{"product_id":"ambient-play-isbn-9780262044363","title":"Ambient Play","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow mobile games are part of our day-to-day lives and the ways we interact across digital, material, and social landscapes.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe often play games on our mobile devices when we have some time to kill—waiting in line, pausing between tasks, stuck on a bus. We play in solitude or in company, alone in a bedroom or with others in the family room. In \u003ci\u003eAmbient Play\u003c\/i\u003e, Larissa Hjorth and Ingrid Richardson examine how mobile gameplay fits into our day-to-day lives. They show that as mobile games spread across different genres, platforms, practices, and contexts, they become an important way of experiencing and navigating a digitally saturated world. Mobile games become conduits for what the authors call \u003ci\u003eambient play\u003c\/i\u003e, pervading much of our social and communicative terrain. We become digital wayfarers, moving constantly among digital, social, and social worlds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHjorth and Richardson explore how households are transformed by media—how idiosyncratic media use can alter the spatial composition and emotional cadence of the home. They show how mobile games connect domestic forms of play with more public forms of playfulness in urban spaces, how collaborative play (both networked and face-to-face) is incorporated into private and public play, and how touchscreens and haptic play emphasize the perception of the moving body. Hjorth and Richardson invite us to think of mobile gaming as more than a “casual” distraction but as a complex cultural practice embedded into our contemporary ways of being, knowing, and communicating.\u003c\/p\u003eOn   Thinking Playfully ix\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgements xi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 1 What is Ambient Play? 1 \u003cbr\u003e I Spaces, Places, and Bodies\u003cbr\u003e 2 Haptic Play: The Remaking of Touch 23\u003cbr\u003e 3 Domestic Play: At Home with Play 37\u003cbr\u003e 4 Urban Play: Reconfiguring the City 55\u003cbr\u003e II Practices and Performances\u003cbr\u003e 5 More-than-Human Play 73\u003cbr\u003e 6 Waiting to Play 91\u003cbr\u003e 7 Watching Play 111\u003cbr\u003e 8 Conclusion 129\u003cbr\u003e Notes 141\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography 153\u003cbr\u003e Index 181“\u003ci\u003eAmbient Play\u003c\/i\u003e is a much-needed and incredibly useful book for all those interested in how mobile games, as locative and haptic activities, are intertwined with our daily social practices that occur across urban and domestic spaces. Through rigorous ethnographic work, Hjorth and Richardson delve into the exciting ways mobile games are transforming our contemporary lives.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Adriana de Souza e Silva, Professor of Communication, North Carolina State University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Larissa Hjorth and Ingrid Richardson’s \u003ci\u003eAmbient Play\u003c\/i\u003e is an insightful and engaging account of the ways in which people play with mobile media, embracing the multiple forms and meanings that play takes in our lives.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Miguel Sicart, Associate Professor, Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen; author of \u003ci\u003ePlay Matters\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eAmbient Play\u003c\/i\u003e looks at play and games where they actually happen—in real life! Though direct observation and study, Hjorth and Richardson open up whole new avenues for thinking about how games fit into our lives.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Colleen Macklin, Associate Professor of Media Design, The New School; coauthor of \u003ci\u003eIterate: Ten Lessons in Design and Failure\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Written in an accessible yet authoritative style, this text will be of interest to game designers and students of sociology and psychology. The case studies presented throughout are relatable, and the analysis of play as cultural practice is insightful and thought provoking.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eAmbient Play\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterful dissection of mobile games as an unwitting facilitator of ambience in our contemporary lives.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMobile Media \u0026amp; Communication\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eAmbient Play,\u003c\/i\u003e authors Larissa Hjorth and Ingrid Richardson cogently point to how play overshadows so many aspects of everyday media consumption. In doing so, they set a robust agenda for the future of ludological research and expose critical gaps in the field. [ . . . ] [F]or those interested in exploring the frontiers of games and play, as well as how they persist and punctuate our everyday lives and activity, this pertinent book establishes a new set of frames to recognize, feel, and better apprehend play in society.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eCritical Studies in Media Communication\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eLarissa Hjorth is Distinguished Professor and Director of Design and Creative Practice at RMIT University in Melbourne. She is coauthor of \u003ci\u003eScreen Ecologies\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIngrid Richardson is Professor of Digital Communication at RMIT University in Melbourne.I find   that I enjoy games on touch screens so much more because I find the whole   idea of  moving forward with W, going to the side with A and D and backwards   with S just not very  normal for me. . . . It’s just so nice to be able to   move your finger along the screen and jump.  . . . Even though the games might   not be as advanced, like Minecraft doesn’t have all the  elements to it, it’s   just so much easier to do, and I find I enjoy games more. (Eileen from  Adelaide) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As Eileen notes, being able to touch the screen directly makes gameplay   “feel” more natural and enjoyable. Game designers have long understood the   importance of touch and how it can be synchronized with the other senses to   achieve a sense of realism. As Brendan Keogh observes, playing a digital game   involves multisensorial dimensions: “Through an entanglement of   eyes-at-screens, ears-at-speakers, and muscles-against-interfaces players   perceive videogames as worlds consisting of objects and actors with texture,   significance, and weight.” As a way to capture these sensory dimensions, we   asked participants to reenact their practices, and they often intuitively   mimed their practice and sensory knowing through hand gestures and body   movements. \u003cbr\u003e This technique, drawing on tactile digital ethnography, aimed to capture   what the body remembers in and around screen practice. In the reenactment   process, people reflected on their favorite games and apps as they played or   used them where and how they would usually do so (e.g., in their bedroom or   family room). The role of the remembering body is an important aspect of   media use, especially in terms of how this memory is often tacit and   sedimented through repeated action. \u003cbr\u003e In this process, it became clear how the mimetic aspect of mobile games is   core to the sensory pleasure experienced. An overwhelming number of games and   apps available on mobile phones and tablets are mimetic to some degree; that   is, they imitate or simulate real-world experience through the gesture of the   touching finger (e.g., moving a block or slingshotting a bird). Ideally,   mimetic games are designed so that they can be used immediately and   intuitively rather than requiring instruction; they rely on experiences with   which we are already familiar (pushing objects, hitting a ball, or using a   slingshot). As Eileen from Adelaide observed, touch screens are intuitive and   don’t require a prior understanding or knowledge of games, so players don’t   have to spend time acquiring the skills to play: \u003cbr\u003e We’re quite early risers, and we do things quite randomly, but we would   usually get up, watch  TV, and play on our iPods at the same time. . . . You   can do anything, and you can still be  playing on your iPod. I’m someone that   likes to be doing something all the time, and I’ve  noticed that I can just   kind of be there flicking my finger around . . . playing a game while  watching television. I find it relaxing because usually the touch screen   games, they’re very  basic, and you don’t have to be a genius to work them out,   and I just find them flexible. \u003cbr\u003e Haptic touch screens have what is called a post-WIMP interface. WIMP stands   for windows, icons, menus, and pointing device, the standard tools for   navigating and controlling a computer interface. Unlike WIMP-based interfaces   such as the standard desktop computer, post-WIMP interfaces like touch   screens invoke our bodily and visceral understanding of naive physics. For   example, primary bodily sensations such as inertia and springiness can be   found in many touch screen applications and games, providing the illusion   that objects on the screen have mass and are affected by gravity. Naive   physics can also include our body memory of hardware such as the keyboard and   joystick that are simulated in many mobile games. This haptic intimacy or   closeness to actual bodily experience is what makes the touch screen a device   of tactile and kinesthetic familiarity. \u003cbr\u003e Mimetic games on the touch screen therefore work to enfold the player in a   temporary and incomplete simulation of real-world physics. The pleasure and   intimacy of mimetic play were expressed by twenty-four-year-old Anna as she   showed us her favorite game, Tengami, describing as she did so the   satisfaction of folding and unfolding paper to reveal worlds within worlds,   each with its own puzzle challenge. She said, “It’s like doing origami; I   find it very relaxing and creative, but also exciting: you never know what   you’ll find under the next fold.” As twenty-one-year-old Jamie from Perth   played her favorite iPad game, Angry Birds 2, she described the joy of   destruction and pig popping— similar to the satisfying effects of   “finger-bombing” common to many mobile games—and explained how this pleasure   was in part due to the way the game mimics real-time physics. \u003cbr\u003e Another thirty-five-year-old stay-at-home mum, also an Angry Birds fan,   reflected on her previous addiction to the Ragdoll Blaster series (physics   puzzlers that require the player to fire attenuated rag dolls out of a cannon   at a bull’s-eye). In particular, she enjoyed the way the rag dolls moved   “like real ones,” and she laughed as she lifted and flopped her arms about in   mimicry. When people talk about their mobile game play, irrespective of age   and gender, they often reenact their experience as a form of body memory.   \u003cbr\u003e Devices that combine touch screen with accelerometer or   position-recognition functionality, such as today’s smartphones and tablets,   have required us to develop a new kind of “motion literacy.” This kinetic and   motile learning works to overcome or adapt to the imprecise control we have   over objects and actions on the screen. This is possible because of our   ability to take on an “as-if” structure of embodiment—to react “as if” what   we are experiencing is tangible and concrete. For example, when one plays   Angry Birds, the kinetic experience of releasing an elastic band effectively   becomes “condensed into the hand.” In part, this effect is achieved by   kinesic natural mapping, where the body’s movement corresponds in an   approximate (or as-if) way to on-screen action. The physical analogies   enabled by touch screens are also accompanied by sound effects, which   simulate (or stimulate) the noise of tactile feedback and increase the sense   of “being-in” a discrete and tangible game world. \u003cbr\u003e This microworldly experience, and the sensory pleasure and attachment it   creates, was clearly described by Lucy, a forty-nine-year-old university   lecturer, who told us of her ongoing obsession with Godus. Godus is an   intricate world-builder that involves detailed sculpting of multiple layers   of land, with each configuration unique to the player. Lucy explained how she   played the game intensively for over a year, complementing her story with   hand gestures that mimicked the on-screen action: \u003cbr\u003e There was something about the way you could sculpt the land, and set your   little workers to  build or mine, that was really satisfying. . . . I would   have the game open on my iPad all the  time and visit my land ten times a day   at least. \u003cbr\u003e This bodily memory and knowledge in the hands was also called on when   people did not remember the names of the mobile games they had played.   Margaret, a thirty-three-year-old accountant from Brisbane, described how she   played arcade-style match-three games on her phone while on public transport:   “You know, those little puzzle games,” she said, raising her right hand,   index finger stretched out, and waving horizontal and vertical lines in the   air. \u003cbr\u003e The pleasure of mimetic touch screen games is not just important at the   level of sensory attachment to one’s device. The haptic and aural intimacy of   mobile games also becomes part of our social and personal intimacies more   generally. In reenacting her Tengami gameplay, Anna walked to her bedroom and   closed the door (she lived in a shared house), explaining that she preferred   to play the game alone when she needed to wind down, as she enjoyed the   soundtrack, sound effects, and noncompetitive, exploratory, and self-paced   nature of the game. In this way, her mobile gameplay became part of her   management of alone time in the home. Jamie recalled how she would share   Angry Birds gameplay with her partner in the evenings; this involved lying   together on the couch or bed, passing her iPhone between them (the only rule   being that the device had to be relinquished to the other if a “life” was   lost). This ritual of closeness and being together was bound up in the   simplicity and “swapability” of the game, and in the materiality and   co-touchability of the interface. \u003cbr\u003e We witnessed this kind of screen sharing often, particularly in the family   use of designated phones, iPads, and tablets, and their deliberate placement   in common areas of the house—practices that challenge the assumption that   mobile screens are deeply private and personal. Sharing was a frequent   practice particularly among siblings; while one child would play, others   would watch and make suggestions, and then there would generally be tacit   agreement (or sometimes more fractious negotiation) to swap roles. Charlotte,   a parent from Sydney, spoke about the pleasures of observing her children   play on their iPad: \u003cbr\u003e It brings us together.  .  .  .   We’ve never had a negative view about things like gaming and  screen time and   rubbish like that. We’ve always been very positive about it. . . . I actually  enjoy watching them play, even mobile games. . . . We’ll lay down in bed   together, and I’ll  watch them play. So it’s drawn us all closer, and it’s   just another thing we can all share, like  an interest in anything. And it’s   not just in our home; it’s also when we’re out and about. \u003cbr\u003e Charlotte noted, however, that sharing was not an option for her older   teenage daughter: \u003cbr\u003e I will say this, though, my seventeen-year-old, she will not allow anyone   [to touch her iPad].  She loves her iPad so much. She will not allow it to   leave the house. That’s her thing. So it’s  at home; it’s kind of funny   because it’s a mobile device, and yet she won’t take it out of the  house.   \u003cbr\u003e These stories highlight the intimate and communal ways that haptic mobile   interfaces have become an integral part of our sensory and emotional   experience of domestic life, our being-with-others (or not) in the home, and   the way we manage domestic space.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304653050085,"sku":"NP9780262044363","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262044363.jpg?v=1767721395","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/ambient-play-isbn-9780262044363","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}