The Rhizome Digest merged into the Rhizome News in November 2008. These pages serve as an archive for 6-years worth of discussions and happenings from when the Digest was simply a plain-text, weekly email.

Subject: RHIZOME DIGEST: 01.05.04
From: digest@rhizome.org (RHIZOME)
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 20:51:22 -0500
Reply-to: digest@rhizome.org
Sender: owner-digest@rhizome.org
RHIZOME DIGEST: January 5, 2004

Content:

+announcement+
1. Andrea Blum: Leonardo/ISAST involved in ISEA 2006 in San Jose, CA
2. Christina McPhee: January on -empyre-: Nova Media Storia: Histories
and Characters
3. Yagos Koliopanos: VCMNET launch presentation

+opportunity+
4. Iris Mayr: Prix Ars Electronica starts with a new category
5. Hyun-Yeul Lee: Call for Exhibition Proposals - DIS 2004 Boston
6. J E Lewis Lewis: Tenure Track Position in Digital Media

+feature+
7. McKenzie Wark: Designer Playtime

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1.

Date: 12.24.03
From: Andrea Blum (isast AT well.com)
Subject: Leonardo/ISAST involved in ISEA 2006 in San Jose, CA

To: Leonardo Network From: Roger Malina, Chair, Leonardo/ISAST

Re: Leonardo/ISAST collaboration with ISEA 2006 San Jose, California,
USA

We are pleased to inform the Leonardo network of our involvement in the
ISEA 2006 conference. As explained in the attached press release, the
city of San Jose has been selected by ISEA to host the 2006 conference.
Steve Dietz will serve as the Symposium Director.

Leonardo/ISAST, under the leadership of ISAST Advisory Board chair
Beverly Reiser, will collaborate with the 2006 ISEA Symposium in a
number of areas including:

a) Facilitating of the Pacific Rim New Media Centers summit in
connection with the Leonardo Global Crossings (Cultural Roots of
Globalization) project.

b) Publications dedicated to documenting the work of emerging artists
and of new media programs internationally. The publications will be
produced as part of the Leonardo Experimental Publishing Project under
the direction of Pamela Grant Ryan.

Leonardo/ISAST welcomes involvement and suggestions from the members of
the Leonardo network.

Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and
Technology (ISAST) serves the international arts community by promoting
and documenting work at the intersection of the arts, sciences, and
technology, and by encouraging and stimulating collaboration between
artists, scientists, and technologists. For further information, go to
(http://www.leonardo.info/).

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2.

Date: 1.02.04
From: Christina McPhee (christina112 AT earthlink.net)
Subject: January on -empyre- : Nova Media Storia: Histories and
Characters

January on -empyre- :

Nova Media Storia: Histories and Characters

With Jill Scott, Nick Montfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin

Is new media a field? Does it have a history? What history? And, how
does it matter?

The new year brings us the pleasure of hosting three lively minds from
the interdisciplinary worlds of new media science, art and humanities.
Noah Wardrip-Fruin (US) and Nick Montfort (US) will explore the genesis
and critical issues that have lead to the publication of The New Media
Reader (MIT Press 2003), a compendium of intertextually annotated
readings from the last century. To the double helix of art and
computation in new media, Nick and Noah hope to interweave empyrean
comments in the coming month. With Noah and Nick, we are honored to
share time and thoughts with a distinguished new media artist, Jill
Scott, whose new book, "Coded Characters" (Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2003),
explores the mediation and role of the audience, as well as the mythical
representation of the human body on both stage and screen, are
constantly questioned. Jill's nomadic hegira, from the Bay Area to
Australia and to Europe, bears witness to a consistent development of
new media art as a series of cyberphysical metaphors--analog figures,
digital beings, and mediated nomads.

Please join Jill, Nick and Noah this coming month on -empyre-
soft-skinned space.

Subscribe at:

(http://www.subtle.net/empyre)


.........................................

Nick Montfort writes on interactive fiction, the literary uses of
artificial intelligence and machine learning, game studies, and
analogies between new media, narrative and poetry. At the University of
Pennsylvania, where he is a PhD candidate in computer science, Nick
researches computational aspects of behavioral game theory. Recent
publications include "Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to
Interactive Fiction" (MIT Press, 2003), regarding such "text adventures"
as Adventure and Zork from literary and computational perspectives.

(http://nickm.com)
(http://newmediareader.com)
-----------------------------------------------

Jill Scott and her oeuvre have contributed to a new concept of the human
body with respect to its functionality as an interface and as a player
in the rapidly developing technological spaces and in physical reality.
Since 1975, her work has evolved from making surveillance-performance
events, to video art, and onto new computer art and interactive cinema.

(http://www.jillscott.org)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Noah Wardrip-Fruin is a new media scholar and artist. He has recently
edited two books, both from MIT Press - The New Media Reader (with Nick
Montfort, 2003) and First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and
Game (with Pat Harrigan, forthcoming). As an artist his work focuses on
new media text, including The Impermanence Agent (a storytelling web
agent that "customizes" based on reader browsing habits) and Screen (an
immersive VR text that interacts with the reader's body). His work has
been presented by the Whitney and Guggenheim museums, as well as
discussed in reference books such as Information Arts (MIT Press) and
Digital Art (Thames and Hudson).

(http://hyperfiction.org/)

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3.

Date: 1.02.04
From: Yagos Koliopanos (yagos_koliopanos AT hotmail.com)
Subject: VCMNET launch presentation

VIRTUAL CENTER MEDIA NET
10 - 13 January 2004

http://www.virtualcentre-media.net

With the occasion of launching Virtual Centre Media Net on the Internet,
Fournos_Centre for Digital Culture (Athens, Greece) presents in its
premises from the 10th to the 13th of January an ongoing event on the
relationship between real and virtual space, including presentations,
talks and other happenings.

Virtual Centre Media Net is a new platform for art and digital culture,
which is co-founded by 10 European art and technology centers and is
supported by the European programme Culture 2000. The aim of the centre
is to create a common space for the co-production and the promotion of
contemporary art forms, for the development of new artistic projects
based on the collaboration of artists and theoreticians, for the
information and education of artists and professionals from the new
media art field.

www.virtualcentre-media.net includes the following activities:

a permanent collection consisted mainly of works that the artists
produce especially for the centre, temporary exhibitions and alternative
artistic activities, collaborative art projects in progress, workshops
and seminars, an online magazine, research, a dynamic database for youth
resources, for postgraduate studies, exchange opportunities, job
vacancies, seminars and workshops , focusing on art and new
technologies, news and events of activities in the real and virtual
space, audiovisual and printed material.

The first official presentation of the virtual centre took place in
Paris, in La gaite Lyrique centre on 26 September 2003.

Virtualcentre-media.net is co-organised by the following centres:
Fournos, Centre for Digital Culture (Greece), CICV Pierre Schaeffer
(France), European Media Art Festival (Germany), Foundation for Art and
Creative Technology (UK), KIBLA (Slovenia), Student Computer Art Society
(Bulgaria), D.EP.AS (Greece) with the collaboration of International
Center for Contemporary Art (Rumania), V2 (Netherlands), AXIS
(Netherlands), ΖΟ (Italy).

The design and software management is undertaken by Netmode Lab and the
National Technical University of Athens.

The four-day programme will be as follows:

Saturday 10.01.04, 22.00
VJ performance party by Lichtsport (Germany)

Sunday 11.01.04, 21.00
"Best of European Video" Screening of European video artworks, chosen in
accordance with the activities of the virtual centre.

Monday 12.01.04, 20.30
Presentation of Virtual Centre Media Net and its activities by its main
contributors from Greece and abroad (artists, curators and centre
directors). Talk by Michael Connor, Media Curator from the FACT centre
and artist Armin Medosch on the logic of copyleft and net projects

Tuesday 13.01.04, 18.00
Gala on the relationship of "Real and Virtual Space" with guest
speakers: artists, academics and architects from Greece.

Fournos_Centre for Digital Culture
Mavromichali 168
Athens, Greece
www.fournos-culture.gr

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For $65 annually, Rhizome members can put their sites on a Linux
server, with a whopping 350MB disk storage space, 1GB data transfer per
month, catch-all email forwarding, daily web traffic stats, 1 FTP
account, and the capability to host your own domain name (or use
http://rhizome.net/your_account_name). PLUS, those who sign up for
Rhizome hosting before January 15, 2004 will receive a *FREE* domain
name for one year. And there is more, the hosted can take comfort in
knowing they're being active roots in the rhizome schema, helping the
.ORG self-sustain. Details at:
https://www.broadspire.com/order/rhizome/freedomain.html

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4.

Date: 12.29.03
From: Iris Mayr (iris.mayr AT liwest.at)
Subject: Prix Ars Electronica starts with a new category

Prix Ars Electronica 2004 starts with a new category and an art and
technology grant

It is the 18th editition of the foremost International Competition for
CyberArts. The Prix Ars Electronica will be awarded in the following
categories:

Computer Animation / Visual Effects
Digital Musics
Interactive Art
Net Vision
Digital Communities

To mark Ars Electronica's 25th anniversary in 2004, it is being expanded
to include a "Digital Communities" domain dedicated to social
developments of great current relevance and the art and technology grant
[the next idea] art and technology grant.

Digital Communities
"Digital Communities" encompasses the wide-ranging social consequences
of the Internet as well as the latest developments in the domain of
mobile communications and wireless networks. "Digital Communities" will
spotlight bold and inspired innovations impacting human coexistence,
bridging the digital divide regarding gender as well as geography, or
creating outstanding social software and enhancing accessibility of
technological-social infrastructure. This new category will showcase the
political potential of digital and networked systems and is thus
designed as a forum for a broad spectrum of projects, programs,
initiatives and phenomena in which social innovation is taking place, as
itwere, in real time.

[the next idea] art and technology grant

Discovering ideas for tomorrow in young minds today is the aim of this
grant and focusing on the intersection of art and technology. The
category?s target group includes students at universities, art schools,
technical schools, and other educational institutions as well as
creatives from all over the world, aged 19-27, who have developed
as-yet-unproduced concepts in the fields of media art, media design or
media technology. The winner receives a grant in the amount of 7,500
Euro and will be invited to spend a term as Researcher and Artist in
Residence at the Ars Electronica Futurelab.

Detailed information about the Prix Ars Electronica 2004 at
http://prixars.aec.at

Online registration starts January 12, 2004
Entry deadline March 12, 2004
Contact: info AT prixars.aec.at

--
German
--

Der Prix Ars Electronica 2004 erhält eine neuen Kategorie und ein Kunst-
und Technologiestipendium

Der zum 18. Mal als Internationaler Wettbewerb für Cyberarts
ausgeschrieben und wird in folgenden Kategorien verliehen:
Computeranimation / Visual Effects
Digital Musics
Interaktive Kunst
Net Vision
Digital Communities

Zum 25-jährigen Jubiläum der Ars Electronica wird der Prix Ars
Electronica 2004 um die Kategorie "Digital Communities" erweitert.
Zusätzlich wird der Prix Ars Electronica heuer zum ersten Mal ein
Stipendium für innovative Ideen und Konzepte von jungen, kreativen
Köpfen von 19 - 27 Jahren vergeben - [the next idea] Kunst- und
Technologiestipendium.

Digital Communities
Angesichts der Fülle und des breiten Spektrums an Projekten im Feld der
?Digital Communities? sowie des unterschiedlichen Backgrounds der
ProtagonistInnen werden in dieser neuen Kategorie zwei Goldene Nicas für
Projekte mit hoher gesellschaftspolitischer Relevanz verliehen. ?Digital
Communities? berücksichtigt die weit reichenden gesellschaftlichen
Wirkungen des Internet ebenso wie die aktuellsten Entwicklungen im
Bereich der mobilen Kommunikation und drahtlosen Netzwerke. Bei ?Digital
Communities? geht es um mutige und inspirierte Innovation im
menschlichen Zusammenleben, um die Überbrückung des geografisch, aber
auch Gender-bedingten ?Digital Divide? sowie um herausragende soziale
Software und die Verbesserung der Zugänglichkeit technologisch-sozialer
Infrastrukturen. Die neue Kategorie würdigt das politische Potenzial
digitaler und vernetzter Systeme und spricht damit ein breites Spektrum
von Projekten, Programmen, Initiativen und Phänomenen an, in denen
soziale Innovation gewissermaßen in Echtzeit stattfindet.

[the next idea] Kunst- und Technologiestipendium
Die Zielsetzung dieses Stipendiums, das von voestalpine unterstützt wird
und sich mit der Schnittstelle zwischen Kunst und Technologie
auseinandersetzt, ist es, Ideen für morgen in den Gedanken der Jugend
von heute freizulegen. Die Zielgruppe dieser Kategorie umfasst Studenten
an Universitäten, Kunsthochschulen, Fachhochschulen und anderen
Bildungseinrichtungen wie auch Künstler auf der ganzen Welt im Alter
zwischen 19 und 27 Jahren, die ein noch nicht realisiertes Konzept in
den Bereichen Medienkunst, Mediendesign oder Medientechnologie
entwickelt haben. Der Gewinner erhält ein Stipendium in der Höhe von EUR
7.500,? und wird eingeladen, ein Semester als wissenschaftlicher
Assistent und Artist-in-Residence am Ars Electronica Futurelab zu
absolvieren. Die Bewertung wird von einer Expertenrunde vorgenommen.

Detailierte Informationen zum Prix Ars Electronica ab sofort auf
http://prixars.aec.at
Online Einreichung ab 12. Januar 2004.
Einreichfrist 12. März 2004
Kontakt: iris mayr: info AT prixars.aec.at

--
Sponsoring and Support:
SAP, Telekom Austria and voestalpine are the sponsors of the 2004 Prix
Ars Electronica
The competition is made possible through the support of the City of
Linz, the Province of Upper Austria, ORF Upper Austria, Brucknerhaus
Linz, and OK Centrum für Gegenwartskunst.
Prix Ars Electronica is supported by: ÖKS Österreichisch Kultur-Service,
Pöstlingbegschlöss'l, SONY DADC, Spring and KLM

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5.

Date: 12.30.03
From: Hyun-Yeul Lee (spot AT media.mit.edu)
Subject: Call for Exhibition Proposals - DIS 2004 Boston

Call for Exhibition Proposals - DIS 2004 Boston

Exhibition Overview

DIS 2004 is keen to further encourage interchange between artists and
designers engaged with exploring the boundaries of interactive
technologies, through the addition for the first time of an exhibition
programme of design and art projects. Accepted submissions will also be
eligible for the DIS 2004 Design Awards. If you wish your work to be
considered for the design awards please see the Design Awards section of
the DIS 2004 website - www.sigchi.org/dis2004

We particularly encourage:

-exhibits relating to industrial/commercial design projects
-interactive performance and installation based work
-site-specific interactive work
-work that 'leaks out' into the surrounding
environment/community/context, or that encourages the surrounding
environment/community/context to 'leak into' the conference
-web and screen based work
-interactive installations/performances
-work that explores new forms of interaction, or exploits emerging
interaction technologies
-work that blurs boundaries between e.g. interaction design and product
design, interaction design and architecture, interaction design and
fashion, etc.

Submission Process

Entry is a two stage process:

Pre-proposal round to establish general suitability and technical
requirements. Everyone who submits a pre-proposal will be provided with
review feedback which will offer guidance for the preparation of the
final proposal Proposal round for final selection of exhibits.

Pre-proposals

The pre-proposal stage allows proposers to gain valuable feedback from
the exhibits review committee about their idea before committing to a
full proposal. Pre-proposals consist of:

- names and contact details of the proposers
- a brief (400 word max) outline of the work
- a technical summary of the requirements for exhibit
- a summary of the interaction experience for the audience and an
indication of how much space will be required for the exhibit
- a clear statement as to what technical support will be required from
the exhibits committee and what technical needs will be met by the
proposer
- websites may be used to support an application


Final proposals

Final proposal packages should include the following information and
supporting materials. In general they will include the following:

- names and contact details of the proposers
- a technical summary of the requirements for exhibit
- a summary of the interaction experience for the audience and an
indication of how much space will be required for the exhibit
- a clear statement as to what technical support will be required from
the exhibits committee and what technical needs will be met by the
proposer
- c. 750 word max proposal outlining the aims and objectives of the
project, and the form of the exhibit (screen shots, mock-ups etc may be
included as appendices)
- brief CVs of the proposers including details of previous exhibits (if
any)
- samples of the work: designs must be submitted via four (4) copies of
physical media (CDROM, DVD, PC Format Diskette or NTSC or PAL VHS
Videotape)
- we accept existing web sites as support material, but if they are not
operational at the time of review, the proposal will be rejected.

Exhibition co-chairs: Catriona Macaulay (Centre for Interactive Media
Design, University of Dundee, UK) and Hyun-Yeul Lee (MIT Media Lab, US)


Important Dates

Pre-proposal submission deadline: January 20th 2004

Notification of pre-proposal feedback: February 10th 2004.

Final proposal submission deadline: March 10th 2004

Notification of results: May 1st 2004

Exhibition/conference dates: 1st ^?4th August 2004

Submissions (pre-proposals via email please, final proposals via mail)
should be sent to:

Dr Catriona Macaulay
School of Design, Centre for Interactive Media Design
University of Dundee
Faculty of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
Perth Road, Dundee DD1 4HT
UK
Email: catriona AT computing.dundee.ac.uk

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6.

Date: 12.31.03
From: J E Lewis Lewis (rhizome AT thethoughtshop.com)
Subject: Tenure Track Position in Digital Media

This is one of the very few undergraduate programs in North American
that fully integrates computer science, design and fine arts. And
Montreal is a fabulous place to live. Please don't hesitate to contact
me at jason.lewis AT concordia.ca (www.thethoughtshop.com) if you have any
questions.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

TENURE TRACK APPOINTMENT IN DIGITAL MEDIA
The Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec is
seeking candidates for a full-time tenure track appointment in Digital
Media effective June 1st, 2004, pending budgetary approval.

Digital Image/Sound and &Fine Arts (DFAR) was initiated in 1997 as a
program designed to bridge two domains of study, that of Computer
Science and the Fine Arts. This three-year undergraduate program guides
students in developing critical paths at the intersections of art,
technology and design. It highlights the study of theoretical issues
related to technological innovation such as computational art,
interaction design and physical computing.

Teaching emphasizes non-traditional applications of digital technologies
while also developing awareness of the social and political implications
of new technologies and a conceptual approach to design, related to the
social, cultural and ethical context in which it resides. The program
has three areas of specialization: digital imaging, soundscapes, and 3D
modeling/animation. The programs of study at the undergraduate level
include the BFA or BSc Major in DFAR with Computer applications, BFA
Specialization in DFAR and the cooperative work degree. A Design, Art
and Technology masters level program is in development.

Preferred candidates must have extensive experience working and teaching
in one or more of the following growth areas of the program:

. Interaction Design
. Immersive Media
. Experimental Sound
. Computation Arts
. Physical Computing
. Mechatronics

In addition, the candidate will carry out an independent research
program and contribute to the administration of the Department.

The ideal candidate has:
. Ph.D., M.A., M.F.A. or equivalent;
. teaching experience in digital media, theory and studio practice at
the university level;
. administrative experience and committee work at the university
level;
. media design and/or artistic practice and research profile;
. fluency in French (this would be considered a strong asset).

Please include: a letter of application; a statement of teaching
philosophy; curriculum vitae; three letters of recommendation;
documentation of recent work; samples of students' work; and other
relevant support material.

Candidates are encouraged to visit our departmental web site for
additional information concerning our programs and priorities:
http://digital.concordia.ca

Information:
1] Deadline for Applications: February 15th, 2004. (We are also
accepting ongoing applications as we anticipate future positions in
related computation and new media areas.)
2] This advertisement is simultaneously directed to Canadian citizens
and permanent residents of Canada and to non-Canadians. Under current
Canadian immigration guidelines, the dossiers of Canadian citizens and
permanent residents must be examined in the first instance, after which
the applications of others will be considered.
3] Concordia University is committed to Employment equity and encourages
applications from women, aboriginal peoples, visible minorities and
disabled persons.

Please address applications to: pk langshaw, Chair
Departments of Design Art & Digital Image/Sound and the Fine Arts
Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, VA-244
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada
vox: (514) 848-4626, fax: (514) 848-8627
email: design AT vax2.concordia.ca

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7.

Date: 1.05.03
From: McKenzie Wark (mw35 AT nyu.edu)
Subject: Designer Playtime

A review of:
Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals,
MIT Press, 670 pages, $49.95

This is not the first book on game design but it is the best. It is
comprehensive yet comprehensible. Salen and Zimmerman break game design
down in a logical manner and present to the reader step by step. It is
not a book about coding electronic games. It is about the design
principles of all games, whether they are played with bits, bats, chips
or checkers. It is about games as a cultural code.

The book is organized into four sections. The first gives the basic
concepts. The three chapters that follow break game design down into
three 'primary schemas': Rules, Play and Culture. This analytic approach
to games has the virtue of clear organization and logical progression,
although as we shall see it does introduce a quite particular
perspective into the book's thinking about games.

The Rules, Salen and Zimmerman propose, are a formal schema for thinking
about games, while Play provides an experiential schema and Culture a
contextual one. The logic of the book radiates out from the proposition
that the rule-based nature of games is what is distinctive to them as a
phenomenon.

Games have an inner formal logic. Without it there may be 'play', but
there isn't a game. "'Real Life' is full of ambiguities and partially
known information, but that is one of the reasons why games as designed
systems are artificial and distinct from daily existence. In ordinary
life it is rare to inhabit a context with such a high degree of
artificial clarity." (123) Which might explain the desire for games, if
not whether that is a good or bad desire.

Games have constitutive rules, which are formal mathematical logics, but
also operational rules, which direct the player's behavior. There are
also implicit rulesof etiquette that govern game play in general.
Interestingly, games can't function without these implicit rules, and
yet they are not really internal to the game. They point toward the
limits of the organization of this book, which wants to treat rules as a
formal system, which then generates play as an effect, which in turn
takes place within a cultural context. The formal attributes of games,
in this analysis, are removed from culture. And yet the implicit rules
of the game point toward the close relation between the formal and
cultural aspects of games.

The 'Rules' section of the book explores questions of complexity,
uncertainty, probability and redundancy. Salen and Zimmerman explore the
difference between games with perfect information such as chess, and of
imperfect information, such as poker. This latter line of analysis is
particularly useful for computer games, which can hide and reveal
information to the player in complex and interesting ways.

Game theory also gets a brief chapter. Salen and Zimmerman find it of
limited use: "It is not a general theory of games or of game design."
(245) The set of games to which it can be applied is too limited.
Competition and cooperation get an interesting chapter, in which the
authors show how all games require both qualities.

The section on rules concludes by looking at rule-breaking. "Game
designers need to recognize that rule-breaking is a common phenomenon in
gaming and incorporate it into their game design thinking." (285)
Breaking rules can lead to new rules ­ but only if a game has a culture
of changing the rules in the interest of developing play, as Dave Hickey
famously argued in his book Air Guitar is the case with the history of
basketball. Rule breaking might also point to a certain limitation in
thinking of play within the context of the game. Is the rule breaker
still playing the game? Or has the rule breaker discovered that play can
exceed the game?

"Play is free movement within a more rigid structure." (304) For Salen
and Zimmerman, play is both created by, and in opposition to, some limit
or rule. "When play occurs, it can overflow and overwhelm the more rigid
structure in which it is taking place, generating emergent unpredictable
results." (305) This is a robust definition, and well argued in this
book, but it depends in the end on a particular kind of metaphysics.

If one takes the line of thought that runs from Heraclitus via Nietzsche
to Deleuze and Derrida, one might rather say that play is a free
movement that can engender more rigid structures. It is not the game
that is the precondition of play, in other words, but play that is the
condition of possibility of the game. Brian Massumi argues this most
cogently in his book Parables of the Virtual.

Salen and Zimmerman pay particular attention to Culture ­ it is their
third schema. But the conceptual organization of their book has cut the
formal attributes of games off from culture, rendering them neutral.
They are sensitive to the different values that games can embody. There
is a fascinating section on the origins of the game Monopoly in the
Landlord's Game. The latter was a critique of the evils of land
monopoly, but by the time it becomes Parker Brother's commercial hit
Monopoly, its values have, to say the least, changed.

There is a limit to how far Salen and Zimmerman can take this embedding
of games in the cultural context. They can see particular kinds of
formal game structures as privileging certain kinds of play and hence
certain kinds of cultural value. What they can't quite open the door to
is a critique of the formal organization of play within the game in
general.

There is a great section on games as cultural resistance ­ something you
just don't find in many game books of any stripe. The authors offer an
account of Doom as a version of the punk DIY ethos. There's great
stories about 'frag queens' ­ female skins designed for Quake, and Los
Disneys, a patch for Marathon Infinity that turns the happiest kingdom
of them all into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. But all these stories
take place within the formal construction of the game as the necessary
condition for play.

While there's a nod toward the take-up of game culture within the art
world, what's missing here, and also in the art world craze for game
themed stuff, is that utopian tradition that tried to think play outside
the realm of the game, and tried to construct landscapes within which
play could find its own form. From the Situationists to Constant's New
Babylon, or Richard Neville's Play Power, there was once a much wider ­
and wilder ­ ambition.

Would it be possible to create tools that would allow people to
construct their own spaces for play, in which the rules would emerge out
of the act of play, in which there would be no need for the structuring
repetition of formal design? The 'playing' with games in the art world
might look like the next big thing, but perhaps it's really an admission
of failure. The aesthetic, which was once the domain of play as
something prior to and greater than the game, collapses back into formal
structures of repetition.

It was not the intention of Salen and Zimmerman to write a critique of
games. The task they set themselves was a textbook on game design, and
here they have succeeded admirably. But they do the reader an additional
service by laying out in a systematic way the intellectual grounding of
game culture in a metaphysics that puts the formal structure first and
the movement of play second. As a consequence, the book thinks the
formal and structural aspects of games much better than the aleatory
movement of play. It is a book for a culture that has forgotten how to
play other than in the game.

And yet, at the same time, it might point toward tools for re-imagining
play. German playwright Friedrich Schiller thought that play could be
the exploratory, collaborative practice by which a society alienated
from itself by its formal structures, its division of labor, could
re-imagine and reintegrate itself. That thought lies behind the whole
critical tradition. By putting games in the context of culture, Salen
and Zimmerman also put back on the agenda the bigger questions of how,
through play, the good life might yet be imagined, and if not built in
bricks and mortar, then built at least in bits and bytes. A radical
'open source' play culture may already be on the horizon.

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Rhizome Digest is filtered by Feisal Ahmad (feisal AT rhizome.org). ISSN:
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