Research Material

I've had one week of brainstorming and I already have a vast well of material ideas built up, a lot of primary research but some solid secondary too.

For primary I am going to play Zorg, a very early text game. Now this was an obvious choice to start seems as there is no aesthetic to the game what so ever, it completely relies on the imagination of the player. I will study this, and see how it encourages or discourages my creativity. I am also going to look into games like minecraft, where you are free to build your own world. And maybe also, ignoring the stereotypical way it is seen, I am hopefully going to get dressed up and have a go at some larping. This will be a fantastic insight into a highly scrutinized world, but Im sure I will be pleasantly surprised. The way I see it Its just the whole stick and cardboard box scenario again, just grown up.

I was speaking to my lecturer and talking about my strengthening belief that playing and gaming are at two opposite ends of a spectrum, playing has no strict rules and little creative input from anyone but the player, and gaming being bound by rules and situation created by a "designer". She suggested to me that I look into a book called 'Man, Play and Games' by Roger Caillois. Apparently this book has exactly the same theory as I do, but in latin (far more academic). I hope to purchase a copy of this book because Im sure it will be a substantial if not the main resource for the subject I have chosen.

So what's the plan?

In recent years I have had an increasing problem with video games. It wasn't a big problem at first, not in a way that could be directly defined and criticized but more an issue that has developed over time into something instantly noticeable. This problem is the dire lack of creative room for the players imagination.
Let me try and explain. There was a time, for each and everyone of us, when we were a hero. Running round the garden swinging a stick, slaying monsters and guarding the cardboard box castle. You might differ but I draw from personal experience.
My point is, we had a "platform"; the garden, the stick, the cardboard box. But the game its self was a creation brought forth from the depths of our own imagination. Its from these early experiences that I define what playing a game really is and its in that definition that I find my problem. When I turn on my console and pick up my controller, Im using someone else's imagination to substitute my own.

So for my final year here at NUCA, I am going to delve into the history of games. Not just video games but all games, all in the hopes of defining, not what gaming is but what playing is.
From this research I will create my dissertation and in my studio practical work I shall try and produce something truly imaginative for ALL of us.