Socioenactive Play: Investigating Social, Physical and Digital Couplings in Games Design and Gamifications

• Grant number: 24/16790-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science
• Principal Investigator: Emanuel Felipe Duarte
• Grantee: Emanuel Felipe Duarte
• Host Institution: Instituto de Computação (IC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Maria Cecilia Calani Baranauskas ; Vanessa Regina Margareth Lima Maike ; Virgínia Fernandes Mota

Abstract

Computational technologies are increasingly present in various aspects of our lives. In the context of games and the act of playing, something intrinsically human and social, there is significant academic and market interest in the approaches of serious games and gamification through computational systems. However, serious games and gamification approaches do not always relate to the more meaningful aspects of games and the act of playing, beyond scores and leaderboards. Furthermore, it can be argued that a frequent emphasis on behavioral psychology and on tasks and obligations distances these approaches from an understanding of play in society as social and cultural phenomena. The objective of this research is to investigate the design of games and computational systems with play elements from a socioenactive perspective, coupling free exploration (paidia) with the emergence of rules (ludus). Articulating the social, physical, and digital dimensions, socioenactive play design will be conducted to create digital games that are not merely software products. Their design should promote seamless integration with the physical environment and expand and enable new forms of communication and other social interactions among players. The development of the socioenactive play concept will be a product of various complementary efforts, such as literature review, design of artifacts, scenarios and dynamics, experimentation with scenarios, and evaluation of the quality of the players' experience. Contributions are expected in the form of artifacts and scenarios that support an expanded understanding of games and the act of playing through computational technologies. This understanding should go beyond the concepts of rules and gamification, valuing concepts such as presence in the physical environment, free exploration, the social role of the game, and player autonomy. (AU)