UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA Dipartimento di Scienze Umane per la Formazione “Riccardo Massa” DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN SCIENZE DELLA FORMAZIONE E DELLA COMUNICAZIONE The World Makers' Playgrounds: Mapping the Networked Spaces of Ludic Creation Coordinatore: Prof.ssa Laura FORMENTI Tutor: Prof.ssa Laura FORMENTI Tesi di Dottorato di : Luca MORINI Matricola 760849 Abstract Game Design – Community – Participatory Learning – Media Ecology – Media Education The present dissertation is aimed at offering an explorative perspective toward original forms, organizations and contents of learning which characterize the present "media ecology", proposing an ethnographic and qualitative mapping of participatory dynamics as pertaining the discussion, modification, design, and creation of games (be them digital or "analog") within a plurality of communities and contexts, be them "virtual" or "real", within and without formal learning institutions. These communities and contexts will be thematized as "playgrounds", spaces of production and interaction characterized by horizontality, heterarchy and reticularity, spaces where a systems-oriented, constructivist, cooperative and transdisciplinary literacy is being built from the grassroots, a literacy necessary to be an active and participative "world maker" in the present Information Age. Part I of this tractation will be aimed at contextualizing the study of play and games from an historical and transdisciplinary standpoint, both through a literature review aimed at highlighing the contested relationship between playfulness and the serious character of formal learning contexts, and through an exploration of play's relevance in psychological, social, cultural and evolutive processes, concluding with the proposal of "game design" as a possible, unifying metaphor for the diversity of the sciences of living systems. Part II will explore the close links between the present participatory patterns within media cultures and the methodological choices I operated during my fieldwork, highlighting the political relevance of the "Information Revolution" in disrupting institutional infrastructures through its influence on the patterning of learning systems both formal and informal, evidencing the consequences of this paradigm shift on the epistemological fundations of research in human sciences. Part III will then offer, through a series of Cases and "ethnographic sketches", a synthetic panorama of the plural realities of ludic "Do It Together", evidencing within them the use and co-construction of complex models and metaphors (both on a formal and on an aesthetical level). In discussing the fieldwork within communities of game creators (be them formal or informal, online or offline), ample space will be given to difficulties, criticalities and insights, so as to further highlight the methodological quandaries of working in these specificcontexts. The whole of this work will, in conclusion, be aimed at proposing a new, possible role for learning professionals: that of the meta-designer, co-constructor of interactive open spaces and catalyst of ludic/learning/researching communities, where the activities, defined through non-programmatic and co-designed patterns of participation, will move through and beyond media education, meant as a meta-discipline aimed at the construction of an inclusive, distributed and democratic paradigm of learning. To the dreams of those who have fallen, To the hopes of those who will follow Contents: Pre-Lude..................................................................................................................................1 Introduction- Why Did It Have To Be Games? ..................................................................3 Part I – Looking Through the Magic Circle: Researching Play and Games..................15 • Chapter 1 - Homo Ludens In The Information Age: Stories, Places and (Dis)Placements of the Study of Games.................................17 • Chapter 2 - Higher Order Playfulness: Learning, Evolution, Creation.................................................................................45 Part II – Mind the Channels : Researching Participatory Cultures...............................75 • Chapter 3 - Creative Commons, or: How Networks are Taking Back the Means of (Cultural) Production................ 77 • Chapter 4 - Punk Methodologies: Sketching Politics, Quality and Representation in Messy Networks.................103 Part III – Sketches From the Playgrounds: Three Case Studies on Ludic Creation...133 • Case I - The World Makers' Virtual Places: of Networks and Inclusion.......................................................................135 • Case II - How a Node Connects to the Whole: the Stories and Spaces of Tampere's Game Creators......................161 • Case III - The Game Jam Experience: Transient Spaces of Open Cooperation...............................................183 Of Closures and Conclusions: Making a More Playful World......................................203 One Final Inter-lude..........................................................................................................217 References...........................................................................................................................219 Pre-lude: Of Playgrounds, Messiness and How to Build Your Giant Robot Luca loves his building bricks, even if he sometimes spends hours just to chase the right piece in his big, oh-so-messy boxes that contain dozens of demolished and randomly mixed up things. His grandmother accepts that he just pours the pieces from the box and wades in them, as long as he keeps them contained to the living room's carpet. He likes that huge mess of blocks on the carpet, it looks to him so...Alive. Still, he does his best to comply with grandma's orders, as he does not like to lose pieces all around the house. He also likes the security and the warmth of that big carpet near the fireplace: it's his own personal magic playground, where he can create anything. Well,almost anything. It is quite easy to follow the instructions and build big, working things, but Luca is more than a bit annoyed by the fact that the instructions included in the boxes are always for somewhat plain stuff. Yes, yes, a castle or a galleon can't be really called "plain", but why don't the Brick People make instructions for even cooler things? For example, Luca loves the architecture of Uncle Scrooge's Money Bin, with all those traps to stop those thieving Beagle Boys. Or the huge starships of the Star Wars movies. And let's not even get started on UFO Robot and all his awesome weapons and transformations! Speaking of this, Luca is trying to build his own giant robot, but there are no instructions on how to build it. The robot lies face up, looking at the ceiling with perplexed, plastic eyes while Luca tries his best to provide it with a working shoulder articulation (and maybe with rocket punches, if he can manage). After a while, Luca stands the robot up and looks at his work. The robot looks quite good, with his big arms, wings, horns and pauldrons, but it does not seem very resilient, especially those spindly legs. At least it can stay up standing. Well, time for a test drive: Luca grabs his toy tyrannosaurus and puts it in front of his newest creation among the debris of a hundred demolished buildings. Then he issues the challenge in his best giant robot voice: "If you don't fear this power, fight!", roaring the dinosaur's response, as the the two miniature titans clash, sending some bricks flying immediately. Very soon the working shoulder articulation gives up, and a robotic arm falls to the ground. Then one of those thin legs crumbles in pieces, the robot following suit. Putting aside the triumphant toyrannosaurus, Luca looks at the fallen robot with a mix of disappointment and clinical interest. If it can't even defeat a simple dinosaur, it surely can't win against those cybernetic space monsters UFO Robot defeats on a daily schedule. His grandmother calls from the other room: "Luca, your friend is here!". Luca barely raises his eyes from to greet his friend Paolo, whose stare follows almost straight to the poor remains of the 1 robot: "Were you trying to build UFO Robot? It looks cool.", he immediately asks. "I was trying to make my own giant robot, but he can't even fight a dinosaur...I can't build it strong enough." replies Luca, still pondering what exactly went wrong. Paolo picks up the robot's arm (with its not-so- working shoulder articulation) and looks at it closely, then smiles: "I'm sure we can rebuild it, then build one for me too. And then together they can train for fighting dinosaurs and monsters!" Luca smiles too, as he and his friend start crawling on the brick-laden, warm carpet, looking for pieces for another giant robot's skeleton. He learned some very important important things today, on trying to build something beyond the instructions. First, you can't really plan much on, but, keeping your vision in mind, you build as you build. Second, it's so much easier if you do it with someone else. Third, and maybe most importantly, you need a playground to do it together. The messier, the better. 2 Why Did It Have To Be Games? An Autobiographically Charged Account Of This Thesis's Structure "Games are beautiful. They do not need to be justified." - Eric Zimmerman & Heater Chaplin, "Manifesto" - "This reminds me of a story..." - Gregory Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of Mind - "I know it is selfish, but this is my