Salen, et al.
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
shygrr1@yahoo.com
eric@gmlb.com
This is Not a Game: Play in Cultural Environments
Paper Proposal
The classical notion of a game implies that there is a clear and unambiguous border between the game and the world outside the game, manifest most clearly in Huizinga's concept of the "magic circle." The magic circle of a game is a delineation in time and space of the game's existence: the sports match, for example, takes place only within the borders of the playfield, for a duration that lasts between the starting whistle and the final second of play.
While this model of a game does describe many experiences of play, there are many examples of games that purposefully blur the border between the world of the game and "real life." From live-action role-playing games to games like Majestic or Assassin, there is a wide variety of games that intentionally blend in with their surrounding cultural environment.
This paper investigates the phenomenon of games as a cultural environment, as a way of investigating what games are and how they function. What is the relationship between a game and the social and cultural contexts it inhabits? Do all games transgress the magic circle, or do only some of them cross or blur its border? Should games be considered artificial systems of play, or as special cases of real life?
In answering these questions, we must take into account game phenomena that call attention to the borders of the magic circle, such as player-generated mods and hacks, level editors and tools designed for players, games created as open-source systems, games that are played within and across multiple platforms, and self-organizing social networks that play inside and outside the borders of games. The study of these phenomena have import for both the design and the study of games, and point to the future of innovative game development.
Biographical Information
Katie Salen
Katie is a designer interested in the connections between game design, interactivity, and play. Under the guise of MINT, she has recently teamed up with director Tommy Pallotta and Microsoft to develop an animated storytelling experience distributed through Xbox Live. Katie has been collaborating with Frank Lantz and Nick Fortugno on a commission to design a large scale urban game for the citizens of St. Paul and Minneapolis, to be played as part of the Twin Cities Design Celebration in fall 2003. On the writing front, she is a contributing writer for RES Magazine and has recently completed Rules of Play, a textbook on game design co-authored with Eric Zimmerman (MIT Press in fall 2003). Katie currently teaches in NYU's ITP program, and has taught visual, game, and interactive design at the University of Texas, RISD, Parsons School of Design, and N.C. State University. She recently completed work on two animated music videos for the British band Zero 7 (In the Waiting Line; Destiny), and was an animator on the Richard Linklater feature film Waking Life.
Eric Zimmerman
Eric is a commercial game designer, academic, and artist exploring the practice and theory of game design. He has spent the last ten years as a professional working in the game industry and is currently the CEO of gameLab, a game development company based in New York City. Before founding gameLab with Peter Lee, Eric collaborated with Word.com on the underground online hit, SiSSYFiGHT 2000 (www.sissyfight.com). Other titles include the PC CD-ROM games Gearheads (Philips Media, 1996) and The Robot Club (Southpeak Interactive, 1998). As an academic, Eric has lectured and published extensively about game design and game culture. He has taught courses in game design and interactive narrative design at MIT, NYU, Parsons School of Design, and School of Visual Arts. In the Fall of 2003, MIT Press and Peter Lang Press will each publish a book by Eric about game design and game culture. Eric has exhibited non-computer game projects at galleries and museums in the US and abroad. Eric also serves on the Education Steering Committee of the International Game Developers Association and is on the Editorial Board of Game Studies.
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