[ecrea] cfp - Inaugural Play Design Workshop

An Inaugural Play Design Workshop
Uppsala University, February 4th 2016
Recent years game studies have seen an
increasing focus on play as an activity, rather
than on games as artefacts or media. Work in
this area includes novel attempts to define play in
general, looking at gameplay as a special case,
studies on the intrinsic motivations for play,
elaborations of the transformative power of play,
and toy studies. While play has a long history as
a subject of study, the attention from game
studies brings about a novel perspective on adult
play and the role of play in culture. Both children
and adults play, and play is part of many
activities, both serious and non-serious, reaching
far beyond only gaming or the reach of computer
technologies.

Still, designing for play, as a general
phenomenon in- and outside of games, remains
a little explored area. We know that play is only
partially shaped by the artefacts that designers
design, and that the play activity can change the
structures framing it, turning players into codesigners
through the mere act of playing. Still,
play design is legion among practitioners - in toy
design, playground design; among event,
experience, and role-play designers, and in game
design. In this workshop we wish to charter the
designers' role in guiding and shaping the
transformative and creative powers of play.

The goal of the workshop is to spend a day on
letting academics and practitioners from a wide
array of play design meet and learn from each
other. We want to start uncovering tacit
knowledge by comparing experiences,
connecting to the scientific discourse, and
identifying the unanswered questions.

This workshop is expected to set the stage for a
series of workshops on design for play, with
follow-ups in both scientific and practitioner's
meetings and conferences. The goal is to create
a meeting ground for practice and science, to
share knowledge and start to create useful
documentation (books, videos, blog posts...) for
designers and researchers alike.

If you wish to participate in the workshop,
send us a brief presentation (which can be in the
form of a power point with notes, a short text
abstract, or any form of your choosing), telling us:
- Who you are
- What your experience in designing for play
are
- What unsolved question(s) you got that you
would like to ask the workshop

The workshop takes place on the 4th of February
2016, 10-17, in Uppsala, Sweden.
The morning session (10-12) will consist of
presentations of participants and common
questions, and the afternoon (13-17) will consist
of discussions and exchange of knowledge
through practical design exercises.
Send your application to
(annika.waern /at/ im.uu.se) Deadline for applying
is January 22:nd, and acceptance will be made
ongoing.
The play design workshop is organised by the
play and game researchers at the department of
Informatics and Media, Uppsala University.
Participants are more than welcome to stay for
the following day, as Jon Back will defend his
Ph.D. thesis “Designing Public Play - Playful
Engagement, Constructed Activity, and Player
Experience” at 13:00 on Friday February 5th
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