Immediacy in Theatre. Games.

Collective-immediacy, as attached as I am, may have put the cue before the ball (horse/cart is useless for me, but since I play snooker, contact juggle and fire-twirl, this metaphor genuinely works).

The latest development is a taxonomy of games that include a performative element. Big, urban, locative, hybrid, pervasive and theatre, each offers an alternate experience of immediacy, and I'm kind of excited about exploring the nuances offered within the space.

It's not biting off more than I can chew (metaphors are thick tonight), but digesting what is within my tract. It also does the Honours thing of A+B=?, whereas CI compounds the equation (A+B)+(C+D/E)=?

Worth looking at in the morning, but I feel like I'm making headway in a few regards, and that this is the least troublesome and potentially most rewarding for all concerned at the present.

A rare double-post. Off to play midnight soccer - how often does that happen?

Pervasive

Pervasive games are everywhere.

They are not bounded by space, time or set participants. They can be played by one or many, in physical or virtual space.

As far as I can tell, they are the most inclusive area of gaming, as they include practically everything. Their one condition is a disruption of the 'magic circle', meaning if concentration on anything but the game is lost or ruptured, it becomes pervasive. Someone (else) moves one of the chess pieces. You think about a move while you're at work. It's pretty expansive.

As big as big games are, they are not pervasive by nature. It might happen that at times in play they move into pervasive territory, but they can (and most often do) require that players know they're players, spaces are defined (if at times enormous) and they have clear starting points and fairly clear end points (or a goal that can be reached in a reasonable time).

Funny how digging through stuff makes the big seem small.

What is a Big Game?

Today's theme is defining a Big Game.

Some Games:
- Urban Game are played within a city/with city as play-space.
- Location-Based Games (aka Location Aware Mobile Game) most often has a Location Aware element (likely GPS) in play, and also functions in an city-space.
- Hybrid-Reality Games are mobile, multi-user and offering a space that exists in the virtual and the physical simultaneously, where the physical is also in an urban setting.

Josh's idea of a Big Game:
- Do not require an Urban space (Popup Playground, Coney), but may use one.
- Do not require any technology (Popup Playground, Coney), but may use some.
- Must be interactive.
- Must be immersive.
- Must be mobile (by this I mean replicable, not site specific) 
- Are (ideally) innovative (not a prerequisite, but

So Josh's Big Game concept is standalone - and inclusive:
- Urban, LBGs and HRGs all count as Big Games as well as their own things.
- Site-Specific Performance isn't Big Gaming (not interactive, or able to be replayed at a different location)

But needs more exploration:
- Theatre Games
- Pervasive Gaming

Immediacy/immersion

Read and wrote a lot today.

Simple terms. Immersion is a state of mind, a kind of 'leave your hat at the door and get on the ride'. It is deceptive, geared towards making your body believe something it knows is false.

As immersive interfaces become more capable of approaching realistic environments, that's when things get blurry.

Immediacy on the other hand is pretty direct. It is totally experiential. It has no emotion trickiness about it. You either experience it or you don't.

Immersion can make it easier to get to. So can simple, uncluttered interfaces. But even in the most hypermediate display in the most hypermediate world, immediacy can still persist, through something as simple as shock, or pain.

Not the most pleasant experience, but immediate (and in some ways immersive) nonetheless. 

Q & A

Pulled a presentation out if nothing today, then spent hours writing almost nothing!

Did read a few cool articles, one about three kinds of immersion, another about subjective knowledge. 

Then Q&A started, the panelists were good and I lost my entire train of thought.

Dad

It's Dad's birthday today.

I called him after work - complete with brutal hangover - and we talked.

Typical Dad, even on his birthday he just wanted to hear what I'm up to, so I told him. I told him about trying to think like a researcher, about being an impetuous guy wanting to change the world through sheer will, about stress, about Liam snoring at 6pm after the fights, about everything.

He told me about his fiancée, about his friends, his near-step son, his plans for a visit, his stories (he writes short stories).

Dad is one of my best mates. We just resume where we left off last time, every time. He calls me out as I do him. He made me, but he never sits above me. He's so smart, so genuinely wise. He humbles me, and I love him for it.

I look at him and I see what I'll physically resemble every step of the way. He is 25 years older than me and he is 25 years older than me and he is 1000 years older than me. We're so different and yet, we're the eldest of our siblings, the most responsible of our generations and the best humoured of our family.

I hope I can stay half the man he is. 

Happy Birthday Dad. This one's for you.

Read this if you want another take on cool Dads:

http://www.mydadsmymate.com.au/2013/01/james-ian.html?m=1

Social

Really good to see my old friends, but sad to find they're doing (relatively) zero.

We drank in the way old friends do, freely, lacking concept of the liver and kidney damage and just trading stories.

We'll all be sore tomorrow, but it appears I'm the Lone Ranger regarding forward motion. It's a little sad, but it is what it is (what a lame phrase) and I love them all regardless.

Suz is keen to do what I do, a bit because she loves the idea, but because she needs to feel like she's a part of something.

Tom is in the throes of a full blown relationship. Adam is filled with post-relationship blues, a 'status' years gone by that he can't shake.

Jorge is off to Italy to trace his roots. He's the most medically unstable (as far as Western medicine dictates) but by far the most socially reasonable.

The rest is just smalltalk, so ignored for now.

I'm re-writing Neal's essay. The hope is tomorrow is the last day, but I predict an extra day in lieu of awful hangover (drink works differently when you're not in constant contact) which means I may ask for my first (only) extension at RMIT. Worked at Monash, so I foresee few issues, plus I may squeeze in a birthday and a revisit from a good mate.

Anyhow, I need a little rest, but I'm glad I saw folk and I'm happy I squeezed in a couple of hours editing prior to my current state.

To bed sweet fellows, and for those awake enjoy the bonds that socialising brings.

Read Adrian's FB post on Patricia Leavy or http://markchilds.org/2013/04/11/immersion-immediacy-and-augmented-reality/