BioSpil: Bringing interactivity and gaming into a cinema-context

Abstract

This paper presents a study on a current phenomenon conceptualized as BioSpil, which brings interactivity and gaming into a cinema context. The study focused on two questions, namely in what way BioSpil can be called a game, and how it functions as a social game. The study applied an ethnographic approach. The analysis showed that BioSpil had a game-like character, but were, to a certain extent, in conflict with two of Calliois’ categories that can define a game, namely being free and separate in time and space. The aspect of a game as being free, is not only dependent on accessibility in terms of devices, but also on cultural and contextual factors. This influenced the conditions of what constitute accepted and expected behaviors of visitors in a cinema-context. Furthermore, the analysis identified that BioSpil offered three kinds of social spaces; an active, a passive, and an external space.