Work, Play, and Staying at Home

In my last few posts, I've avoided outright mentioning the C-word that has been ubiquitous, omnipresent, and inescapable these past few weeks. That was largely a conscious decision on my part, as a way of offering respite from the neverending news in association with the pandemic. Today, however, I want to touch on some topics that have surfaced in light of current events.

Hong Kong graffiti from late 2019 (with likely a different topic in mind...): “We can't return to normal, because the normal that we had was precisely the problem.” Image from https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/efggfw/graffiti_reads_we_cant_return_to_normal_because/

As a brief starting point, I want to make clear my position that, especially with how things are going in the world (and in the US especially), I think people should be totally unashamed if they feel they can't focus on work or "be productive" during this time. We are in a GLOBAL CRISIS. This is not an exaggeration. Pandemic comes from the greek words pan and demos—"all people." Everyone is affected by this, regardless of whether or not they themselves are running a fever. So please, take care of yourself and do something that brings you some inkling of joy, whether that's sitting at home and reading a book, or sitting at home playing a game, or sitting at home and working on a blog post *cough*. I am fortunate to have had the privilege to take a week off from doing anything work-related to just process current events. Granted, it started off unintentionally, and at first I felt guilty about it. But it's ultimately what I, and I think most people, need at the moment. And while it was my privilege to be able to do this without consequence, more people should have this option available to them; basically everything needs to be put on hold right now, including the vast majority of jobs, including all bills, including arbitrary deadlines. I won't wax leftist on this particular point much more (here at least). Instead, here's the first tweet of a Twitter thread that eloquently articulates many of my own thoughts:

So, with all that being said, I want to offer some more thoughts on what people can do during this time away from an "ordinary" (problematically hypercapitalist) work cycle. Feel free to skip to the end for a list of some resources that are currently being offered for free and which you can use at your leisure. But the bulk of what follows is a meditation on work, play, and (not feeling bad) staying at home.

About a week ago, a bunch of my fellow ludomusicologists shared a NY Times op-ed by Peter Suderman entitled "It's a Perfect Time to Play Video Games. And You Shouldn't Feel Bad About It." Curious, I opened up the article. The more I read, however, the more frustrated I became. Ultimately, the article left me more than a little dissatisfied, but in the end, I shared it too, with my own "I actually have a lot of issues with how the article ultimately frames games, but the message isn't incorrect" tacked on as a kind of disclaimer.

So what exactly left me perturbed?

Well, for one, the first sentence after his introduction: "If you’re not a gamer, you might think of video games as simple time-wasters. But for those stuck mostly inside without work, killing time is a real problem." Ah, yes. Games are only good for killing time. To his credit, Suderman quickly follows up, suggesting that "games are more than just empty time-wasters." Alright, fair. He continues on, arguing that "In periods of pain, boredom or personal emptiness, video games can serve as palliative care for both the body and the mind. Think of gaming as a personal stimulus plan for a nation of unexpected shut-ins: It’s not a long-term solution, it won’t work for everyone, and it won’t solve the underlying problems — but it can provide limited, temporary relief for some."

With this, I was temporarily won back over. I'm not some ludo-futurist who believes play is the utopian answer to everything for everyone. That play, that games, can provide (at least) a temporary relief for individuals, I buy. And yet, again, I was quickly lost with Suderman's next point: "Among other things, video games simulate work: Even the simplest games give players tasks, objectives, lists of things they have to do, problems to solve and a sense of accomplishment upon completion." To be clear, I'm not completely against Suderman's framing here. Giving players something to do can provide them with, well, motivation to do that very thing and, yes, have "a sense of accomplishment upon complet[ing]" said thing. My issue, however, is suggesting that primarily simulates work. Why does play immediately have to be tethered to work to give it any validity?

As with the last point, Suderman seems to anticipate my frown: "Game critics have noted the worklike nature of many modern games for years, not always favorably [I might interject to point you towards Audrey Anable's book Playing With Feelings]. But in a world of stay-at-home mass unemployment, even the illusion of accomplishment is probably better than none at all." Though this gesture is meant to acknowledge and possibly placify curmudgeons like me, it ended up deepening my frown. Games can require work. I do not contend this. Games can be hard, and it can take real work, real hours, to "master" them, to "beat" them. But to suggest that this work—playful work, yes, but work nonetheless—is just an "illusion," is only a fake accomplishment, belies a passively discriminatory attitude towards games and play.

Suderman's last paragraph cements this attitude: "Yes, games are frivolous. Yes, they are escapist. But the longer the coronavirus keeps social life and culture in isolation, the more we’ll need frivolity and escapism. There’s a limit, of course, to what video games can do: They can’t serve as long-term substitutes for real places, real work or real human interaction. But they can give us a simulacrum of all those things at a time when the real ones are in short supply, and tide us over until the world we actually need returns." Games are not frivolous. Johan Huizinga, an early twentieth century historian who might be considered the first game scholar, argued that we as humans should be known as "homo ludens," that play is a fundamental identifying marker of our species. Here I might briefly return to the Twitter thread above and cite another tweet or two from it:

Games and play are leagues away from simply being "frivolous." They are one avenue of balancing work. And while games are escapist in some sense (though this should not be a negatively valenced word), this does not mean the experiences and feelings one can have while playing them are any less "real." I won't dwell on this latter point here—there's been enough ink spilled over the real/actual vs. the virtual. But I'll note it's interesting that Suderman employs the relatively uncommon word "simulacrum" here (and simulation above), recalling the writing of the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard (BOHD-ree-AR).

Ultimately, I realize that the larger message in his article is one with which I agree: that now is the best time to play games and that, no, you should absolutely not feel bad about playing them during this pandemic. But, honestly, you shouldn't ever. In today's capitalist realist society, anything that's not deemed "productive" is deemed unfit for society. This is the kind of logic behind Texas' Lt. Governor Dan Patrick suggesting that seniors should be willing to die for the economy in this pandemic. It's also the framework which has lead to mass burnout, especially amongst millennials. It's also also, I think, why so many millennials are so #done with the longstanding neoliberal ideologies of both the democratic and republican parties, and why there's a cresting wave of interest in the US with democratic socialism and the progressive brandings of AOC, Bernie, Warren and the like.

As someone who's burned out in a spectacular way, not once, but twice, I have since been extremely attentive to what all I agree to do and to what I devote my energies. I maintain as best I can my work-life balance. I am not against work. I am against overwork. And now, moreso than has been true for quite some time (in the US at least), we need to stop working when and where it's not needed and not feel bad about it. We need to feel okay pressing pause for the time being. Again: it's a global fucking pandemic. Things are not the slightest bit normal. Nor does our standard "normal" actually work. Unfortunately, we do not have the option for a true replay here. But we do have the opportunity for a reset. I, for one, hope we take that reset seriously, and build a reality based primarily on compassion and humanity... not on work. But, for now, I'm going to go back to enjoying my games and my coloring.

***

Anyways, as promised, a list of some things to keep you occupied during this time. Feel free to send me more!

Some relaxing and/or free games:

Gris (one of my favs and available to purchase on most platforms)

Journey

Jackbox (to play virtually with friends!)

Hook

Flow (free/mobile)

Neko Atsume (free/mobile)

Duolingo (free/mobile)

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (free/mobile) or New Horizons [the one everyone's talking about] (Switch)

Pokemon Go is free and would normally be a suggestion... but being quarantined makes for a frustrating experience playing it

UPDATE, March 30, 2:00PM CST

Pokemon Go's developer, Niantic, is supposedly working on making the game completely playable from your home!

Target currently has a buy-2-get-1-free promotion on video games going on until April 4th

Visual arts:

Coloring pages

Hebru Brantley (Chicago artist of Flying Boy fame): https://hypebeast.com/2020/3/hebru-brantley-coloring-book-pages-release

Sandra Chevrier and others (Chevrier at least free with promo code ARTISTHECURE): https://www.artisthecure.org/shop

Camille D'Errico (pop surrealist): https://camilladerrico.com/colour-me-quarantine/

Keita Takahashi (of Katamari fame): https://twitter.com/KeitaTakahash/status/1238515640647872513

The Getty: https://thegetty.tumblr.com/post/138582634986/colorourcollections-the-getty-coloring-book

UPDATE, March 30, 2:00PM CST

James Jean: http://www.jamesjean.com/colorstudies/5m44ozh2fce639tiw6bzhjym9lk8xj

Audrey Kawasaki: http://audreykawasaki.blogspot.com/2020/03/color-page.html

Asian Art Museum: https://asianart.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/5647_20_VAC_Coloring_Packet_letter_v5_OL.pdf

UPDATE, March 31, 1:00 CST

Jacquelin de Leon (Austin artist): https://gumroad.com/l/pciAV (name your price--free is totally fine and even encouraged!)

Other

virtual museum tours: https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours?fbclid=IwAR14gPmRieaiAlj-w_61Uo9u885Y7-L8V-bGiPLwKiU7vK9ztcnjitPye8k

also check out the hashtag #colorourcollections for additional coloring pages

Music

Production programs/applications

Korg's iKaossilator app (a personal favorite): https://www.musicradar.com/news/korg-makes-ikaossilator-free-for-ios-and-android-to-give-you-a-musical-way-to-occupy-your-mind

Analog Dreams synth from Native Instruments: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/play-series/analog-dreams/

Cherry Audio's Voltage Modular: https://cherryaudio.com/free

(I was made aware of all of these through musicradar.com, so maybe check this site regularly...)

Listening

Berlin Philharmonic offering free streaming from their site for 30 days with code BERLINPHIL : https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/titelgeschichten/20192020/digital-concert-hall/

Follow #36daysofBach on Instagram for some world class musicians performing through the Bach solo suites, including Michael Katz (@mkcello) of the BSO and MacArthur Fellow Alisa Weilerstein (@alisaweilerstein). Yo-yo Ma has been uploading his #songsofcomfort as well.

Other

Skillshare is also apparently free for two months now? Time to develop that passion through formal lessons!