Upcoming: The Place of Play

The Place of Play is based on my PhD research and will be published April 2009 by Amsterdam University Press. The book deals with the role and function of technology in the world of toys and gaming. It looks specifically at participatory cultures and the ways in which these cultures change what we play and how we play. 

On the 28th of May there will be a public presentation of the book in Amsterdam, at Spui 25. More information on that will follow in April.

Upcoming: Playing the City

The article Playing the City deals with public participation in contested suburban areas and focuses on the Slotervaart area in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The article will appear in the Journal of Urban Technologies mid-2009.

Speelgoed 2.0

Interview in het NRC Handelsblad.

Challenge Everything?

Abstract:This article deals with the popular simulation game SIMCITY by Will Wright. The main question of this article is whether or not the popular notion of SIMCITY as an endless and borderless playground is more than a contaminating marketing strategy. To analyze this question about SIMCITY as a borderless playground, the article will draw historical parallels with construction toys from yesteryear and differentiate between internal and external levels of playing and intended and unintended practices of play. The article claims that unintended practices of play, player “anarchy” through appropriation of the game, are difficult in a game like SIMCITY, thus frustrating the claims and the idea of SIMCITY as a borderless playground.

Key Words: computer games • SimCity • toys • participation culture • player anarchy

Published in 2007 in Games & Culture, Vol. 2, No. 3, 194-212.

Get up and Play!

 

1.Visible and invisible play
We are sitting on a bench, at the border of a playground, eating a sandwich. A group of ten Asian children, boys and girls, aged between two and sixteen, are playing with a ball. With nothing to do but to watch them play, something funny and beautiful becomes apparent. People crossing the playground get, in one way or another, involved in their game. When the ball bounces out of its course and of the playground, an old man throws it back. When the ball hits, by accident a young man, he laughs and shoots the ball back at the kids. When the ball, inevitably, becomes stuck underneath the bench where we are having our lunch, we do not hesitate but are happy with this opportunity to get involved in their game. We dive down to retrieve the ball and reluctantly give it back to the children. This ball game works as a unifying force; it engages numerous people who would under other circumstances avoid each other.