It was at DiGRA that I first heard Eric Zimmerman talk about the idea of this being a ludic age. We’re in the period that follows the information age, which we’ve more or less left behind. In the ludic age, says Zimmerman, “information itself is put at play”.1 What does that mean? It can’t just […]
Tag Archives: games
Hack days as ludic practice
Posted in Articles
Also tagged Bernie DeKoven, Code Camping Amsterdam, Eric Zimmerman, Hack de Overheid, Hack the Government, hacking, ludic age, open data, play
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Occupy the future at Playful 2011
After making the many different creative industries out there take games seriously (and subsequently sort of regretting the consequences) Playful was back this year and decided to look towards the future. Ever since I presented there in 2008 this has probably been my favorite event of the year. So I returned after a much-regretted hiatus […]
Posted in Articles
Also tagged conferences, futures, innovation, play, playful, science fiction
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The Transformers at dConstruct 2011
Over two weeks have passed since dConstruct 2011 so it’s high time I post my talk. I felt a bit apprehensive about this one: dConstruct tends to have a pretty heterogeneous audience, so it’s hard to know what kind of talk to shoot for. In addition, I was slightly worried about how people would react to […]
Six games about architecture
I went looking for a few recent examples of games that deal with architectural themes in some way. I pulled these mostly from a few of the major street games festivals that are out there, such as Come Out & Play, Hide & Seek, Igfest and You Are GO! Just from this small sample size it […]
Posted in Articles
Also tagged architecture, cities, game design, pervasive games, urban games, urbanism
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New Games for New Cities at FutureEverything
Last week I was in Manchester for FutureEverything. I presented on games and how they can be used to improve city life. Below are my notes and a selection of slides. It’s longish, but hopefully informative. I’ve tried to connect criticism of gamification with the virtues of open-ended play, and show how the latter can […]
Posted in Talks
Also tagged cities, citymagic, executive function, gamification, pervasive games, play, self-regulation, strangers, urban games, urbanism
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Looking back on playful Tweetakt 2011
I’ve just uploaded a set of photos taken at the opening of the playful Tweetakt 2011 exhibition. As you may recall, I was asked to curate an interactive addition to this youth theatre festival. The works I selected are in my opinion all wonderful examples of the way play can lead to performance. Each was […]
Posted in Projects
Also tagged art, events, exhibitions, festivals, installations, interaction design, performance, play, theatre, This happened, This happened – Utrecht, Tweetakt
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“Personality goes a long way”
Earlier this year Dutch artist Tinkebell stood trial together with the director of a gallery for the alleged torturing of animals. She’d created an artwork involving a little under a hundred hamsters in so-called hamsterballs. According to her it was a commentary on the many people on YouTube posting video’s of their pets in these […]
Posted in Articles
Also tagged animals, Buta, ethics, hamsterballs, hamsters, pigs, play, Pulp Fiction, Tinkebell
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Drifting through the city with a few bocce balls
On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon I took a walk while boulesing through Utrecht. Together with a group of friends I used a number of streets and squares as a playing field. The water-level walkways along the Old Canal, the fountain behind the city hall, and the usually quiet Seven Alleys. Passersby responded with amusement […]
Posted in Articles
Also tagged Bashers, bocce, Bocce Drift, boules, columns, Ludocity, pervasive games, Situationism, urban games
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Much obliged, +1 banana
The past two months we’ve been designing applied games for an honors course called the Learning Lab. The games are designed to offer a structure in which things are learned through play and reflection. That’s the idea, anyway. Another thing that supports this reflection is a portal where all students have a blog that is […]
Posted in Projects
Also tagged applied games, bananas, blogging, dragons, education, feces, Learning Lab, monkeys, River Institute
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‘The Social Contract Put at Play’ at Lift12
This is a long overdue blog post for my talk at Lift12. It’s about what games can do for society. As such it builds on what I talked about in 2011 at FutureEverything and at dConstruct. What I tried to do here is to be more articulate about why I think the public sphere is […]