Reality Ends Here: Transforming Media Learning in Higher Education
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Reality Ends Here SIMON WISCOMBE NAMLE 2013 Transforming Media Learning in Higher Education
description
Presented at NAMLE 2013, this presentation covers the development and rollout of the 2011 season of Reality Ends Here at USC's School of Cinematic Arts.
Transcript of Reality Ends Here: Transforming Media Learning in Higher Education
Reality Ends Here
SIMON WISCOMBENAMLE 2013
Transforming Media Learning in Higher Education
An experimental game that may or may not have been played at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Top DownBOTTOM UP
StructureCHAOS
EstablishmentUPRISING
THEFUTURE
COMMITTEE
Jump-start collaboration and discovery among students across disciplinary boundaries.
Encourage experimentation with media making across a range of practices.
Connect students to each other, faculty, alumni, and industry mentors.
THEFUTURE
COMMITTEEMANDATES
SymposiumCNTV 101
Class for all freshmen during their first semester.
“Introduction to emerging forms of immersive entertainment, to Cinematic Arts faculty, and to guest speakers who will comment on the changing nature of the industry.”
SymposiumCNTV 101
Class for all freshmen during their first semester.
“Introduction to emerging forms of immersive entertainment, to Cinematic Arts faculty, and to guest speakers who will comment on the changing nature of the industry.”
An ARG?
Jeff Watson, Tracy Fullerton, and I
PITCHTO THE
FACULTYMAY, 2011
THE GAME PITCHA collaborative production game, making media based on the divisions of the SCA.
Played in students’ spare time.
Mechanics of game will drive constant exploration of new partnerships and ideas.
Encounters with alumni and other mentors will be integrated into play of the game.
A collaborative production game, making media based on the divisions of the SCA.
Played in students’ spare time.
Mechanics of game will drive constant exploration of new partnerships and ideas.
Encounters with alumni and other mentors will be integrated into play of the game.
Secret and Underground.
Less Hollywood, more Goddard.
No grades, no affiliation with class.
Completely voluntary play.
No overt invitation to play.
THE GAME PITCH
Class for all freshmen during their first semester.
Institutional requirement.
Overt
Reality Ends HereSecret collaborative production game.
Institutional intervention.
Covert
SymposiumCNTV 101
SIDEBARLet’s talk about games.
Summing up the formal characteristics of play, we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’ but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings that tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress the difference from the common world by disguise or other means.
J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens
Summing up the formal characteristics of play, we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’ but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings that tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress the difference from the common world by disguise or other means.
J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens
Summing up the formal characteristics of play, we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’ but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings that tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress the difference from the common world by disguise or other means.
J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens
Pull, not push.
The transformative potential of play lies in the fact that
they can be more than just a call to action — they can be
the action itself.
THE CHALLENGEPull them in.Engage through 15 weeks.Demonstrate achievement of mandates.
THE TONEActivating curiosity.
USC logo - colors.
USC Trojan Red and Gold.
Worst. Colors. Ever.
Hollywood
Institutional
Friendly
Transparent
Accessible
Reality Ends HereSituationist
Transgressive
Indifferent and Menacing
Opaque
Hidden
USC
THE GAMEWhere the rubber meets the road.
PROTOTYPINGMay - June 2011
Early wireframe prototypes for web-driven collaborative production game.May 2011
A community of Makers
Hyperlocal context - Markers indicate SCA building (blue) and student housing (red).
Illuminati card game (top left) and early prototypes with cards. June 2011.
Playtesting. June 2011.
Design mockups for cards. June 2011.
PLAYThe card game experience.
A Reality card pack - 10 playable cards + instructions.
PLAY EXPERIENCE
generate prompt
PLAY EXPERIENCE
generate prompt produce media
PLAY EXPERIENCE
generate prompt produce media share to game site
PLAY EXPERIENCE
generate prompt produce media share to game site unlock experiences
initial buzz
initial buzz
card game
initial buzz
card game
collaborations
initial buzz
card game
collaborations
media artifacts
initial buzz
card game
collaborations
media artifacts
website, social media
initial buzz
card game
collaborations
media artifacts
website, social media
mentorship, awards
buzz
card game
collaborations
media artifacts
website, social media
mentorship, awards
Flexibility to respond to
players as they play.
IMPLEMENTATIONAugust - December 2011
First Contact - Mystery Postcards, July 2011
Jeff waiting in the Game Office, August 2011.
Courtyard Flag - August 2011
8mm Camera with clue hidden inside.
Students investigating the camera clue.
Cryptic Messages - August and September 2011
The first students arriving, August 2011
Facebook engagement
Primary Supergroups: Marra (left) and The Tribe (right), 2011
MENTORSHIPReward experiences.
Award Mentorship Experiences, 2011
Serendipitous Mentorship Experiences, 2011
IN REVIEWThe Game
The Largest Deal of 2011
Production still from Space Bound, September 2011
ARG Practicum Class, April 2013
The Year 1 Wrap Party, December 2011
Establishment
UPRISING
