VS 525LAB - Designed Play

“Designed Play will focus on the changing role of “”play”” and its impact on contemporary cultural production as a design medium. Questions surrounding how we currently define play - is it aimless, productive, meaningful - and how the current production of “”play”” and the use of game-based models in both consumer, educational and corporate culture is shifting the boundaries between work and leisure will be explored. In our exploration of designed play and its cultural impact we will look at early theories of childhood play, edutainment including interactive public exhibitions for museums and educational environments, corporate cultural contexts, current marketing and advertising models that employ play, the culture and economy of computer video gaming including online social network games such as “”Second Life·· and ‘World of Warcraft”” and their emerging virtual economies [gold farming, etcL “

Credits: 3