Ludium I
International Game Developers Association
Ludium I is the inaugural conference of the Center for the Study of Synthetic Worlds (or CSSW1).
Contents |
Overview
Objectives
The purpose of the conference was to develop and publicize five paradigms for research using synthetic world technology.
Method and structure
To develop these paradigms, CSSW1 inaugurated a new form of academic conference, the ludium. A ludium collects experts in a field and embeds them in a dynamic game of information exchange. While similar to workshops and charettes in form (for example, by breaking participants into groups), a ludium differs in that it actively deploys game design to motivate participant behavior. Most especially, a ludium recognizes no boundary between play and work, but rather mingles the two so thoroughly that productivity and entertainment become equally significant outcomes of the process.
Ludium I brought together selected group of academics, game developers, and representatives from business, foundations, and government engaging in a thematic live-action game. Five teams developed competing roadmaps, intended to guide the research community toward topics, questions, and methods of greatest value and feasibility. Judges mingled with the teams and reviewed the paradigms for achievement in areas such as impact, funding prospects, immediacy, profitability, imagination, and social justice.
In the process of playing, participants simultaneously — and by design — addressed the very real issues now facing the community of MMORPG scholars and builders: how best to integrate the technology of synthetic worlds into the academic research paradigm. Under the ludic structure of the conference, sound deliberations not only taught us much needed lessons, but it also earned renown, treasures, and fun for all involved.
Attendees
- View the official attendee list
