{"id":1051,"date":"2008-08-22T15:24:42","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T13:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:29:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T08:29:41","slug":"playing-with-emergence-is-like-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2008\/08\/22\/playing-with-emergence-is-like-gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing with emergence is like gardening"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since I finished reading Steven Berlin Johnson<\/a>\u2019s Emergence<\/em>. I picked up the book because ever since I started thinking about what IxD<\/abbr>s can learn from game design, the concept of emergence<\/strong> kept popping up.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s book is a pleasant read, an easy-going introduction to the subject. I started and finished it over the course of a weekend. There were a few passages I marked as I went a long, and I\u2019d like to quote them here and comment on them. In order, they are about:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Principles that are required for emergence to happen<\/li>\n
  2. How learning can be unconscious<\/li>\n
  3. Unique skills of game players<\/li>\n
  4. Gardening as a metaphor for using (and making) emergent systems<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A cheat sheet<\/h4>\n

    Let\u2019s start with the principles.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cIf you\u2019re building a system designed to learn from the ground level, a system where macrointelligence and adaptability derive from local knowledge, there are five fundamental principles you need to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    These principles together form a useful crib sheet for designers working on social software, MMOG<\/abbr>s, etc. I\u2019ll summarise each of Johnson\u2019s principles here.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cMore is different.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    You need to have a sizeable amount of low-level elements interacting to get patterns emerging. Also, there is a difference between the behaviour you will observe on the microlevel, and on the macrolevel. You need to be aware of both.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cIgnorance is useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    The simple elements don\u2019t have to be aware of the higher-level order. In fact, it\u2019s best if they aren\u2019t. Otherwise nasty feedback-loops might come into being.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cEncourage random encounters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    You need chance happenings for the system to be able to learn and adapt.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cLook for patterns in the signs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Simply put, the basic elements can have a simple vocabulary, but should be able to recognise patterns. So although you might be working with only one signal, things such as frequency and intensity should be used to make a range of meanings.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cPay attention to your neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    There must be as much interaction between the components as possible. They should be made constantly aware of each other.<\/p>\n

    Now with these principles in mind look at systems that successfully leverage collective intelligence. Look at Flickr for instance. They are all present.<\/p>\n

    Chicken pox<\/h4>\n

    I liked the following passage because it seems to offer a nice metaphor for what I think is the unique kind of learning that happens while playing. In a way, games and toys are like chicken pox.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201c[\u2026] learning is not always contingent on consciousness. [\u2026] Most of us have developed immunity to the varicella-zoster virus—also known as chicken pox—based on our exposure to it early in childhood. The immunity is a learning process: the antibodies of our immune system learn to neutralize the antigens of the virus, and they remember those neutralization strategies for the rest of our lives. [\u2026] Those antibodies function as a \u201crecognition system,\u201d in Gerald Edelman\u2019s phrase, successfully attacking the virus and storing the information about it, then recalling that information the next time the virus comes across the radar. [\u2026] the recognition unfolds purely on a cellular level: we are not aware<\/em> of the varicella-zoster virus in any sense of the word, [\u2026] The body learns without consciousness, and so do cities, because learning is not just about being aware<\/em> of information; it\u2019s also about storing information and knowing where to find it. [\u2026] It\u2019s about altering a system\u2019s behaviour in response to those patterns in ways that make the system more successful at whatever goal it\u2019s pursuing. The system need not be conscious to be capable of that kind of learning.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Emphasis on the last sentence mine, by the way.<\/p>\n

    Patience<\/h4>\n

    Johnson writes about his impression of children playing video games:4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201c[\u2026] they are more tolerant of being out of control, more tolerant of that exploratory phase where the rules don\u2019t all make sense, and where few goals have been clearly defined.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    This attitude is very valuable in today’s increasingly complex world. It should be fostered and leveraged in areas besides gaming too, IMHO<\/acronym>. This point was at the core of my Playing With Complexity<\/a> talk.<\/p>\n

    Gardening<\/h4>\n
    \n

    \u201cInteracting with emergent software is already more like growing a garden than driving a car or reading a book.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Yet, we still tend to approach the design of systems like this from a tradition of making tools (cars) or media (books). I not only believe that the use of systems like this is like gardening, but also their creation. Perhaps they lie in each other\u2019s extension, are part of one never-ending cycle? In any case, when designing complex systems, you need to work with it “live”. Plant some seeds, observe, prune, weed, plant some more, etc. <\/p>\n

    I am going to keep a garden (on my balcony). I\u2019m pretty sure that will teach me more about interaction design than building cars or writing books.<\/p>\n\"It's

    1. The following quotes are taken from pages 77-79. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
    2. This reminds me of Nassim Nicholas Taleb<\/a>\u2019s The Black Swan<\/em>, wherein he writes about maximising your chance of having serendipitous encounters. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
    3. Taken from pages 103-104. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
    4. Page 177. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
    5. Page 207. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      It\u2019s been a while since I finished reading Steven Berlin Johnson\u2019s Emergence. I picked up the book because ever since I started thinking about what IxDs can learn from game design, the concept of emergence kept popping up. Johnson\u2019s book is a pleasant read, an easy-going introduction to the subject. I started and finished it … Continue reading Playing with emergence is like gardening<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[625],"tags":[104,402,619,401,267,259,660,367,11,10,410,168,548,661],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-books","tag-complexity","tag-dog-eared-pages","tag-emergence","tag-game-design","tag-games","tag-gardening","tag-gd","tag-interaction-design","tag-ixd","tag-learning","tag-play","tag-second-order-design","tag-steven-berlin-johnson"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1051"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4616,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions\/4616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}