tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55159262011-04-21T20:43:54.331-07:00PLAY(S): Theater and GamesWe're thinking about the connections between plays (theater) and play (games). Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comBlogger711100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1073080596919507922004-01-02T13:56:00.000-08:002006-03-02T12:09:11.453-08:00Hey all you Fall R1A Theater and Games folks... this blog is now, for all intents and purposes, dead... (alas)... A new blogs worth checking out: Spring R1B: Performance and Play at www.performanceandplay.blogspot.com andHappy New Year!Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1071015856207366152003-12-09T16:24:00.000-08:002003-12-09T16:25:00.903-08:00"Existential despair" hits the movie theaters...
Hey guys! if you're still checking the blog (yay) here's something I stumbled upon today and couldn't resist posting. My favorite film critic, A.O. Scott (who reviews for the New York Times), always has a little bit of fun at the end of his reviews where he has to explain the particular ratings (PG, PG-13, R, etc.) for each film. For Mystic RiverJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1070581583525571242003-12-04T15:46:00.000-08:002003-12-09T18:10:52.110-08:00Okay, Becket-philes...
Good news for those of you itching to see some of Beckett's work on film. Our campus video center has a ridiculously extensive collection, which you can go watch anytime you want in the viewing lab, including six different productions of Waiting for Godot (including a doc on the San Quentin one we read about) and yes, Minghella's film adaptation of Play. Have fun! Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1070483370383069642003-12-03T12:29:00.000-08:002003-12-03T12:30:08.950-08:00Bring it...
If you've got a request for what I can bring on Friday (Krispy Kremes? Orange juice?) or want to bring something yourself (greatly appreciated, but not required) post it here... also, we've got (heads down, thumbs up, let's play...) 7-Up on the agenda and Four Corners (which now that I think about it, I might actually vaguely recall playing)... anyone other old-school school games Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1070356684516932372003-12-02T01:18:00.000-08:002003-12-02T01:18:41.810-08:00Play and games go to the movies... online!
Your film essays are now online! I encourage you to check out each other's, and I'll keep you posted as to the traffic the essays are receiving (they'll be google-able in about a week.) A few of the links you guys sent to screen stills were timed out, so I had to grab alternate shots (apologies to those of you who may have lost a favorite shot)... also,Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1069473025037233492003-12-01T20:34:00.000-08:002003-12-01T20:35:38.076-08:00Open letters
Although you'll be writing more academically-oriented open letters as your final writing assignment, I think some links to traditional open letters will help you get a sense of the style and tone of the genre. Notice that these open letters all make an argument and present evidence or multiple supporting arguments to get their point across. Some are serious, some are sarcastic, Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1070266235069838282003-12-01T00:10:00.000-08:002003-12-01T00:11:36.060-08:00What is Spiel?
Just as we tried to figure out some interesting interpretations of Ionesco's title for Killing Game, now it's time to unpack the title of Play, or its original German title, Spiel. To help us out, here's a link to a page with the many meanings of spiel in German, including "play", "game", "execution", and "gamble". as well as some common phrases that use spiel: replay, to kill allJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1070181857235171792003-11-30T00:44:00.000-08:002003-11-30T15:48:30.780-08:00Picturing Beckett's Play
If you're having trouble picturing what Beckett's Play might look or sound like performed, visit this site with director's notes, photos and video clips from Anthony Minghella's short film of Play, starring Alan Rickman and Kristin Scott Thomas. (Mighella also directed The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley)
The production I saw of Play in the Bay Area several Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1069728059901973892003-11-24T18:40:00.000-08:002003-11-24T18:41:29.640-08:00Killing Games, a.k.a. What Would Sisyphus Do?
Inspirational quote: "We are all sitting at a cosmic poker game in which the house has an infinite supply of chips. Neither we nor our genes can ever really win, since we can never cash in our chips and go home.... There is nothing but the game, and since it has been going on for a long time, only the best players are left. It is an existential game,Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1069304003190530542003-11-19T20:53:00.000-08:002003-11-19T20:53:48.670-08:00Camus did not commit suicide (probably)
An account of Camus' death... from an interesting lecture by a French philosophy professor whose students mistakenly belived Camus had committed suicide, and therefore existentialism was clearly a failed philosophy (because Camus ultimately could not find a way to be Sisyphus AND be happy). An interesting read, but here's the pertinent stuff:
Camus lived Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1069301656807890402003-11-19T20:14:00.000-08:002003-11-19T20:14:42.060-08:00Eugène Ionesco’s Theater: In His Own Words
What always helps to understand a playwright's work? Quotations from the playwright himself... here are plenty to chew on. Borrowed from a study guide for a Guthrie Theater production of Ionesco's The Chairs. Do any of them strike you as particularly helpful in approaching Killing Game? (which, by the way, is also translated from the French as The Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1069300471633062092003-11-19T19:54:00.000-08:002003-11-23T15:18:08.560-08:00Ionesco's Killing Game
PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS
When analyzing a piece of dramatic literature, it often helps to see how various directors and theater companies have interpreted and marketed the play. Here are some links, some more informative than others, to recent productions of Ionesco's Killing Game. Do you notice anything interesting?
A production at Lewis & Clark college that has a cast of Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1069299090916081922003-11-19T19:31:00.000-08:002003-11-19T19:33:04.043-08:00Existentialism and Theater of the Absurd
Okay, here are some links for anyone interested in exploring the Sisyphean world of existentialism and theater of the absurd... While you're digging around, let us know: Do you buy the existential world view? Which parts line up with your own philosophy, and which parts do you disagree with? Can Sisyphus be happy? Can theater be "meaningless" and still "Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1069124489200209012003-11-17T19:01:00.000-08:002003-11-17T19:01:52.593-08:00oooh... juicy stuff on LaBute!
If you were intrigued by "a gaggle of saints" or curious about what kind of man would write such a play, you're in luck... all week long, online magazine Slate is publishing journal entries from LaBute as he writes he latest play. An excerpt from today's entry introducting the weeklong project... perhaps you can relate to his writing proscrastination and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1068666215163752492003-11-12T11:43:00.000-08:002003-11-12T16:42:18.343-08:00Paper buddies
Okay, here's how this will work-- if you've already chatted with someone offline about being paper buddies, post the good news here so I know you've found someone already. Otherwise, post your two movies and either wait for someone to say, "Hey, I like those movies, I want to be you paper buddy" or feel free to extend an invitation "Hey Jane, be my paper buddy?" (of course I am Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1068483602411372962003-11-10T09:00:00.000-08:002003-11-10T09:01:05.143-08:00Boal: Image Theater, Invisible Theater, Videogames of the Oppressed, and More...
So much juicy stuff to discuss when it comes to Augusto Boal! I want you to share your thoughts and reactions to the reading in general here, but a few things in particular you can address:
Image theater
When we do our image theater workshop together, what topic(s) would you like to deal with? In previous workshops Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1068081855648461632003-11-05T17:24:00.000-08:002003-11-14T14:34:51.060-08:00Acting/Improv Workshops
Sorry about the late posting of this space to comment on your acting/improv workshops this week! Please share your thoughts about how Monica's and Beth's exercises or games relate to the Spolin reading. Also, for some interesting resources and juicy stories about Spolin and how her writings and exercises are used today, check out The Spolin Center.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1067863562961275522003-11-03T04:46:00.000-08:002003-11-03T04:48:36.376-08:00Guten morgen from der Nederlands!
Hi everyone... it's freezing and windy and rainy here in otherwise beautiful Utrecht, where earlier today I had a chance to stroll down the (blustery) Huizingalaan, a.k.a. Huizinga Lane, named for the grandfather of contemporary play theory, honorary mascot of R1A Theater and Games, Johann Huizinga! That was cool and I thought of you guys slaving away (I hope) Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1067397072049641292003-11-01T07:15:00.000-08:002003-11-14T14:33:39.043-08:00Viola Spolin: Learning through Experience
Spolin, who wants to develop better strategies for teaching the art of acting, writes: "We learn through experience... [and] experiencing is penetration into the environment, total organic involvement with it. This means involvement on all levels: intellectual, physical, and intuitive." Spolin argues that this kind of "total, organic involvement" is Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1067397399185494652003-11-01T07:14:00.000-08:002003-11-14T14:33:17.513-08:00Viola Spolin: Free Response
Any additional thoughts and questions that Spolin's essay raised for you? Which of her ideas did you agree with most, and why? Which, if any, of her ideas do you disagree with, and why? What other theories that we have studied in class did you think of as you read this essay, and why? (For example, I thought of Czikszentmihalyi's theory of flow, Apter's theory of Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1067550543837875252003-10-30T13:49:00.000-08:002003-10-30T13:52:30.240-08:00Guidelines for Writing Assignment #3: Play and Games Go to the Movies
For this writing assignment, you will submit two close readings, each of a different film that you have already selected and screened. Each close reading is a completely separate essay, with its own title, introduction, thesis and conclusion. Each close reading should be approximately 2.5 pages in length, double-spaced, 12 Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1067391730207833052003-10-28T17:42:00.000-08:002003-10-28T17:49:36.820-08:00Collective Play #3: Trick AND Treat
R1A Theater & Games 10.31.03
Facilitator: Jane McGonigal
TRICK AND TREAT
Are you tricky enough to earn your Halloween treat? In Trick AND Treat, you'll join forces with your classmates to show off each other's hidden talents. I pick the tricks, and you decide who performs each one. If your team can perform all of my favorite tricks before time runs out, Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1067368488763842472003-10-28T11:14:00.000-08:002003-10-28T11:18:36.196-08:00Games Go to the Movies
We talked in class yesterday about the central elements to your upcoming analysis of play and games in two different movies. Note that plot summary is removed from the list for the writing assignment, as you shouldn't waste any space on plot unless you are going to unpack a very specific detail of the narrative (i.e., It is important to note that character x loses the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1067119075663933062003-10-25T14:57:00.000-07:002003-10-25T14:57:55.596-07:00Halloween Collective Play
So, I've been brainstorming games for our Halloween class, and I've got a few ideas, but I'd like to know if you guys have any favorite Halloween games or weird ideas for playful Halloween things to do. I have all sorts of evil ideas, like trick-or-treating all of the other classes in Wheeler. What do you think would happen if we knocked on classroom doors and said, inJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1066867901343107822003-10-22T17:11:00.000-07:002003-10-22T17:12:26.190-07:00PEER REVIEW #2:
Here's a sneak preview of the questions on your worksheet for Friday's Peer Review Workshop #2. Checking out these questions may help you analyze and improve your own draft.
PEER REVIEW WORKSHEET #2 R1A: Theater and Games
Part I. A Close Reading
THESIS: Please state the author’s thesis in your own words.
Does it need to be more clear, concise, specific or original? Point Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1066864373700396982003-10-22T16:12:00.000-07:002003-10-22T16:12:53.703-07:00Eminem and a legal rhyme
Okay, so this "Odd news" story struck me as interesting, and I'd love your help figuring out why. The basics: A Michigan state judge handed down a "rap ruling" in a libel suit against Eminem. According to the story, "Judge Deborah Servitto dismissed a case against Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, last Friday. It had been filed by Deangelo Bailey, who Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1066676095582755302003-10-20T11:54:00.000-07:002003-10-20T11:57:06.286-07:00The Interpretive Game
PLEASE POST a TENTATIVE THESIS or GAME DESCRIPTION here by TUESDAY MIDNIGHT. Thanks!
For your second writing assignment, you will be asked to interpret one of two dramatic texts: either Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead or Neil Labute’s “A Gaggle of Saints”. Your interpretation will consist of three parts: 1) a traditional close-reading of the text; 2) aJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1066625705919262052003-10-19T21:55:00.000-07:002003-10-22T08:49:29.410-07:00UPDATE: Note: Please make sure you have picked movies which will give you something to write about not only on the "meta" side (playing with audience, i.e.) but also the diegetic side (literal games in the narrative of the movie). This is essential! You must ground your discussion in literal games or play forms. Thanks!
Updated movie list
Please pick two movies from this list to watch in the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1066620586038184502003-10-19T20:29:00.000-07:002003-10-19T20:42:13.100-07:00More on Neil Labute
Here are some useful links on Labute and his work... feel free to comment on anything you read here or in the linked articles.
Who's Afraid of Neil Labute? An interview with and profile of the playwright/screenwriter. Includes really revealing stuff, like:
"While at BYU, he wrote a play called Gaggle of Saints, which dealt with Mormon subjects. 'I got the idea from the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1066448565501636182003-10-17T22:38:00.000-07:002003-10-17T22:39:31.533-07:00Games in the news this weekend
A couple of interesting news stories popped up today:
An ugly game....
In an NY Times editorial, Bob Herbert discusses the latest twist on the traditional board game, Monopoly. It's called "Ghettopoly," an it's generating a lot of controversy. An excerpt from Herbert's editorial:
"Ghettopoly is a board game, based on Monopoly, and it has a lot of people fired upJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1066248537508398922003-10-17T14:27:00.000-07:002003-10-17T14:27:45.930-07:00Spring 2004 Class: R1B Performance and Play
If you, or any of your playful friends, are looking to fulfill the R1B requirement this spring, you should know that I'll be teaching a section next semester called Performance and Play (see course description below). As with all R1B classes, the focus is on writing an original research paper (rather than the sort of close reading and analytical Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065845505821139842003-10-15T13:08:00.000-07:002003-10-15T13:08:20.416-07:00Power Plays
Today you had the opportunity to talk about how power plays function in everyday life, as well as in theater. Please fill me in on the highlights of the class: What point made the most sense to you? What moment in the improvisational play was most interesting, and why? Discuss! Also, I'd like to hear some thoughts on: How did what you discussed and improvised relate to our recent Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065840812699153872003-10-12T13:33:00.001-07:002003-10-18T10:03:03.393-07:00Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship
In "The Game and the Nation," Michael Oriard explains the difference between sportsmanship and gamesmanship as follows: "good sportsmanship" requires abiding by the letter AND the spirit of the games' rules, whereas "good gamesmanship" rewards finding loopholes and strategies that subvert the spirit of the rules, even as players technically follow the rules.
In Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065839791981745862003-10-12T13:33:00.000-07:002003-10-18T10:03:24.143-07:00Games as Metaphor
In "The Game and the Nation," Michael Oriard examines several factors that contributed to the sudden popularity of "games as metaphor" for business, politics, love, life and death at the turn of the 20th century.
At the turn of the 21st century, do you think games continue to be an important metaphor? If so, for who and how: artists, economists, writers, politicians, religiousJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065829848089593502003-10-10T16:50:00.000-07:002003-10-10T16:51:30.780-07:00Alternate Ending: R & G Are Dead!
Amazing-- I polled the graduate students in my department, and although everyone has read and seen R & G Are Dead at least once, NO ONE had any idea there was a first edition with an alternate ending floating around. So I woudl say that we definitely stumbled onto quite an interesting discovery as a class today. Here's the text that you won't find in second andJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065660779085769152003-10-08T19:29:00.000-07:002003-10-08T22:40:28.943-07:00Making Heads or Tails of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
So many interesting questions, ideas and theories are coming up in class discussion this week about Tom Stoppard's playful adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Let's keep it going here on the blog. Toss out some ideas that you might be able to develop into a close reading for the next writing assignment, or ask a question about a line,Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-106566650151403542003-10-08T19:28:00.000-07:002003-10-08T22:22:35.363-07:00The Curious Interface: A Design Manifesto in Favor of Play
As I mentioned earlier this week, I'll be in Seattle soon for UbiComp 2003, an industry conference on "ubiquitous computing." By ubiquitous, they mean all the "portable" computers we now carry around with us everywhere and all of the "embedded" computers we're starting to put in previously low-tech spaces (think: the new digital movie "Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065377021591661322003-10-05T12:39:00.000-07:002003-10-05T12:39:50.646-07:00Mystery Quote: Do you know it?
Here's a riddle. The following statement was made by someone, somewhere, yesterday. By who, if you know, and more importantly, who and what is the person talking about? What's the relevance to our class... or, perhaps more importantly, what's the relevance of what we've been talking about in class to this real-world scenario?
MYSTERY QUOTE: “These “playful actsJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065222787723702852003-10-03T16:13:00.000-07:002003-10-03T16:20:46.486-07:00Game and Play Goes to the Movies
I'm thinking about revising the syllabus a bit to incorporate some interesting movies that touch on some of the major game and play issues and theories we've been studying: deep play, dark play, theatrical play, pervasive play, role play... I'd love to get your thoughts on what movies might be interesting to include. We might be able to change one of the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1065163283832548572003-10-02T23:41:00.000-07:002003-10-02T23:43:21.370-07:00Brainstorming for Writing Assignment #2: The Interpretive Game
Here's a synposis of your second writing assignment (see hand-out for complete guidelines and recommendations). Feel free to use this blog space to brainstorm ideas with each other, test out a game pitch, or get help turning a central question into a thesis. Remember, writing is always best when conducted as a conversation!
The Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1064892798067792442003-09-29T20:33:00.000-07:002003-09-29T21:05:54.663-07:00Theater as Game
A number of theater historians and critics have compared theater to a game, but usually in a very general way. They argue that theater is game-like without connecting the specific elements of a game (rule, objectives, procedures for action, payoffs, etc.) to live performance. What would we discover if we took the analogy further? Does the metaphor of theater as game hold up Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1064865687868490752003-09-29T13:01:00.000-07:002003-10-02T19:10:29.196-07:00Rock Concert meets Assisted Suicide
Here's a controversial and somewhat disturbing article on the news wire today. A rock group, Hell on Earth, has been promoting an upcoming concert performance as featuring a "physician-assisted suicide of a terminally ill person, live on stage." The band claims to be staging this "performance" to demonstrate their political support of right-to-die Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1064808942229962422003-09-28T21:15:00.000-07:002003-09-28T21:17:23.093-07:00Cal beats USC
In the biggest college upset of the week (so says ESPN, anyway), Cal's football team beat #3 ranked USC in triple overtime. For no rational reason, I felt a surge of pride when I heard the news late last night. I don't know any members of the Cal football team. I haven't actually attended a Cal football game in my 3 years here, although I have watched a few at the Bear's Lair. Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1064644915439955972003-09-26T23:41:00.000-07:002003-09-26T23:41:54.996-07:00Can We Agree on the Rules?
Something that caught my eye in a Salon article on autistic children today...
Autism. Auto: for "self," or "same." The tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires ... unmindful of objective reality. (Webster's) At one time a generic term applied to children navigating pre-social orientation. Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget noted 6-year-olds Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1064430977123153322003-09-24T12:16:00.000-07:002003-09-29T15:03:18.136-07:00 Collective Play #2: INSTANT FUN
NEW: READ THE PLAY REPORT
Here is our collective play activity for this Friday! Feel free to post your thoughts before we play (do you expect it will be easy or hard? what are your strategies going into the game? are you going to conspire with your team via email before the game itself?) And, of course, please post your comments after we play. (What was the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1064368088878257192003-09-23T18:48:00.000-07:002003-09-23T18:52:37.436-07:00Avedon's Schema
From frisbee golf to the sugar-packet game, skip-it to capture the flag, thumb wrestling to Scrabble, most of you found Elliott Avedon's scheme of game elements to be overall a comprehensive and effective way to capture the essence of any game.
For most of you, the least satisfying element in Avedon's scheme, however, was "Results or pay-off." Many of you felt you were Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1064294048235991032003-09-22T22:14:00.000-07:002003-09-22T22:19:15.090-07:00Writing Papers: The Game?
In her famous essay on college writing ("A Stranger in Strange Lands"), Lucille Parkinson McCarthy argues that each writing assignment asks its students to play a game, with potentially different aims, rules, roles, and so on.
We've been looking at Elliott Avedon's essential game elements; can you come up with all eight essential game elements for your first R1A: Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063937686994584932003-09-18T19:14:00.000-07:002003-09-18T19:18:10.673-07:00Tele-Twister Photos!
Check out images from the Tele-Twister project! (I'm easy to find, but bonus points if you spot your classmate in the photos...) Also, just a reminder that we are holding Tele-Twister trials every Friday from noon until 1 PM. You can play online or throw on red/blue clothes and play in person in the Alpha Lab.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063924335746036462003-09-18T15:32:00.000-07:002003-09-18T15:33:57.126-07:00Interactive Environments
Here's something new on the mobile vs. pervasive gaming tip. From The New York Times again (those guys are doing a great job this week covering game culture!), an article (free registration required) that speculates on the future uses of cell phones in public spaces. Will we use our cell phones to be more playful and interactive with our environments? Some examples:
Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063829537769199912003-09-17T13:12:00.000-07:002003-09-17T13:12:48.633-07:00Reality Games
The New York Times is running an article today, "Online Games Grab Grim Reality" (Free registration required) about controversial, documentary-style computer games. (They're usually done as high-concept, independently produced art projects.) Consider the following excerpt:
"As flames crackled and the wind howled through a gash in the skyscraper's wall, a gray-suited businessman Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063664832074234922003-09-15T15:27:00.000-07:002003-09-15T15:42:49.680-07:00Joe Schmo: Dark Play?
Reality television keeps popping up in our discussion of different play forms: paidia, deep play, and dark play, for instance. Perhaps some of you know a little about Spike TV's Joe Schmo, a new reality tv show that I think offers a fascinating example of "dark play".
Richard Schechner defines dark play as "play based on deception". Dark play, in other words, is a game Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063664041128601922003-09-15T15:14:00.000-07:002003-09-15T15:22:37.806-07:00Drifting
An article in Wired today captured my interest and imagination; it's a great fit for our discussion of deep play. Check out the introduction below, and post your reactions to this new "dangerous art." Notice how the author equates deep play to a kind of beautiful performance, and how corporations are looking to capitalize on the trend with sponsorships and video game tie-ins. What doJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063662880034885292003-09-15T14:54:00.000-07:002003-09-15T15:11:03.560-07:00Deep Play
Why do people engage in "deep play" if the dangers and risks are so huge, and the potential benefits seemingly trivial? Many psychologists and sociologists have argued that fans of deep play are, as anthropologist Clifford Geertz puts it, "irrational, addicts, fetishists, children, fools, savages, who need only to be protected against themselves." Geertz himself disagreed with this Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063406272003178682003-09-12T15:37:00.000-07:002003-09-12T17:19:11.343-07:00Paidia vs. Ludus
In our reading for today, Schechner discussed the differences between Roger Caillois' concepts of paidia, spontaneous outbursts of free or frenzied play, and ludus, a more formal, official and rule-governed kind of play. Schechner suggests that throughout history, in different societies and cultures, paidia and ludus have alternated as the primary and most desirable form of Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063402377446241072003-09-12T14:32:00.000-07:002003-09-12T14:38:22.626-07:00Protective frames
Two years ago yesterday, my partner Kiyash and I spent all day and night marching little wooden men around an $8.99 Parcheesi board from Walgreen’s. It was September 11, 2001, and it was all we could do.
I only vaguely remember how the game started. A few hours had passed since we had woken up to the terrible news, and we had already tried (unsuccessfully) to donate blood atJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063045332288467892003-09-08T11:22:00.000-07:002003-09-11T21:18:55.506-07:00Zen Scavenger Hunt
NEW: See a photo/video report of the hunt, with before and after photos and QuickTime proofs! Note: the videos load automatically on the pages, and this may cause some of the pages to load slowly.
I'm dying to know. How did it go? Was it more playful or more gamelike? What do you think the purpose of playing this game was? What was most difficult about the game? What Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1063001969969977812003-09-07T23:19:00.000-07:002003-09-07T23:20:57.983-07:00San Francisco Flash Mob #4
Below are the instructions for the next SF flash mob... this Wednesday's mob is part of a triple threat -- New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles are coordinating flash mobs on the same night. A quick note: this mob is going to be a silly one. Highly recommended to those up for a little public make-believe. Anyone who attends, please post your experience!
Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062901619088222742003-09-06T19:26:00.000-07:002003-09-06T19:26:59.060-07:00Writing Assignment #1: The Play Experiment
For the first writing assignment, you will be testing some play concepts in a real-life play setting of your choosing. The goal is NOT to prove or to disprove a particular play theory, but rather to generate some personal insights that help you connect the concepts and theories to your own experiences. What do you discover when you approach your Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062886247124457592003-09-06T15:10:00.000-07:002003-09-06T15:24:59.316-07:00FLOW
I was really impressed with this week's minute papers on flow, especially considering that we had not yet discussed the idea of flow together in class. Many of you found it easiest to achieve flow in an actitivity that is extremeley physical, such as sports or dancing. Others found the element of repetition to be important. One of you suggested, quite rightly, that the flow state is veryJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062704982707277222003-09-04T12:49:00.000-07:002003-09-04T13:08:53.306-07:00Mobile games vs. Pervasive Play
A story on Wired today discusses N-Gage, a new portable game unit produced by Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia. N-Gage (think: GameBoy meets your cell phone) will enable users to take their favorite console games on the go, and to play against other mobile users. In addition to in-house game development and picking up classics like Splinter Cell and Sonic the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062643527147638682003-09-03T19:45:00.000-07:002003-09-03T19:48:15.740-07:00Shitty First Drafts
Some of you may be familiar with the work of novelist and columnist Anne Lamott. Best known for a really biting wit, Lamott likes to serve up down-to-earth dissections of personal dysfunctions (often her own). I wanted to share with you an excerpt from her essay, "Shitty First Drafts." On Monday, we'll be talking about the first formal writing assignment for R1A, and I Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062642079824710442003-09-03T19:21:00.000-07:002003-09-03T19:48:34.026-07:00The Joker in the Deck
Richard Schechner suggests in "The Joker in the Deck" that play can be a subversive act. A recent editorial in The New York Times provides a really interesting example of (potentially) subversive play, in the most unlikely of places: the audience participation (voting for their favorite pop singer) in Superstar, also dubbed "Arab Idol" for its similarity to the American Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062184383118336992003-08-29T12:13:00.000-07:002003-08-29T12:15:17.323-07:00Telic vs. Paratelic
Michael J. Apter uses the terms "telic" vs. "paratelic" to describe mindsets that are purposeful and goal-oriented, versus playful process-oriented. Your minute papers in class today demonstrated not only that you have a very good understanding of Apter's theory, but also that you are quite adept at moving between telic and paratelic states in your everyday lives. Each timeJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062099220261150222003-08-28T12:33:00.000-07:002003-08-28T12:34:43.073-07:00Secret Study Sites?!
Okay, I admit it -- I'm a sucker for secrets. Discovering them, keeping them, or even better, sharing them. To me, if something is "secret," it's instantly more fun. So a new feature on UC Berkeley's home page today caught my eye: "Secret Study Sites.". Now, I wouldn't usually be excited by the idea of sitting down to study, but this headline really did something for me.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062089911306253812003-08-28T09:58:00.000-07:002003-08-28T09:58:31.213-07:00Games vs. Play
Kevin Maroney's article "What is a Game?" defines games as "a form of play with goals and structures." The game's structure includes the rules, the official space and time limits, and the kinds of actions that are provided for players to take; the goal determines the winner or successful conclusion of the game. Do you think structure and goals are the only characteristics that Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062049427359592472003-08-27T22:43:00.000-07:002003-08-29T11:38:56.350-07:00Play Characteristics
Thank you for all of your great play examples in class today, and I'm looking forward to hearing from those of you who didn't get a chance to share your favorite way to play yet. Here are the play characteristics we came up with as a class so far; these are words and phrases you can keep in mind when thinking and writing about your play experiences.
Fictional/pretend; Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1062049215708696962003-08-27T22:40:00.000-07:002003-08-27T23:05:23.490-07:00Tele-Twister
Looking for a play opportunity this week? Tele-Twister is a collaborate multiplayer online game, and it offers two different kinds of play opportunities: in-person and online. You can read more about the project here. If you'd like to play online, log onto this site between 3 and 4 PM on Thursday. Play one round or several; rounds take about 5 minutes. We recommend using a Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1061844056054226542003-08-25T13:40:00.000-07:002003-08-25T14:07:50.390-07:00San Francisco Flash Mob #4
For those of you thinking about checking out the Flash Mob on Tuesday evening, you might want to check out this article or this article, both of which describe recent San Francisco flash mobs.
Even if you can’t make it, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the phenomenon based on what you can glean from the articles and the instruction sheet for Mob #4. What Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1061843821075934932003-08-25T13:37:00.000-07:002003-08-25T14:08:04.750-07:00Our Favorite Games
Thank you for sharing your favorite games with the student information you submitted in class today. (By the way, you’ll find my favorite games here. Many of you will find that we have similar tastes!)
Here’s a sample of what you said in class today: “Inner tube water polo”; “Playing Monopoly and actually finishing”; “climbing trees”; “Myst”; “baseball and Cranium”; “Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1061657024566906072003-08-23T09:43:00.000-07:002003-08-25T14:08:21.660-07:00Live Human Targets
Here's an interesting new play form developing in New York City. Are live human targets the next big thing?
From the New York Times, August 23, 2003: "Step Right Up, Live Human Target" by Marek Fuchs:
Aiming a ball at a target to drop a clown into a tub of
water is old school at the Coney Island Boardwalk. Now
people eagerly shoot the Freak.
The Freak, as signs and the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5515926.post-1061618707408156282003-08-22T23:05:00.000-07:002003-08-22T23:05:07.450-07:00Welcome to the blog for R1A: Theater and Games, an undergraduate writing course at the University of California at Berkeley. Our syllabus is now online. We'll be using this site to track our investigations of the relationship between plays (theater) and play (games), discussing our readings, our in-class collective play experiences, and our outside gaming and theater-going. Visitors (non-classJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05045030552279368577noreply@blogger.com