Why is play so important? Because, says Catherine Herdlick, play makes hard things fun. Deciphering complicated social issues and nuances is easy when it’s all part of a game. Herdlick is the co-founder of The Come Out and Play Festival taking place this weekend.
The 24 entirely free games in this festival are designed with New York’s public spaces in mind. Most of the events will be concentrated around Tompkins Square Park and Bluestockings bookstore, the sponsor for the event. “This is an homage to the city of New York,” Herdlick said. “It’s a party for the city.” Since New York is such a stressful and exhausting place to live, she says we are especially good at play. Most New Yorkers would probably relish playing Pigeon Piñata Pummel, Super Happy Fun City Bingo or Manhattan Megaputt. Herdlick designed Bike Friendly City for the festival. Played on Sunday at 3 pm, the object of the game is to ‘pimp and build bike lanes for points and cred.’ Herdlick used to ride with Critical Mass, but said it stopped being fun when the events took on a political protest subtext. This game is designed to recapture the spirit and adventure of biking in the city.
Herdlick and the other four gamers behind the festival all used to (or still) work at Gamelab. Before long, they realized each of them independently create and play outdoor games on their own. Having teamed up, they are now experienced players. This is their second play festival in New York. They also held one in Amsterdam and are associated with London’s Hide and Seek Festival.
Most of the game designers have tech backgrounds but games like Thread, Metrophile or Search Brigade don’t use any devices. Fort Amsterdam uses GPS and the Comfort of Strangers uses an ipaq PDA and headphones. Other games use text messaging or Bluetooth. Hendlick says technology like text-messaging is so incorporated into daily life that it doesn’t feel intrusive. In addition, for certain adults, it can actually serve to lower the barrier to play. “You can play as a grown-up with a gadget,” she said.
Herdlick, who did her graduate thesis on Play and Public Space at Parsons School of Design, said that generally three different kinds of people are attracted to game design; people with a technology background, performers or philosophers. “These are the three elements that drive any game,” she said. Jane McGonigal, designer of The Lost Sport of Olympia, possibly best expresses all three qualities. McGonigal has a PhD from Berkeley in Performance Studies and MIT Technology Review named her as one of the top 35 innovators changing the world. Scheduled for play in Central Park on Saturday at 4:30 pm, it is billed as a long lost Olympic game. Herdlick said it is an “authentic fictional mythology--a new class of folk game.” Playable by people of all ages, she describes it as “simple and elegant as tag.”—Sherry Mazzocchi
The Come Out and Play Festival starts this Friday and runs through Sunday.
Recent Comments