JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

Attendees play The Metagame at the first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

Attendees play The Metagame at the first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

Sim location: Revenland medieval/fantasy RP Sim - Redfoem

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brei%20vaukia/130/123/1049

(Some lines removed to avoid spoilers / metagaming)

...Emily was not sure at first if should she enter or leave as quick as possible before someone got suspicious, but once she was called in she looked to the both sides of the street before quickly sliding in. She spent a short moment to look around the place with a hard-to-read face. She didn't know how long ago it was when she was here, but it felt like years! She then raised the bundle again, but tried her best not to touch his hand again if he tried to take it from her. "I.. uhm.. still don't have any coins. You know, I tried not to enter the town again. But I collected these and maybe it can be useful for people like you?" She meant nothing other than an apothecarian, but for her it was as good as a magician. If he inspected, the pouch had some variety of mushrooms in it that can be found in the forest; edible, not edible, or even poisonous.

Ekeos Diehraaw placed the pouch on the corner of the table before hurrying up the steps. He didn't seem to have wanted to keep the concoction on the shop floor with everything else. Once he was heading back down and he pried it open to make sure nothing settled oddly. "Well...uh...It's nothing toxic. But honestly...I've never had to make it for someone before. I'm not too sure how badly the virus will fight. If it does, you might have a fever for a few days. That's the more worse of scenerios I can think of. But afterwards and the infection should leave your body." He didn't seem to speak of curses the way others did. It was much more technical to him. Moving over to offer it toward Emily and he jumped a little at the sudden tap at the door. His head jerking toward its direction, "Ah...j-just a moment."

...Emily was listening the voices of the two as they spoke, but it reminded her that the next person could be a guard too, and that she should be quick to leave the town. She reached to the bottle again, turning it in her fingers as if making the liquid move inside there could help her understand what may happen. Was the man really trustable after all the demon talk? And the pain he caused to her head? She sighed, knowing she didn't have much choice and she really wanted to believe the kindness of the man was true. Afterall, in her next shift her next target could be someone alive rather than just a boot! Well, she had many many questions but it looked like she didn't have time for that. Her fingers finally found the top of the bottle to open it and after a deep shaky breath she quickly bottomed it up. It was only a second before he came back to warn her about trying it at home. She gave him a panicked look "W-what? You said.. it was safe and a fever and- what will happen now?!"...

Attendees play The Metgame at the first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

Attendees play Consentacle at first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

Attendees play The Metagame at the first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

Attendees play Consentacle at the first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

Most should be obvious. The Ogre Pocket Edition is the reproduction from 2012, not the original Metagaming microgame. Not pictured is my copy of GURPS Ogre.

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

UNIQUELY RUTHLESS: THE ESPIONAGE METAGAME OF EVE ONLINE

Alexander Gianturco (Independent Consultant)

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

JUNE 4 2019/4 GIUGNO 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

gamedesign.university

7 1/2 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SHORTEST FOUR-LETTER WORD IN GAMES

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

When players enjoy a game, they say, “That was fun!” When designers make, journalists review, or academics theorize about a game, the word fun rarely comes up. A word so commonplace as to sound meaningless and typically ignored, “fun" remains unmentioned by those who make and write about games. This talk looks beyond game development, game journalism and game studies for ideas to help us better understand the role of fun in games and beyond. Drawing on fields as diverse as cognitive psychology, anthropology, cultural theory, the philosophy of art, and sociology, Sharp explores the power and potential of fun as useful concept and tool for experiencing, thinking about, and understanding play.

historian, curator and educator with thirty years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. John's current design work focuses on cultural games, artgames and non-digital games. His current research addresses game aesthetics, the processes of creativity, and the intersections of aesthetics and ethics. Sharp is Associate Professor in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons School of Design at the New School. He is the author of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) and coauthor (with Colleen Macklin) of Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure and (with David Thomas) Fun, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp and Macklin are Codirectors of the PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) at Parsons. John was the curator of Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) and A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, co-curator Jason Eppink) at the Museum of the Moving Image and co-curator of XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) at the Museum of Design-Atlanta. John’s Games include The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

7 OSSERVAZIONI E 1/2 SULLA PAROLA DI QUATTRO LETTERE PIÙ CORTA NEI GIOCHI

Quando un giocatore s’imbatte in un’esperienza ludica particolarmente avvincente, spesso esclama: "Wow, è veramente divertente!". Eppure designer, giornalisti e accademici raramente utilizzano il termine “divertimento” per riferisi ai videogiochi. Questo sostantivo è così vago e generico che persino chi sviluppa o scrive di videogiochi tende a ignorarlo. Beninteso, il fenomeno non riguarda solo game design, giornalismo e game studies, ma la cultura in quanto tale. In un avvincente excursus che attinge a piene mani dalla psicologia cognitiva, dall'antropologia, dalla teoria culturale, dalla filosofia dell'arte e alla sociologia - Sharp esplora il potenziale del divertimento per ripensare l’attività del giocare.

John Sharp è un designer, storico dell'arte, curatore ed educatore con trent'anni di esperienza nello sviluppo e nello studio dell'arte e del design. La sua ricerca si concentra sui videogiochi culturali, artistici e analogici, con particolare attenzione all'estetica videoludica, i processi creativi e le intersezioni tra estetica ed etica. Professore Associato alla Scuola di Arte, Media e Tecnologia della Parsons School of Design (New School), è l’autore di Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art (MIT Press) e coautore (con Colleen Macklin) di Iterate.Ten Lessons in Design and Failure e (con David Thomas) Fun, Taste, Taste, & Games: An Aesthetics of the Idle, Unproductive, and Otherwise Playful (MIT Press). Sharp e Macklin sono i direttori del PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab) alla Parsons School of Design. Ha curato numerose mostre tra cui Spacewar!: Videogames Blast Off (2012) e A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Video Games (2018, insieme a Jason Eppink) al Museum of the Moving Image. Ha co-curato XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (2013) al Museum of Design-Atlanta. Come designer, ha realizzato The Metagame (2015) and Losswords (2019).

John Sharp is a designer, art

Slide from my GDC Mobile 2008 talk. Used in a full write-up of the presentation on my blog. Original image.

The first ever Games for Change Festival Board Game Night was a night of fun, schmoozing and socializing at The Uncommons Cafe, curated by the game experts at Babycastles. Attendees were able to buy a drink or a cup of coffee, meet a friend or make some new friends, and play a select group of the best social impact board games out there – which happen to also be among the best new games around.

The Metagame, which had only recently been commercially released to great reviews; Consentacle, which was a hit at No Quarter in an earlier version; and two new games from the great design minds at Tiltfactor (Mary Flanagan) and Antidote Games (Mohini Freya Dutta and Ben Norskov): Awkward Moment at Work and Howzat, Umpire? made for a great night.

Photo Credit: Gabi Porter

This game is a regular at Trumpeter Salute, and this year I finally got to play it. Good fun, really brutal gameplay, and a thriving behind-the-scenes metagame from the folks who play it regularly.