Playing

Utopia

Playing

Utopia

A Virtual Laboratory for
Social-Ecological Transformation

About

Playing Utopia explores the potential of play as a form of collective social inquiry into democratic change, focusing on computer games as a medium for social, economic, and political experimentation. It asks how collective experiments in virtual worlds can produce valuable knowledge and experiences to support the transition to socially and ecologically sustainable futures. The project will develop a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), equipped with real-world data, in which experiments in social coordination around ecological planning and just transition can take place. By allowing participants to imagine, develop, and test their own visions of social change the project seeks to generate new insights into challenges around the social-ecological transformation of our societies.

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Playing Utopia explores the potential of play as a form of collective social inquiry into democratic change, focusing on computer games as a medium for social, economic, and political experimentation. It asks how collective experiments in virtual worlds can produce valuable knowledge and experiences to support the transition to socially and ecologically sustainable futures. The project will develop a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), equipped with real-world data, in which experiments in social coordination around ecological planning and just transition can take place. By allowing participants to imagine, develop, and test their own visions of social change the project seeks to generate new insights into challenges around the social-ecological transformation of our societies.

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Questions

  1. How can video games function as a mode of inquiry into societal transformation?

  2. How can research on theories of social-ecological change, sustainability assessment, and democratic (ecological) planning be operationalized to co-develop transformational knowledge and practice in virtual environments?

  3. How can the insights from experiments in virtual worlds benefit processes beyond the confines of the virtual environment?

Focus Areas

Governmentality & Planning

Aims to synthesize insights from social-ecological transformation research, political ecology, critical political economy, and democratic ecological planning under the theoretical framework of alternative governmentality. This will form the theoretical basis for the project's exploration of alternative modes of societal organisation.

Outcome: Publishing a conceptual framework to guide open-ended in-game experimentation with socio-ecological systems and alternative governance mechanisms.

Simulating Environments

Focuses on the simulation and modelling of virtual worlds. It develops ways in which real-world data (HILCSA) and agent-based modelling can be implemented in order to create both relevant (with regard to the underlying data) and dynamic (with regard to its in-game simulations) game environments.

Outcome: Publication presenting a robust, data-driven simulation framework that can serve as a basis for in-game processes of democratic decision-making.

Transformative Virtual Worlds

Dedicated to game development. This includes game design, programming, UI/UX design, artwork & sound, technical infrastructure, quality assurance, and testing.

Outcome: A fully functional MMORPG prototype.

Play as a mode of Social Inquiry

investigates how play and emergent forms of non-determined coordination and narrative building relate to the democratization of in-game rule setting. It will further explore how democratic (self-)organisation can serve as means for understanding and shaping social-ecological transformations.

Outcome: Publication on emergent in-game dynamics, another on designing engaging democratic tools.

Dissemination, Outreach & Player Engagement

A project podcast, social media engagement, and community-building efforts will contribute to making the game known. Through the PI’s podcast, the project has access to an existing community around the project’s topic.

Outcome: Outreach and dialogue with diverse publics.

Podcast

A monthly podcast exploring the development process, featuring interviews with game designers, researchers, and thought leaders in social-ecological transformation.

S01E01

Interview with Eric Zimmerman

S01E01

Interview with Eric Zimmerman

S01E01

Interview with Eric Zimmerman

S01E02

Interview with Naomi Clark

S01E02

Interview with Naomi Clark

S01E02

Interview with Naomi Clark

Team

Jan Groos

Principal Investigator

Walter Zeug

Co-Principal Investigator

Joël Foramitti

Co-Principal Investigator

Heide Lutosch

Co-Principal Investigator