d06tYgRc

1http://youtu.be/xU4LRVHzbJk
2galaxykate
3Dissertation Defense of "Casual Creators"
4
5y'all here and thanks to my community
605:28
7for joining in and for putting up with
805:31
9me in the past like eight years of of
1005:34
11writing this dissertation so yeah today
1205:37
13I'll be presenting my talk on casual
1405:39
15creators defining a genre of autotelic
1605:42
17creativity support systems I fir I keep
1805:44
19forgetting to define autotelic in this
2005:46
21presentation but autotelic means for its
2205:48
23own purpose if people aren't familiar
2405:50
25with that word so yeah I'd like to start
2605:53
27by asking the question what are games
2805:55
29I'd like to like coin the term games to
3005:59
31describe you put software I'd like to
3206:01
33propose some definitions of games I'd
3406:03
35like to describe some properties of
3606:04
37games and game-like systems
3806:06
39I'd like to annotate a number of fields
4006:09
41that have useful information for
4206:10
43understanding games propose some initial
4406:13
45genres of games like RPGs list some game
4606:18
47design patterns across multiple genres
4806:19
49of games create a list of games and then
5006:22
51make some games of my own to find out
5206:24
53what games are this would be a fairly
5406:26
55silly dissertation unfortunately it
5606:29
57turns out that casual creators are
5806:30
59actually from as far as I can tell about
6006:33
61as big as games without however having
6206:35
63these sort of define
6406:36
65culture that we need to find for games
6606:38
67in it in the 80s and 90s so during this
6806:42
69presentation I'm going to give you some
7006:43
71definitions of cash creators talk about
7206:45
73some properties some other fields that
7406:48
75have a useful informations and genres
7606:50
77design patterns a list of them this is
7806:54
79more in the dissertation itself and also
8006:56
81show you some casual creators that I
8206:57
83made to figure out what it is and I'll
8407:01
85talk a little bit about casual creators
8607:02
87for those who aren't familiar with the
8807:04
89term that I coined probably in 2014 a
9007:06
91little bit later these are all casual
9207:09
93readers and are casual creators is a
9407:12
95term to unpack that I will talk that
9607:15
97later this is gonna be a very quick
9807:18
99presentation I only have 40 40 ish
10007:20
101minutes my dissertation itself is about
10207:23
103the length of Return of the King or
10407:25
105Harry Potter or sensing sensibilities so
10607:27
107there's a lot more in the dissertation
10807:28
109that I would encourage you to read it
11007:30
111maybe not as good a read as those but
11207:32
113there's a lot more information
11407:35
115so getting to know casual creators so
11607:37
117this is kind of the outline of the talk
11807:39
119that we're gonna look at today and this
12007:41
121is also the contributions the
12207:42
123dissertation so like I said before I'm
12407:44
125gonna define what it is I'm going to
12607:46
127discover a bunch of shared features from
12807:48
129looking at these and then also looking
13007:51
131at my like making some of my own and
13207:53
133then my one of my big contributions is
13407:56
135I'm going to ontology these shared
13607:57
137features so how do we kind of create a
13808:00
139tool belt for ourselves to think about
14008:02
141what casual creators are these were my
14208:04
143research questions this is a lot of kind
14408:08
145of fluff but basically essentially what
14608:10
147I said in the previous slide of what
14808:12
149defines it what new experiences do we
15008:14
151get how do we predict those experiences
15208:18
153through what we know of creativity and
15408:21
155what do we need in order to understand
15608:23
157and analyze them so this is always kind
15808:25
159of a dual focus of I want to build
16008:26
161casual creatures and I also want people
16208:27
163to be able to analyze them and are there
16408:31
165sub categories what sort of design
16608:33
167patterns and do these design patterns
16808:35
169help so keep those in mind as part of
17008:38
171the evaluation so yeah first let's
17208:41
173define what a casual creator is so a
17408:44
175casual creator this is the sort of
17608:45
177informal definition just to get people
17808:47
179on board it's a it's some
18008:49
181interactive system it has to be
18208:51
183interactive in some way it may or may
18408:52
185not be digital and it's going to
18608:54
187scaffold the creative process with some
18808:56
189set of restrictions or generative
19008:59
191augmentations so it's either going to
19209:00
193confine you in some way or it's going to
19409:02
195create some sort of automated mechanism
19609:04
197to empower you I hate that word to like
19809:08
199increase your abilities and that creates
20009:12
201a generative possibility space so
20209:14
203there's going to be some possibilities
20409:16
205of artifacts or creating one of my
20609:18
207favorite examples of this is the pottery
20809:19
209wheel so if you think about sculpting
21009:22
211clay normally you can sculpt a very wide
21209:24
213range of different shapes there's still
21409:26
215a possibility space if like you can't
21609:28
217have blobs of clay floating in the air
21809:30
219but you can have a really wide range of
22009:33
221space a pottery wheel constricts that
22209:35
223space a lot so you can just really have
22409:37
225a sort of curve that is rotationally
22609:39
227extruded and you can have some some
22809:42
229variety of things within that space but
23009:43
231it also allows you to make things in
23209:45
233that space very easily you can make a
23409:47
235smoother more symmetrical pot than you
23609:49
237could normally especially as a beginner
23809:52
239there are plenty of apps at there's at
24009:55
241least one really famous app called
24209:57
243blitzkrieg pottery which is one of the
24409:58
245top app store games which is just a
24610:00
247pottery wheel so this is a sort of
24810:03
249digital representation of the pottery
25010:06
251wheel
25210:06
253I would I would actually call both of
25410:07
255these casual creators and both really
25610:09
257for the same reasons that you are for an
25810:12
259entertaining purpose manipulating this
26010:16
261possible like searching in this
26210:17
263possibility space through like moving
26410:19
265the shape of the curve in and out so the
26610:24
267user is interactively exploring that
26810:25
269possibility space and they are making or
27010:28
271discovering artifacts in that space and
27210:30
273there's a kind of interesting
27410:30
275distinction that I'll address later and
27610:32
277then one of the big things is they're
27810:33
279exchanging control for power I can't
28010:36
281make everything and I can't have total
28210:38
283control but I'm getting some sort of
28410:40
285power from that either in this sort of
28610:43
287like augmentation of you know it's
28810:45
289making any stroke that I I have it makes
29010:49
291it rotationally symmetrical but it's
29210:51
293also saying like well you can't make
29410:53
295especially in the app you can't make
29610:55
297something that would collapse on itself
29810:58
299in the way that you could in a normal
30011:00
301cat or in a normal pottery wheel
30211:02
303this is my official definition which I
30411:04
305won't read out but it's really more
30611:06
307about so not ever so the sort of key
30811:12
309phrases to keep in your head of all this
31011:14
311is a casual creators interaction plus
31211:16
313generativity exploring a generative
31411:18
315space but not every interactive
31611:20
317generator is a casual creator so we can
31811:23
319think of something like wah Tech where
32011:25
321la Tech is a an interactive generative
32211:28
323system so it is augmenting and
32411:31
325scaffolding my creativity but I'm not
32611:33
327using it autotelic Lee I'm not using it
32811:35
329sort of you don't sit down and have a
33011:37
331nice afternoon with la Tech this is why
33211:44
333is a casual creators is a questionable
33411:46
335thing for gym possibly Excel as a casual
33611:48
337creator and also it's not letting me
33811:54
339sort of freely move from this
34011:55
341possibility space it's it's very
34211:57
343constraining it doesn't it doesn't
34411:59
345trigger all these nice creative moments
34612:01
347one of the things about casual creators
34812:03
349is when you do have this feeling of
35012:05
351autotelic lee moving through a
35212:06
353possibility space you get all these
35412:08
355sorts of nice emergent behaviors and so
35612:11
357we saw this on spore where when when
35812:13
359people get creative they want to share
36012:14
361that creativity with others we gave the
36212:16
363message we gave them a way to upload
36412:18
365objects and comment on those objects but
36612:21
367not a way to directly message each other
36812:22
369and so on the right you see they made
37012:25
371mailbox objects uploaded those and use
37212:27
373those as direct messaging sites for
37412:30
375particular users and you can see that
37612:32
377each mailbox is highly personalized this
37812:36
379is the sort of emergent behavior that we
38012:37
381see whenever a casual creator like
38212:39
383really gets going not all of them get to
38412:41
385this level but this is a very strong
38612:42
387sign of success so the question is so is
38812:46
389this a casual creator is Excel a casual
39012:48
391creator we can think about it like with
39212:51
393this map that there's some sort of nexus
39412:53
395of true casual creators and there's gold
39612:54
397standard casual creators and then
39812:56
399there's like casual creators that are
40012:57
401actually pretty rubbishy but are still
40212:59
403casual creators and then there's stuff
40413:01
405that could probably use more casual
40613:03
407creator patterns there's stuff with some
40813:05
409properties of casual creators and then
41013:07
411there's things that are definitely not
41213:08
413casual creators but I don't actually
41413:10
415find it terribly helpful it reminds me a
41613:12
417lot of yes for eul's
41813:13
419heart of gameness diagram
42013:15
421where there is some true heart of
42213:17
423gameness with possibly like chess at the
42413:19
425very center and then like moving out
42613:20
427from there there are not game things and
42813:23
429so where you put something like Proteus
43013:25
431or the sport creature creator is is
43213:26
433questionable in here I find this
43413:28
435actually a fairly unhelpful diagram and
43613:31
437it leads to a lot of like well is it or
43813:33
439isn't it because one of the things that
44013:35
441I found with casual creators is that
44213:37
443especially possibly because it's not
44413:39
445been defined as a space before there are
44613:41
447a lot of things kind of in this liminal
44813:43
449region things that could be a casual
45013:45
451creator you know if you make a game you
45213:48
453have a lot of people telling you what a
45413:49
455game is and so you are kind of
45613:51
457constantly measuring against that and
45813:53
459self-correcting two more gayness we
46013:56
461don't have that for casual creators and
46213:57
463so people who make these entities aren't
46413:59
465necessarily moving towards more casual
46614:02
467Korean earnest or they don't even know
46814:03
469how and so you have systems like my
47014:07
471motivating example for this dissertation
47214:08
473is this for galactic Adventure Pack
47414:10
475where you could create games using the
47614:13
477spore engine and it was a complete
47814:15
479disaster compared to the really gold
48014:17
481standard creature creator we had very
48214:19
483few artifacts or may the artifacts were
48414:22
485made with very poor quality people did
48614:24
487not even play their games for the most
48814:25
489part and so this was a system with
49014:27
491casual crew like very clear casual
49214:29
493creator intentions that failed as a
49414:31
495casual creator experience there also
49614:33
497systems that lack the knowledge of the
49814:35
499larger space that identify a few key
50014:37
501design patterns and end up as casual
50214:39
503crater experiences anyway but they're
50414:41
505kind of only exploring a certain part of
50614:43
507the space that they've identified so Ken
50814:45
509Stanley's group does a lot with
51014:46
511entertaining genetic algorithms and
51214:49
513they've really dialed in on what makes
51414:51
515an entertaining genetic algorithm but
51614:52
517they're not exploring a lot of the other
51814:54
519possible design patterns that might like
52014:56
521combine really well with that and then
52214:59
523the third one is the like sort of
52415:00
525definitely not casual creators bucket
52615:02
527systems that people use and reinvent as
52815:05
529casual creators or as part of a
53015:06
531generative pipeline which I'll talk
53215:07
533about later these are things like Dwarf
53415:09
535Fortress where or minecraft so minecraft
53615:13
537people have made casual creator elements
53815:15
539in it or they're using it often as the
54015:17
541casual creator sort of self-promotion
54215:18
543autotelic creativity thing and then
54415:21
545Dwarf Fortress which is clearly not a
54615:23
547casual creator it is not a casual
54815:25
549anything but people have used the output
55015:29
551of that and built casual creators are
55215:31
553grounded so this is one of those is the
55415:33
555legends viewer where you can take output
55615:35
557of a Dwarf Fortress like 6,000 years
55815:38
559simulation and then start editing it
56015:40
561into a fun story so this is like it's
56215:43
563helping you write a novel dynamically
56415:45
565with this generative space so what are
56615:49
567we gained by defining casual creators is
56815:51
569sort of what is the purpose of this
57015:52
571dissertation I've talked about the
57215:54
573question the minute answering but why am
57415:56
575i answering it there are a couple of
57615:58
577things that I'd like to see happen with
57815:59
579it
58016:00
581it helps us compare common experiences
58216:02
583across fields and disciplines the image
58416:04
585over here on the left is a little bit
58616:06
587hard to see but the one on the left is a
58816:08
589choreography piece by animator Norman
59016:11
591McLaren where a human figure is
59216:13
593repeatedly overexposed on the piece of
59416:16
595film and then people made something
59616:18
597remarkably similar to that with the
59816:20
599Kinect and then as an art experiment and
60016:23
601then happy action theatre which is a
60216:25
603commercial game did it as well so we
60416:27
605here we have choreography animation sort
60616:31
607of playful Burning Man art and
60816:33
609commercial game all making something
61016:36
611that is very much the same experience
61216:38
613and not talking to each other in any way
61416:40
615and another thing that I'd like oh sorry
61616:44
617I forgot the rest of that slide I want
61816:46
619to give us a common language on /
62016:47
621ontology to talk about this so that we
62216:49
623can go to people in other fields I'd
62416:51
625really like for a game designer to be
62616:53
627able to talk to somebody who does these
62816:55
629little music apps and be able to like
63016:56
631talk back and forth somebody like Adam
63216:59
633Smith has made a little music app but I
63417:01
635don't know if you talk to other music
63617:03
637people while you made that which is
63817:05
639there's there a large number of little
64017:07
641doodle e casual creator music apps and I
64217:10
643think that nobody is talking to those
64417:11
645folks yet I also what would love to have
64617:14
647like a shared community like what is our
64817:16
649GDC of casual creators I couldn't even
65017:18
651just have a workshop at PC FDG or
65217:21
653something like that
65417:22
655could we have a mailing list and then
65617:25
657one of my big ones is interventions and
65817:27
659systems that want to be casual creators
66017:29
661and this has been fairly effective both
66217:32
663in my own work and in student work and
66417:34
665in contracting work I'd also kind of
66617:37
667like to do a bit of a an intervention in
66817:40
669the way that
67017:41
671talk about so-called trash apps there
67217:44
673are a lot of apps that are highly
67417:47
675feminized in this space and there's a
67617:48
677history of highly feminized crafts
67817:50
679especially craft for non-commercial
68017:53
681purposes the sort of wasted activity
68217:56
683that is used to occupy time and I won't
68417:59
685go into that there's a long history of
68618:00
687interesting gender craft studies but we
68818:04
689often disregard these apps so you don't
69018:06
691teach these in game design classes you
69218:08
693teach you know chess and Mario the true
69418:09
695games and so I would love to look more
69618:13
697at the one on the right is Nintendo's
69818:15
699cancelled knitting machine for the
70018:18
701Nintendo which we didn't get apparently
70218:21
703there's there's a nice quote by the
70418:22
705person who said it was the least
70618:23
707enthusiastic demo he ever gave so thanks
70818:26
709that guy but you know can we can we
71018:30
711revisit some of this stuff and treat it
71218:32
713with respect this is how people spend
71418:35
715their time I also think it's a really
71618:37
717fun way to understand how we interact
71818:39
719with generative spaces I spend a lot of
72018:41
721time with the computational creativity
72218:43
723community they're very interested in
72418:45
725making generators that make art this
72618:47
727makes these generators interactive and
72818:49
729so you can start exploring them in
73018:50
731different ways so these are all sort of
73218:53
733interesting generative spaces that you
73418:56
735interact with in different ways and
73618:58
737again these are all in some form or
73819:00
739another casual creators everything from
74019:02
741paint-by-numbers to this sort of like
74219:04
743giant ball covered in graphite that you
74419:06
745like launched around an art space to
74619:08
747things like kid Nick skin fixes like a
74819:10
749very clear casual creator so I'd like to
75019:15
751talk a little bit about the previous
75219:16
753work so because I think I'm already
75419:19
755running a little long so we've got
75619:22
757interaction plus generativity so we're
75819:24
759going to look at some frameworks of
76019:25
761interaction and generativity and then
76219:27
763also talk about what we know about
76419:28
765creativity if if these are if these
76619:31
767systems are to support creativity what
76819:34
769do we know about creativity so that we
77019:35
771can like build that in we know a lot
77219:37
773about creativity it's been pretty well
77419:40
775discarded the idea of they're sort of
77619:42
777like one creative mind we've got a
77819:44
779Beethoven and he's an attic somewhere
78019:45
781and as long as you've got a Beethoven
78219:48
783and some like four walls around them
78419:50
785they will just continue to make work
78619:52
787this is not thought to be true and this
78819:54
789is
79019:54
791especially not thought to be true of
79219:56
793casual creativity so everybody in this
79419:58
795room is creative but also everybody
79619:59
797outside of this room is creative it's a
79820:01
799natural human activity so there are a
80020:04
801couple of different frameworks pros of
80220:06
803this like csikszentmihalyi's
80420:09
805it was called dye fee or but domain
80620:11
807field and individual so you have oil
80820:16
809painting you have a field of painting
81020:17
811experts and then you have yourself in
81220:19
813the serve the interaction between myself
81420:20
815my activity and the people of value
81620:22
817waiting these is where creativity comes
81820:24
819from there's also things like embodied
82020:26
821cognition where creativity actually
82220:28
823happens when I push my paint against a
82420:30
825paint or a canvas or if you're writing a
82620:33
827story and you feel your your characters
82820:35
829start to push back against you so this
83020:37
831idea that like we are experiencing
83220:39
833creativity through our tool and then
83420:43
835there's a whole field of creativity
83620:43
837support these can be things that about
83820:47
839preventing what suppresses creativity so
84020:49
841like preventing blank slates and
84220:51
843supporting what enables creativity so in
84420:54
845encouraging divergent thinking Mad Libs
84620:57
847surprisingly as I discovered in this
84820:59
849dissertation was actually made by two
85021:00
851television writers who worked on the odd
85221:02
853couple and they made it as a tool to
85421:04
855help themselves come up with wacky ER
85621:06
857comedy ideas and then they released it
85821:08
859and it became something for non
86021:10
861professional comedy writers to use I
86221:13
863looked at a lot of generative frameworks
86421:15
865there are a massive number of frameworks
86621:16
867of generativity out there I have in one
86821:19
869of these papers somebody with three
87021:21
871pages of different frameworks for
87221:24
873generativity and Fields lacrosse dance
87421:26
875and architecture etc these are just the
87621:29
877ones that I looked at so I looked at
87821:30
879some 4pc gene games
88021:32
881I looked at some for generative art I
88221:34
883even looked at some for natural science
88421:35
885frameworks there's a couple of very good
88621:38
887books on how does nature produce pattern
88821:40
889and all of these kind of showed me that
89021:43
891there are some things that I'm calling
89221:45
893generative methods that are like sort of
89421:47
895not Universal but
89621:50
897reapplication ativy that get reused
89821:52
899everything from galactic formation to
90021:55
901cellular formation to spiraling sheep
90221:59
903horns and curly hair and grape vines and
90422:02
905then there's a work by Haim Gingold
90622:04
907called magic crayons which is all about
90822:05
909how generative things can come to life
91022:08
911and
91222:08
913you and a little bit about how to
91422:10
915interact but a lot of those don't get
91622:13
917into interactivity especially in this
91822:16
919sort of how do we understand system by
92022:18
921interacting them with them so if I have
92222:20
923some sort of strange generative toy how
92422:23
925do I understand what it's doing you know
92622:26
927if if I have a pottery wheel and I've
92822:28
929never seen one before and you sit me
93022:29
931down at it and I see that there's a lump
93222:31
933of clay spinning and I poke my finger
93422:32
935into it and I see a line go all the way
93622:34
937around it really quickly I'm like
93822:36
939learning what that system wants to do I
94022:39
941was really delighted to find that
94222:41
943everybody has loops I would just every
94422:44
945paper that I read or like maybe every
94622:46
947third paper that I read would have a
94822:47
949loop of some kind some of them cited
95022:50
951each other's loops but for the most part
95222:51
953no so over on the right is Steve swings
95422:54
955game field this is how do you grab a
95622:56
957muffin you move your hand and then as
95822:58
959you are moving your hand you're
96023:00
961constantly like updating your mental
96223:02
963model of how far your hand is from the
96423:04
965muffin and how far you should move so
96623:06
967these are all kind of representations of
96823:09
969I have some mental model I am acting on
97023:11
971some system or like I have a mental
97223:13
973model and make a hypothesis I encode
97423:14
975that hypothesis into an action the
97623:16
977system responds to me I look at that I
97823:19
979really ate it and then I build it back
98023:21
981into my mental model and the faster you
98223:23
983go through this loop the more you
98423:24
985understand how a system works the two on
98623:27
987the Left are from are specifically
98823:29
989identifying like this issue in software
99023:32
991where encoding something into the system
99223:35
993can actually be up reading the only
99423:36
995thing these were all talking about why
99623:40
997we shouldn't just use keyboards anymore
99823:41
999so what are other ways of encoding
100023:43
1001things and systems that are not you know
100223:45
1003making it punch card so nobody actually
100423:50
1005named their loop for the most part
100623:51
1007there's kind of a reflection in action
100823:53
1009loop but I needed some way to just talk
101023:55
1011about your loop is too slow because a
101223:58
1013lot of these things like the faster your
101424:00
1015loop goes the better you're able to
101624:02
1017learn a system and so if you have a
101824:04
1019complex system to learn and your loop is
102024:06
1021five minutes long no one will ever have
102224:08
1023it if your loop is 30 milliseconds long
102424:10
1025it just becomes intuitive it's really
102624:13
1027uncanny how fast that works and so this
102824:16
1029is what I'm calling the group and
103024:18
1031basically it's a loop of smashing some
103224:21
1033reflection that
103424:21
1035in action stuff into the Hutchins
103624:25
1037holland's in Norman Lube basically have
103824:28
1039a mental model you make a hypothesis you
104024:31
1041plan the encoding and you encode the
104224:33
1043change and there's what's called a Gulf
104424:34
1045of execution so can I actually execute
104624:36
1047this thing do I have to type it in for
104824:38
104945 minutes do I have to like execute
105024:41
1051some really gnarly like wave gesture
105224:44
1053that modifies the model it reinterprets
105424:48
1055the model into the artifact so this
105624:49
1057would be like if I you had a a pottery
105824:52
1059wheel that took a curve and turned that
106024:54
1061curve into a nicely modeled 3d object
106224:56
1063that would be kind of that step it
106424:58
1065presents that nicely modeled 3d object
106625:00
1067back to me there's a Gulf of evaluation
106825:02
1069which is things like I look at that and
107025:04
1071I decide whether or not I like it which
107225:06
1073is obvious for a pot but maybe not so
107425:07
1075much for like a generative novel or
107625:09
1077especially generative games have a
107825:11
1079really bad issue with this like how long
108025:13
1081does it take us to evaluate a game
108225:16
1083possibly a while the the dissertation
108425:18
1085goes into slow creators which are
108625:20
1087creators that have a very slow
108825:21
1089evaluation during coding loop and
109025:24
1091strategies to deal with that and then we
109225:26
1093evaluate and we update our mental model
109425:28
1095like oh I see that it won't let me make
109625:30
1097something that is too wide to fall over
109825:33
1099I also made something during the course
110025:35
1101of this general tape this dissertation
110225:36
1103that I'm calling the generative
110425:37
1105framework of generativity and this is
110625:40
1107basically my framework of generativity
110825:43
1109to add to all the ones that came before
111025:45
1111that saying that generative pipelines
111225:47
1113are made out of individual generative
111425:49
1115methods if anybody doesn't have a deck
111625:52
1117of general Manos I will happily give you
111825:53
1119one but this the general munoz were a
112025:56
1121deck of cards and I made to reify this
112225:58
1123idea into physical cards that
112426:02
1125represented each kind of generative
112626:03
1127method and then you could build long
112826:05
1129complex pipelines out of those and then
113026:07
1131easily switch different cards in and
113226:09
1133this was part of the argument of the
113426:11
1135generative framework of generativity is
113626:12
1137that you might have long chains of
113826:15
1139different steps and then for each step
114026:18
1141you might be able to say well what if
114226:20
1143the evaluation was being done by an AI
114426:22
1145what if it was being done by a human
114626:24
1147what if I was done by your Twitter feed
114826:27
1149you know that somebody is interacting
115026:29
1151well what if it was a tree branch that's
115226:31
1153interacting what if it's an animal
115426:32
1155that's interacting
115626:33
1157if it's strangers that are interacting
115826:34
1159and you can kind of socket things in and
116026:36
1161out it's a it's and then you know even
116226:38
1163mid steps can the like involve
116426:40
1165interaction in some way it's the idea
116626:43
1167that there is no sort of black box black
116826:46
1169box into which you like put humans and
117026:49
1171outcomes art and that is what what that
117226:52
1173is what generativity is like it's a
117426:54
1175constantly navigated field so that was
117626:58
1177the definition of a casual creator can
117826:59
1179follow along and now I'd like to
118027:00
1181identify some shared features and to do
118227:05
1183that I'll show you a little bit about
118427:06
1185where I got these shared features from
118627:08
1187the the sort of artifacts or the systems
118827:10
1189that I examine for this a lot of them
119027:13
1191were on my own prototypes these were
119227:15
1193prototypes that were either mostly made
119427:17
1195for fun but also to explore unexplored
119627:19
1197parts the design space so often I would
119827:21
1199find two different generative methods or
120027:23
1201two patterns that I had identified so
120227:25
1203l-systems and genetic algorithms and
120427:28
1205then I would make something in that
120627:30
1207space if I if I felt that these two
120827:33
1209would somehow taste well together I
121027:35
1211would make my generative cocktail of
121227:36
1213those two patterns and drink it and see
121427:38
1215what it tasted like as an evaluation
121627:41
1217this is very low rigor but it was very
121827:43
1219high volume so I did a lot of these and
122027:45
1221I was able to at least for my own
122227:47
1223personal satisfaction identify patterns
122427:49
1225that I felt were true in them so you can
122627:53
1227see for each one of these there are a
122827:54
1229couple of different patterns so tea
123027:56
1231Ohana which is like a little procedural
123227:58
1233dance generator had an extremely
123428:00
1235entertaining evaluation entertaining
123628:01
1237evaluations are one of my favorite
123828:03
1239patterns but we're using the Jena the
124028:05
1241generative method of music controlled
124228:08
1243particle systems and genetic algorithms
124428:10
1245something like bot print was actually
124628:12
1247fairly similar to that it was built in
124828:13
1249the same engine but it's using socketed
125028:16
1251grammars instead of particle systems
125228:18
1253binary fission was an intervention into
125428:21
1255a system that we were designing to
125628:23
1257figure out how to make something with a
125828:25
1259really gnarly croc loop so the previous
126028:27
1261version of this had had people typing in
126228:30
1263mathematical equations and then mentally
126428:32
1265evaluating them which is very hard for
126628:34
1267humans to do both of those things this
126828:36
1269is how do you turn that into you
127028:39
1271basically like browsing through things
127228:40
1273and then hovering over them so you can
127428:42
1275do this croc loop possibly you know a
127628:45
1277hundred times a minute or more
127828:48
1279and as you can see we've I've just made
128028:50
1281a lot of these different things all of
128228:52
1283which approach a variety of different
128428:55
1285different techniques and and approaches
128628:59
1287I also made some where other people
128829:02
1289could make creative stuff in them so
129029:04
1291things like techne tracery Chancery and
129229:07
1293the general meadows are all I made a
129429:10
1295casual crater for the general mano so
129629:11
1297you can design casual craters with your
129829:13
1299casual creator and techne makes
130029:16
1301generative systems in a generative
130229:18
1303system so these are should have meta
130429:20
1305ones but that I still applied with some
130629:23
1307degree of success all these patterns but
130829:25
1309honestly I've just made a ton of
131029:27
1311different prototypes just so many
131229:29
1313different prototypes for different
131429:31
1315things this is a recent one and so yeah
131629:36
1317again we're looking at low rigor high
131829:39
1319volume and discovering an excavating
132029:41
1321patterns in these I also looked at a ton
132229:44
1323of existing systems and this was a
132429:45
1325really great dissertation for opening my
132629:47
1327mind to where to find new systems and
132829:49
1329how to catalog them so I was looking at
133029:53
1331games I was looking at things in the App
133229:55
1333Store that weren't cataloged as games I
133429:57
1335would look at photo editing apps
133629:58
1337artworks gallery artworks tech demos so
133830:03
1339there are plenty of things that are
134030:04
1341academic explorations like pick reader
134230:06
1343clockwork muse and petals commercial
134430:08
1345things like the historical pinball
134630:11
1347Construction Set and TKO which is a a
134830:14
1349party game and then lots of like strange
135030:17
1351things that are that don't categorize
135230:19
1353easily like the recipe dice where you
135430:21
1355roll dice to come up with a new chili
135630:22
1357recipe and pair up all the polygons
135830:25
1359which is an interactive essay so yeah
136030:28
1361that was what I looked at take finally
136230:31
1363so now let's actually talk about you
136430:32
1365know what casual creators do like what
136630:35
1367are the patterns that I've discovered in
136830:37
1369these as I mentioned before one of our
137030:40
1371big sort of motifs that we'll see over
137230:42
1373and over again is that they exchange
137430:43
1375control for power so you have less exact
137630:46
1377control but you can do something faster
137830:48
1379aside from the pottery wheel another
138030:50
1381really great example of an analog
138230:51
1383version of this is spirograph has
138430:53
1385anybody not played with the spirograph
138630:55
1387so most people play with them at least
138830:57
1389once as a kid you stick at
139031:01
1391into a gear and then you crank it around
139231:03
1393some number of time there are two
139431:04
1395intersecting gears and you crank that
139631:05
1397around some number of times and it is
139831:07
1399you are providing the gesture but it is
140031:10
1401scaffolding your gestures such that even
140231:12
1403like a six year old kid can make a
140431:14
1405beautifully mathematical pattern I was
140631:17
1407originally sold or pitched as a toy for
140831:19
1409mathematicians in the late 1800s a lot
141031:22
1411of these things have bizarre histories
141231:24
1413and so I'm giving up control I can't
141431:27
1415draw anything I'm not drawing Garfield
141631:29
1417with a spirograph unless I am extremely
141831:31
1419virtuosic spirograph user but I with
142031:34
1421very little effort I can make a couple
142231:37
1423of choices that still feel creative so
142431:39
1425if spirograph only came with two gears
142631:41
1427and one pen it would not be much of a
142831:42
1429casual crater my my possibility space
143031:44
1431would be very narrow but instead it
143231:46
1433comes with several pens several gears
143431:48
1435they actually published some recipe
143631:50
1437books of different algorithms that you
143831:53
1439could run on your spirograph to have
144031:54
1441different behaviors like okay start do
144231:57
1443one of these and then find one of the
144431:58
1445points move the thing to the point and
144632:00
1447then like do it again and you get sort
144832:01
1449of interesting spirals and so you have a
145032:04
1451possibility space to find by that
145232:06
1453generative pipeline the possibilities
145432:08
1455phases I found were actually fairly
145632:10
1457fascinating there were a couple of
145832:12
1459terrible attempts that I made to
146032:15
1461illustrate different forms of
146232:16
1463possibility space but most possibilities
146432:18
1465phases are so complex that you can't
146632:20
1467easily diagram them they would often
146832:25
1469contain lots of different kinds of
147032:27
1471artifacts or different what I call
147232:28
1473textures of artifacts so sometimes you
147432:30
1475would get something like on the left
147632:33
1477here where okay there are some
147832:36
1479exceptional artifacts some good ones
148032:37
1481some bad ones and a couple of broken
148232:39
1483ones you might want get some where
148432:42
1485everything is either good or bad nothing
148632:44
1487is exceptional and nothing is broken and
148832:46
1489you might even get something where like
149032:47
1491there's a whole bunch of broken stuff
149232:49
1493and there may be one exceptional thing
149432:51
1495so you often get some possibility spaces
149632:53
1497that are full of garbage and one or two
149832:55
1499diamonds
150032:55
1501none of these possibilities spaces are
150232:57
1503wrong to build a casual creature around
150433:00
1505some casual creators there is one that I
150633:03
1507found where you're just like those
150833:05
1509sequin pillows and you just like move
151033:06
1511your fingers along with sequins to flip
151233:08
1513the sequins I've heard down nothing in
151433:10
1515that space is particularly interesting
151633:12
1517but you can move through it very safe
151833:14
1519you might also want that sort of space
152033:16
1521if you're making a game design like a
152233:18
1523level generator none of the levels in
152433:20
1525Diablo are particularly spectacular but
152633:22
1527they're very safe you never get a broken
152833:24
1529one which is very important for their
153033:26
1531game design for a very spiky sort of
153233:30
1533possibility space where there's a lot of
153433:31
1535trash and only one or one or two good
153633:33
1537things you can you get a situation where
153833:35
1539people start searching collaboratively
154033:37
1541for the one good thing and you become
154233:39
1543you get interesting patterns where
154433:41
1545people could self promote from finding
154633:43
1547good content Dwarf Fortress is served
154833:45
1549for example of this of a very spiky
155033:47
1551possibility space lots of trash and
155233:50
1553occasional grand epics that you you just
155433:53
1555have to sift far enough through so the
155633:57
1557shape of the possibility space is
155833:58
1559defined by the generative pipeline and
156034:00
1561different types of possibilities based
156234:02
1563spaces create different when I'm loosely
156434:05
1565calling genres of casual creators so
156634:08
1567things like if I am making a stroke or
156834:10
1569like my my possibility space is a bunch
157034:12
1571of strokes a natural thing would be to
157234:15
1573make that as part of a drawing app and
157434:17
1575then there are a lot of different things
157634:18
1577you can make with those strokes so if
157834:20
1579you have like my possibility space is
158034:22
1581defined by a bag of strokes that sockets
158234:24
1583very into like most of those are drawing
158434:27
1585tools in one way or another the clearest
158634:31
1587example of that is parametric spaces
158834:33
1589this is a space that you get if you have
159034:35
1591a bunch of numbers that are creating
159234:37
1593your artifact so like imagine I have ten
159434:40
1595sliders that are sliding back and forth
159634:41
1597like up on the top right there are a
159834:44
1599number of different projects mostly
160034:46
1601academic that use this although it's
160234:48
1603hard to find out what commercial apps
160434:49
1605use so there are a bunch of different
160634:53
1607patterns that socket very well on to
160834:55
1609this so you can create if you if you
161034:58
1611have this n-dimensional spit if you have
161235:00
1613this parametric space you can define
161435:02
1615this as an n-dimensional cube if you
161635:04
1617have an N dimensional cube each point in
161835:05
1619it is a an artifact and then you can do
162035:08
1621goofy stuff like create landmark
162235:09
1623artifacts and populate around them sort
162435:12
1625of like this I can say I like that tree
162635:13
1627give me a bunch of trees around that you
162835:16
1629can cluster or regionalize the artifact
163035:18
1631space you can sample from a region you
163235:21
1633can blend or evolve so if I have this
163435:22
1635point at this point then the line
163635:24
1637between them should contain a sort of
163835:26
1639blending from one our
164035:27
1641back to another depending on how smooth
164235:28
1643your space is if you don't have a lot of
164435:31
1645like sharp pops caused by if-statements
164635:33
1647and you can like animate along a curve
164835:35
1649like funky ikebana does so you can like
165035:36
1651just kind of like smoothly transition
165235:38
1653from one to another and of course
165435:41
1655evolution now evolutionary algorithms
165635:43
1657work real nice in this space so now I'll
165835:47
1659move on to some of the other design
166035:48
1661patterns so some of the design patterns
166235:50
1663are inherited from the shape of the
166435:51
1665possibility space but other design
166635:53
1667private Connor's are more
166835:54
1669general-purpose so whether you had
167035:56
1671something that was represented by a
167235:58
1673genetic sorry a parametric space or sort
167436:02
1675of a bag of curves or whatever your
167636:04
1677model is these all kind of apply equally
167836:08
1679and I'll go through some of these just
168036:10
1681because I on a very high level because I
168236:13
1683think I have about ten of them so if
168436:16
1685some of these come straight out of
168636:17
1687creativity theory so things like no
168836:19
1689blank slate people freeze up if they see
169036:22
1691a blank slate obviously if you have an
169236:24
1693expert user you don't start Mozart off
169436:26
1695with like twinkle twinkle little star
169636:27
1697and ask him to start like manipulating
169836:29
1699it until it's something that he wants
170036:30
1701that's a little weird you don't open up
170236:32
1703Photoshop and see some smiling happy
170436:33
1705family photo and you're supposed to edit
170636:35
1707that until it looks like your family but
170836:37
1709often users do need this is the sort of
171036:40
1711IMP so a lot of this comes out of I just
171236:43
1713kind of went through impro which is the
171436:45
1715classic improvisation book that defined
171636:47
1717a lot of the things that we think of now
171836:49
1719as improv and just went pattern by
172036:50
1721pattern really and one of the big
172236:52
1723patterns there is yes and and also
172436:54
1725giving people sort of crops it's this
172636:56
1727whole idea of like draw an idea out of a
172836:58
1729hat or theater games that have props and
173037:01
1731so casual creators often do this
173237:04
1733themselves but more often it's done by
173437:06
1735the community around casual creators so
173637:09
1737spore we had our community manager would
173837:11
1739have these holiday contests where or
174037:14
1741contests where people would be
174237:15
1743encouraged to you know make a mailbox
174437:17
1745make a holiday scene make a fruit cake
174637:20
1747and then other groups do this for
174837:23
1749various forms of creative activity such
175037:26
1751as the quilted a community on Facebook
175237:28
1753which gives you a photo and encourages
175437:30
1755you to make a quilt out of quilt design
175637:32
1757out of that photo so often these things
175837:35
1759are not running on the apps themselves
176037:36
1761that are running kind of in back
176237:37
1763channels they may even be disconnected
176437:40
1765from a casual creator so you could have
176637:43
1767a casual creator for designing quilts
176837:44
1769that somebody uses for the quilted a
177037:46
1771project there's also things about
177237:48
1773creative safety and this is often things
177437:50
1775like making impossible challenges such
177637:52
1777that no single person feels left out in
177837:56
1779pictionary it's not we're gonna vote for
178037:58
1781which of our friends draw us the best
178238:00
1783thing ever it's I'm going to give you an
178438:02
1785impossible task and ask you to draw that
178638:03
1787cranium is a game that takes that
178838:05
1789further where it makes you sculpted in
179038:07
1791clay or even draw it with your eyes
179238:08
1793closed so really leveling this sort of
179438:10
1795thing and then also simple challenges
179638:13
1797like change a word memes we're like you
179838:15
1799just have to change one thing you don't
180038:16
1801kind of have to do the heavy lifting you
180238:18
1803just have to be clever possibility space
180438:21
1805annotation this is kind of a pattern for
180638:23
1807big weird mostly bad spaces or even
180838:27
1809spaces that like have a few like where
181038:29
1811the exceptional artifacts are fairly
181238:31
1813rare and then users create communities
181438:34
1815around annotating things there was there
181638:36
1817are two competing scientific notations
181838:39
1819for describing your no man's sky
182038:41
1821creatures that you find for people who
182238:44
1823pictures themselves as the Carl Linnaeus
182438:46
1825of a digital space and are trying to
182638:48
1827enforce proper space annotation for that
182838:51
1829there's this sort of blend seamlessly
183038:53
1831into self-promotion which is if I'm
183238:56
1833annotating the space I'm just
183438:57
1835documenting things that doesn't feel
183638:59
1837like a sort of a source of pride for me
183839:01
1839unless you're the sort of person who
184039:02
1841really likes to be to Carl Linnaeus
184239:04
1843but sometimes people find things and
184439:07
1845then reproduce them in such a way such
184639:09
1847as the boat murdered legendary Dwarf
184839:11
1849Fortress playthrough the becomes artwork
185039:13
1851and people are self promoting through
185239:15
1853this through that system there is a very
185439:18
1855strong patterning casual creators of
185639:20
1857wedding people otto self-promote with a
185839:23
1859button so things like opus magnum is a
186039:27
1861creator for making these weird little
186239:28
1863machines that put like basically do like
186439:31
1865a little casual game ball and socket
186639:34
1867thing that you have to do it through a
186839:35
1869machine and there is a export to gif and
187039:38
1871I can't remember if there's like a post
187239:39
1873gift to twitter automatically button but
187439:41
1875you are gift buying a thing that thing
187639:43
1877looks great on Twitter if I make a
187839:45
1879clever thing I posted this to Twitter
188039:47
1881and all my friends say oh that thing is
188239:49
1883so clever ooh what's opus magnum and so
188439:51
1885it is self promoting the tool
188639:54
1887through promoting the self even very
188839:57
1889small things like so in this bottom
189040:00
1891right one this is alpha bear where you
189240:03
1893can fill in a little template with the
189440:05
1895word that you found in this word search
189640:06
1897game and Here I am humble bragging that
189840:09
1899I found this fun like I found this funny
190040:12
1901thing but also look I found a really
190240:13
1903long word that was complex and you know
190440:15
1905that I can like find this word and
190640:18
1907here's a little link to alpha bear so
190840:20
1909you can get alpha bear this is a very
191040:22
1911like great pattern especially for Indies
191240:25
1913trying to get their name out there are a
191440:27
1915couple that are just about ways to make
191640:28
1917casual creators feel more magical what
191840:31
1919is when I'm exchanging control for power
192040:33
1921what is the power that I'm gaining so
192240:35
1923repetition is like the first order
192440:38
1925version of this like repetition is a
192640:39
1927really strong casual creator pattern if
192840:41
1929you do some input and repeat it it looks
193040:44
1931cool it feels magical it's a thing that
193240:47
1933we can't normally do by ourselves we
193440:49
1935can't target those indefinitely with
193640:51
1937accuracy so there are a bunch like
193840:54
1939mirror lab is probably the best one of
194040:55
1941these where you put in it a photo and it
194240:57
1943does something extraordinarily fun with
194440:59
1945it but they're also tessellation ones
194641:01
1947the one in the middle is transformation
194841:03
1949this is a pretty loose pattern it I just
195041:06
1951couldn't find a better term for it but
195241:08
1953this is when something is transformed in
195441:10
1955some way so I I wrote this chapter on
195641:13
1957casual on casual craters that intersect
195841:15
1959with coloring books in some way so if
196041:18
1961you take the pipeline of a coloring book
196241:19
1963I have I have some real like some lines
196441:22
1965there are regions in those lines that
196641:24
1967color in those lines when I look at the
196841:25
1969picture any one of those can be any one
197041:28
1971of those steps can be transformed in
197241:29
1973some way well okay the the
197441:32
1975I draw the lines and then the the
197641:34
1977computer fills them in with a machine
197841:36
1979learned model of cats so the computer is
198041:39
1981using the coloring book that I'm drawing
198241:40
1983for it or sketch aquarium is a nice one
198441:43
1985weird kids color in with actual physical
198641:46
1987crayons a an image of a fish it gets
198841:48
1989scanned in and that fish gets sort of
199041:50
1991souped up to a physical screen on the
199241:53
1993wall as a three-dimensional swimming
199441:55
1995fish this is it's sort of like I have
199641:57
1997made something normal in a casual way
199841:59
1999and then it's gotten like sucked into a
200042:00
2001magical sphere and then make it real is
200242:04
2003just uh we've got a lot of personal
200442:06
2005fabrication stuff and it's really
200642:07
2007interesting to see where
200842:08
2009creators intersect with that and and how
201042:11
2011they could kind of drive some of this
201242:12
2013cash some of this personal fabrication
201442:14
2015stuff that seems to be kind of tapering
201642:16
2017off or becoming ever more professionally
201842:19
2019locked signifiers add power and
202042:22
2021expressing identity or to ones that
202242:23
2023about how casual creators intersect with
202442:26
2025our world so this is the the sheriff
202642:28
2027generator if everyone has seen the
202842:30
2029sheriff meme this is basically just a
203042:33
2031signifier playground and signifiers are
203242:35
2033a semiotic sturm for here's an object
203442:38
2035that means something outside of what it
203642:41
2037actually is so if I put the poop emoji
203842:42
2039like we know what the poop emoji means
204042:45
2041if I put the peach emoji we know what
204242:46
2043the peach emoji means and different
204442:49
2045different signifiers will mean things to
204642:51
2047different cultures so this is the
204842:52
2049sheriff of please pass this dissertation
205042:54
2051and this is a casual creator that
205242:56
2053somebody made of making your own sheriff
205442:59
2055means you can see this is something that
205643:00
2057everybody could approach but by making
205843:03
2059these small switches of signifiers if I
206043:05
2061changed all these to fish if I change
206243:07
2063all these to poop emoji I make different
206443:09
2065kinds of sheriffs but just by very small
206643:12
2067signifier shifts there's also another
206843:16
2069pattern and kind of letting people
207043:17
2071express identity so I've talked about
207243:19
2073how casual creators are about moving
207443:20
2075quickly through a possibility space well
207643:23
2077what happens if the possibility space is
207843:24
2079a representation of identities remember
208043:27
2081that every possibility space leaves some
208243:29
2083stuff out and includes some stuff so
208443:30
2085whose identities are getting left out
208643:32
2087what identities are being left in kind
208843:36
2089of how do you combine these with
209043:37
2091different signifiers and so there's a
209243:38
2093whole sub-genre of casual creators where
209443:41
2095you represent yourself through the
209643:42
2097signifiers of some space so who are you
209843:45
2099in Harry Potter universe this is a very
210043:47
2101strong one of like the Hogwarts houses
210243:49
2103are strong signifiers and I can identify
210443:52
2105denta Phi 3 of these four signifiers and
210643:55
2107maybe a wand but there are things like
210843:58
2109there was a little get-out-the-vote
211044:00
2111casual creator where there are a variety
211244:02
2113of different political signifier so you
211444:04
2115can put in like a black lives matter or
211644:06
2117a barfing eagle or like a American flag
211844:08
2119background and then some signifiers that
212044:10
2121are about yourself so I put glasses and
212244:11
2123pink hair there is a Simpson Iser that
212444:14
2125is very sadly no longer with us but all
212644:17
2127of these let you sort express yourself
212844:18
2129through the tools of of this space
213044:21
2131it's also interesting of moving very
213244:23
2133quickly through an a space of identity
213444:25
2135is a way that a lot of people play with
213644:27
2137either gender or presentation identities
213844:29
2139hi i'm has a really great example in one
214044:32
2141of his talks where he was making himself
214244:33
2143in the me maker which is like the Wiis
214444:36
2145personal creativity school and he had a
214644:38
2147beard at the time and he said no matter
214844:40
2149how like changed my beard it looks
215044:42
2151stupid and he said oh and then he got
215244:46
2153rid of the beard I'd like to like end
215444:50
2155with an example of one of my favorite
215644:52
2157patterns this is entertaining
215844:53
2159evaluations and this kind of just shows
216044:54
2161you the range of some of these patterns
216244:56
2163so these are a number of different tools
216445:00
2165or a number of different systems that
216645:02
2167use entertaining evaluations that in
216845:03
2169some ways sometimes it's the evaluation
217045:06
2171itself so there are a lot of pipelines
217245:08
2173that need evaluations in some way like
217445:09
2175genetic algorithms or just like in the
217645:12
2177one on the top left these are the
217845:13
2179metagame apples-to-apples TKO not shown
218045:16
2181cards against humanity' where we are all
218245:19
2183making a little creative thing and then
218445:20
2185we have to choose which the best
218645:22
2187creative thing is and so we're gonna do
218845:24
2189that with people we're just going to
219045:25
2191have one person is the voter and this is
219245:28
2193referred to often as an apples-to-apples
219445:29
2195mechanic you can also have things where
219645:32
2197a computer is doing the evaluation but
219845:35
2199you want it to do that evaluation in a
220045:36
2201fun way and so there are things like
220245:39
2203rollercoaster tycoon 2 where you get a
220445:41
2205nice little numerical excitement rating
220645:43
2207and intensity rating and nausea rating
220845:45
2209you could just have those numbers but it
221045:47
2211also has tiny little people that wander
221245:49
2213around and will like puke if you're if
221445:52
2215it's too exciting The Sims oddly enough
221645:55
2217actually started off as an architecture
221845:57
2219generator this is supposed to just be a
222045:59
2221casual creator for architecture and they
222246:00
2223put in little entertaining evaluation
222446:02
2225people that would comment on your house
222646:04
2227and people got really excited about
222846:05
2229those and that's why it's called The
223046:07
2231Sims and not the house and then there's
223246:11
2233something like art school which is
223446:12
2235actually using this entertaining
223646:14
2237evaluation as a critique of art
223846:16
2239education you were told at the beginning
224046:18
2241that you have a very smart professor who
224246:20
2243is going to evaluate all of your work
224446:21
2245and that they've been trained on all the
224646:23
2247greatest art in the world
224846:24
2249so this is kind of playing into this
225046:26
2251idea of machine learning the current
225246:29
2253just alt of machine learning being
225446:30
2255trained on classical art and being able
225646:32
2257to solve art and you
225846:35
2259doodle with a terrible little interface
226046:37
2261and then it will arbitrarily rate it is
226246:40
2263very clearly completely random and so
226446:42
2265this is also playing into the safety
226646:44
2267pattern again of if you make an
226846:46
2269impossible task people don't feel bad
227046:48
2271about failing at it it's actually fun to
227246:50
2273feel if your task is impossible enough
227446:52
2275you don't take it personally
227646:53
2277this is making an excitingly safe space
227846:55
2279to play with but also a critique of what
228046:58
2281it means to evaluate art so that's that
228247:03
2283we're getting very near to the end so
228447:06
2285these were my research questions again
228647:07
2287you can kind of think to yourself you
228847:09
2289know did i define what you casual
229047:11
2291creator is and talk about the new
229247:12
2293experiences that we get with it then
229447:14
2295like are people creating mailboxes in
229647:17
2297Mountain casual creator experiences does
229847:20
2299that do are existing theories of
230047:23
2301creativity everything from impro to
230247:24
2303csikszentmihalyi's theories of
230447:27
2305creativity predict any of the things
230647:28
2307that we've seen so far do you feel like
230847:32
2309these frameworks especially the
231047:33
2311generative framework of generativity and
231247:35
2313this sort of gerak would help understand
231447:37
2315what's going on in some of these
231647:38
2317creators maybe not from this talk but
231847:41
2319especially for some of my like excuse me
232047:44
2321slow generator chapters are there
232247:48
2323subcategories I didn't talk about these
232447:49
2325as much but you'll see these more in the
232647:50
2327dissertation itself what set of design
232847:53
2329patterns provide prescriptive guidance
233047:54
2331for designing Doucet successful kind of
233247:56
2333creators like if you were to build a
233447:58
2335teapot generator or think about your
233648:00
2337work that you're doing right now if you
233848:01
2339were to make that a casual creator I
234048:03
2341know for the murder mystery project
234248:04
2343we've used the the metaphor of like what
234448:08
2345if bad news but a casual creator and
234648:12
2347then you know if I've shown you that
234848:14
2349menu of patterns that we just had you
235048:16
2351can kind of pick and choose and hold
235248:17
2353them up and will this one go and if
235448:21
2355these design patterns are used do they
235648:23
2357ease and improve the design process and
235848:25
2359for the last one I wanted to at least
236048:28
2361with Catherine's assistance design some
236248:30
2363form of evaluation that wasn't just me
236448:32
2365in my own head and so that I made this
236648:35
2367zine that's on the table casual creators
236848:37
2369some of the patterns have shifted
237048:40
2371slightly that they don't seem to stay
237248:42
2373steady very easily but I had a tiny
237448:45
2375little study of seven industry
237648:46
2377professionals because it turns out
237848:47
2379they're very busy
238048:48
2381and ask them you know do you feel
238248:50
2383represented by this it does this feel
238448:52
2385like something that is relevant for your
238648:53
2387work especially would you recommend this
238848:55
2389to a colleague or would you recommend
239048:57
2391this to a junior colleague like a
239248:58
2393student and that was a fairly universal
239449:01
2395that they all would a couple of them
239649:05
2397identified very strongly with the term
239849:06
2399Catholic readers even if they did not
240049:08
2401heard the term before one of them said
240249:11
2403that she now considers their they now
240449:12
2405consider their work a casual creator one
240649:15
2407in particular Simon kolten is actually
240849:17
2409going he leads a studio in England and
241049:20
2411he is going back and labeling his entire
241249:22
2413academic careers work as casual creators
241449:24
2415but not all of it but all of his
241649:26
2417interactive stuff so he's like very
241849:28
2419aggressively being like it that was a
242049:30
2421casual per year that was a casual
242249:31
2423creature and his lab is like very
242449:33
2425heavily using this term moving forward
242649:35
2427so that's been a strong success and then
242849:39
2429I asked them which patterns they
243049:40
2431consider the most important and a lot of
243249:42
2433it was kind of the safety or emergent
243449:44
2435kind of patterns
243649:46
2437I think nobody used make it real just
243849:49
2439because nobody is using that yet in the
244049:50
2441particular group that I surveyed so yeah
244249:53
2443a number of people are are using this so
244449:55
2445far your groc loop is too slow is almost
244649:58
2447an entirely accurate you can just have
244850:01
2449that printed on a card and hand it to
245050:02
2451students and I've done this with several
245250:05
2453contracting gigs as well so you know
245450:08
2455your groc loop is too slow let's look at
245650:10
2457the diagram Oh your evaluation is too
245850:12
2459slow
246050:12
2461nope your encoding is too slow we're
246250:14
2463gonna solve that we also evaluated the
246450:18
2465general nose with Eddie Meltzer
246650:19
2467and that seemed to help students very
246850:22
2469effectively start to understand
247050:25
2471generativity as a pipeline and they're
247250:26
2473their designs got much better so that
247450:28
2475was a sort of squishy version of the
247650:29
2477evaluation and there's like a little
247850:31
2479harder version of the evaluation and
248050:33
2481then also the general Romano's are
248250:34
2483getting used in a wide range of
248450:35
2485different things you can now use them in
248650:37
2487virtual reality because they can port it
248850:38
2489to tabletop simulator so yeah this is
249050:42
2491kind of lays into what is the casual
249250:43
2493creator future and my hope for the
249450:46
2495casual trainer future is like tracery
249650:49
2497getting ported like the general and
249850:50
2499getting ported into tabletop simulator
250050:53
2501this is the part where I start to hand
250250:55
2503it off to other people other people I
250450:57
2505hope will now start to carry the torch
250650:58
2507more I'd like there to be an online
250851:00
2509directory of casual creators so I might
251051:02
2511at least
251251:02
2513make that and seed it with all the
251451:04
2515casual creators that I identified in my
251651:06
2517dissertation or casual creator II things
251851:08
2519I think it'd be really interesting to
252051:11
2521find out what a casual creator Creek
252251:12
2523class curriculum would look like you
252451:15
2525know if we taught it as you know one
252651:17
2527forty whichever one we have left what
252851:21
2529would our curriculum be what will be
253051:22
2531asked the students to make who would we
253251:24
2533bring it in as guest speakers how do you
253451:26
2535get how do you get outside of games
253651:28
2537especially if you're teaching this in a
253851:30
2539games department be interesting to teach
254051:31
2541this in an art department and see what
254251:33
2543their perspective is or actually
254451:34
2545teaching our music department which has
254651:36
2547a very strong generative music component
254851:38
2549I would love to see some meetups and or
255051:40
2551workshops I'm bad at organizing this
255251:42
2553sort of thing since this is where I hope
255451:44
2555that other people would join in and
255651:46
2557we'll see I would love to turn this
255851:48
2559dissertation into a basically a handbook
256051:50
2561or like a wry way style not MIT press
256251:53
2563style that people could use to build and
256451:56
2565these these things so yeah in conclusion
256651:58
2567casual creativity is important we're not
256852:01
2569all Mozart's and that's okay
257052:03
2571software ish systems can augment or
257252:05
2573support casual creative creativity and
257452:07
2575casual creators are a real genre and you
257652:09
2577should make and study them so thank you
257852:10
2579very much to my committee and I'll open
258052:12
2581it up to questions any kind of point
258252:46
2583presentation the problem is that you
258452:50
2585often find these tools and they are
258652:52
2587either very restrictive my sense you
258852:55
2589know it's very easy to create one but
259052:58
2591then everyone looks the same very
259253:04
2593quickly or it's like too hard and
259453:10
2595and so do you see this as sort of like I
259653:12
2597mean have people like from Microsoft not
259853:19
2599yet although I would say that if you've
260053:21
2601used Prezi Prezi is an interesting
260253:23
2603approach to trying to make a casual
260453:25
2605creator in some way like like many
260653:28
2607casual creators a casual creator in some
260853:29
2609way for making presentations we're like
261053:31
2611this swoopy generative aspect of it is
261253:34
2613very fun so you have sort of magical
261453:36
2615generative power I think the trouble is
261653:38
2617a lot of these patterns only work when
261853:41
2619the activity is autotelic so if you have
262053:44
2621something that is being done for a
262253:46
2623particular purpose so like I have a boss
262453:47
2625and I have to make this presentation for
262653:49
2627this boss or I have a grand idea and I
262853:51
2629have to make this presentation for this
263053:53
2631grand idea I need control and so a lot
263253:56
2633of these patterns sort of explicitly
263453:58
2635fight against control and so this is
263654:01
2637often at odds with that that said there
263854:03
2639are a lot of systems where they
264054:04
2641successfully put these two things side
264254:06
2643by side so Photoshop has a lot of very
264454:08
2645intense control over levels and pixel
264654:12
2647levels but they also have a couple of
264854:15
2649doofy tools that are left in there kind
265054:16
2651of for playful use so there's like the
265254:17
2653mosaic tool where you click it and it
265454:20
2655makes a terrible mosaic out of your
265654:21
2657image and so you can done like you make
265854:24
2659your terrible mosaic and then like fuss
266054:26
2661with it a little bit so there's there's
266254:28
2663some successfully balanced modes back
266454:30
2665and forth and then another pattern that
266654:33
2667I see often is people outgrowing these
266854:35
2669casual creators so you can make
267054:37
2671something for like little kids to
267254:38
2673basically make presentations online like
267454:41
2675okay do feel it'll drop stuff in you're
267654:43
2677never going to get control you wouldn't
267854:45
2679use this for like a business
268054:46
2681presentation but it'll teach you the
268254:47
2683ropes and then you outgrow that and you
268454:49
2685go into something else
268654:50
2687we had a somebody that I followed on the
268854:53
2689spore creature creator that was one of
269054:55
2691our best creators eventually outgrew it
269254:57
2693got into my went to art school and that
269455:00
2695works for Disney no no dogs can't
269655:09
2697actually use casual creators I think
269855:11
2699Brock loops would be very important for
270055:13
2701animal use as well
270255:14
2703[Laughter]
270455:18
2705yeah I guess I'm curious like what your
270655:29
2707take is on really complex software that
270855:32
2709is not like a casual courier but then
271055:34
2711using presets to like casual is that
271255:41
2713like no I think that's a really good
271455:46
2715place to start and I think Instagram
271655:48
2717does a really good job of that this idea
271855:49
2719like let's have filters so what do most
272055:51
2721people want to do with their photos they
272255:53
2723want to like you know make it look good
272455:58
2725and if they have like three buttons like
272656:00
2727that little magic wand thing that they
272856:01
2729have for a lot of photo editing apps
273056:02
2731like I don't want to make a choice I
273256:04
2733want my only choice to be like looks
273456:05
2735better or doesn't or you know I'm good
273656:08
2737to notice how a lot of these use
273856:10
2739signifiers where it's like different
274056:11
2741like I want to have a vintage photo so
274256:13
2743I'm going to use the vintage signifier
274456:15
2745so like photos like photo filters ad
274656:17
2747signifier you know I'm going to use the
274856:20
2749like Hollywood one or I'm going to put
275056:22
2751some stickers on this photo so I think I
275256:26
2753haven't seen anything that blends that
275456:28
2755probably just because I haven't opened
275656:30
2757every photo app that exists on the App
275856:32
2759Store because there's thousands but
276056:34
2761there's probably at least one that
276256:36
2763allows me to do these sort of like broad
276456:38
2765casual create gestures and then a lousy
276656:41
2767to do it'll like Photoshop a fussiness
276856:44
2769often just because of the way that
277056:46
2771generativity works you can't move from a
277256:48
2773less complex model that enables casual
277456:51
2775creativity to a more complex model
277656:53
2777it's like pixel to pixel and then move
277856:55
2779back often it's difficult to do that
278056:58
2781like sort of swapping back and forth
278256:59
2783layering so I think that's one of the
278457:00
2785things that prevents prevents that from
278657:02
2787happening but you can usually do it
278857:04
2789unidirectionally of like photo filter to
279057:08
2791pixels and then from pixels to direct
279257:11
2793Nixle manipulation yes so I have a
279457:14
2795question from the internet
279657:16
2797hello Internet I totally agree with the
279857:19
2799need for a fast broad Klute however with
280057:21
2801musical instruments a Groth loop can go
280257:23
2803from very slow to fast after years of
280457:26
2805honing a skill memory
280657:27
2807learning patterns how does this
280857:29
2809framework account for long term
281057:30
2811engagement / learning difficult tools
281257:33
2813long term engagement session learning
281457:35
2815difficulties
281657:37
2817so a lot of these casual creators unfold
281857:40
2819in different ways so if you've played an
282057:42
2821idle game where like your first if you
282257:45
2823open cookie clicker there's exactly one
282457:46
2825thing you can do which is click the
282657:47
2827cookie and then you eye unfolds out as
282857:50
2829you've learned to this more and more so
283057:53
2831for example in the the pottery wheel app
283257:57
2833that I showed you you start with just
283457:58
2835being able to shift the thing and then
283658:00
2837you can buy yourself more tools and so
283858:02
2839this is great because it keeps people
284058:04
2841from getting kind of choice paralysis it
284258:07
2843gives you a small number if you don't
284458:09
2845know anything about the space you're
284658:11
2847more ok than ever or than ever later for
284858:15
2849having a restricted number of tools
285058:17
2851because you don't know the tools it
285258:18
2853should be in that space and then the
285458:19
2855more you use that tool the more fussy
285658:24
2857things you need to like fussy tools you
285858:27
2859need so if you know any friends who are
286058:29
2861crafters you know you start off with
286258:31
2863like the little kids paint kit for a
286458:32
2865dollar fifty and then pretty soon you're
286658:35
2867buying like different kinds of acrylic
286858:37
2869pouring things and like different drying
287058:41
2871medium and different like inclusions and
287258:44
2873different kinds of paints and not that
287458:45
2875blue the other blue no not that blue so
287658:49
2877you see people when they get into these
287858:52
2879apps if there are if there are long-term
288058:53
2881casual creator apps which I'm not sure I
288258:57
2883have not seen many of them a lot of
288459:01
2885times it's like people outgrowing the
288659:02
2887creature creator sometimes people just
288859:04
2889really like something and become
289059:05
2891virtuosic in it
289259:07
2893so the idea becoming virtuosic in a
289459:09
2895casual crater is not uncommon this is
289659:11
2897kind of that self promotion thing where
289859:13
2899you will get people you know we've all
290059:15
2901seen me like you'll never guess what
290259:16
2903somebody made in an etch-a-sketch it's
290459:18
2905like a perfect mona lisa is this
290659:20
2907somebody taking a casual creator and
290859:21
2909self promoting through virtuosic
291059:23
2911expansion of what we thought the
291259:25
2913possibility space was so yeah people
291459:28
2915people expand the possibility space
291659:29
2917often in ways that the creators did not
291859:31
2919anticipate we didn't put in asymmetry in
292059:35
2921the sport creature creator somebody too
292259:37
2923discovered a glitch that allowed you to
292459:40
2925do that and then
292659:41
2927self-promoted by making a base model of
292859:45
2929the of the creature that had a symmetry
293059:48
2931uploading that and then anybody could
293259:50
2933download that and build a symmetric
293459:51
2935creatures without having to go through
293659:53
2937the glitch so this is kind of a a
293859:56
2939virtuosic user expanding the possibility
294059:58
2941space in a way that was not sanctioned
294260:00
2943by the original creators so I would say
294460:03
2945that that is often what we see you're
294660:05
2947like oh I'm sure there's there sometimes
294860:07
2949in music where it's like nobody thought
295060:09
2951to use a flute like that but now
295260:10
2953everyone does so it'll be interesting I
295460:14
2955think I don't know that every casual
295660:17
2957creator I don't know how many casual
295860:19
2959creators are in long-term casual
296060:20
2961creators and I don't think that each one
296260:22
2963should I think there are some things
296460:23
2965that it's it's totally okay okay to have
296660:26
2967recorders like the recorder in like an
296860:28
2969elementary school music class that's
297060:30
2971fine people outgrow it it sounds
297260:31
2973terrible they're cheap they're they
297460:34
2975fulfill a space in our lives
297660:36
2977not everybody graduates from
297860:37
2979paint-by-numbers to like full-on
298060:39
2981canvases and that's okay too it's okay
298260:42
2983to just be there for people in one stage
298460:44
2985because that stage might stay with
298660:46
2987people we're not always just a stepping
298860:50
2989stone on the way to Mozart
299061:04
2991I've got another one from the internet
299261:06
2993yeah sure um the question is has anyone
299461:10
2995made a casual creator within minecraft
299661:12
2997ie ins to house builder or whatever I
299861:14
2999would assume yes I'm not big enough in
300061:17
3001the Minecraft scene to know I would 6 I
300261:19
3003forget what people have hooked up to
300461:21
3005minecraft but basically anything you can
300661:22
3007hook Python into you can make a casual
300861:24
3009creator from or really anything that has
301061:28
3011any form of scripting so heck you could
301261:31
3013probably just build a Minecraft in
301461:32
3015Minecraft itself with enough redstone
301661:34
3017like somebody should make a Minecraft
301861:37
3019pottery wheel I think that would be a
302061:38
3021nice challenge I'm gonna call in one
302261:55
3023minute bio break feel free to grab
302461:58
3025snacks on your way out otherwise it'll
302661:59
3027just end up in the ice lab oh thank you
302862:02
3029should probably stop streaming them oh
303062:07
3031yeah thanks Internet