Third places enter the game

Expert

"Gamelabs", "playgrounds", "CréativLab", ... In recent years, these innovative spaces have multiplied everywhere And that's good! There are some in Metz (the TCRM-Blida), Grenoble (Gem Labs), Marseille (CréativLab CIMEd), Paris (the CRI)… "These" makerspaces "dedicated to the design of" serious games "bring together audiences (researchers, companies, associations, video game enthusiasts, etc.), activities, skills and professions which are not usually intended to intersect. They make services, technologies and authoring tools available free of charge. In other words, they offer anyone the means to learn, to train in the field of games in order, in the end, to innovate ”, notes Hélène Michel, professor at Grenoble École Management and president of the ANRT working group on pedagogy through play.

The CréativLab CIMEd at the service of fundamental learning
The CréativLab Cité Méditerranéenne de l'Education (CIMed), coordinated by ANRT[1] is part of the AMPIRIC project, led by Aix-Marseille University. He is the winner of the call for projects “Pilot centers for teacher training and research for education”. This space dedicated to teachers, researchers and companies aims to co-produce fun educational resources to improve basic learning. In 2020, three partnership research projects were selected. On the program: the creation of an innovative campus; the adaptation of an application based on reverse pedagogical techniques around the history of art; the development of a learner-centered training course based on virtual reality. To measure the results of the experiments on the students (potentially 17,8000 children per school year in eight academic networks), a classroom, equipped with technologies to assess their effectiveness, is made available to project leaders. Ultimately, CréativLab CIMEd aims to develop a French sector specializing in the production of fun educational tools and to orient public action towards the most effective educational innovations.

Spaces for sociability and learning
If these new spaces are attractive, it is because they are places of exchange and sociability. The collective dimension is fundamental. The goal is to "make together" a playful device, but outside the school and professional framework. Concretely, these third places are conceived as “shared experiences” between experts, technicians, students, laypersons. They offer a space for discussion in which everyone is invited sometimes to share their thoughts, sometimes to listen to others with empathy and benevolence. The simple fact "of daring to express and defend a personal opinion in front of people who treat the other on an equal footing, grows the person, stimulates him to speak and to form thanks to the argumentation of a point of view”[2]. Encouraged by others, the "makers" will be "taken"[3] by a "dynamic of familiarization"[4], leading them to appropriate knowledge but also, in some cases, to maintain, reactivate or deepen a competence already developed in the past.

Décathlon plays innovation fully with fablabs
At Decathlon, it is the employees and customers who make innovation emerge. They have expert knowledge of a sport by virtue of its practice as a leisure activity. These “knowledgeable people” are brought together in fablabs to develop and test new ideas. These are then marketed by the group. These places allow employees to get away from their work environment to recharge their batteries and train. In the opinion of Jérémy Cornolo, R&D director, "fablabs are privileged spaces for using serious games". In this context, it is possible to discover new ways of being and of doing, with less initiated people, such as retirees or mothers. The games, by their recreational nature, facilitate dialogue by breaking the ice and create a relaxed atmosphere, free from rivalry and judgment.

A stake for the territories
The public authorities see in the creation of these third parties a double advantage:

1) they generate jobs: they give "makers" the opportunity to have their skills recognized in environments likely to offer them professional integration. From the point of view of Sébastien Genvo, professor at the University of Lorraine, "this approach is the most appropriate to meet the challenges of the video game industry. In this changing sector, it is important to train people who will be able to adapt and invent their own profession. Take the case of YouTubers. Five years ago, who would have imagined that it would be possible to professionalize through video posts on the YouTube channel? ".

2) They increase the influence of a territory: their entrepreneurial reputation increases the power of attraction of a metropolis and facilitates its development. Sébastien Genvo testifies to this:

“I run the Expressive Game Lab. It is a space for research and creativity. Its ambition is to allow doctoral students, guest researchers or trainees to analyze the content and uses of digital games. I wanted to create a place of transition between university and professional life. My approach was facilitated by the current director of TCRM-Blida[5]. It is a third place of "inspiration, innovation and collective intelligence". On its 30,000 m2 site, it brings together creative spaces, event and meeting rooms, offices, a makerspace and business incubation systems. The director offered to install my Game Lab free of charge within this structure. Therefore, we have developed a partnership between TCRM-Blida and the University of Lorraine. The Municipality has supported us a lot. You should know that the city of Metz is betting on video games. She wants to give Blida a playful identity. Games will be created there but also sold in stores that will be launched in Blida. This will promote scaling up. Thanks to this local initiative, the video game industry is taking shape in Lorraine:
- on the one hand, independent development studios are developing locally. Several of them have met with great success, for example the game "Neurovoider" created by the Moselle company Flying Oak, which has sold more than 50,000 copies, which is an excellent figure for an independent game.
- On the other hand, there is an excitement among start-ups. They are numerous in the field of gaming to emerge in Lorraine. These include, among others, Cogaming (which includes the E-sport Helios gaming brand subsidiary)”[6].

Thus, in the opinion of Sébastien Genvo, the installation of his Expressive Game Lab within the TCRM-Blida is a "golden opportunity". It allows it to attract students who are passionate about video games, to train them, to forge links with local businesses and to make themselves known to local authorities.

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[2] Jean-Marc Leveratto, Mary Leontsini (2008), Internet and literary sociability, Public Library of Information, Center Pompidou, p. 75.

[3] Christian Bessy, Francis Chateauraynaud (1995), Experts et falsaires. For a sociology of perception, Métailié, p. 231.

[4] Christian Bessy, Francis Chateauraynaud (1993), "The springs of expertise: tests of authenticity and commitment of bodies, practical reasons", n ° 4, p 84.

[5] Installed since 2014 in a former transport bus warehouse in the metropolitan area of ​​Metz Métropole, avenue de Blida - hence its name - in Metz, this third place welcomes around a hundred artists, craftsmen, entrepreneurs, associations, institutions and media. See https://www.bliiida.fr/

[6] Interview extract from the report: Violette Nemessany (2020), Pedagogy through play. How to put learning into play?, Les Cahiers FutuRIS, de ANRT.

Sources:

• Christian Bessy, Francis Chateauraynaud (1993), “The springs of expertise: Tests of authenticity and commitment of bodies, Practical reasons”, n ° 4.
• Christian Bessy, Francis Chateauraynaud (1995), Experts et falsaires. For a sociology of perception, Métailié.
• Jean-Marc Leveratto, Mary Leontsini (2008), Internet and literary sociability, Public Information Library, Center Pompidou
• Violette Nemessany (2019), Pedagogy through play. How to put learning into play ?, Les Cahiers FutuRIS, publication planned for January.

Release date: March 2021