At least since the first new economy, playful design has invaded the working world. Today, the offices of startups, digital agencies, and web companies like Google often look more like playgrounds than work spaces. According to a recent survey in the UK, 80% of managers believe that playful office spaces can motivate employees. On closer look, however, their playfulness often bottoms out in bright colors, round shapes -- and the proverbial slide. This talk asks what it might mean to make work environments truly playful, what effects it has on well-being -- and whether we can make people play. Presentation given at Stanford University mediaX, May 10, 2016.

1. office
playgroundscan freedom be programmed?
Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets)
Stanford, May 10, 2016
c b

2. <1>
introduction

3. 1960s: the nightmare of alienated modernity

4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/11674159@N02/5856680212
1990s: the utopia of the new economy
obligatory
foosball

5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/11674159@N02/5856680212
2010s: the reality of playful offices?

6. obligatory slide
2010s: the reality of playful offices?

7. 2010s: the reality of gamified work?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047564/gamification-using-play-to-motivate-employees-and-engage-customers.html

8. productivity
the promise
playful spaces gameful processes
Creativity Collaboration Wellbeing Engagement Optimal resource use

9. new chapter
of interviewed managers (FMCG, UK)
believe that playful office environments
increase employee motivation.
relaxed office environments: fad or future? (2014)
80%

10. new chapter
relaxed office environments: fad or future? (2014)
91%
of interviewed managers (FMCG, UK)
believe that playful office environments
improve team work.

11. gartner
of global 2000 companies will have at
least one gamified application by 2014.
gartner news room (2011)
70%
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1629214

12. playing works
• highly engaging
• reduces stress and anxiety
• fosters trust, relatedness, social-emotional skills
• fosters deep, conceptual learning
• fosters flexible, creative problem solving
• satisfies basic psychological needs -> short-term positive
affect and recovery, long-term psycho-social wellbeing
• trains autonomous self-regulation
Wenner 2009, Gray 2003

13. and the reality?

14. <2>
physical
playgrounds

15. informal collision spaces
theory
#1

16. informal collision spaces
theory
#1
60%

17. informal
collision spaces
unplanned
collisions
inspiration &
collaboration

18. 1943: MIT Building 20

19. lettvin faraday, MIT
»You might regard it as the
womb of the Institute.
It is kind of messy, but by God
it is procreative!«
quoted in: »building 20: the procreative eyesore« (1991)

20. 2000: Pixar headquarters atrium

21. john lasseter, creative director, Pixar
»I kept running into people that I
hadn’t seen for months. I’ve never
seen a building that promoted
collaboration and creativity as well
as this one.«
quoted in: »steve jobs« (2011)

22. 2012: Zappos Las Vegas downtown project

23. 2012: Zappos Las Vegas downtown project
obligatory slide

24. 2012: Zappos Las Vegas downtown project
obligatory slide
ROC

25. 2012: Zappos Las Vegas downtown project
obligatory slide
»return
on collisionable
hours«

26. slidification of office environments
theory
#2
play-like features
creativity &
well-being
magic

46. play-like features
Openness: Wide open spaces high ceiling, glass, light
Toy colours: Multiple primary, pastel colours
Toy materials: Wood, plastics
Playground materials: (artificial) grass, sand, trees
Playground installs: slides, swings, caves, balls
Toys: Arcades, foosball, pinball, ping pong, billiard tables
Fiction: Ship, beach, subway, castle, supervillain lair

49. What is more inviting of play? Why?

50. Jared M. Stein
»n. Any institutionally-created, operated, or controlled
environment in which participants are lured in either by
mimicking pre-existing open or naturally formed
environments, or by force, through a system of
punishments or rewards.
n. Any system or environment that repulses a target user
due to it’s closeness to or representation of an oppressive
or overbearing institution.«
defining creepy tree house (2008)

52. christopher Alexander
»Set up a playground for the children in each
neighborhood. Not a highly finished playground, with
asfalt and swings, but a place with raw materials of
all kinds—nets, boxes, barrels, trees, ropes, simple
tools, frames, grass, and water—where children can
create and re-create playgrounds of their own.«
a pattern language (1978: 369–370)

53. »exhaustible« versus ...
pattern
#1

54. »possibility space«: generative toys

58. will wright
»Players navigate a possibility space by their
choices and actions; every player’s path is unique.
Games cultivate – and exploit – possibility space
better than any other medium. ... We're invited to
create and interact with elaborately simulated
worlds, characters, and story lines.«
dream machines (2006)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

59. case in point: the action office

62. robert propst
»#1: Forgiving Principle: We must be allowed to change our
minds. The complexity of organizational environments coupled
with the unpredictable course of future directions requires a
forgiving behavior in facility design.
#2: Grace with Change: A facility needs to change with ease.
#3: On-line Planning and Expression: The individual can
participate in goal setting and thus behave like a manager at
any level. Users are often the best judges of what works.«
quoted in abraham (1998: n.p.)

63. robert propst
»It’s truly amazing the number of decisive
events and critical dialogues that occur
when people are out of their seated, stuffy
contexts, and moving around and chatting
with each other.«
quoted in abraham (1998: n.p.)

65. the vision

69. the reality

70. why?

71. robert propst
»The dark side of this is that not all
organizations are intelligent and progressive.
Lots are run by crass people who can take the
same kind of equipment and create hellholes.
They make little bitty cubicles and stuff people
in them. Barren, rat-hole places.«
quoted in abraham (1998: n.p.)

72. Kars alfrink
»When designing tools for play,
underspecify!«
a playful stance (2008)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm
pattern
#2

78. a good sign
(for once)

81. paul penfield, MIT Professor
»Its ‘temporary nature’ permitted its occupants to
abuse it in ways that would not be tolerated in a
permanent building. If you wanted to run a wire from
one lab to another, you didn’t ask anybody’s
permission — you just got out a screwdriver and
poked a hole through the wall.«
mit’s building 20: the magical incubator 1943–1998 (1997)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

82. bard bird, autor & regisseur, »ratatouille«
»If you walk around downstairs in the animation
area, you’ll see that it is unhinged. People are allowed
to create whatever office they want. One guy might
build a front that’s like a Western town. Someone
else might do something that looks like Hawaii…
John believes that if you have a loose, free kind of
atmosphere, it helps creativity.«
zitiert in »steve jobs« (2011)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

86. office adventure playgrounds?
a possibility space
Rearrangeable spaces
Rearrangeable, recombinable furniture
Manipulable, trashable furniture
Bring your own device/stuff
underspecified
License to play around unmonitored
Encouragement to play around unmonitored

87. <3>
social
playgrounds

88. 1960: banana time

89. donald f. roy
»De Man cites the case of one worker who wrapped
13,000 incandescent bulbs a day; she found her outlet
for creative impulse, her self-determination, her
meaning in work by varying her wrapping movements a
little from time to time. ... Like the light bulb wrapper, I
did find a ›certain scope for initiative,‹ and out of this
slight freedom to vary activity, I developed a game of
work.«
banana time (1960)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

90. 1994: FISH!
»work made
fun gets done!«

91. gamification
The use of game design
elements in non-game
contexts
2010s: gamification

92. employee engagement

93. energy saving

94. Homo Oeconomicus 2.0
theory
#3
clear rules &
feedback
motivation
desired
behaviour
incentives

96. the problem with non-game contexts

97. Heeter et al. 2011, Mollick & Rothbard 2013, Deterding 2016

98. James P. Carse
»It is an invariable principle of all play, that
whoever plays, plays freely. Whoever must
play, cannot play.«
finite and infinite games (1986)

99. Edward Deci, Richard Ryan
»An understanding of human motivation
requires a consideration of innate
psychological needs for competence,
autonomy, and relatedness.«
the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)

100. Fun Voluntary

101. Fun Voluntary
Voluntary Fun

102. work play

103. implementation determinism
theory
#4
new procedure
new practice &
values
magic

106. Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
5. Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing teams.

111. what we design: things &
rules (offloaded in things)

112. who decides whether to
play with them

115. anonymous current employee
»There are reasons that this company has a higher turn over of
staff than a call centre. ... A lot of micro management, big
teams and knee jerk copycat change of directions often mid
sprints. Frequent prolonged crunch mode has resulted in low
quality software and bad company vibe. Partly due to
unrealistic hard deadlines pulled out of a woolly hat. A fear of
failure postpones or cancels most releases. ... No, I would not
recommend this company to a friend«
glassdoor (2014)

116. what shared
values underlie
play?

117. autotelic activity =
http://www.flickr.com/photos/areyoumyrik/308908967

118. intrinsic motivation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/areyoumyrik/308908967

119. … vs. Quality and Varietyexploration and experimentation

120. … vs. Quality and Varietymastery

121. autonomy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/areyoumyrik/308908967

122. … vs. Quality and Varietysafe space...

123. … vs. Quality and Varietythrough failure without consequence …

124. and attunement around mutual enjoyment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wondermonkey2k/6188527275

125. http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/5709372593

126. http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/5709372593

127. »It is the nature of a fun community to care
more about the players than about the game. ...
We are having fun. We are caring. We are safe
with each other. This is what we want.«
Bernie de Koven
the well-played game (1978: 19-20)

128. … vs. Quality and Varietyopen for benign transgression

129. … requires and builds trust
I won’t let you fall.
I’ll tell you when it’s
too much
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/439410200

130. Work Play
Other-determined Self-determined
Instrumental Autotelic
Consequential Inconsequential
Regulated Open
Care for result Care for each other
Motivation serves function Function serves motivation

131. Work Play
Other-determined Self-determined
Instrumental Autotelic
Consequential Inconsequential
Regulated Open
Care for result Care for each other
Motivation serves function Function serves motivation
work play playful work
Other-determined Self-determined Autonomy-oriented
Instrumental Autotelic Learning & quality-oriented
Consequential Inconsequential
Safety nets promote
exploration
Regulated Open Open, trust-based
Care for result Care for each other Socially oriented
Motivation serves function Function serves motivation Value-based

132. how?

133. make a bow
http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg

134. trust before asking for trust
http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg

135. model the values you want to see
http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg

136. allow failure

137. shared values, individual realisation
http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg

138. <4>
conclusion

139. for engaging work playgrounds ...

140. instead of creepy slidifcation ...

141. or gamification ...

142. create open collision spaces ...

143. and material possibility spaces ...

144. including the license to appropriate them.

145. arbeit spiel
Fremdbestimmt Selbstbestimmt
Mittel zum Zweck Selbstzweck
Folgenreich Folgenlos
Durchreguliert Offen
Sorge um Ergebnis Sorge umeinander
Motivation dient Funktion Funktion dient Motivation
work play playful work
Other-determined Self-determined Autonomy-oriented
Instrumental Autotelic Learning & quality-oriented
Consequential Inconsequential
Safety nets promote
exploration
Regulated Open Open, trust-based
Care for result Care for each other Socially oriented
Motivation serves function Function serves motivation Value-based
put lived values over rule systems …

146. … through social free spaces ...
http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg

147. … and modelling the values you wish to see.
http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg

148. sebastian@codingconduct.cc
@dingstweets
codingconduct.cc
thank you.