Broadening our definition of gaming: big games.(Chapter 3)

Hot Books is a game that aims to bring life to libraries by making library patrons engage with and create relationships to books they might never imagined existed.... By locating the game in a brick and mortar library, the game utilizes the organic, physical site of the library, thereby making the opportunity to play the game special, and yet, ironically, artificially makes the library into a special arena.--Nick Reid (1)

One model that redefines gaming is the "big game," which can be considered the exact opposite of a videogame. Or maybe it's really just making the world into a giant, real-life videogame. Either way, big games may be an even better fit for libraries than videogames because we already have many of the resources necessary to run them.

Big games are becoming big enough (no pun intended) that there are now several companies whose primary business it is to create them for interested organizations and events. One such company, area/code, defines big games as "large-scale, real-world games" that "might involve transforming an entire city into the world's largest board game, or hundreds of players scouring the streets looking for invisible treasure, or a TV show reaching out to interact with real-time audiences nationwide." (2) The company even publishes on its Web site a manifesto that further defines these types of games.

 
   Big Games are large-scale, multiplayer games that 
   include some form of real-world interaction. 
 
   Big Games point towards a future in which 
   socially aware networks, smart objects, location 
   sensing and mobile computing open up new 
   ways for people to play. 
 
   Big Games use technology, but are not subservient 
   to it. Big Games are made out of people, 
   connections, ideas, situations, and events. Big 
   Games have computers inside of them, not the 
   other way around. 
 
   Big Games create a conscious confusion 
   between the real and the imaginary, between 
   ideas and objects, between information and 
   space. Instead of the simulated worlds of computer 
   games, Big Games transform the physical 
   space around us into a shared gameworld, 
   brought to life by the choices, actions, and experiences 
   of the players. 
 
   Big Games encourage a playful use of public 
   space. They have their roots in the neighborhood 
   games of childhood; in the campus-wide 
   games and stunts of college; in the nerd-culture 
   of live-action role playing and Civil War reenactments; 
   in the art-culture of Happenings 
   and Situationism; in urban skateparks, paintball 
   fields and anywhere people gather together to 
   play in large numbers and large spaces. 
 
   Big Games are games, not academic exercises, 
   not tech demos. They must be easy to 
   understand but deep enough to encourage 
   thoughtful play. They must have challenges and 
   rewards. They must run the gamut from purely 
   abstract formal systems to richly rendered narrative 
   experiences. They must connect people to 
   people whether they are…