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DRAMA 04. Pervasive Games and Theater
DRAMA 04. Pervasive Games and Theater
Elena Perez
María Elena Pérez Rodríguez is a PhD-candidate (2009-2013) at
the Department of Art(s) and Media Studies, NTNU. She is also a
practitioner; experimenting with how new media technology is
being applied to contemporary theatre and performance. She
created Chain Reaction together with other graduate students
and gamers while on a visiting scholarship at UC Berkeley in 2009.
Pervasive Games
and Theatre:
Participation and Open Source
tekst: elena per ez
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[ play, forward
drama & ny teknologi ] [ play, forward
drama & ny teknologi ]
[ ]
The same way designers use open source
technology to produce pervasive games
and theatre, pervasive games publish their
game model on the Inter net for others to
orchestr ate it and pl ay it.
The role of new media technology in per- Some of the non-established groups make References
vasive games and theatre can be categorized more of a low-tech use of technology that Aarseth, E. (2001). Game Studies, Year
in three large blocks: First, dissemination doesn’t allow them developing new devices One. Game Studies, volume 1, issue 1.
through social media. The role of the Internet or software, but adapting existing technol- Retrieved April 22, 2010, from http://ga- Left: SHOW TIME. A group of players in Chain Reaction perform a drama exercise to the rest. In this last mission, players were asked to make a TV commercial putting
and social media is fundamental in advertis- ogy for their purposes. Thus, it is fundamen- mestudies.org/0101/editorial.html together the materials they collected throughout the game - a song, a movement piece, a theatre sculpture and a short literary text. (Photo: Anders Sundnes Løvlie)
ing mixed media events organized outside tal for pervasive games and theatre to follow
of cultural institutions. Game culture’s plat- open source philosophy, that is, to use tech- right: MOVEMENT MISSION. Players perform a short movement piece inspired in the environment – a museum’s garden - in Chain Reaction.
Adams, M. (2009). Mixed Reality Arts. The piece must last 20 seconds, and contain a jump, a spin and a fall. (Photo: Anders Sundnes Løvlie)
form is online, and distributing information nologies that open the source code for every- In M. Montola, J. Stenros, & A. Waern
through web pages, blogs and even Facebook one to use for free. (Eds.), Pervasive Games: Theory and De-
events work as an efficacious word of mouth. sign (pp. 236-240). USA: Morgan Kauf-
CONTROL BOARD: Players move their figurines across the control board via SMS in Day of the Figurines.
The same way designers use open source mann Publishers. They can see the board through a webcam installed in the museum. (Photo: Blast Theory)
Second, online documentation of the play technology to produce pervasive games and
session. In most games, players are encour- theatre, pervasive games publish their game Kizu-Blair, I., Mahan, S., & Lavigne, S.
aged to use their cell phones to take pictures model on the Internet for others to orchestrate (2009). Journey to the End of the Night.
and make videos to document their experi- it and play it. In most game websites and blogs Retrieved November 15, 2010, from
ences in the game through text, pictures and there is a section on “How to host / orchestrate http://totheendofthenight.com/about
videos. This is the only way one can con- your own game” in which the game model is
struct an overview of what happened in the revealed and instructions are given away. Magerkurth, C., Cheok, A. D., Mandryk,
game, by looking at the pieces of informa- Consequently, a game model that is repeated R. L., & Nilsen, T. (2005). Pervasive ga-
several times and is also orchestrated by dif-
mes: bringing computer entertainment
tion that each player has posted. Each game
back to the real world. Comput. Enter-
has therefore two lives: the physical event ferent organizers becomes a popular game.
tain., 3(3), 4-4.
(playing the game) and the digital event This success relies in the agility and flexibility
(once the game is over, the documentation of the game model to integrate the changes
Montola, M., Stenros, J., & Waern, A.
process starts). Players document their play- that players introduce. It therefore proves the
(Eds.). (2009). Pervasive games: theory
ing as a way of claiming the value of their benefits of collective authorship. and design. Burlington, Mass.: Morgan
actions, making themselves visible as a com- Kaufmann Publishers.
munity, raising awareness over their playing
as an aesthetic activity. Pérez Rodríguez, M.E. (2010). Designing
Pervasive Theatre: The Chain Reaction
Third, the technology that the game re- Case (pp. 73-81). Presented at the Games:
quires; devices and software that are funda- Design and Research Conference, Volda.
mental parts of the game. Rider Spoke uses Pérez Rodríguez, M.E. (2009). Chain
a handheld computer mounted onto a bike Reaction | Street Game. blog, . Retrieved
where you can operate an application specif- November 15, 2010, from http://chain-
ically developed for it. Day Of the Figurines reactionstreetgame.wordpress.com/
consist of players sending SMS through
their cell phones and connecting to the Poremba, C. (2007). Critical Potential
game’s webpage to observe a control board, on the Brink of the Magic Circle. DiGRA
real-time, through a web camera. Digital Library. Retrieved May 24, 2010,
from http://www.digra.org/dl/display_
html?chid=http://www.digra.org/dl/ Firecracker: A player in Chain Reaction, documents how they fulfilled the ”Sound” mission in the game’s blog. Notice the textual description, the YouTube video and
db/07311.42117.pdf the hand of one of the players using his cell phone to record the sound. To see the whole documentation go to www.chainreaction.wordpress.com
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