Category - London
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Thanks to the lovely Bobbie, Dan & Rachel for helping to sort me out with a last-minute ticket, I was able to attend Gamecamp 2008 on saturday, which I hope will become a regular / annual occurrence.
Although the open plan nature of the venue (the pimptastic Sony 3Rooms) meant that sessions ended up spilling a bit over into one another, it was otherwise an absolutely perfect space for an unconference. And the fact that the event sponsors provided a shedload of consoles didn’t go amiss…I can confirm that Rockband totally ROCKS.
As is always the way, I couldn’t go to all the sessions I’d have liked, and inevitably some of the most valuable time was that spent hanging around chatting with people, swapping ideas and thoughts with friends old and new.
As well as learning a hell of a lot in a more general sense about the wider world of gaming (I’d not call myself an avid gamer, but would definitely express a fondness for ARGs and pervasive gaming), it was a brilliant exercise in getting to think more creatively, and ponder the application of play to communications.
Play is fantastic. Play gets us to have fun, think, and wholly engage with a given game or exercise. I’ve blogged about a couple of fantastic examples of using play/gaming to communicate a given proposition or product (Penguin’s We Tell Stories and Nine Inch Nail’s Year Zero) but the various sessions definitely reaffirmed more than ever that play can be such an effective means to communicate…..far more than simply advertising TO someone.
The simply amazing venue was another phenomenal example of branded communication - the branded space did more to communicate the Sony brand to me than any advertising ever could. The bright colours throughout the space and integration of Bravia screens throughout allowed me to experience the ‘Colour like no other’ proposition more richly than a TV ad, however stunning, could do. The sleek, modern, but playful design of the whole space let me experience the importance Sony places on aesthetics / form as well as function; allowing me to try Sony products let me ‘live the brand’ (to use a wanky marketing phrase) far better than an ad ever could.
Experience - whether it’s a branded space, event, game or whatever - is powerful; and I’d argue communicates far more richly than mere advertising ever can.
[ see my Flickr set for more photos of Gamecamp @ the Sony 3Rooms ]
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Being a huge kid and a massive devotee of retro toys, robots, collectibles and the like, I was instantly entranced by this amazingly colourful window display at Liberty’s. However on closer inspection, it’s not just a showcase of kitsch playthings - it’s actually part of an installation by Michael Wolf, called The Real Toy Story, promoting the China Design Now exhibition at the V&A.
Over 75% of the world’s cheap mass-produced plastic toys are produced in China: the installation showcases 20,000 of these alongside photos of the factory workers who produce them.
The project was conceived when the artist bought a huge sack of c. 600 second hand toys from his local charity shop as a surprise for his son - and discovered that every single one was made in China. His son was not only amazed by the fabulous array of toys, but surprised to learn that toys weren’t in fact made by Santa and his helpers!
Powerful stuff.
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