since I find this aspect particular interesting and Invisible Playground right now is sketching on a concept called Playkour where the game mechanics has its roots in playful transformation and physical affordance, this topic will be elaborated but I allow myself to save this for the discussion.
Figure 9 - Selected site-specific games that is designed around the flow in the city.
Invisible playground tries to unlock potential of the playing field by observing the rhythm of the city (e.g. how fast are people going, where are they crossing, what are they doing in certain places) and after that seek to use these social practices as rules and boundaries in the game (Interview A). Furthermore they interview locals to discover fears, facts and fantasies aiming to get a better understanding of the cultural environment and social practice. Sometimes this data is recycled for the games, e.g. in Exhibit 13 which is designed around what passengers were thinking about when they sat on the train and where players had to find people on their own subway that matched the daydreams from the interviews. I was inspired by integrating the peoples voices and therefore I used wishes from the transmedia !
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and street art project Before I die where people can submit their dreams online and on available chalk walls (see figure 5). Since the Open playground was close to our office I already had experiences with the social and historical context of the environment, so my focus was in the physical and visual affordances. As designer I have a weakness for aesthetically pleasing areas that through visual stimulation evakes rich imaginations, so it was important to find a location that could have a strong visual impact on the play activity. When I visited the play field I had performance art in the back of my head, which was inspired by the coworkers background in theatre. Originally I sketched on players using the surrounding physical objects as part of their embodied enactment of the wish, but to minimize the complexity of the game I choosed not to instruct players to use physical object but let it be up to the individual player how much they wanted to integrate the physical objects in their bodily enactment. As Anna Hentschel pointed out, when creating a playful atmosphere it is important to keep the experience open and not to instrumental or restricted (Interview A). Furthermore the players were already highly interacting with the physical environment by having taken a piece of the wall and using it as a mask. However, player was extremely creative and used objects in the surroundings e.g. a guy ran out to get flowers to stop the war, a woman used the grass field as a beach and another group used the concrete as a surfing board. As agreed with colleagues, these spontaneously actions was a significant quality of the game, so it is crucial not to limit the players too much (Interview A). Even though there is a risk of lack of structure and fantasy fuel, I wanted the game to be open to new creative ideas and let the players be free to follow their imagination. Like with street art, a good part of Invisible Playgrounds game concept leaves a physical print in the urban play (chalk circles, painted tries, tetris mosaic, board game piece etc.). Streets art as a controversial use of the urban space is interesting because they are visual stories from locals who used the shared space. It challenges the perspective that the shared space that is ours but it is also mine and in their own way reclaiming their city which a lot of present discussings is circling around at this moment. These left prints thereby negotiate how used space can be used and manipulated, which in many ways create parallels to The Situationist internationals work (1959). Like the Détournement, Invisible playground experiment with employing a more direct reuse or faithful mimicry of the original urban work rather than constructing a new work which merely alludes strongly to the original.
Figur 10 – Playtest of the rapid concept “Genies with no magic” – First iteration of Lost in Limbo.
Playtest & co-design It was valuable at an early phase to co-design by play testing the rapid prototype with coworkers at Invisible Playground. This type of play has, compared to games, not specific rules of social behavior and development of the play relies on social interactions and personal aspirations. Even though Dekoven has provided many good guidelines within the art of creating a well-played game (2002), it makes more sense to sketch on this kind of social constellation by playing out the concept. I tested a rapid prototype called “Lazy genies with no magic” which had the same core game mechanics about exploration, embodied task and !
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freeing the souls. At the playtest I realize various aspect in the played out social situation that did not work so well – especially the level of complexity had to be lowered. After the playtest we brainstormed on some new ideas for the game and removed some aspect that was not working so well. For example should players not know their own identity, so they would have to look at lot more on each other instead of having a focus on themselves. This made them look at each other and thereby creating an excuse to interact while creating a team feeling. Furthermore there should be longer stories so you would get a better sense of the lost souls personality and why it is important for them to get this last wish fulfilled. In the earlier version I had a lot more play rituals when achieving points, which made the game a bit muddy and hard to embrace. I removed it but in the start of the real play event, the concept was still lacking from a clear signal that a mission had been completed. During the playtest players was giving a printed cut-out-face (which was not a mask) and they interpreted it as a mask that they had to wear. This seemed to open up a window of new interactions possibilities and also a cover for then the situation became to silly. Meaningful narrative and Probe considerations From Invisible Playground I learned that stories can be a powerful way of making the game more meaningful and legitimize silly behavior because the story provides a valid reason for silly actions (Interview A). At Invisible playground emotional engagement created through narrative is also highly prioritized: “Without playfulness that is enforced by the narrative they (players) would not be so emotional which is pretty special about games.” (Interview A). Furthermore, stories and metaphors can be an easy way to understand new concepts, relate to the concepts theme and get players to stick to rules because they are given an explanation. It opens up windows for new meaningful interactions because the players mind think “Im just playing – this is not real” (Interview A). When players were giving a fictional persona that were bound to the narrative backstory, they got liberated to act out in character. In Lost in Limbo players was connected to the personalities on the wall through the mask and thereby becoming this character for a bit. By integrated narrative into the found context players are potential able to feel that they are being a part of a complete and physical world of fiction which they can interact with and thereby creating a fluid dialog between people and context. Ludic intervention can also be manifested in physical anchors and is a good vehicle for encouraging creative use and providing a play frame suggesting certain ways to play (Interview A). As Dekoven also point out, silliness and taking social risk is important in playful experiences but it is difficult among adults (2002, p. 121-123). Based on this I provided players with masks that functioned as some kind of social shield that would protect them from feeling too silly towards the surrounding world. Play gives the luxury to experiment with roles, meanings and rules, because in the play universe we are free of obligations and productive behavior (Montola, 2007). I believe that everything is multi-caused, but it seemed that the mask contributed the players to leave regular personal patterns and getting new skills from fictive person from the narrative.
Figur 11 The provided mask that helped players get into character and feel safe to act out.
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Since one of the urban playfields qualities is that it provides a good possibility for blurring out the boundaries between real life and fiction, I originally aimed for this paper to focus more on this topic than the end result indicates. Given that the playtest of Lost in Limbo brought me in other interesting directions, the design focused more on persuasive environment of play. However, the collaboration between simple probes and storytelling in an urban play context intensified experience of a surreal and lifelike play universe. It was still clear what was reality and what was fiction, but it was interesting how Magic moments occurred and made the actions of the players more important e.g. with the balloons having their own life because of the wind (Reid et. Al, 2005). Transmedia The music tracks being played after a wish had been announced also played a part to open up fantasies and creating cultural associations that could makes it easier to mimic and bodily enact the given wish. Furthermore, the probes were a part of persuading players to see alternative meanings in the surroundings objects. I tried to get different kind of people to record the voices and thereby both get a multi cultural and authentic atmosphere. I used realistic wishes2 from the website in which people from all around the world is submitting every minute. Through the bodily interaction with the other peoples wishes from the website BeforeIdie.cc, I wanted players to reflect philosophical about what they want in life. I wanted to create a poetic atmosphere and a powerful aesthetic experience by taking the souls out of the walls and into the identity of the players.
Figur 12 – Before I die website where all the digital wishes are submitted
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6. Evaluating the playful experience of Lost in Limbo Designing interaction concepts for urban environments is not only a technical challenge in terms of weather, scale, safety, portability and deployment, but also a challenge of designing for social configurations and spacial settings. A significant social characteristic from the open playground where Lost in Limbo, was that it was played by really good players. They really were in a playful mood, wanted to have fun together, were creative, seemed like they felt safe and genuinely wanted to make the game work together. These aspects are also some of the same aspects that Dekoven used to describe what creates a well played game (2002). Every player engaged eagerly in the playful experience, they took the time to look at the surroundings and really seemed to be enjoying the feeling of freeing the lost souls, which was what I aimed for. Another significant characteristic was that the rhythm of Lost in Limbo at the open playground was a bit slow – Most likely caused by lack of a structure that could have guided the players. This enriched the experiences in some ways but also created some constraints. Even though there were many interesting aspects from the play event, I have chosen to elaborate the last aspect since I found the flow most important and multi-casual so it provide an opportunity to discuss other interesting findings. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2
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beforeidie.cc/site/blog/category/responses
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Reflections in-action I tried to suggest a different way of understanding other people (and their dreams) by creating a persuasive and reflective atmosphere combined with embodied enactment. During the playtest the social structure encouraged players to focused on solving as many task as quick as possible. Jenny Aksu points out that if the game is too quick then the players are rushing to achieve points and are not absorbing the message or connecting to the surroundings (Interview A). The notions of reflection in-action, and reflection on-action were central to Donald Schon, which make his theoretical contribution relevant (1983). As he discuss that when time is extremely short, decisions have to be rapid and the scope for reflection is extremely limited. This showed during the playtest where the players focus less on whom these people on the walls were and what they wanted to do before they die. The played social structure might not have created the feeling of poetic play that I was aiming for but as Schรถn also suggest not all experiences have to create immediately reflections but instead aim for later reflections on actions. However, I wanted to enforce some in-action reflections since this could potentially create a feeling of being part of something beautiful and greater than yourself, thereby making the playing activity more meaningful. During the playtest at the Open Playground I aimed to create a social structure that while playing would make players reflect on the link between digital content from the website and faces on the street art walls. The other referee afterwards said that people really took their time looking at the multi-cultural faces on the residential walls. Even though the experience at Open Playground maybe was a bit too slow it is important when Lost in Limbo is played again that it take this slow rhythm into consideration. Urban exploration drive As discussed earlier Lost in Limbo was supposed to be played in several teams to create a better dynamic flow and urban exploration drive. In the interview we discussed how this has both its qualities and weakness (Interview A). As the team consisted of 15 people it was easier to hide in the mass and not take responsibility compared to smaller teams. For the players it seemed that it became harder to suggest something and at the same time, rhythm of the crowd was heavy because more individuals had to agree and connect with each other. A battle against the other teams could probably have created a natural drive to find and fulfilled the wishes of the lost souls on the wall. Referee At the start, I suggested the players that they should decide themselves when a wish had ben fulfilled but giving a non-specific person the responsibility were not a social structure that worked well in this context. It might not have been introduced well enough or be caused by other social constraints. During the activity I therefore took on a more referee role, where I made it clear when a wish had been fulfilled. When the team had accomplished the task and it seemed like they have had the right amount of fun while performing the wish, it was made clear by giving the players a balloon and encourage other to cheerfully clap for the accomplishment. This became an enjoyable ritual and should be a part of the future game mechanics. The players were very focused on getting the balloon after their achievements since it was the proud and visual symbol of their collaborative labor. The symbolization of freeing a spirit and transferring this action into a balloon that in the end would be send to the sky therefore seemed to be a very strong narrative element. In relation to the rituals of clapping and giving a balloon as symbol of the liberation of the lost soul other rituals was developed during the play. Since there was a photographer3 from a magazine documenting the playful experience, after a while it become a ritual that when a new face was found, the person caring the mask that matched, would pose and have their picture taking by the face on wall with the matching face. This familiarity and flow of rituals fseemed to create a better rhythm where players felt safe because they knew what to do. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $!Unfortunately
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the photographer will not hand over the pictures before June because of publication rights.!
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Roles Another important role was controlling the sound. A person without a mask was giving the role “Sound Master�, but the technical flow in changing tracks did not worked so well and disturbed the narrative illusion. In a future play it would better if an experienced referee could make sure that the right sound track was played at the right spot. I gave the responsibility to one of the players since I thought it would otherwise take some of the pleasure of control and independent accomplishment from the players. In the end it was more important to have a good flow in the sound experience, as it was a core play facilitator. The usability of the media should maybe have been designed so it would be easier to interact with. However, Dekoven suggest that it is better to let the players focus on the game and let the coach or referee worry about technicalities (2002, p. 43). I guess I had to experience this in this particular games to be aware of that. Urban constraints and possibilities Giving that it was a residential area it was expected that there would be a lot of social activity around the play field. During the game small children wanted to join and play along in their own way. They were not really a part of the official team but still there were a part of the fun community as Dekoven refers to (2002). They contributed to the fun community by cheering, being curious, competitive and found names of the lost souls for the adults. These small boys participation provided some kind of dynamic drive for exploration and rhythm of the activity. Other passing adults behave as spectators and followed the same exploration, which suggest that this playful structure is a very easy and persuasive social constellation to be a part of even though you were not one of the players. The urban play field also had some environmental constraints such as the wind removing some names and offering gateways for people to disappear while the others where exploring the play field. This was a significant challenge since if players went of the game not all souls would then be freed. Furthermore, the wind was strong so the balloons had their own life, which at one point made them difficult to handle (some escaped) and on the other hand, it created a realistic feeling of the balloons really having a lost soul inside them and that they actually did not want to leave earth even though their wish had been fulfilled. Both me and the other referees agreed, that everyone really enjoyed the poetic ending where they put their mask onto the balloon to set them free and in a united group let go of the balloon spirits that would reach heaven in their rhythm. The beautiful ending was actually one of the strongest phases where reality and fiction merged together.
Figur 13 – Freeing the souls through bodily enactment and letting go of the balloons.
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Summary Through the previous sections I described my exploration of how ludic interventions transform public spaces into an urban playground through embodied; playful and poetic performance. As stated in beginning my design project has its roots in an interest in combining site-specific games with performance art, street art, philosophy and play instead of game. Throughout the last pages I have discussed and analyzed the design and experience of Lost in Limbo. I concluded that especially the sensory stimulation from the visual and auditory design elements seemed to create persuasive environment. Having a strong narrative that was manifested in physical objects as mask and balloons made the narrative less abstract and blurred the line between reality and fiction. Especially the mask and the performance not relying on one single person made it possible for the players to feel comfortable enough to act out their character – even though if it was silly. In spite that the social structure was a bit too slow it created opportunities for reflective, spontaneously and playful behavior. Even though the social structure was very limited, players found their own rules and rituals that created a good flow.
7. Discussion After this design and research process the urban space has opened itself to me and all over the city I see invisible playgrounds that screams for playful interactions. In deserted streets I look at old Berlin candy machines and think they could be a part of game system. I look at traffic lights and think of games rhythms. On a rainy days, I look at people with black umbrellas and wonder if they are connected and together are playing a secret game that I am not part of – yet. Even though I am not a genius, in short I feel like the guy from “a beautiful mind” that see connections and conspirators theories everywhere he looks because his brain is programmed to look for patterns. Why this addiction to deconstruct urban elements has taken over my brain points in various directions but it might be helpful to understand this through other playful interventions and theoretical frameworks. This following section will bring my research into a broader perspective. From an urban planning perspective it is a key to create friction without exclusion (Simonsen, 2006). This is often referred to as the shared space problematic that emphasizes that inhabitant’s different needs and perception of what the public space should be used for. So it is important that each social group can enjoy the urban space on their own premiers without excluding another use for others (ibid.). Metropolis4 is a laboratory for the development of the creative city, which I will be designing games for in August 2013 in collaboration with Invisible Playground. The creator of Metropolis suggest that use can be defined by the functional space and this is why we as designers are increasingly more interdisciplinary engaging end-users into the design process and often base our work and analysis not only on the physical landscape but also on the social landscape. It is common that the social landscape relies on the functional and architectural configurations, but being a part of Invisible Playground has differently showed me that the functional space also can be interpreted in more alternative ways. One good example of deconstruction of the urban space is Parkour, which do not change the physical appearance or exclude other physical use. Parkour is devoted to physical exploration and connection to the physical and architectural settings. It is the extreme example of embodied and perceptual reconfiguration of urban space and for urban interaction designers it is interesting to study Parkour as it provides inspiration for other public playful interventions. Parkour effectively remaps urban space by creating new interesting parallels between bodies and architectural configuration and suggest a dynamic and fluid relation between body and space (Geyh, 2006). Parkour practitioners consider their activities as a re-appropriation and re-interpretation of the urban environment to their physical, emotional, psychological and social needs (Mohilever, 2012). Because of this provocative and experiementing interpretation of physical objects, I admire these !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! %!Metropolis.dk!
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free-running street gymnastics that for me are one of the most significant negotiators of urban physical affordance. The emphasis on the bond between the body and its’ surroundings is interesting in relation to transforming the urban space to a playground, because using your body for play is one of most rapid approaches to create ludic interventions. You always have your body on – not always a ball or audio tracks. I mention Parkour since I during a interview with Daniel Boy from Invisible playground got introduced to a new concept of theirs called Playkour - that as the name states is inspired by the same mechanics as Parkour (Interview B). Like Parkour it uses embodied play and playful re-configurations, where physical qualities and affordances becomes stimuli for a rapid and brief play brainstorm. Players are game nomads, always moving to new spots unlocking new playful structure bound the physical affordances. I find this concept very interesting and it is therefore pleased to be a part of the further design development of Playkour. With Playkour we will try to evoke an imaginative and innovative use of the city, appreciate spatial form created by others and negotiates the use through use. David Harvey introduces the terms spatial consciences or geographical imagination, which might be an adequate wording when describing Playkour (Harvey, 2005). The geographical imagination is about recognizing the role of space and objects in relation to ones own biography and culture (Mohilever, 2012, p.195). Through a geographical imagination it will utilize rapid movement and dynamism in order to introduce an alternative narratives. This embodied exploration will deconstruct the material, spatial and temporal dialectics of architecture and the human body and offer an alternative way of experiencing the city. Brunner though emphasize that this reconceptualizations never is limited to physical things but also on spiritual, virtual or symbolic levels? (Mohilever, 2012, 194). Harvey also defines three other elements that construct one’s spatial consciousness the organic space, the perceptual space, and the symbolic space. For example, abstract symbolic systems are written and spoken languages, geometry or mathematics. These abstract structures have no actual material dimension but they generate a spatial impression. The Situationist International (SI) wanted to fight public passivity and encourage widespread critical engagement through a kind of guerrilla tactic of street events that would shake passersby out of their conventional habits of looking and thinking. Guy Debord, the leading figure behind the movement, who contributed to contemporary practices of urban interventions, suggested the term détournement as “the reuse of pre-existing artistic elements in a new ensemble” (Situationist international, 1959). Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank. It is a method of interpretation, reinterpretation and reordering of pre-existing power relations in order to expose their banality or function within a system of control. Street art can be a good example of this, since it involves creatively reconstructing social elements for the purpose of denaturalizing and exposing the capitalistic bulimic reintegration of all social elements. Situationist International states that the ultimate goal of all our activity is that everyone will be free to detourn entire situations by deliberately changing this or that determinant condition of them (ibid.). At a more embodied level, I believe that both Parkour and Playcour could be regarded as tricks or détournement mechanisms that take advantage of the urban common structures, since the main impact of a détournement is directly related to the conscious or semiconscious recollection of the original contexts of the elements. A great part of Situationist Internationals work centered on designing public interventions with a political message. In relation to designing a reflective and serious playful experience, I sought to explore why is it easier to open up a sensitive topic in relation to cultural or political discussion with play concepts – compared to traditional media. The body is our tool to perceive and moves as a reaction to the combination of the experienced and the sensed – and it was therefore interesting to experiment with playful performance art as a medium to get empathy for other people in the surrounding world.
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Based on my own experiences and the theoretical framework, it seemed that because players are giving roles in a fictive social constellation it enables them to act out free of social constrains and without high personal risk. In the reflection of designing with a purpose it though came to my mind several times whether or not it was instrumental play, to design with the purpose of bringing players into a reflective mode – regardless of the reflections appearing in or on actions. Play is supposed to be free of outcome and what you are suppose to feel when you are done playing should not be decided beforehand. However, I think that the amount of political or philosophical message decides whether or not the pleasure of play activity is ruined. Play is not only about having fun but also learning about the world and the people in it and if the player’s minds are open to this, then messages can be incorporated (Swain, 2007). It is up to the individual player to decide what they are taking back from the experience. With Lost in Limbo the only goal was to make players act out other peoples dream in order to get them to ask themselves (and maybe others) what is important for them. Since this is a big and universal question I do not think that I have overloaded the play activity with messages or instrumental goals. However, I believe that players that do not want to reflect on poetic and philosophical issues would not engage in this kind of poetic and playful performance art. Players are already interested in being in a reflective mood if they choose to join. Originally, I wanted the Lost in Limbo to include a street art collaboration part like the “Before I die5” walls that is all over the world (e.g. Enghave plads). However it did not fitted into the context of the Open Playground. It could though have been a way to transform the experience from the bodily enactment into personal reflections after the participants had played the game. My internship is not yet over and I have been encouraged to play Lost in limbo again at an open playground or submit it to urban festivals. The next time the game will be played, I will incorporate this interactive public art aspect. The focus might change since there is many versions of this concept like “Before I have kids I want to…”, “We need more…”, “Design better...” and thereby using play as medium for exploring on your own body what other people are feeling and to raise questions inside the players to reflect on.
Figure 14 - Example of he chalk walls look like. This was is from Savannah, Georgia.
8. Final Remarks As discussed in the paper public space can be transformed into a persuasive playground through various kind ludic interventions where bodily enactment, visual deconstruction and narrative play are strong assets. Fuel for geographical imagination can be found in the surroundings and have the power to deconstruct urban space so it is perceived as a cultural-rich playground. The flow of the city and urban objects is a treasure of game resources because of its physical affordances and cultural qualities. Strong visual probes and auditory soundscapes are powerful game resources in creating persuasive atmosphere that lure get the playful and spontaneously part of out of players. As experienced with Lost in Limbo combining reflective narratives with bodily enactment can create a synergy that makes the playful activity meaningful and in extension suggest at more tangible way of understanding our world because of the sensory stimulation on our own body. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5
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9. References Albrechtslund, A. (2007). Ethics and Technology Design. Ethics and Information Technology. pp. 63-72. Buxton, W. (2007). Sketching user experience: getting the design right and the right design. MorganKauf mann, San Fransisco Calif. / Oxford Caillois, R (1961). Man, Play, and Games. Glencoe, New York: The Free Press. DeKoven, B. (2002). The Well-Played Game. A Playful Path to Wholeness. Writers Club Press, Lincoln Geyh, P. (2006). Urban Free Flow: A Poetics of Parkour," M/C Journal, 9(3). Retrieved 13 May. 2013 from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0607/06-geyh.php Harvey, D. (2005). The Sociological and Geographical Imaginations. International Journal of Politics , Culture, and Society ,; 18,3/4:211-255. Kvale, S. og Brinkmann S. (2009). Interview. Introduktion til et håndværk. 2. Udgave. Hans Reitzels Forlag. København Mohilever. Y.S. (2012). Taking over the city: developing a cybernetic geographical imagination flash mobs & parkour. Thematic Proceedings of the 4thInternational Scientific Conference in the cycle “Spectacle – City - Identity”, Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Faculty of Technical Sciences Novi Sad. Norman, D. 2002. The design of everyday things. Basic Books, New York. Reid, J., Hull, R., Cater, K. & Fleurio, C. (2005). Magic Moments in situated mediascapes. Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner, How Professionals Think In Action, Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-06878-2. Simonsen, K. (2006). Byens mange ansigter – konstruktion af byen i praksis og fortælling. Roskilde, Roskilde universitetsforlag Situationist International (1959) Le détournement comme négation et comme prélude (This translation by Ken Knabb (Revised and Expanded Edition, 2006). Originally appeared in Internationale Situationniste #3 (Paris, December 1959). Swain, C. (2007). “Designing Games to Effect Social Change“. Proceedings of the DiGRA 2007 conference.
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Appendix - Interview A Berlin, 8th of May Audio files from the 40min. Interview with Jennifer Aksu and Hentschel from Invisible Playground can be accessed here: http://www.itu.dk/people/loje/InterviewA-part2.m4a http://www.itu.dk/people/loje/InterviewA-part1.m4a
Appendix - Interview B Berlin, 8th of May Audio files from the 45min. Interview with Daniel Boy from Invisible Playground can be accessed here: http://www.itu.dk/people/loje/InterviewB.m4a
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