Designed Play - the culture of games

Designed Play is a course in games, taught by Stephanie Rothenberg at The University of Buffalo - The State University of New York. I'm still not sure how I found my way to the site, but once I did, I knew why. Just reading about the course was enough for me. And the more I read about it, the more my faith was rekindled - in the future of games and the future of education, and the future of work, even.

I quote, exemplarilly, from the description page

"From early amusement parks to the ‘80’s video arcade craze to the current phenomena of portable entertainment gadgets and mega-leisure-malls, the design of “play” and its seamless integration into daily routine has become increasingly more prevalent in our everyday experiences. Play is being used for corporate team building, retail and museum design and edu-tainment. Advertisers have transformed game logic into a new marketing device. Computer electronics feature not only the latest business software but the hottest new digital games. In the current zeitgeist of ludic behavior, how do we delineate between what is work and what is play? As both consumers and cultural producers, is it important that we still maintain these boundaries? And why?"

There's lots more about what Dr. Rothenberg calls "the cultural use of game-based models" on this site. Scroll through the class schedule for more details and inspiration. Explore the various readings, scroll down to see the class responses. You might even learn something.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith