Ośrodek Badań Groznawczych WP UJ zaprasza serdecznie

Boredom as a state-of-mind seems to be at the heart of the paradox of our present mediatised culture of always being productive connected and entertained. We shouldn’t get bored yet we need to get bored, almost as a means to keep going. In particular in relation to play, boredom is often conceived as the moment when we cease to do work and begin to play and momentarily enter the void of nothingness, also in order to regroup, recharge or rethink and get unstuck again. Paradoxically, boredom seems to lie at the heart of the current culture of constant connectivity and productivity enhanced by digital media. Each potential moment of boredom is at the same time a possibility for monetization – advertisements, casual games, social media, and other pushed notifications, all seem to be competing for our attention, which could otherwise be suspended in blissfully prolonged recreational "Langeweile".

Boredom becomes particularly interesting in relation to play and digital games, which are supposed to serve as an antidote. Yet even in digital games there seems to emerge a culture of boredom regarding the rising popularity of a new genre of so called self-playing idle games (games in which players are inactive most of the time), which for us is the starting point in looking at ludic boredom. The seminar will explore the social, cultural, and philosophical implications of boredom in relation to play and work, technology, media, and computer games with talks from scholars involved in the international collaboration to examine the undertheorized phenomenon of ludic boredom in depth.

PROGRAM

16:30: Introduction

16:40: Sybille Lammes (Leiden University) – Lost in Play: Repetition and waiting

17:00: Sebastian Möring (University of Potsdam) - The boring truth about the gameplay of Doom

17:20: Olli Tapio Leino (City University in Hong Kong) – Boredom and world-disclosure in Euro Truck Simulator 2 Multiplayer

17:40: Sonia Fizek (Abertay University) – Playing ourselves out of boredom in the computer age

18:00: Discussion