Ken Eklund, writerguy, gave this talk on what museums can learn from game design and alternate reality games. The talk highlights the groundbreaking ARG "World Without Oil" as a model for generating massively collaborative and participatory engagement with serious real-world issues. Games such as WWO are redefining what we think of as a "game" and expanding the role of "play" in how we shape our future. Alternate reality games establish a fun, democratic way to "play a future before we live it" and thus open up a path for museums and other educational and cultural institutions to become leaders in social change.
5. by SARA RIMER http://tiny.cc/nytmit
Monday, June 22, 2009
6. by SARA RIMER http://tiny.cc/nytmit
Declining attendance
Rising failure rate
Lecturing perceived as irrelevant,
dissonant with learning style
Monday, June 22, 2009
7. by SARA RIMER http://tiny.cc/nytmit
“Technology-Enhanced Active Learning”
(TEAL)
Monday, June 22, 2009
23. Alice will teach us to play
“World Without Oil,”
an Alternate Reality Game
Monday, June 22, 2009
24. Alice will teach us to play
“World Without Oil,”
an Alternate Reality Game
Alice is not a gamer and
has no idea what an
Alternate Reality Game is
Monday, June 22, 2009
25. ALTERNATE REALITY
GAMES
Not a ‘virtual world’
Game is embedded
in the real world
‘Augmented Reality’
Collaborative
‘What if?’ play
Monday, June 22, 2009
26. “Wow, has the next
oil crisis started?
Take a look:
worldwithoutoil.org”
Monday, June 22, 2009
52. Player progression
Interwoven narrative
The wisdom of crowds
Monday, June 22, 2009
53. Player progression
Interwoven narrative
The wisdom of crowds
Collective imagination
Monday, June 22, 2009
54. Collective intelligence
Player progression
Interwoven narrative
The wisdom of crowds
Collective imagination
Monday, June 22, 2009
55. Collective intelligence
Player progression
Interwoven narrative
The wisdom of crowds
Collective imagination
Citizen journalism
Monday, June 22, 2009
56. Mythology
Collective intelligence
Player progression
Interwoven narrative
The wisdom of crowds
Collective imagination
Citizen journalism
Monday, June 22, 2009
59. This experience has been just incredible
for me. I've learned so much and started to
think about even small things in my daily
life in a new way... You show me that many
really great people are out there… and that
we will lead the way.
– Epaxson
What people said
Monday, June 22, 2009
60. I really mean it when I say
World Without Oil changed my
life. My friends, family and
coworkers have all noticed the
difference. In all seriousness,
this entire thing has made me
a different person.
– FallingIntoSin
What people said
Monday, June 22, 2009
61. Here there's no upper limit on the
game play. Everyone can have
some, and every piece actually
matters, because the game play is
shaping the story yourself through
your writing, and carrying the
lessons learned into your life.
– KSG
What people said
Monday, June 22, 2009
62. Act as if. Live it. Weave us
into a possible future, let us
picture ourselves in the
middle of a plotline, rather
than just spout out more
statistics in a news item.
– Evelyn Rodriguez
What people said
Monday, June 22, 2009
63. It was real to me.
– OrganizedChaos
Monday, June 22, 2009
77. QUESTION
Why do you call World
Without Oil a game? As
opposed to an activity or
an exercise?
Monday, June 22, 2009
78. QUESTION
Did World Without Oil owe
anything to Dungeons and
Dragons and other
roleplaying games?
Monday, June 22, 2009
79. QUESTION
Did all the people
participating in World
Without Oil play
themselves, or did some
play characters?
Monday, June 22, 2009
80. QUESTION
What games have
museums done?
Especially online games.
Monday, June 22, 2009
81. QUESTION
Flash games and the like
seem to me to be closed
systems, with inherent
biases.
Monday, June 22, 2009
82. QUESTION
How did you know how to
position the role for
players, to put them in
charge of the story? Why
weren’t you in charge?
Monday, June 22, 2009
83. QUESTION
Looking at the game, it
seems like art, in a way.
Monday, June 22, 2009
84. QUESTION
How did you get wide
participation? Especially
from non-web people.
Monday, June 22, 2009
85. QUESTION
How did you advertise or
alert people that the game
was going to happen? How
would museums get
attention if they did a game?
Monday, June 22, 2009
86. QUESTION
You got 1500 stories. How
do you get around the cost
of curating all that material?
How do you synthesize the
material to make it
accessible to viewers?
Monday, June 22, 2009
87. QUESTION
Is the World Without Oil
approach being considered
for other issues and
subjects?
Monday, June 22, 2009
88. QUESTION
How do you work with
the game form to suit a
particular subject or issue?
Monday, June 22, 2009
89. ( BREAK TIME – CONCLUDING REMARKS )
Monday, June 22, 2009