Encounters Erving Goffman ACTIVITY The activity will ask

Encounters Erving Goffman

ACTIVITY The activity will ask a question, list a concept, or contain a Word Of Power. All guilds will have 15 -30 seconds to think of their OWN examples. The Wordsmith from each guild will write down everyone's answer. When time is up, the Guild Leader from each team will walk to the front of the room with their guilds answers. They will then roll the dice. The person who rolls the highest number will read their answers first and so on. If someone from another guild has the same answer, that answer does not count. Each response is worth 1 XP.

Games Guild 1 Guild 2 Guild 3 Board Games Basketball Tennis Card Games First Person Shooter Baseball Role-playing First Person Shooter Board Games Role-playing Dice Games Board Games

Erving Goffman Canadian-born sociologist and writer. Sixth most-cited author in humanities and social sciences Major contribution to social theory was his study of symbolic interaction University of Chicago M. A. , Ph. D June 11 1922 – November 19 1982

Fun In Games The spells within this paper attempt to see how far one can go by treating fun seriously. (p. 17) The seriousness of fun. This will allow us to design games that are engaging as well as understand how people perceive game play. 1961

Encounters in Hearthstone A Single Visual Mutual openness to verbal communication Cognitive focus of attention Mutual relevance of acts Perceive your opponent

ENCOUNTERS You have 15 seconds to list different types of encounters based on Goffmans’ spell. Each original response is worth 1 XP.

Rules of Irrelevance “Presumably, we could learn about the structure of focused gatherings by examining what happens when their orderliness breaks down. ” (Pg. 19)

What does Goffman mean? “For example, it appears that whether checkers are played with bottle tops on a piece of squared linoleum, with gold figurines on inlaid marble, or with uniformed men standing on colored flagstones in a specially arranged court square, the pairs of players can start with the ‘same’ positions, employ the same sequence of strategic moves and countermoves, and generate the same contour of excitement. ” (Pg. 19)

Explanation Rules of irrelevance and subordinate side-encounters are a great way to explain gaming. Rules of irrelevance show us that with popular games the objects that make up that game are irrelevant as long as every player understands the rules. Subordinate side-encounters are when the players break character of the game to help each other out. It can also be seen when an object holds a different meaning to a player.

Subordinate sideencounters You have 15 seconds to give an example of a ‘subordinate side-encounter’ of Goffmans’ spell. Each original response is worth 1 XP.

sine ira et studio Latin term “without anger and fondness” A player must act sine ira et studio in order to maintain affective neutrality.

Games, then, are world-building activities. You have 30 seconds to come up with examples of how the above statement can be reversed and applied to games. Focus on communication. Each original response is worth 1 XP.

Spontaneous Involvement Games played at a distance (Hearthstone) involve rules of irrelevance. The ‘newspaper’ game or ‘banking game’ can be an example of fact-to-face encounters. Meaning that the players understand the ‘imaginary’ rules of how a bank works. “When an individual becomes engaged in an activity, whether shared or not, it is possible for him to become caught up by it, carried away by it, engrossed in it – to be, as we say, spontaneously involved in it. ” (Pg. 35) “A visual and cognitive engrossment occurs…. ” (Pg. 35)

Cell Membrane

Reality Membrane (or sieve) Encounter: Reality is selectively given presence. Wall Magic Circle is separated from everyday reality.

sex socio-economic sta age Mo n tio a c fi i d Mo s: le ng ru ti n ita io il at fac rm & sfo ory an it Tr hib In on i t a c difi religion, etc.

Seat of Honor You have 15 seconds to describe a situation and explain who would hold the ‘seat of honor’. Each original response is worth 1 XP.

Unspontaneous involvement

Ease and Tension �When spontaneous involvement coincides with transformation rules, participants will feel at ease, and the interaction will be euphoric for them. �When the two do not coincide, participants will feel uneasy, bored, or unnatural in the situation. The state of tension or dysphoria exists in the encounter.

Ease and Tension Ease, natural, or euphoria Unease (tension), unnatural, or dysphoria

Management of tension Betting is very much lower than one’s financial capacity Appropriate scale of stakes Betting is very higher than one’s financial capacity Vv Boredom (tension) Fun (ease) Anxiety (tension) Adjusting the betting limits on the not -too-much-not-too-little basis

�“Where easeful disattention occurs, there will be no tendency to modify the transformation rules; where felt distraction occurs there will be pressure on the rulings” (p. 59). �Examples?

GDKP (Gold Dragon Kill Points)

GDKP � It is also known by similar names such as "Gold runs” or "Cash runs. ” � Dropped items are auctioned off in raid chat. � Items have minimum bids, but no maximum bid. � The highest bidder receives the item, and the gold they pay is added to "The Pot. " � "The Pot" keeps growing in value until the end of the run. � At the end of the run, “The Pot" is split evenly to all 25 players in the raid. � Acquired golds are used for next raid’s auction to bid items.

The origin of GDPK �Raid’s monsters offer a limited number of items. �The solution given by Blizzard was rolling dice. �Gamers considered items to be a property resulting from their invested game time (or labor). �Gold Party (Korea) GDPK (U. S. )

: Ease Labor value & Property de s le ru d n ar io zz at Bli rm by sfo d an ne Tr sig : Tension M od ifi ca t io n Rolling dice Blizzard - Pure luck

: Ease Labor value & Property by r s c le ru n ) io K at DP rm (G sfo ers an m Tr ga : Tension n tio a fi ic od Blizzard - Pure luck d te Auction ea M

Thank You