RPG Co-Creation Workshop on Gamification & Financialisation

Join us for a critical and playful co-creation workshop about games and money!

Our everyday lives and leisure activities are becoming more and more ‘financialised’ (for example through the monetisation of casual play). At the same time, many elements of finance are becoming ‘gamified’ (for example in the features of Internet banking apps). What is the meaning of this development? What are its effects on how we play, and how we think about money? Our workshop experiments with the use of RPGs (role playing games) for exploring these issues.

Funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and hosted at Abertay University, this workshop is designed to playfully develop critical insights concerning the ‘financialisation of play’ and the ‘gamification of finance.’ Using the acclaimed tabletop roleplaying game Microscope as a framework, we will explore, co-create, and play-test RPG scenarios on these topics.

For our November workshop, we are looking for participants with curiosity (or expertise) concerning any (or all!) of the following: game design, RPGs, LARPs, gamification, monetisation, and research-creation. Together, we will play our way towards critical perspectives on gamification, monetisation, and the financialisation of everyday life!

We (Dr. Martin Zeilinger and Dr. Darshana Jayemanne) are developing this event with our featured guest Ruth Catlow, co-founder of the London-based art-and-technology organisation Furtherfield. Ruth has long-standing experience in designing and running community-focused LARPs that deal with social, political, and cultural issues (such as an Interspecies LARP in a London park, where you could play as an animal or plant!)

Key info

Dates: Participants are invited to join us for one or more of the following days – Friday Nov 24, Saturday Nov 25, and Monday Nov 27. We meet in person at Abertay University, and on each day, the events last roughly from 10am to 4pm, with a lunch break in the middle (details to be confirmed). Catering will be available for participants. (Note: on Day 1, we can accommodate up to 3 virtual guests.)

Activities: In small groups, we will use an existing RPG (Microscope) to explore the workshop topics and develop our own RPG framework and scenarios. The ultimate goal is to co-design an RPG that allows players to formulate critical perspectives on gamification/financialisation.

Register: We have limited spaces available for each of the days – please use the [online sign-up] Our workshop is fully booked and registration has now closed.