{"id":1599,"date":"2010-01-05T21:46:51","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T19:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2010-01-05T21:46:51","modified_gmt":"2010-01-05T19:46:51","slug":"a-game-as-a-museum-as-a-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2010\/01\/05\/a-game-as-a-museum-as-a-game\/","title":{"rendered":"A game as a museum as a game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over at Non-fiction, Juha writes about a hypothetical game that simulates museum management<\/a>. He asks: <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cCould this be an interesting approach to open up museums and learn from our current and future audiences? Could a game be a museum? Could a museum be a game?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I think the simple answer to all these questions is yes<\/strong>. But I\u2019ve always been more interested in the how<\/em> of things. So I\u2019m lead to wonder\u2026<\/p>\n\n

The fun of simulation games is derived from the fact that they are perceived to emulate certain aspects of physical reality in a realistic manner. So when playing a football management game, one enjoys feeling like one is managing a soccer team like Marco van Basten would, although it is probable that the activities a player engages in are nothing like the actual activities of a trainer\/coach. The art of crafting these kinds of games is about getting as close to the reality of the subject as possible as it is perceived<\/em> by your intended audience. So: What are the activities people imagine museum managers to engage in?<\/strong> Buying and selling art, perhaps? Overseeing improvements to the museum space? What else? Game design is all about verbs. It\u2019s about what you\u2019d have people do. So on a formal level, the question is one of mechanics.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

However, at the same time, it\u2019s important to think in terms of player experience, which is a matter of aesthetics. It\u2019s helpful to think about how players should feel while playing your game, and working back from that to mechanics, activities. So, again: What should a museum management game feel like?<\/strong> Should it be a frantic race, similar to a game of Diner Dash<\/a>, to keep all museum visitors satisfied? Or should it be a relaxing experience, focused on nurturing the museum environment similar to how one would grow a bonsai tree?<\/p>\n

Finally, as Alper pointed out in this tweet<\/a>, it\u2019s worth considering what would happen when the museum management game and the reality of the museum collide. A physical, situated, pervasive game that takes place inside the museum could be a powerful way to draw in an audience that is increasingly disconnected from our traditional cultural infrastructure. Youth nowadays is defined by a culture of play and video games function as important symbolic spaces to this culture.2<\/a><\/sup> To engage this audience, a new type of museum is required. This museum would, on the one hand, provide access to culture in a procedural manner, in stead of a declarative one. (In a game-like manner, in other words.) On the other hand, it should function as a podium for the products of this new playful culture. In this way, the museum could act as a broker between generations, increasing mutual understanding.<\/p>\n

I am aware of several initiatives in this area, and am getting actively involved with one of them, which is spearheaded by Jeroen van Mastrigt.3<\/a><\/sup> So I am looking forward to Juha’s piece in Metropolis M, and hope to learn more about his views on the playful museum.<\/p>

  1. There is an opportunity for authorial intent with these simulations as well, along the lines of Ian Bogost’s concept of procedural rhetoric<\/a>. What argument would Juha like to convey about the reality of museums using his game? Should the player think differently about museums after a session? A whole other can of worms there. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  2. One of the issues here is that most of these symbolic places are privately owned, by commercial parties. There should be public spaces and places for play, too. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  3. To whom I’m indebted for some of the above ideas. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Over at Non-fiction, Juha writes about a hypothetical game that simulates museum management. He asks: \u201cCould this be an interesting approach to open up museums and learn from our current and future audiences? Could a game be a museum? Could a museum be a game?\u201d I think the simple answer to all these questions is … Continue reading A game as a museum as a game<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[625],"tags":[579,259,742,168,744,743],"class_list":["post-1599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-culture","tag-games","tag-museums","tag-play","tag-simulations","tag-youth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599","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=1599"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1605,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions\/1605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}