comment-02

Chapter for an edited book addressing the impact of digital media on the way we use, perceive and plan space

Original question: how did the convergence turn everyday life into a game?

Our theme: gamification as a means in "tuning human behavior"

wc abstract.txt

19 1212 7447 abstract.txt

>> nu op 1212 woorden *met: gamification as a means in "tuning human behavior" als titel)

algemeen commentaar: prima, leuk van opzet en met voldoende ruimte om in de tekst uit te werken, eventueel nog aan te vullen met opmerkingen/gedachten in de richting van:

modernity: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-modern.html

project of the self: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-transition.html

role of expertise: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-engineer.html

knowledge & existence: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-brain.html

what use is fun: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-failure-joy.html

science of happiness: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-science-happy.html

toelichting: neem deze verwijzingen niet te serieus, maar wellicht zijn ze bruikbaar om op sommige

punten het abstract enigszins aan te scherpen, met name de ondersteuning die serious games kunnen bieden

in orientatie, het maken van keuzes en ev re-moralisatie van het moderne bestaan,

en eventueel zelfs als toevoeging aan de technieken van het zelf, dat wik zeggen de begrippen

en metaforen in termen waarvan het individu over zijn/haar bestaan kan nadenken en een

lofepla/lifestyle kan ontwikkelen (of zich eraan kan onttrekken) ...

Het belangrijkste nu, een titel, de tekst afmaken (met ev hier en daar wat aanscherping),

en dan submitten. Later komt dan de referenties die we als uitgangspunt willen nemen,

daar zal iktzt ook een bijdrage aan leveren (nu impliciet bij de quotes), de definitie van games

komt overigens van:

• • Bernard Suits -- The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia -- amazon

for the online book: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-reference-failure.html

<titel> ...? (laat ik nog even aan jou)

If the distinction between 'everyday life' and 'games' would have to be summarized into a single sentence, it would be "everyday life is serious, games are not". In our daily life we work to fulfill our basic needs (physiological, safety, love, esteem, self-actualization), while during a game we enjoy the freedom of escaping exactly the 'necessity to do the right thing' that limits our actions to relatively low risk actions in everyday life (we stay away from actions that have a high anticipated penalty on failure).

>> juist, zie ook: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-failure-joy.html

>> en: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-failure-paradox.html

One caveat of this analysis of course is that humans have been playing games as part of their daily lives for centuries if not millennia or longer, which suggests not only that 'everyday life' and 'games' are not that distinct as they may seem to be. This also suggests that, although it is a common opinion that the gamification of daily life is something that has emerged in recent years, 'gamification' as the process of 'using games or game mechanics in (the support of) the practice of daily life has been happening long before the virtualization of the human life world took of.

>> ipv mechanics prefeer ik de uitdrukking dynamics: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-game-dynamic.html

>> (zeker waar het een beloningssysteen betreft

>> dat direct ontleend lijkt te zijn aan operant conditioning: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-moral-reinforcement.html

This ‘virtualization of the human life world’ is in fact not so much a virtualization in the strict sense of the word; it is instead a movement into life worlds that are computationally mediated instead of ‘directly’ experienced. But both ‘computationally mediated’ life worlds (like the internet) and ‘directly’ experienced‘ life worlds such as the grocery store are virtual. In fact, all space is virtual. To be virtual is [being equally real to actuality, but in a different manner / the quality of having the attributes of something without sharing its real form].

>> inderdaad computationally mediated maar ook (image/film/etc)-mediated met zelfs een

>> interessante en mogelijk riskante combinatie daarvan, met het risico van -- reality inversion --http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-reality.html

Space is always mental and virtual. It is part of how human perception works: in de perception (for lack of a better term) reality, 'points of matter' are constructed at a certain distance (spatial or temporal) from ourselves. We can call these direct or absolute distances. As humans, we are also capable of calculating/perceiving/measuring distances between two of those points that we have first constructed as points with distances from ourselves; this way, we can construct derived distances. Based on this construction of space by the human mind, the human mind postulates the existence of ‘the real world’, of which our perception is a representation, a map. It is exactly in this sense that our perception of reality is always virtual, whether this perception is fueled by input from a computational system or by objects that have an apparent physical existence independent of our perception.

This physical existence is however a quality that virtual reality systems try very hard to imitate and suggest. And to be absolutely fair, the most important difference between virtual reality systems and ‘the real world’ today is probably that the former do not succeed perfectly in convincing us that the objects we interact with have a physical existence, while the latter does (almost by definition, we might add; the real world is the real world because it has physical existence). From within an experience, based on perception alone, if this perception is convincing enough, there is no way for the subject to determine whether this perception is based on input from a computational system or not. If perception is convincing, we attribute physical existence to the objects that are perceived and the perception is ‘real’. The judgment that virtual reality systems are built out of matter, and that experience within a virtual reality system are therefore one level of virtuality further from the material world, can be made only from a position outside of these experiences; and judging the reality of experiences that you are not even experiencing yourself seems questionable at the very least.

>> ik denk hierbij ook (terecht of onterecht aan de ruimte die virtual reality biedt voor

>> de representatie van "the repressed" : http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-experience.html

Space is a map, and it is important to distinguish maps from pictures. A picture is a representation of something else in which all elements of the original have been copied proportionally. A map however is a representation in which proportions are only retained with respect to their usefulness; to make a map more useful, proportions are in fact often intentionally changed: more important objects are made visually bigger, and less important items are made visually smaller. Our perception works similarly: our construction of space is influenced by our goals, desires, fears and thoughts. Our perception is not only a representation of ‘how things are now’ but also an array of buttons we can push. Space is how we layout our options, the things we can do in the world. This adds a richer meaning to the term distance: distance is a measure of the anticipated effort required to reach a certain goal. Space is structuring our actions.

>> mooi, in modernity space is reflexive, and as such part of the project of the self:

>> http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-loss.html

>> http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-project.html

There is a feedback system at work here. Humans have always been shaping their life worlds, both physically (buildings, infrastructures, environments) and intellectually (belief systems, education, politics, media, art, advertisement). Our actions directly influence the life world itself, as well how we perceive it. The virtualization of the life world is a process composed out of human actions as well, and with those we’ve changed our world remarkably. Communication techniques as simple as morse code and as complex as instant messaging have opened ‘worm holes’ in the network of distances between objects and locations of those objects. As they have become more and more efficient, distances have become smaller and, a distance being a measure of anticipated required effort to complete a certain action, actions have become tremendously easier to perform. Over and over, our actions shape our space and vice versa. This is how humans learn and develop both themselves and society.

>> and games provide feedback: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-failure-space.html

>> and an opportunity to learn: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-failure-joy.html

>> as (in a way) is art: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-failure-art.html

During our daily lives, our space is often limited to serious needs: we need food, we need a home; we need to make a living. But when we have time to play a game, we have a lot more freedom in the choice of which actions we execute. This is why playing a game could be characterized as a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacle(s) [Bernard Suits]. Learning is most effective with challenges that are within reach, but that are located just outside your our usual reach. These challenges used to be available primarily in the exercise of training and playing, outside of our daily life. But with gamification, the use of techniques from games (such as avatars, goals, (experience) points, badges, teams, turns etc.), it is possible to integrate these challenges more directly into daily human lives.

>> However, keep in mind (the motication) to play games is not only fun: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-line-essence.html

Serious games are concrete games that are used in the context of our daily lives to improve these daily lives and help solve problems. Self-engineering and social engineering become part of the same process towards Utopia, the ideal (or at least improved) structure of the human life world. Because modern gamification techniques allow for immersive, personalized the learning process (adapted to personal identity, daily routine, learning speed etc.), these games are in some sense new rituals, in which humans work, play and live together to improve and solve serious problems. Because these games are highly personalized, they lower penalties on failure, improve engagement (lower effort), improve loyalty and commitment, and as a result improve efficiency of improvement. This makes it easier to do what is really important and learn doing the right thing.

>> in other (my current words) game can support the reflexive project of the self and teach us relevant insights: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-transition.html

>>and as such might after all (due to their appeal to our intelligence) after all be fun: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-reflect-life.html

[later toegevoegd]: de noties van map distance en computation-mediated perception zijn veelbelovend, en lenen zich tot een uitwerking in relatie tot de wat ik maar zal noemen heikele issues van onze tijd: het gebruik van metingen voor sturing van [exercise, onderwijs, ...], anonimiteit [alsof oordelen algoritmisch (objectief) bepaald kunnen worden, ..., maar aan de andere kant geven -- media / computatie / gestructureerd observatie -- ook een nieuw zicht op zowel natuurlijke, individuele als sociale werkelijkheid -- ... (met als ev referenties:

>> quantified self: http://quantifiedself.com/

>> http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/create/@s5-self-existence.html

(en zoals eerder aangegeven) serious games kunnen helpen: richting te bepalen, guidance en monitoring te geven, en beslisingen -- in onzekere situaties -- te nemen, waarbij falen acceptabel is vanwege de ingebouwde bescherming, zoals bv bij een rij-simulator ...)

en tenslotte, terug naar gamifications als monitoring en reward systems (een talk die ik overigens nog moet bekijken) -- running with numbers -- http://quantifiedself.com/2013/12/julie-price-tracking-10-years-running