Engage Game Nights

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Engage Game Nights is a series of activities organized by the Engage Living Lab team, a Concordia University research project funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec.

Overview

Intention

Today’s Engage Living Lab activities foster social support through active listening and creativity. Our aim is to empower participants as full-fledged political subjects (Vergara 2020), and provide them with ways to collectively tackle shared challenges they face in society – for example reclaiming ownership of the mall as a social commons to build collective health. To develop a a scalable model to liven up physical marketplaces as spaces where communities ca develop and nurture social bond and belonging.

Blurb

Version 1 – Game nighs

Play is a natural way to make friends, learn, and experiment. Games provide us with a magic circle where we can explore identities, narratives, belongings and re-create us.

Engage game nights are space-times where we give ourselves the protections and permissions to explore how we could reclaim ownership of our territories (from the marketplace to our selves), where we can reawaken our Inner Child's dreams, awakening to unforeseen possibles, together.

Version 2 – Reviving the Community Role of the Mall

I remember the market place as a convivial space, a place to meet, share, explore and discover. What is left of that today? Do we still dare to dream of a commercial place that binds generations and cultures, that allows us to take care of the most vulnerable, that not only nourishes our bodies but also our souls? What if we imagined the role that tomorrow's market place could play in our health? Join us for a playful exchange where we can share what does matter to our heart.

Faire revivre le rôle communautaire des centres commerciaux

Je me souviens que la place du marché était un espace convivial, un lieu de rencontres, de partage, d'exploration et de découvertes. Que reste-t-il de cela aujourd'hui ? Osons-nous rêver encore à un lieu commercial qui  facilite le lien entre générations et cultures, qui nous permette de prendre soin des plus vulnérables, qui nourrisse non seulement notre corps, mais aussi notre âme ? Et si nous imaginions le rôle que pourrait jouer dans notre santé la place du marché de demain ? Rejoignez-nous pour des échanges ludiques où partager ce qui nous tient réellement à cœur.

Paradigm

We opt for a naturalistic perspective, that is to understand realities as being subjective and contextual (Guba and Lincoln 1982); and critical public health as a theoretical lens, that is to help communities challenge structural barriers to health by transforming social and political structures (Greenhalgh 2009).

We value the quality of cooperation, mutual support, and intergenerational inclusion.

Format

Hybrid 90 min events where participants can share and recognize their mutual experiences, and move towards a common vision.

  • For now online, possibly on Tuesdays, 14:00 to 15:30
  • When spaces reopen, both online and in the mall, possibly on Tuesdays from 18:00 to 19:30 to benefit from all space at the mall.
  • Pilot place: Quartier Cavendish, a mall with around 40 small shops at Côte Saint-Luc, a city with 28% of inhabitants aged 65 or more (profile).

Outcome

People

Hosts

  • Ming Tao, art therapy student in drama therapy
  • Natali Ortiz, art therapist in visual arts
  • Carly McAskill, ...
  • Brock Dishart, social designer, TAG member, EF
  • Fabio Balli, project lead – commons, health, and law, FE (coordinator)

Participants

  • Lennox
  • Lorraine
  • Lisa
  • ...

Support

Resources

List of games

Pax: number of players – Min: time of a session – Eas: easy (1) to difficult (3)

Title and link Type Pax Min Eas Aim Comments Source
Commonspoly Board 3-8 You have 20 rounds to use your Welfare and Legitimacy Points for the common good. This is a race against time and you win by turning all goods into common holdings. Do it yourself, EN/FR/ES/PT Fabio
Prototyping a game – Fabio
Dychosim Prototyping 2+ Thematize daily life situations, and encourage participants to discuss their daily habits. Co-created Fabio
Molle Industria Online 1 Reflect on democracy, cities, weapons, phone manufacturing, sex, religion, etc. Fabio
Ncase Online 1 Reflect on anxiety, trust, liberties, mental health, etc. Fabio
Minecraft Online 1+ Players explore a blocky, infinite world and can extract raw materials, craft tools and build structures. Fabio
Flower Online Contemplative game to explore nature and create positive emotions. Fabio
Synergometer Board 3-6 Explore how the way we communicate affect our cooperation. Fabio
Pandemic Board 2-4 45 Your team of experts must prevent the world from succumbing to a viral pandemic. Cooperative Fabio
Duplicate Scrabble Board 3+ Fabio
The Mind Cards 2-4 20 * Play your cards in ascending order without communicating. Timing is key! Feeling based Fabio
Tarot de Marseille Cards Symbolic game Fabio
Exquisite corpse Each person adds a sentence by only seeing the end of what the previous person contributed. Paper and pen Fabio
Bridge Elders
Backgammon Elders
TOPONA Janis ?
Card games Carly
Wordplays
Roleplay Ming
Counting in the dark Ming
Spectogram Ming
It Comes in Waves Online 1 A game prototype about being an essential worker during a global pandemic. Brock
OCG Online 1 10 A game about living with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Free/PWYC Brock

Bibliography

Theoretical models

Time structuring

Montrealer psychiatrist Eric Berne (1964), who founded Transactional Analysis, suggests that we structure our time and relationships in six different ways:

Withdrawal → Rituals → Pastimes → Activity → Psychological games → Intimacy.

In a meeting for example, we will start by observing (Withdrawal, least intensity), then say Hello (Ritual), then do small talks (Pastimes), then realize a goal-oriented task (Activity). Developing fulfilling relationships requires however to overcome conflict (Psychological games), that is to shift from dysfunctional ways to obtain strokes (which we do because of the intensity they provide), to the ability to express authentic feelings, and nurture relatedness despite disagreements (Intimacy, most intensity).

An intermediate step between Psychological Games and Intimacy is Play (Cornell 2015). Play introduces more spontaneous and unpredictable interactions than an Activity, and can “foster intellectual and emotional insight with a positive feeling payoff [...]. The shift to play is an effort to capture the intensity and stroke value of the game while introducing a positive interaction in place of a negative payoff” .

Emergence

Emerging Change adapted by Balli. Source and credits:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5497574

Another concept which ensues from Transactional Analysis is the Emerging Change (Laugeri 2020), a three contracts method to develop healthy dynamics in a team. Laugeri describes two distinct energies in a team : the Planned energy of the team authority (leader or facilitator), driven by the survival of the group in its Environment, hence its performance; and the Emerging energy of the team members, driven by the love for the Activity, hence the quality of relationships. To balance these energies, Laugeri proposes to consider team members as a living entity, and to build a dialogue between the team authority and team members as a group and not as individuals. This transforms the Economy of Strokes (Steiner 1971): the scarcity created by team members competing to get recognition from the authority is replaced by the need for team members to mutually support, and give recognition to each other.

Today, the Emerging Change is mostly used for organizational development (Blattner 2020). Colleagues and I explored its use in neighborhood contracts, and I sketched how we could adapt it to mobilize thousands of citizens to rapidly develop a plurality of solutions to tackle  crises (Balli 2021).

Preparation

Contents moved to Engage Game Nights preparation.

Community events

Promotional flyer

2021 Nov 17 – Game night

Player types

17:00 to 19:00 – Lennox, Lorraine, Ariana, Janis, facilitated by Monica and Fabio

2022 Feb 1 – Reviving the community role of the mall

Engage Living Lab activities for February 2022

14:30 à 16:00 ET – Lisa P, Brock, Fabio, Momo, Natali, Ming, Naj

Small talk about astro

Introduction with scavenger hunt

People introduce themselves with

  • Momo – rat – A paper house with many symbols from Loteria (Mexican traditional game). behind each card there is a word, and a phrase starting with "I belong to". This represents everybody in the family, the Mexican culture. "I am the house where I belong".
  • Ming – rabbit – "I am a neckless of ment made of pearls. Little piece of gold, and a sign of apple, which has the same meaning to safe in Chinese."
  • Brock – dragon – Picture which is dusty, a photo I took as a music blogger 10-15 years ago. "I am a photo of an ephemeral moment in time that way beautiful and musical"
  • Lisa – snake – a lizard named Bobby. I used to be so scared of dentist, and I went to it and used to take it from there. "I am not scared of dentists anymore, no more anxiety".
  • Natali – monkey – a dream catcher "I am made from different threads and colours that represent my heritage, coming from a mixed heritage, which is complex, does not fit in any category, it has different seeds, coming from Equator named Tawa". It was made by a French woman in Equator, reminds me of connecting to people through crafts. "I am a complex being made from different threads"
  • Fabio – dog – Tarot card XIII sometimes call death but symbolically also rebirth with the spine as a growing plant. "You may feel apprehensive but I also make space for new possibles, for things to emerge".
What is our relationship to the mall, past & present?
  • Momo – as a person who immigrated the mall was very present in the first years, it was a place where I could feel safe and warmth as I did not have community, now going less and less. Good element to question and reclaim the mall, I try to buy less, go less to the mall, order online, try to reduce exposure of temptation, maybe it is also more convenient to buy online. How do we go around that ? Seeing the mall for a non-commercial purpose, I love it.
  • Brock – What is our relationship to the mall, in the past and now? Can relate to Momo, in high school it was a place to hang out with friends, and in a small city it was the only thing to do. It was an important social space in my teenage years, a community space for me, and then I guess I don't really go, except for clothes.
  • Momo – How to approach people? How will people react? How can we attract different generations without bothering them?
  • Brock – No problem asking if not everything. Maybe everyone is afraid of teenagers.
  • Ming – Feel if they really want to be with friends, maybe they would not go in a mall? Otherwise you know there may be people asking information.  Also in China less and less people go to the mall. I go to the mall to buy less.
  • Fabio – Maybe people buy online because the mall is not bringing any social value? Like children play because of the challenges, the universes they can create?
  • Natali – Would have loved a place to have something to do while mother was shopping as an adolescent. Also the joy to buy regularly just to fill time, have a safe space.
  • Lisa – Used to go with friends, now just to buy groceries. Long time ago went to Wellington centre (Verdun near Douglas Hospital), had art on one floor, cafeteria with healthy food, nice woodworking shop and a store where they sold things they created.
  • Fabio – Disconnect between production and sales vs markets where people share the stories behind the products, with more passion, etc.
  • Momo – Various summer markets it would be greate to have some tables and chairs to eat strawberries, bread... and socialize... with the option to bring or buy a coffee than going inside a mall.
What makes us want to hang out in the mall? How do we build a social space in the mall? (structurally, architecturally, etc)
  • Natali – Greens, windows, plants vs feeling enclosed.
  • Momo – Natural light, near metro Longueuil a very small space, white tables, big windows, installations of lights, ...
  • Fabio – Something temporary, maybe twice a week outside, vegetables, flowers, last experience of someone with a positive energy, with signs saying "pay what you feel is right".
  • Ming – A little private, maybe also a design where people can sit in circles.
  • Lisa – Very important too.
  • Fabio – And maybe have a permanence where people can do craft...
  • Lisa – This was in Wellington, with Wellington, cafeteria where people were trained... There is an Art space that helps ex-COVID-19 patients, assisting them with any needs they have (taking off their jackets for them) and practising art together in a group.
  • Fabio – ... yes, a space or event that brings people together to contribute to ease the daily life of individuals... like HackaHealth in Geneva – a similar approach is the open hardware lab. Sensorica, a makerspace / fablab where people have access to material and people knowledgeable to realize their projects.
  • Momo – Even to access a sawing machine that is expensive.
  • Ming – Games in the mall are so different nowadays: In China, there used to be a scavenger hunt TV show in the mall where people had to interact with other mall-goers to find the items on the list. Nowadays, there are video game chairs that do attract a lot of people but they don’t interact with one another.
  • Momo – Before COVID they had a prejudice against kids glued on the screen all day, and then also came on the screen... understanding there is connection behind... technology can also help connect.
What games did you used to play? What do you play now?
  • Lisa – Used to be video gamer, with arcade games.
  • Brock – Used to work at arcades.
  • Lisa – Plays cards with mom and shows some tricks.
  • Natali – Plays cards also with grandmother, bonding with people.

Group activity: Drawing as many objects that start with a particular letter of the alphabet in 1 minute

  • Two rounds : letter H, F

Round-table summary

  • Momo: Lots of fun and past memories around the mall and being younger, and how to use malls and other spaces now.
  • Ming: Good memories of the past, thinking about socializing and games, missing interacting with people.
  • Natali: Fun to play games and not be competitive, mixing talking and playing.
  • Lisa: Had fun and thinking about connection and friends.
  • Brock: Connecting to intergenerational socializing, could talk about on Wednesday group or next week.
  • Fabio: Fun, liked the starting the conversation with the Chinese zodiac signs and seeing where the conversation goes. Proposal to explore Tarot.

2022 Feb 8 – Reviving the community role of the mall

14:30 to 16:00 ET – Lisa P, Brock, Fabio, Momo, Natali, Ming

  • Small talk
  • Letter game with acting out or describing
  • Drawing about an ideal third place
    Collective drawing about an ideal third place
  • Closing round

2022 Feb 15 – Reviving the community role of the mall

14:30 ET on https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/98604018393?pwd=QmVSRHNxNEFGWmxiWWNIUGtySjJkUT09

  • Round of introductions
  • Open discussions
  • Open discussions
  • Closing round

2022 Feb 22 – Reviving the community role of the mall

14:30 ET on https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/98604018393?pwd=QmVSRHNxNEFGWmxiWWNIUGtySjJkUT09

  • Round of introductions
  • Open discussions
  • Hot chair ?
  • Closing round
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