Dramatic Interactors - Computers as Theatre - page 133

Explicit constraints can be used without damage to engagement if they
are presented before the action begins. Arguments about rules can seriously
disrupt the fl ow of both work and play. Both activities feel better when
the “rules” or “operational principles” of an activity are clearly articulated
as a frame for action. An interesting exception is the ongoing process of
rule-making and enforcement that is sometimes an element in children's
play—a sort of meta-game that provides its own distinct pleasures. In my
research on play, I've learned that kids generally do not experience disrup-
tion as they shift from play to meta-play. 11 A similar meta-game occurs in
the theatre when stagehands and “real people” wander in and out of the
action, as in some of the plays of Christopher Durang and Thornton Wilder,
or in certain productions of Brecht. Seen in this way, the meta-game is also
mimetic, and the actors are merely performing the roles of “real people” as
well as portraying other dramatic characters. Because it is mimetic, this is
a “false” context shift, much like a play within a play, or a dream in which
one has false awakenings. Such meta-games or meta-plays do not necessar-
ily violate engagement, but may enhance it through the same means as the
mimetic “core” activity.
Constraints may also be characterized as extrinsic or intrinsic to the mi-
metic action. Extrinsic constraints have to do, not with the mimetic context,
but with the context of the person as an interactor. Constraints should not
be left entirely to the interface affordances of the hardware. Avoiding the
“reset” and “escape” keys during play of a game has nothing to do with
the game world and everything to do with the behavior of the computer.
Playing a theatrical scene without the use of language (as an exercise) is an
extrinsic constraint designed to improve the actors' acuity in physical ex-
pressiveness—a different context than the mimetic one. Extrinsic constraints
have been used successfully in a variety of sports and other disciplines to
distract the part of consciousness that can interfere with performance. 12
The technique should be used cautiously in human-computer interaction,
however, because it has the potential to set up a secondary context that de-
mands part of a person's attention, disrupting “fl ow.”
11. For example, I once observed the following with a couple of six-year-olds: “Oh I am the
princess in the tower and you must save me.” “Okay, I am coming on my horse to save you.”
[some action ensues] “Okay, now we are married and we have a baby!” “Give me the baby. I
want to hold it.” There was no evidence of disruption in this sequence.
12. See, for example, one of the fi rst best-selling topics in this genre: W. Timothy Gallwey, Inner
Tennis: Playing the Game (New York: Random House, 1976).