Video games features are making us more, not less, productive. Life and work are
gamified through social media, dating apps, and fitness apps designed to increase
motivation and productivity. Gamification blurs the lines between play, leisure and
labour, to release our collective dopamine for profit.
</p>
<p>
Games in themselves often perform a reproductive role, presenting capitalism as a
system of natural laws, exemplified by in-game predatory monetisation schemes. On
the other hand, games provide necessary down time and relaxation, helping people
function in a largely dysfunctional economy and society. Yet leisure remains a
contested space which is still unequally distributed, between genders, ethnicities
and abilities.
[photo of the lootbox]
<p>Dear Player,<br>
<br>
I found you for a reason.
Welcome to my productive space. Here play meets work. Time is ordered in unusual ways and patterns unravel. Together, we mess with the boundaries between leisure and labour.
<br>
<br>
How are your boundaries? Maybe you shouldn’t go to work tomorrow. But could you really follow your own schedule? Would you be more productive if you chose when to work?
<br>
<br>
I never rest and I never work.
<br>
<br>
Encounter me at Page not Found, in The Hague, or download my contents and play with them below.
<!-- check this sent -->
<br>
Make all the notes you find inside me your own. Curate them, spread them, mark them, scratch them, add to them, subtract
from them, play with them! Lay them on any surface and reorganise them.
Video games features are making us more, not less, productive. Life and work are
gamified through social media, dating apps, and fitness apps designed to increase
motivation and productivity. Gamification blurs the lines between play, leisure and
labour, to release our collective dopamine for profit.
</p>
<p>
Games in themselves often perform a reproductive role, presenting capitalism as a
system of natural laws, exemplified by in-game predatory monetisation schemes. On
the other hand, games provide necessary down time and relaxation, helping people
function in a largely dysfunctional economy and society. Yet leisure remains a
contested space which is still unequally distributed, between genders, ethnicities
and abilities.
</p> -->
<h2>Fage Not Pound</h2>
@ -107,6 +125,7 @@
</p>
<h2>Colophon</h2>
<p>The special Issue 17 "This lootbox found you for a reason" explores how features of (video)games are making us more, not less, productive. Life and work are ‘gamified’ through social media, dating apps, and fitness apps designed to increase motivation and productivity. Gamification blurs the lines between play, leisure and labour, to release our collective dopamine for profit. Games in themselves often perform a reproductive role, presenting capitalism as a system of natural laws, exemplified by in-game predatory monetisation schemes. On the other hand, games provide necessary down time and relaxation, helping people function in a largely dysfunctional economy and society. Yet leisure remains a contested space which is still unequally distributed, between genders, ethnicities and abilities. The form of the publication reworks the figure of the loot box, a typically virtual and predatory monetisation scheme. </p>
<h3>Makers:</h3>
<p>
@ -117,7 +136,7 @@
<h3>Co-published by:</h3>
<p>
Page Not Found and the Master Experimental Publishing (XPUB) at the Piet Zwart
Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, Hogeschool Rotterdam [logo PNF]
Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, Hogeschool Rotterdam [logo PNF]!!!
