PlayLab2 brings forward a reflection, experimentation and creation laboratory related to economic systems and to the current global financial crisis, by designing and producing games and/or video games. If you have an idea or project, or you think you can contribute your knowledge and creativity, we invite you sign up.

Games are acquiring a whole new purpose, not only as pedagogical tools, but as vital experiences that impact on how we mature, think and communicate with others. As an important cultural and procedural medium, games and video games are excellent tools that can help us to understand, participate in and internalise the features of complex systems.

If the economy behaves like a complex system, as a model for different parts to interact (according to a set of rules), then games and video games provide efficient systems and platforms for conducting simulated experiments with the current economic systems. They therefore offer us a safe, flexible and even entertaining framework in which to experiment with current economic theories and their consequences.

Commercial video games do not usually contain a rhetoric or a philosophical/political discourse with a clearly defined moralistic purpose. And yet nearly all commercial video games are influenced directly or indirectly by a specific contextual, ideological and cultural framework, by the philosophy of an industrial/business group and/or by strict publication regulations in the countries where they are marketed. This frequently means that the origin of a conflict or, as in this case, the origin (or multiple origins) of an economic situation cannot be fully explored.

We therefore offer a space to reflect on, debate, understand and create real alternatives to the current economies via the creation/production of games and/or video games. Our aim is to raise a practical, multi disciplinary laboratory where professionals and researchers can participate in the production of a game/video game by reflecting on and reaching conclusions (and even solutions) about the current economic/financial crisis.

Call for Participants
The purpose of this call for participants is to create a multi-disciplinary laboratory to reflect on, debate and collaborate in the production of one or more games/video games about the world economy and the current financial crisis. We invite the participation of professionals engaged in the fields of image, economy, education, communication, information technologies, programming and video games, as well as anyone else interested in supporting any aspect of this initiative. Tasks will be undertaken freely and as a peer production enterprise, and will be coordinated by the laboratory teaching staff.

Core Themes
Taking the current economic/financial crisis as our starting point, we will focus on the following goals:
explaining/discovering the origin of the 2007/08 crisis
identifying and representing the consequences of the crisis
defining the agents involved exploring several solution scenarios by producing games or video games.

Methodology
The laboratory has been conceived as a collaborative, multi-disciplinary platform for research, reflection, discussion and experimentation, leading to the design and creation of games/video games. In accordance with the aforementioned core themes, we will use the different stages involved in the production of a game/video game to (simultaneously) carry out the script, gameplay and production phases:
Script -> Game Design -> Graphics -> Programming/Production
Research -> Discussion -> Imagination -> Representation -> Compilation

In light of our immediate historical context, it is important to illustrate the concerns, reflections and even the proposed solutions (not necessarily the final ones) explored during the workshop, and each laboratory stage will therefore be documented as fully as possible.

The workshop will include 3 explanatory presentations by laboratory teachers related to their areas of expertise (game design, graphics and programming) and the core themes.

Images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arsgames/sets/72157626626034945/

Profiles
Possible laboratory teachers/technicians:

-Game Designers:
Alejo Civantos (Game Kitchen)

-Graphics Technicians:
Javier Blázquez (8rosa)

-Programmers:
Miguel Vallejo (mondopixel), Jaume Castells (8rosa)

References
Economic Simulations:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Gold_(video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimFarm
http://www.industryplayer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7P2ExRF3GQ

Technologies
http://www.mendigogame.es/
https://www.facebook.com/MafiaWars
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jogo_do_bicho
http://www.kitkrak.org/

Critical Games
http://www.antimonopoly.com/
http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2009/cutthroatCapitalismTheGame
http://www.derivart.info/index.php?s=p11&lang=en
http://www.phonestory.org/#about
http://antiwargame.org/
http://www.tropico3.com/en/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Agenda_(computer_game)