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Ecogames, games for change, future worlds, nonhuman epistemologies, metagaming practices

With the climate crisis and its repercussions becoming more and more tangible, games are increasingly participating in the production, circulation, and interrogation of environmental assumptions, using both explicit and implicit ways of framing the crisis. Whether they are providing new spaces to imagine and practice alternative forms of living, or reproducing ecomodernist fantasies, games as well as player cultures are increasingly tuned in to the most pressing environmental concerns. This book brings together chapters by a diverse group of established and emerging authors to develop a growing body of scholarship that explores the shape, impact, and cultural context of ecogames. The book comprises four thematic sections, Today's Challenges: Games for Change, Future Worlds: New Imaginaries, The Nonhuman Turn, and Critical Metagaming Practices. Each section explores different aspects of ecocritical engagement in and through games. As a result, the book's comprehensive scope covers a variety of angles, methodologies, and case studies, significantly expanding the field of green media studies

The rapid developments of new communication technologies have facilitated the popularization of digital games, which has translated into an exponential growth of the game industry in the last decades. The ubiquitous presence of digital games has resulted in an expansion of the applications of these games from mere entertainment purposes to a great variety of serious purposes. In this edited volume, we narrow the scope of attention by focusing on what game theorist Ian Bogost has called "persuasive games", that is, gaming practices that combine the dissemination of information with attempts to engage players in particular attitudes and behaviors. This volume offers a multifaceted reflection on persuasive gaming, that is, on the process of these particular games being played by players. The purpose is to better understand when and how digital games can be used for persuasion, by further exploring persuasive games and some other kinds of persuasive playful interaction as well. The book critically integrates what has been accomplished in separate research traditions to offer a multidisciplinary approach to understanding persuasive gaming that is closely linked to developments in the industry by including the exploration of relevant case studies.

This edited volume collects current research by academics and practitioners on playful citizen participation through digital media technologies.

In this edited volume, eighteen scholars examine the increasing role of digital media technologies in identity construction through play. Going beyond computer games, this interdisciplinary collection argues that present-day play and games are not only appropriate metaphors for capturing postmodern human identities, but are in fact the means by which people create their identity. From discussions of World of Warcraft and Foursquare to digital cartographies, the combined essays form a groundbreaking volume that features the most recent insights in play and game studies, media research, and identity studies.

1.The playful citizen: an introduction /René Glas, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Joost Raessens, and Imar de Vries --Part I. Ludo-literacies.Introduction to part I /René Glas, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Joost Raessens, and Imar de Vries --2.Engagement in play, engagement in politics: playing political video games /Joyce Neys and Jeroen Jansz --3.Analytical game design: game-making as a cultural technique in a gamified society /Stefan Werning --4.Re-thinking the social documentary /William Uricchio --5.Collapsus, or how to make players become ecological citizens /Joost Raessens --6.The broken toy tactics: clockwork worlds and activist games /Anne-Marie Schleiner --7.Video games and the engaged citizen: on the ambiguity of digital play /Ingrid Hoofd --Part II. Ludo-epistemologies.Introduction to part II /René Glas, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Joost Raessens, and Imar de Vries --8.Public laboratory: play and civic engagement /Jessica Breen, Shannon Dosemagen, Don Blair, and Liz Barry --9.Sensing the air and experimenting with environmental citizenship /Jennifer Gabrys --10.Biohacking: playing with technology /Stephanie de Smale --11.Ludo-epistemology: playing with the rules in citizen science games /René Glas and Sybille Lammes --12.The playful scientist: stimulating playful communities for science practice /Ben Schouten, Erik van der Spek, Daniël Harmsen, and Ellis Bartholomeus --13.Laborious playgrounds: citizen science games as new modes of work/play in the digital age /Sonia Fizek and Anne Dippel --Part III. Ludo-politics.Introduction to part III /René Glas, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Joost Raessens, and Imar de Vries --14.On participatory politics as a game changer and the politics of participation /Mercedes Bunz --15.Playing with politics: memory, orientation, and tactility /Sam Hind --16.Meaningful inefficiencies: resisting the logic of technological efficiency in the design of civic systems /Eric Gordon and Stephen Walter --17.Permanent revolution: occupying democracy /Douglas Rushkoff --18.The playful city: citizens making the smart city /Michiel de Lange --19.Dissent at a distance /The Janissary Collective (Mark Deuze and Lindsay Ems) --20.Playing with power: casual politicking as a new frame for political analysis /Alex Gekker.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- 1. The playful citizen: An introduction / Glas, René / Lammes, Sybille / Lange, Michiel de / Raessens, Joost / Vries, Imar de -- Part I Ludo-literacies -- Introduction to Part I / Glas, René / Lammes, Sybille / Lange, Michiel de / Raessens, Joost / Vries, Imar de -- 2. Engagement in play, engagement in politics : Playing political video games / Neys, Joyce / Jansz, Jeroen -- 3. Analytical game design : Game-making as a cultural technique in a gamified society / Werning, Stefan -- 4. Re-thinking the social documentary / Uricchio, William -- 5. Collapsus, or how to make players become ecological citizens / Raessens, Joost -- 6. The broken toy tactic: Clockwork worlds and activist games / Schleiner, Anne-Marie -- 7. Video games and the engaged citizen : On the ambiguity of digital play / Hoofd, Ingrid -- Part II Ludo-epistemologies -- Introduction to Part II / Glas, René / Lammes, Sybille / Lange, Michiel de / Raessens, Joost / Vries, Imar de -- 8. Public laboratory: Play and civic engagement / Breen, Jessica / Dosemagen, Shannon / Blair, Don / Barry, Liz -- 9. Sensing the air and experimenting with environmental citizenship / Gabrys, Jennifer -- 10. Biohacking: Playing with technology / Smale, Stephanie de -- 11. Ludo-epistemology: Playing with the rules in citizen science games / Glas, René / Lammes, Sybille -- 12. The playful scientist: Stimulating playful communities for science practice / Schouten, Ben / Spek, Erik van der / Harmsen, Daniël / Bartholomeus, Ellis -- 13. Laborious playgrounds : Citizen science games as new modes of work/play in the digital age / Fizek, Sonia / Dippel, Anne -- Part III Ludo-politics -- Introduction to Part III / Glas, René / Lammes, Sybille / Lange, Michiel de / Raessens, Joost / Vries, Imar de -- 14. On participatory politics as a game changer and the politics of participation / Bunz, Mercedes -- 15. Playing with politics: Memory, orientation, and tactility / Hind, Sam -- 16. Meaningful inefficiencies : Resisting the logic of technological efficiency in the design of civic systems / Gordon, Eric / Walter, Stephen -- 17. Permanent revolution: Occupying democracy / Rushkoff, Douglas -- 18. The playful city: Citizens making the smart city / Lange, Michiel de -- 19. Dissent at a distance / Deuze, Mark / Ems, Lindsay -- 20. Playing with power : Casual politicking as a new frame for political analysis / Gekker, Alex -- Index of names -- Index of subjects

Three decades of societal and cultural alignment of new media have yielded a host of innovations, trials, and problems, accompanied by versatile popular and academic discourse. New Media Studies crystallized internationally into an established academic discipline, and this begs the question: where do we stand now? Which new questions are emerging now that new media are being taken for granted, and which riddles are still unsolved? Is contemporary digital culture indeed all about 'you', the participating user, or do we still not really understand the digital machinery and how this constitutes us as 'you'? The contributors to the present book, all employed in teaching and researching new media and digital culture, assembled their 'digital material' into an anthology, covering issues ranging from desktop metaphors to Web 2.0 ecosystems, from touch screens to blogging and e-learning, from role-playing games and cybergothic music to wireless dreams. Together the contributions provide a showcase of current research in the field, from what may be called a 'digital-materialist' perspective. - Nieuwe media zijn vanaf hun opkomst begeleid door revolutionaire beloften en bedreigingen: hypertekst zou lezers veranderen in auteurs, digitale beelden zouden de waarheid en werkelijkheid ondermijnen, en online communicatie zou alle afstanden overbruggen. 'Cyberspace' werd gevierd dan wel gevreesd als immaterieel en autonoom, losgezongen van onze dagelijkse leefwereld. Na twee decennia 'cyberrevolutie' zijn nieuwe media vanzelfsprekend geworden en blijken zij allesbehalve immaterieel. Vanuit dat perspectief belicht de bundel Digital Material digitale culturen. De bijdragen onderzoeken onder meer computer games, mobiele communicatie, interfacemetaforen, weblogculturen, software ontwikkeling en digitale beeldproductie. Bij elkaar vormen zij een inspirerend theoretisch kader om de hedendaagse betekenis van nieuwe media te doorgronden.

Three decades of societal and cultural alignment of new media have yielded a host of innovations, trials, and problems, accompanied by versatile popular and academic discourse. New Media Studies crystallized internationally into an established academic discipline, and this begs the question: where do we stand now? Which new questions are emerging now that new media are being taken for granted, and which riddles are still unsolved? Is contemporary digital culture indeed all about 'you', the participating user, or do we still not really understand the digital machinery and how this constitutes us as 'you'? The contributors to the present book, all employed in teaching and researching new media and digital culture, assembled their 'digital material' into an anthology, covering issues ranging from desktop metaphors to Web 2.0 ecosystems, from touch screens to blogging and e-learning, from role-playing games and cybergothic music to wireless dreams. Together the contributions provide a showcase of current research in the field, from what may be called a 'digital-materialist' perspective.

This chapter about playful urban planning argues that play and games can help foster smart citizenship. In recent years, many cities have embarked on what is termed smart-city policies, deploying ICT to optimize a variety of urban processes. Various authors have noted that these smart-city policies often leave little room for civic action and agency. This contribution proposes the notion of the 'playful city' as an alternative vision for leveraging the smartness of people in creating more livable and lively cities. Play, it is argued, should not be positioned as offering solutions to urban problems. Instead, play offers alternative narratives about the potential futures of city-making, and reinserts the 'political' into smart city-making.

Gamification marks a major change to everyday life. It describes the permeation of economic, political, and social contexts by game-elements such as awards, rule structures, and interfaces that are inspired by video games. Sometimes the term is reduced to the implementation of points, badges, and leaderboards as incentives and motivations to be productive. Sometimes it is envisioned as a universal remedy to deeply transform society toward more humane and playful ends. Despite its use by corporations to manage brand communities and personnel, however, gamification is more than just a marketing buzzword. States are beginning to use it as a new tool for governing populations more effectively. It promises to fix what is wrong with reality by making every single one of us fitter, happier, and healthier. Indeed, it seems like all of society is up for being transformed into one massive game. The contributions in this book offer a candid assessment of the gamification hype. They trace back the historical roots of the phenomenon and explore novel design practices and methods. They critically discuss its social implications and even present artistic tactics for resistance. It is time to rethink gamification!