We look at what PLAY means both creatively and culturally, and put speakers on the stage who offer different perspectives on where we are currently, where we've been, and where we're going. We want people walking away talking about the nature of games... what they mean to different people inside, on the periphery, outside or miles away from the industry.

As Will Wright said in his Long Now talk with Eno:

We have this ability as humans to build these fairly elaborate models in our imaginations, and the process of play is the process of pushing against reality, building a model, refining a model by looking at the results of looking at interacting with things.

Previously known as 'Sense Of Play', Playful has been a part of the London Games Festival since 2005 and in 2008 visited not just the conventional console and PC game, but the myriad of interactive and play-based entertainment experiences which are increasingly becoming part of online, film, television, theatre, installation and performance arts. The event looks for the interesting and the valuable from a range of areas outside the traditional creative industries including built environment, architects, authors, scientists, as well as the core networked and creative sectors we work with.

Buy tickets for Playful 2011, Friday 21st October, Conway Hall, London.
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