Today video games represent an important cultural and artistic expression; they have entered the permanent collections of museums (MOMA), videogames museum are born (Computerspiele Museum in Berlin) and they are an embody evidence of new intangible heritage. Furthemore they represent an extraordinary tool to support cultural policies (audience development, audience engagement, audience activism...)

1. 23/02/2013
The Playable Culture FabioViola info@tuomuseo.it
PLAYFUL CULTURE Fabio Viola info@tuomuseo.it

2. Today video games represent an important cultural and artistic
expression, they have entered the permanent collections of
museums, videogames museum are born and they are an
embody evidence of new intangible heritage.
Through the lens of video game audiences, over 2.5 billion
people worldwide who play annually, we could learn a lot about
how engaging, memorable and relevant experiences can be
designed in the 21st century.
Last but not least, they represent an extraordinary tool to
support cultural policies

3. Weallagreeabout thedeepimpactonhumanbeinggeneratedbytheInternetAge:injust20years
completelynewwayofthinking,dreaming,communicating,newculturalandtouristicimaginaries
and evennewmythologiespopup.
Socialchangesshift themeaning ofCulture and
resistance generates short circuit

4. 4
Culturalinstitutions shouldlook at Fortnite, Minecraft and
CandyCrushasmodels, andrivals, inreaching,engaging,
transferring knowledge andevencreating economically
sustainableexperiences.

6. ENGAGEMENTASKEY KPIIN THE XXICENTURY
Today the real competitor of a museum is not another museum, but any kind of experience able to win the engagement battle. And engagement metrics are
tightly connected with time, (and money comes after), the real limited good in the modern society. When you are engaged with another human being you
think costantly about him/her, you wanna go out, you wanna talk etc etc. Is this happening in the relationship with museums? Engagement doesn’t mean
“disneyfication of culture”, it is the human prerequisite for learning, relating and exchanging values. The 21st century is the time of wanting to do and no
longer of having to do.

7. Ifwe are able to create a2.5billion people
communityinjust 50years, where people
spend“real” effords in“virtual”
environments experiencing a widerange of
emotions

8. …whyshould aculturalinstitution thathas
extremely tangibleassets, powerfulstories,
recognizablebrand,and established audience
not be able to design engaging and memorable experiences in
partnership with the creative industries?

9. GAMIFICATION….
designing relevant, engaging and memorable experiences, physical or
digital, borrowing tools and theories from the world of gaming. Gamified
experiences offer spaces for user’s action and interaction across users and
the system has a reaction.

10. SPECTATORSPECTACTOR
The shift from the idea of passive and contemplative viewer to an
active and pro-active role is at the heart of engagement processes.
The ability to perform, physical emotional and intellectual actions
inside and around the experience and your efforts impact the content
SPECTACTORSPECTAUTHOR
The additional step of engagement occurs when publics create or co-
create contents by completely changing the source content and
shaping it collectively and connectively

11. From «object»to «process».
Museums should follow an EQUAL relationship d between the artwork,
the visitor and the environment in which them are located. In this way a
perfect storm is born and the museum changes from space of “cultural
consumption” to place of “cultural distributed production”.

12. Videogamesaretheonlymediumin whichtheaudiencespeaksinfirstperson"Isavedtheprincess“or“wekilledthedragon”.Thisisthepowerofthe StoryDoing
wheretheaudienceactivelypartecipatein modellingthenarrativeoftheexperiencethroughtheirdecisions,evenalteringtheending.Ourculturalspacesandcities
don’tprovideroomforrealprotagonism,andwithoutitthereisalackofengagement.With

13. Father andSon is the first video gamepublished
bya museumfor a wordlwide audience
Choicesare a very importantpart of ourlives. We asindividualsaredefinedby thechoiceswe make. Someof ourdecisionscanhave verysignificantconsequences andtotallychange the
coursesof ourlives. Butina play,a novelor a film, thewritermakes allthe decisionsinadvanceforthe characters, andastheaudience,we can onlywatch, passively,the consequencesofhis
decisions.

14. *4YEARSLATER:
 The gamecrossed the4.8
milliondownloads
milestone.
 Inthesametimethemuseum
hasbeen visitedby
1.000.000.
 The averageageof gamersis
33y.o.with35%of gamers
arefemale.
 Only7%of gamerscome
fromItaly.We havea large
userbase incountries like
Russia, China,India, US-
 ~1000yearshavebeen
spent collectivelyintothe
game.Consider thevaluein
terms of education and
marketing.
 The gamereceived over
80.000reviewswithan
averageratingof 4.5out of 5.
X4compared to themuseum’s
tripadvisor page

15. 60.000

16. “In our projects we are
constantly exploring new
revenue streams models.”
* Technology should not be a cost

17. PhysicalVS Digital(?)
cultural institutions should createdigital departments? Does this
distinction make sense in the 21st century? Or do physical and digital
represent transmission belts of any experience / content?

18. FISICOVS DIGITALE(?)
E’ in atto una dicotomia tra esperienze digitali ed esperienze fisiche? E’
una categorizzazione da tenere in piedi o nella società contemporanea è
priva di fondamento?

19. Content born physical and transferred in digital vs content born together the
“container”. When digital becomes a pure conversion of experiences born to be analog,
it will tend to be unsuccessful in the medium-long term. Native content disrupts the
chain of production, circuitation and consume.
DIGITALIZATIONVS NATIVECONTENTS

20. VALORIZZAREUN’AREAPARCOCONLE3P
IMMERSIVEDIGITALIZATION
French companu CultureSpaces opened several site specific venue aimed
to show up art masterpiece in a digitalized version.

21. NativecontentsmeetsPhygitalworld

22. CAMBIANO LE ARCHITETTURE – ATARI HOTELS
E’ fondamentalericominciarea crearenuovi immaginari
turistici
40.1% of the UKmillennialschoicethe placesto visitbasedon
their«instagrammability»
#Schofields Insurance study 2019
GamingGeneration Aesthetics
Billions of people exposed to the aesthetics of video games, but also of
Netflix and Instagram, experience a profound short circuit outside those
worlds.

23. OSLO OPERAHOUSE
At the same time a flagship theater and one of the most touristic spot in
Norway. A de-compartimentalized concept, you can attend traditional
theater play and at the same time make skateboarding on the roof or
watcing a movie on a giant screen in the fjord.

24. INSTAGRAMMABILITY
© Ciro Santopietro
40.1%of theUK millennials choicetheplaces to
visit basedon their «instagrammability»
#Schofields Insurance study 2019

25. On a newtypeof canvas,completelydigital, game teamsuseconsolidatedartisticexpressionssuchas
modeling,drawing,music, narrativeto give life to productsin which theyexpressideas,developcreativeand
linguisticmodels,tellstoriesandreturnvisionsof theworld. Videogamesare not justa tool, this mediumis a
contemporaryartisticandculturalexpression.

26. ATTRACTIONVS ACTIVATION
The big challenge is to bring the content and themes of museums to
the places and times of the public. Content that has entered everyday
life is taken up by people, reworked, and will live on regardless of the
original attractor.

27. ON PLACE POST
PRE
ENGAGEMENT LOOP
Our effords are mainly based around “on places” experiences. We are missing
opportunities in reaching our audience before they visit our spaces and, above all,
after they go away from our spaces.

28. ON-SITEVSONLINE?
Who is my audience in the xxi century? Someone who physically enters
the museum, stays 5 minutes while talking on the phone and then
leaves or someone who for years interacts with the museum community
through digital properties, participates in decision making, co-create
and purchases museum content online?

29. ACTIVATIONISHORIZONTAL
A public library shelf where a book, a video game, a song, a painting, a comic
book, a movie are there together because they tell us the same theme.

30. This is what happens in the world of video games where , 9 students on 10
play games like Minecraft learning and exploring complex topics
Imagineamuseumwhere 90%of school-age
children enter INTENTIONALLYon aregular basis

31. FIRENZE GAME: CONNECTING PLACES
Visiting over 70 places in Florence and in the province you can collect all the digital
stickers in order to complete the album. Harder the place to visit, rarest is the sticker
you unlock. With the stickers you can challenge players all around the world.
Relocate tourists by taking them to visit cultural sites outside the historic center
EXPLORINGTHE CITY

32. CONSUMEVS PRODUCTION?
Could cultural venues become creative powerhouses where the future
is imagined and executed in partnership with creative clusters?

33. In 80 days we collected 240 projects coming from 550
inventors and dreamers. Over 30 countries involved with out
of the box playable ideas.
THE 4CFormula:creativity, collective,
contaminationandcoinvolgimento
(engagement)

34. In 2 editions we collected 500 projects coming from 550
inventors and dreamers. Over 30 countries involved with out
of the box playable ideas.
THE 4CFormula:creativity, collective,
contamination
Oneof thewinners is…LUMEN

35. In 80 days we collected 240 projects coming from 550
inventors and dreamers. Over 30 countries involved with out
of the box playable ideas.
THE 4CFormula:creativity, collective,
contaminationandcoinvolgimento
(engagement)
Oneof thewinners is…LUMEN