Research Abstract
The working title of my PhD dissertation is “Beyond Fun and Games: Interactive Theatre and Digital Playspaces with Social Impact.” This practice-based work experiments with ways that interactive and activist theatre can stimulate the creation of innovative computer games that bring a better understanding of social and environmental issues, notably our world’s energy resources. Using a qualitative research paradigm, and underpinned theoretically by drama, game, and media studies, this research synthesizes the allegorical nature of play and interactive narrative with cultural aspects of human-computer interaction (HCI) to explore new artistic meanings and pedagogical forms. Questions underlying the work include the following: How can the conventions of improvisational and political theatre be combined with computational multimedia to design innovative serious video game environments, and how might one create an artistic tool that abstracts a social issue into patterns of possibilities? Furthermore, how might these artifacts and events situate new meaning for participant audiences, in both live and digital domains, about our world and its energy resources. To date, these queries have been addressed primarily through the case study creation and production of “The Pipeline Pinball Energy Thrill Ride Game” (PPETRG), a serious video game that evolved from the scenography and dramatic action of my original intermedia script, “Spies in the Oil Sands.” The interface design of PPETRG metaphorically depicts Alberta’s petroleum-rich oilsand reserves, where players have a choice of scoring fossil fuel or alternative energy fuel points. As a simulation of our real-life situation in Alberta, the significance of this case study is that its dual scoring system sets us up to examine our moral and economic responsibilities in the global energy landscape. Two PPETRG gameboard levels are fully designed and programmed. In Level One, “Generate Energy Diversity,” as described, players try to score fossil fuel or alternative energy points; and in Level Two, “The Alberta Gamble,” players are only able to score fossil fuel points in the oilsands, consequently ramping up global warming. Level Three “The Victory Condition,” is in development and introduces the advantages of scoring alternative energy and conservation points, thereby ramping up global wellbeing. Among the goals of serious video games is to bring a clearer understanding of important social, economic, and cultural matters; specifically, this work concerns our world’s energy resources, the economics of energy consumption and the politics of production.Keywords: Participatory Digital Media, Serious Games, Interactive Drama, Game Studies, Human-Computer Interaction, Social Issues.
My MFA thesis project, Messaging in the Noosphere.
My PhD case studies, The Pipeline Pinball Energy Thrill Ride Game and Spies in the OilsandsBack to :: clickhead :: for CV and papers and the like.
