Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio
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ut it still h<strong>as</strong> all the essential characteristics of play, particularly “the<br />
ability to transport the participants to another world” (Huizinga 1950, p<br />
18). Schechner’s’ view (1988/2003, p 107) differs from that of Huizinga<br />
<strong>and</strong> Caillois, who sees seriousness <strong>as</strong> essential to play <strong>and</strong> vice versa, for<br />
example when he states that “... when the play elements are taken out of<br />
work, work becomes drudgery <strong>and</strong> less efficient [...] <strong>and</strong> when the seriousness<br />
is taken away from play, then playing grows sloppy <strong>and</strong> dull, not fun.”<br />
Playgrounds <strong>as</strong> temporary worlds within ordinary world<br />
One of the main characters of play Huizinga mentions is “limitedness”<br />
(1950, p 9). According to him, “Play is distinct from “ordinary” life both <strong>as</strong><br />
to locality <strong>and</strong> duration. It is “played out” within certain limits of time <strong>and</strong><br />
place. It contains its own course <strong>and</strong> meaning.” Hence, play can be considered<br />
<strong>as</strong> a temporary sphere of activity in which the laws of ordinary<br />
life no longer count (ibid. p 12). One <strong>as</strong>pect of limitedness is special playgrounds<br />
which are marked off beforeh<strong>and</strong> either materially or ideally.<br />
These temporary worlds within the ordinary world are also called “magic<br />
circles” (ibid. p 19) or referred to, in regard to exploratory design <strong>games</strong>,<br />
<strong>as</strong> a “game universe” (Br<strong>and</strong>t 2010, p 132). In regard to performances, limitedness<br />
may also refer to rituals or initiation rites with steps of separation,<br />
liminal ph<strong>as</strong>e <strong>and</strong> reintegration. “During initiations, persons leave<br />
their ordinary lives behind (separation), undergo ordeals by means of which<br />
old behaviors are er<strong>as</strong>ed <strong>and</strong> new behaviors <strong>and</strong> knowledge learned (liminal<br />
ph<strong>as</strong>e), <strong>and</strong> emerge reborn <strong>as</strong> new or at le<strong>as</strong>t profoundly changed beings<br />
ready to rejoin their society but with new identity <strong>and</strong> at a new level of responsibility<br />
(reintegration) (Schechner 2006, pp 236).”<br />
One quality related to the magic circle is the varieties of performance<br />
time adapted to the event that, according to Schechner (1988/2003, pp<br />
8–10), includes: event time, meaning that all the steps of the activity need to<br />
be accomplished no matter how long it takes, for example, rituals or scripted<br />
performances; set time that gives the boundaries in which the activities<br />
need to fit in, i.e. the gathering should start at a given time <strong>and</strong> it also<br />
should end at a given time no matter whether all the planned activities are<br />
accomplished or not; symbolic time where the span of activity represented<br />
may be shorter or longer than the simultaneously elapsed real time.<br />
Since in magic circle the laws of everyday practices do not count, it<br />
needs rules that determine what holds in the temporary play world, rules<br />
that tell what players can or cannot do. Schechner (1988/2003, pp 15–19)<br />
thinks <strong>games</strong> are closer to the theatre performance than play in the sense<br />
of child’s play with dolls, or rituals b<strong>as</strong>ed on the rules directing them: <strong>as</strong><br />
he sees it, play is “free activity” in which the player makes his/her own<br />
rules. In rituals the rules are given from “outside”, <strong>and</strong> <strong>games</strong>, sports <strong>and</strong><br />
theatre mediate between these two extremes, since in those activities<br />
rules exist <strong>as</strong> “frames”. The frames give boundaries to the performance/<br />
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