Hoorcollege 2

Participatie
René Glas r.glas@uu.nl
vs.
“The best that can be said of them is that they may
help promote eye-hand coordination in children. The
worst that can be said is that they sanction, and even
promote agression and violent responses to conflict.
But what can be said with much greater certainty is
this: most computer games are a colossal waste of
time” (Spock & Parker, 1998)
Games < Books?
Thema’s vandaag:

Games als participatory media.

Participatie en leren.
Participatiecultuur.
Games als participatory media (Raessens, 2005)
1. Interpretatie
Cultural Studies perspectief breekt met:

• Hoge versus lage kunst/cultuur.

• Passief publiek, publiek als slachtoffer
(Horkheimer & Adorno, “culture industry”)
Cultural texts (films, boeken, games, etc.) staan open voor
interpretatie door verschillende groepen “lezers”, en vanuit
verschillende sociale/culturele contexten.

Hall (1980) – “Encoding/decoding”

• Dominant/Preferred reading (“harmless dream woman”)
• Negotiated reading (“postfeminist icon”)
• Oppositional reading (“female enemy number one”)
Revealing Political Ideologies

“Computer programs, like all texts, will always be ideological

constructions [...] Learning and winning *…+ a computer
game is a process of demystification. The player molds his
or her strategy through trial-and-error experimentation to
see ‘what works’ – which actions are rewarded and which
are punished” (Friedman, 1995)
Simulation resignation
• Overgave aan de verleiding
Simulation denial
• Weigering
Simulation understanding
• Achterliggende regels en structuren begrijpen
en deconstrueren -> macht!
(Turkle, 1996)
“Understanding the assumptions that underlie simulation is a
key element of political power” (Turkle, 1996)

“To play [a] game means to play the code of the game. To win
means to know the system. And thus to interpret a game means
to interpret its algorithm” (Galloway, 2006)
Representation vs. Simulation

(Frasca, 2001)
Interactivity?

“industrial rhetoric”
“ideological term, projecting an unfocused fantasy”
(Aarseth, 1997)
Games als participatory media (Raessens, 2005)
1. Interpretatie
2. Reconfiguratie
3. Constructie
Reconfiguratie Constructie
- Exploratie - Modificatie
- Configuratie - Creatie

Participatiecultuur
PARTICIPATIE EN LEREN
• Immersion vindt plaats op diegetisch niveau – identificatie
met personages/gebeurtenissen. Speler is bijna onbewust van
medium.

• Engagement vindt plaats op non-diegetisch niveau. Speler

ontdekt langzaam de bedoelingen van de makers op gebied
van regels en structuren.

• Flow, volledige onderdompeling in de ervaring, onstaat bij

ideale samenwerking tussen immersion en engagement.
(Turkle, 1984)
Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990)
‘Spelers’ zijn veranderd – Digital Natives

• Twitch speed (conventional)

• Parallel processing (linear)
• Graphics first (text)
• Connected (stand alone)
• Active (passive)
• Payoff (patience)
• Fantasy (reality)
• Technology as friend (foe)
(Prensky, 2005)
Waarom het werkt

• Fun: enjoyment
• Play: involvement
• Rules: structure
• Goals: motivation
• Interactive: doing
• Outcomes-feedback: learning
• Win: ego gratification
• Conflict: adrenaline
• Problem solving: creativity
• Interaction: social groups
(Prensky, 2005)
Vijf niveaus/levels van leren

• Learning HOW: hoe iets te doen, hoe een virtuele stad besturen
• Learning WHAT: de regels van het spel leren, wat wel/niet doen
• Learning WHY: strategie
• Learning WHERE: leren over de wereld van het spel
• Learning WHEN en WHETHER: waarden, morele beslissingen
(Prensky, 2005)
Games en educatie?
“Educational reform is often based on good
sounding belief and not good science –
Preconceptual science” (Paul Kirschner, 2010)
• Kids can multitask
• Discovery learning is best
• Education has to be more fun
• Initiative by the learner
(Kirschner, 2010)
“Procedural rhetoric” (Bogost, 2007)

Overtuiging/boodschap zit niet (alleen) in de

representatie- maar ook in de simulatiekant van een spel,
en komt naar voren door spel.
Serious Games (week 7)
PARTICIPATIECULTUUR
Vormen van participatiecultuur

Nieuwe gebruikspatronen
- (vb. sociale etiquette, taal, etc.)
Subculturele verschijnselen
- (vb. blogs, walkthroughs, fan fiction, etc.)
Creatieve productie via games
- (vb. machinima, item creators, etc.)
Creatie nieuwe games/game-toepassingen
- (vb. mods, editors, hardware modding,
etc.)
Participatiecultuur

- Ideale samenwerking tussen productieve gebruikers en

‘collaborationist’ producenten?
- De wortels van participatiecultuur liggen in “grassroots
counterculture”, nu is ze ingebed in/verwoven met
“corporately owned control spheres”. (Jenkins, 2006)
Een spel als World of Warcraft wordt ontwikkeld met een
‘attempt to embed within it particular forms of use and, by
extension, particular users’ (Taylor, 2006).
Voorbeelden:
- Ongelimiteerde goederen (“The American
Dream”)
- Geen “game-over”, geen eind.
“World of Warcraft is evidence that we humans have finally
succeeded in creating something that we can desire endlessly,
have entirely, and never consume” (Rettberg, 2008)
De “Long Tail of Participation” (Glas, 2010)
Maar niettemin: voortdurende interpretatie,
reconfiguratie en constructie van miljoenen spelers.
Games of Stake

“ongoing negotiations about the what, how, and why of a

particular media object by its various stakeholders”

“During such negotiations, stakeholders employ different tactics

on various levels of interaction – technical, fictional, social,
managerial, and so forth – in order to gain and/or keep control,
agency and ownership.” (Glas, 2010)
 GAME
PLAY

GAME GAME
DESIGN CULTURE

GAME
CONTRACT

“Control, agency and ownership over the game *…+ do not reside
with either consumer or producer but, instead, are constantly
shifting between various stakeholders” (Glas, 2010).
Case study:
Playing the Interface
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38k0YwZR3B0&feature=player_embedded#!
Social Surveillance/Participatory Panopticon
(example: www.worldoflogs.com)
– Playing the interface (instrumental > fictional)
– Theorycrafting
– Agency/control over game mechanics?
Hoorcollege 2
Participatie
René Glas r.glas@uu.nl