2019
Heljakka, Katriina; Harviainen, J. Tuomas
From Displays and Dioramas to Doll Dramas Journal Article
In: American Journal of Play, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 351–379, 2019, ISSN: 1938-0399.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Adult play, Adult toy play, Creativity, Object play, Object relations, Photoplay, Social media, Social play, Toys, World play, Worldbuilding
@article{Heljakka2019,
title = {From Displays and Dioramas to Doll Dramas},
author = {Katriina Heljakka and J. Tuomas Harviainen},
url = {https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/116158},
issn = {1938-0399},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
journal = {American Journal of Play},
volume = {11},
number = {3},
pages = {351–379},
publisher = {The Strong},
address = {Rochester},
abstract = {Toys both guide and foster the play—and stimulate the imaginations—of players of all ages. The authors investigate adult use of toys as a point of entry to the world play of both transmedia-connected and stand alone toy characters—dolls, action figures, and soft toys. They point to how adult toy players engage actively in world building in their world play and suggest that play better describes the object relations of adults with toys than such notions as collecting or pursuing a hobby. They discuss how adults use world playing with toys to develop toy industry back stories and replay—and sometimes revolutionize—original story lines familiar from popular fiction. And they highlight how mature audiences for character toys employ these physical objects to explore their capacity for imaginative, spatial, and hybrid world play.},
keywords = {Adult play, Adult toy play, Creativity, Object play, Object relations, Photoplay, Social media, Social play, Toys, World play, Worldbuilding},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Toys both guide and foster the play—and stimulate the imaginations—of players of all ages. The authors investigate adult use of toys as a point of entry to the world play of both transmedia-connected and stand alone toy characters—dolls, action figures, and soft toys. They point to how adult toy players engage actively in world building in their world play and suggest that play better describes the object relations of adults with toys than such notions as collecting or pursuing a hobby. They discuss how adults use world playing with toys to develop toy industry back stories and replay—and sometimes revolutionize—original story lines familiar from popular fiction. And they highlight how mature audiences for character toys employ these physical objects to explore their capacity for imaginative, spatial, and hybrid world play.
2018
Ihamäki, Pirita; Heljakka, Katriina
"Travel Bugs": Toys Traveling Socially through Geocaching Proceedings Article
In: DiGRA ’18 – Abstract Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA International Conference: The Game is the Message, 2018.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Gamification, Geocaching, Social play, Toy mobility, Toy turism, Toys, Travel bugs
@inproceedings{Ihamäki2018,
title = {"Travel Bugs": Toys Traveling Socially through Geocaching},
author = {Pirita Ihamäki and Katriina Heljakka},
url = {http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/travel-bugs-toys-traveling-socially-through-geocaching},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-07-01},
urldate = {2018-07-01},
booktitle = {DiGRA ’18 – Abstract Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA International Conference: The Game is the Message},
abstract = {This study explores emerging types of mobile and social play patterns through the object-based, but technologically enhanced practices of toy tourism. As our case studies demonstrate, object play practices in the digitalizing world are not only becoming increasingly social in nature, but even more mobile than before. As illustrated by our study focusing on Travel Bugs in the context of the international game of geocaching, toys become mobile through different practices partaken by players, willing to either become involved in toy tourism with their playthings. Our study consisted of 45 survey responses from geocachers traveling with Travel Bugs. According to the results, mobile and social object play practices enabled by the platform of Geocaching become gamified – i.e. more perceivable, goal-oriented and measurable. Our main contribution is a conceptual framework in which the relations between the digital, the physical and the social dimensions of toy tourism are modelled.},
keywords = {Gamification, Geocaching, Social play, Toy mobility, Toy turism, Toys, Travel bugs},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
This study explores emerging types of mobile and social play patterns through the object-based, but technologically enhanced practices of toy tourism. As our case studies demonstrate, object play practices in the digitalizing world are not only becoming increasingly social in nature, but even more mobile than before. As illustrated by our study focusing on Travel Bugs in the context of the international game of geocaching, toys become mobile through different practices partaken by players, willing to either become involved in toy tourism with their playthings. Our study consisted of 45 survey responses from geocachers traveling with Travel Bugs. According to the results, mobile and social object play practices enabled by the platform of Geocaching become gamified – i.e. more perceivable, goal-oriented and measurable. Our main contribution is a conceptual framework in which the relations between the digital, the physical and the social dimensions of toy tourism are modelled.