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Over the last 50 years play has become an increasingly private activity. Now it is bursting back onto our streets. playmakers explores the emerging area of pervasive games it examines the implications of reclaiming play into the public domain and shows the possibilities offered by new technologies.

Playmakers investigates four main themes:

Part 1: Play

Why is play important and what does it mean to us now?

This section of the film asks some questions about what play is for and looks at some of the principles of pervasive game design.   We are introduced to the ambitions of Alex Fleetwood and Holly Gramazio for their new game and ask questions about why this sort of play is needed.

Part 2: Public space

‘The idea that the streets aren’t yours is a really horrible feeling’

The film takes a look at ways in which games can help us take ownership of public space and change the rules with which we operate in the city.  It features a game of capture the flag, played in the busy streets around Brick Lane in London. It explores the tensions of tyring to ‘change the operating system’ of public space.

Part 3: Technology

How do we play with technology?

Technology is increasingly used for play. The film explores how computer games are becoming more social,  Paulina Bozek describes the process of designing ’social games’ for major games consoles and we are taken on a geocaching hunt through London.

Part 4: Theatre/art:

‘‘The traditional theatre is a very stultifying experience’

The idea of sitting back and watching a performance being the only way of experiencing theatre is being challenged by new wave of theatre practitioners who are exploring ways of giving the audience more agency.  We talk with Duncan Speakman who introduces us to his audio piece ‘my world is empty without you’ and to Matt Adams of Blast Theory who discusses the history and future of theatre.

Contributors:
Alex Fleetwood   -  pervasive game designer

Holly Gramazio  -  pervasive game designer

Michael Wesch  -  Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University

Thomas Brock & Jack Case  – Game Organisers

Howard Rheingold – Lecturer on Virtual Communities , University College Berkeley

Clare Reddington  – Director, Pervasive Media studio

Simon Johnson & Simon Evans  – pervasive game designers, Simon Games

Dr Quentin Stevens – Senior Lecturer in Urban Design , University College London

Matt Adams – games designer and artist, Blast Theory

Paulina Bozek – Development Director, Atari London

Duncan Speakman – Artist

Credits:

Filmed and directed by:
Ivo Gormley

Assistant Producer
and editor:
Matan Rochlitz

Music Composed by Daniel Harle

Additional camera and edit assistant:
Dave Green

Additional Camera:
Matan Rochlitz
Dave Green
Amy Rose
Naor Elimelech

Additional footage, stills and audio from:
Hide&Seek
‘UNC Flash Mob Rave in Davis, 2009′ The Daily Tar Heel
Pong, Atari Incorporated 1972
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision 2007
Rock Band, MTV Games and Electronic Arts 2008
The Nearest Tube app, AcrossAir
Twittearth, Digitas

L’arrivée d’un train à La Ciotat‘,  Auguste and Louis Lumière, 1895

‘Uncle Roy All Around You’ by Blast Theory, 2003

‘Southwark Fair’ William Hogarth, 1733
‘Interior View of the Music Hall’ Boston, Author Unknown
‘My World is Empty Without You’ Duncan Speakman

With thanks to:
The Hub, Kingscross
The Southbank Centre
Institute for Contemporary Arts
The Barbican Centre
St Monica’s RC School
Roland Harwood
Rohan Gunatillake
Dave’s mum
Pete Law
Ian Drysdale
Chas Stredder
Soho Theatre
The Bricklayers Arms, Putney
The Tornadoes FC
Daniel Davis-James
Association for Learning Technology
Peter Rattenbury-Neate
Hide&Seek
Pete Law

produced by
thinkpublic

In association with
NESTA

This came up in one of the early brain-storiming session…

We thought it would be an explosive combination of fun, interesting, silly and thought-provoking to organize a celebrity werewolf game!

So, help us come up with the best celebrity names for a game of cheating, lying, deception and back-stabbing.
Er…come to think of it, maybe we should add a handicap for politicians and lawyers?!

Here are a few suggestions:

Stephen Fry
Boris johnson
Ken Livingstone
Kevin Spacey
Derren Brown
Omid Djalili
Brian Blessed
…

Meet Thomas and Jack, the organisers behind a gritty and thrilling urban game, and Quentin Stevens, professor of Town Planning at UCL and author of “The Ludic City”.

We’ve also been filming the brain storming sessions at the Hub. I think, on occasion, you can actually see smoke coming out of people’s ears.

Ideas all sounded exciting and  outlandish and I can’t wait to see which way the game is going to develop.

Upcoming playtest: You may have noticed that we have the tendency to pounce on players and ask them questions about their gaming experience… “So…you’re having fun….why is that?”  We’re going to try and set up a space within the venue for interviews with players and makers.  Feedback has been great so far: profound, witty and interesting.  If you have something to say about gaming  or want to get something off your chest come and talk to us and give us a piece of your mind.

We also visited Thomas and Jack who have organized one of the largest Capture the Flag game in London. They both said they wanted to create something in the city that didn’t involve spending money in order to consume a service or a product created by someone else. Quentin, Thomas and Jack all talked about how play allows us to express different aspects of our personalities introducing new ways of behaving in the city, switching between one’s serious everyday attitude and to one’s games’ face. Thomas said “I don’t know why people embrace it, maybe it’s escapist, it’s another way of being in the city, maybe it takes people by surprise how easy it is.” The public and exhibitionist nature of pervasive games was seen as important to Quentin who said that “it’s important to us to present and perform who we are… doing things where other people see them is more fun and interesting because we don’t know what other people will do, but it’s also in a sense more important because we feel the need to have other people confirm that we are alive that we have skills, interests and identities and makes us recognize who we are. Play is a low risk, low impact way of doing this.”

The next Capture the Flag game is set to take place in Shoreditch on June 5^th, come out and see what all the fuss is about!

Ivo Gormley and I are following Alex and Holly’s journey through making a new pervasive game. We’re documenting the whole process: brainstorming sessions, Sandpit play tests and the feedback being reworked into improving the game design.

We’ve been filming amongst ribbons and balloons, hi-tech gadgets and coloured pencils and there has even been an instance of drawing directly onto a perfectly good table; these people will go to any length when it comes to game design.

Favorite moment so far: During the Surveillance game at the Barbican centre, which involves trying to film opposing teams, each identified by a wearing a specific colour, Ivo and I kept trying to approach people mid-game only to see them flee in horror. Only later did we realise we were both wearing blue tshirts and were being mistaken for the blue team.

As well as documenting this “making of”, we are making a film about Play.

Why do we play? Is it something we need? Like we need, say, physical exercise? If so, why do most of us stop playing with age? Or can every social interaction be thought of as a game? Will the Web and the diffusion of technologies like GPS help play make a comeback in public space? Basically, we want to find out what play will mean in the 21st century.

Now, we’re talking and planning to talk to people with all sorts of different backgrounds who can help us understand the various forces at … er …“play” when we play.

We are looking for anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, town planners, technologists … jesters, postmen, trapeze artists … anyone who has an interesting perspective on play really!

Who do you know that fits the description? Let us know!