[OSList] OST / Gaming

Sun Oct 20 08:37:11 PDT 2013

Jenifer - Marvelous tale! Seems to be following a useful progression from
theatre as only what happens in front of you (done to you), to theatre as in
the midst of you (the round) to theatre as happening all over. All have
their place, I am sure, and the latter does push some new boundaries. I
first ran into all of that with my youngest son and his Brooklyn friends.
New experience for an old dog... and just great. And I think there is a
broader, useful learning here, all about the frame of reference. 

When we talk about something serious, our conversation always seems to have
(must have?) some frame of reference with certain metaphors and images. Each
frame provides a different point of view, and allows for some different
perceptions/learnings. It is not so much about right or wrong but rather
capacity to communicate. They are all different, and they all have some
positives. And we must choose the most appropriate for our purposes. 

So with our current discussion about OST as a game. The fun part is that I
could easily find myself adopting your frame of reference and being very
comfortable, learn a lot, and feel that the discussion had moved in very
useful ways. Given a different set of conditions I might chose a different
frame of reference... and usually do. All of this can get very confusing,
especially for people who are concerned to speak "only the truth." I
seriously doubt that you can do that, and in fact I suspect the only way to
make progress in examining some "truth" is to keep talking around it. But
such is the finite nature of our language. We never can quite get it right,
but we can certainly point in some useful directions. I believe you have
done that. Thank you.

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 04843

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com 

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Jenifer Toksvig
Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2013 6:37 PM
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Subject: [OSList] OST / Gaming

Hello chaps,

I admit, I took a break from the digest arriving in my inbox, but I have
been drawn back to the list by the lovely Mary O'Connor, who pointed me at
this thread. And very timely it is for me, too, in terms of OST and gaming
and such. (Apologies for un-threading this post.)

Harrison said:
>> Some people refer to the "Game of Life," but it is scarcely a game you
choose to play (or not). [...]  OS for me is not a process we choose to do
or not do - quite simply it is what we are -- Self organizing, and OS is
only an invitation to be ourselves fully and purposefully. <<

For me, both OST and gaming are precisely about choice: about making
choices.

I should say that I'm seeing 'game' and 'gaming' as different things, here.
A game has a pre-determined structure, rules, goals etc. 'Gaming' is about
people making choices within a given structure, and - crucially - that
structure does not have to be a game. Not as we traditionally perceive
'game', anyway.

In my work making theatre, I've been exploring new ways to engage an
audience. Essentially, we are performing work in Open Space - although we're
not quite, yet. We still haven't introduced it as that, exactly. But it
follows the principles and Law, and - for me - the essence of choice that
lies in the self-organisation of OST.

The audience comes into what we're calling a Storyworld: a big space, of
exactly the kind in which you might open space, set out in a similar way -
initially one collective space, then divided into smaller spaces - and here
they're introduced to the way in which the story will be told.

The characters effectively call the sessions, playing scenes in those
smaller spaces (which we set out with furniture appropriate to whatever
rooms fit the story), and the audience then behaves exactly as they do in
open space.

It's very fluid: the audience can also call sessions, because they can talk
to the characters from the start, and we introduce them to the main story
arc from the start. More than talk to them, we try to build an environment
in which members of the audience (I like to call them audients) can form
relationships with the characters if they want to.

We encourage emotional engagement with the process by following a very
simple narrative which has plenty of room to be inflated and explored in
open space. Our core narrative is effectively the governing theme of the
process, with a strong narrative question established that will guide us
through. The business of the audience is to engage with us in telling that
story, and the issue for them is how these characters get to that final,
inevitable conclusion which we know they must reach by the end of the story.

So here's the crossover I'm talking about, between how people engage with
the process in OST, and gaming, and this kind of theatre. A guy called
Andrew Glassner wrote a great book called "Interactive Storytelling" which
is essentially about how storytelling is evolving within the world of games.
(Actual games.)

In the book, he observes what he refers to as the 'game loop'. (Although not
the programming kind of game loop, Harold!) This is a basic description of
what people do in the process of gaming.

1. Observe the situation 
2. Set goals 
3. Prepare 
4. Commit and execute 
5. Compare result to the plan 
6. Evaluate the result for self 
7. Evaluate the result for others 
8. Return to step 1 

In football, for example: you have the ball at your feet and it's your move.
You look at where your teammates are, and how close to the goal you are.
Then you decide to kick the ball to Bob. You prepare by tensing and putting
your weight on the correct foot. Then you make the move and kick the ball.
Immediately, you look to see if the ball is going in the intended direction,
and then you evaluate whether or not Bob got it and is doing something
useful with it. Then you check that everyone else around you is responding
to your move in the way you thought they might, both your team and the other
team. Then you observe where Bob is going, and decide on your next move. 

It also works with chess: look at the game, make a plan, pick up the piece,
make the move, evaluate the move, look at the fear on your opponent's face,
and so on. It works with any game, pretty much.

It also works in Storyworld theatre. An audient looks around the room. They
decide to follow a character who amuses them, so they turn and head that
way. When they get to that scene, they might hover to see if this session is
actually one they want to join. Other people seem to be here too, and are
also finding this moment funny, so they stay for a while. Then they hear a
song being sung across the room, and they look, set a goal to go over there,
and use the Law of Two Feet to execute a move across the room.

For me, the great joy of Storyworld theatre is that I have freedom of choice
to engage as I please: I can speak in a session, I can just listen, I can
bumblebee and butterfly. It's the same when I am gaming: I observe, set a
goal, prepare, commit and execute, compare result to plan. and all in my own
good time.

I'm not talking about playing Monopoly. I'm talking about making my move in
Monopoly. The former has big rules and limitations. The latter just offers
me a structure within which I am free to choose. Whilst making my move, I
can butterfly as I watch other people discuss the game. I can announce a tea
break, and bumblebee between a conversation at the sink and another back at
the table. I can even move my little Top Hat illegally onto the pile of
Community Cards and state that this move is a new one I've just invented,
which allows me to give every player a card simultaneously instead of moving
to a new square. (Because - well, why not? The game can't stop me. The other
players can be prepared for surprise, or use their two feet.)

That is me, gaming.

And also me being in Open Space.

And also me living.

So Harrison, don't feel bad about not liking games! Games are often about
winning or losing, and when it feels like it's either one or the other -
well, for me, that's not a great game. Gaming, on the other hand, if you're
talking about it as above, is just about process. As is OST. In the moment
of actually *playing* a game, when you are making your move, what you have
is complete freedom and agency to pursue your own choice of goals. You can
even break the rules, if you want.

The massive online games to which Jane McGonigal refers are, I think,
Storyworlds. It is in such venues that I began the journey which brought me
naturally into Open Space and now sees me exploring Storyworld theatre. (For
the Trekkies on the list, we privately refer to it as Holodeck Theatre.)

I find Open Space addictive. At least, I see it and feel it and am in it
always, and everywhere, and each time a little OST bell rings in my life
(and there are a lot of them, like tiny wind chimes) I get a tiny kick which
feels strangely like achievement. Those gaming moves ring similar bells for
me.

Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games, or MMOs, require a specific
kind of writing: you need to shape a whole world clearly enough that people
can imagine themselves being a part of it, playing a person within it, and
making journeys there, but also leave enough freedom for people to be anyone
they want, and make any number of different journeys, with as much potential
for bell ringing as possible.

In fact, as much potential as real life offers. That's the power of story,
and it's not like real life is story-free. OST is a running narrative in my
Life-Storyworld.

And there are some glorious days when I feel like I've levelled up in it :-)

Jen x

Jenifer Toksvig
www.acompletelossforwords.com

The Copenhagen Interpretation
www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk

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