The games people play
In a city like London you don’t have to stay on your sofa to play games, you can take them outside.
The worldwide gaming market is worth $48.9 billion and is growing at 9% per year, according to PwC, a consulting firm. Gaming is booming. And they’re also becoming more sociable, as the rise of MMOs (or Massive Multiplayer Online Games). The most popular, Happy Farm, has 220,000,000 users.
So if we like gaming, and we like socialising around games, the next growth phase could be away from the screen and towards real life engagement. And we should look to companies like Hide&Seek and Mudlark for inspiration.
Mudlark’s big event is Chromaroma, a game that shows you your movements and location as you swipe your Oyster Card (a Londoner's electronic season ticket) in and out of the Tube (Bus, Tram and Boat coming soon).
They use Transport for London's data, who run the tube, to connect people who cross paths and routes on a regular basis.
You use your own travel journeys in competition, and are encouraged to make new journeys and use public transport in a different way by exploring new areas and potentially using different modes of public transport.
Another example is Hide & Seek’s Sandpit project. This has a more theatrical - less digital - focus and is produced in partnership with LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre).
It’s been running since February 2008, in all sorts of venues across London and the UK: in galleries and railway tunnels, cinemas and mixed arts venues, parks and public squares.
A ‘Sandpit’ is basically an event where new games are tried out. They play “games with negotiation, games with theatrical elements, games with silliness or running or hiding or ingenuity or balloons or brightly-coloured craft paper.“
And there's variety. Each night you get to choose a different game that you want to play. Erno Rubik, of the Rubik’s Cube, said that “Our whole life is solving puzzles.”. We may as well spend it playing games too.
Related content
The worldwide gaming market is worth $48.9 billion and is growing at 9% per year, according to PwC, a consulting firm. Gaming is booming. And they’re also becoming more sociable, as the rise of MMOs (or Massive Multiplayer Online Games). The most popular, Happy Farm, has 220,000,000 users.
So if we like gaming, and we like socialising around games, the next growth phase could be away from the screen and towards real life engagement. And we should look to companies like Hide&Seek and Mudlark for inspiration.
Chromaroma
Mudlark’s big event is Chromaroma, a game that shows you your movements and location as you swipe your Oyster Card (a Londoner's electronic season ticket) in and out of the Tube (Bus, Tram and Boat coming soon).
They use Transport for London's data, who run the tube, to connect people who cross paths and routes on a regular basis.
You use your own travel journeys in competition, and are encouraged to make new journeys and use public transport in a different way by exploring new areas and potentially using different modes of public transport.
The Sandpit project
Another example is Hide & Seek’s Sandpit project. This has a more theatrical - less digital - focus and is produced in partnership with LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre).
It’s been running since February 2008, in all sorts of venues across London and the UK: in galleries and railway tunnels, cinemas and mixed arts venues, parks and public squares.
A ‘Sandpit’ is basically an event where new games are tried out. They play “games with negotiation, games with theatrical elements, games with silliness or running or hiding or ingenuity or balloons or brightly-coloured craft paper.“
And there's variety. Each night you get to choose a different game that you want to play. Erno Rubik, of the Rubik’s Cube, said that “Our whole life is solving puzzles.”. We may as well spend it playing games too.
photos: Hide&Seek
Chromaroma
Chromaroma
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>>> Go to channel Creative London <<<
Sun, 19.06.2011
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London – the British capital is the epitome of a metropolis. London sets global standards and impulses, be it in the film or fashion industry, and has always been attracting creative and innovative visionaries from all over the world.
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