Watch Jeff Hull’s TEDx video on his threads theory of living stories and alternate reality games. Then respond to this post with a comment explaining what this talk clarified for you about the purpose of “The Institute” and also what new questions it created for you.
Contemporary Fiction with ms. gareis 
I larned from the video that as a child, Jeff was “working” in the park from which he got the inspiration for his game. It also clarified what the ‘elsewhere’ is. It is a place where we can be ourselves, where we can be creative, wher eour imagination can be free. For some reason I also realized what Jeff meant in one of his interviews, when he said that even now that the game is over, everybody cna go out there and fins Eva. He didnt mean the actual person Eva. He meant the imagination, exploration, thinking for ourselves, playfulness and everything else Eva represents…thats what we can find! Mind = blown.
The questions I have are:
1) what is the result of studies that look at the importance of the play on adults
2) why is the dangerous to have a play in public place? why is it easy to get injured by having grafity or just simple fun, that is nowhere close to be dangerous?
3) Is Jeff going to make any projects similar to the game of nonchalance?
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Jeff Hull says that the Institutes purpose is for socio-reengineering. The point of this is,
that by changing the image of public space, it helps people use their imagination and behave in new ways so they can interact with their surroundings and socialize with each other. This clarifies that the Institute helps people live in a new imaginary world which helps them get away from the ordinary world.
My questions is:
– Will Jeff Hull create more games for socio-reengineering in other places?
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I understand Jeff’s purpose of creating the game. He wants to encourage people to live life in a more playful way. Jeff emphasizes that we do not need to be children in order to make of our life a playground. Throughout the game he tries to fuse the real world with inspiration, creativity, adventure and fiction. He want people to be more spontaneous; not to follow the systems that nowadays guide our lifes. After watching the video I believe everything in the movie is false. I understand that people believe in the Jejune Institute, but all in all the institute and Eva were all lies. However, the theory remains certain. The idea Jeff tries to encourage is real. The process of the game is what Jeff cares about, not the ending. I understand Jeff believe in the “elsewhere” as the place where we all should live. The Elsewhere represents the fusion between real life and playfulness; the idea of not loosing the desire for adventures, the idea of freeing ourselves a little bit more.
Questions:
What are the facts and fictions in the game?
Who are actors and who really believed in the institute?
Why did he created Eva? Does she represent the elsewhere?
Is there someone who still believes in the Institute after Jeff’s revealed that everything was a game?
Are there other institutes or games like this in the world?
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I now understand why Jeff Hull created the game of nonchalance. He wanted to create a more stimulating and exciting universe for citizens who were not experiencing what was all around them. He found it hard to create the game of nonchalance because of the liability of playing a game in public space. Yet, he found a way. The game was to redesign the way citizens with normal everyday lives took in the world around them. It was created to show them hidden adventures are all around them. They just have to be looking for them.
Questions:
What is in the “Third Place”?
What does Eva truly represent in the game of Nonchalance?
Is Jeff Hull going to create a new game?
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Jeff Hull’s talk at Tedx talks about the creation of the Jejune Institute and virtual reality games in the “3rd place”. He speaks on the use of the 3rd place about a place to play rather then just live away from work and home. The Jejune institute is a virtual reality game which is one of the first studies of “fun” in adults. The question The Institute has was how to create a game in the real world game that would encourage other behaviors in the real world rather than just to simply be ordinary. Jeff Hull finally created the game of Nonchalance in downtown San Fransisco.
Questions:
How do these games change the way people view reality?
Who were the participants they wanted to attract?
Was there another purpose rather than just to have fun in the real world?
Will we see more real life reality games moving forward?
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Jeff Hull says that the purpose of the Jejune Institute is to change the image of public space, which helps people use their imagination and behave in new ways so they can interact with their surroundings and socialize with each other. This clarifies that the Institute is a way for people to live in a new imaginary world, and help them get away from the ordinary world. By creating this game, Jeff Hull is trying to encourage people to be more adventures and to allow their imaginations to go free, so they can enjoy the world around them even more.
My questions are:
– Does Eva represent one or many things?
– Are there other benefits for playing this game?
– Will Jeff Hull create more games for socio-reengineering in other places?
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Jeff performed at the park as a child at the age of 10 which got him interested in public arts. He wants people to enjoy life more and be more creative with their lives, and use their imagination. He wants people to engage more in the third place rather then just first and second place. There aren’t enough playgrounds for adults, there are a few for children’s which concerns Jeff. According to Jeff we have lost our desire to play playfully, which is why through art he created nonchalance. He is trying to get more people to see the third place spontaneously, and start being more creative with their imagination. We can see how he has got the idea of the key and the puzzle from the children’s fairyland where he went quiet often as a kid. Their purpose was to show people another possibility in life, through Socio-Engineering.
Questions –
What does Eva represent? Why was she created?
What are the facts and fictions in the game?
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What I got from the video is that people currently have either lost of lack their form of imagination. And this by losing their imagination it doesn’t allow them to have well interaction with people. Jeff Hull feels nonchalance can help this. At this point I still don’t illy understand the movie 😑 but I understand how the movie, Jejune Institute, and playground and how they all intertwine. Jeff Hull wants people to become more engaged and reliable on their third person instead of their first and second.
My questions are:
What does Eva represent?
Is Jeff hull going to create any more games?
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What I received from the video is that Jeff Hull was creating this new persona of how people are closing their imaginations by going through the motions. And personally It makes me feel that Im not the only one who thinks that. To Mr. Hull he believes that nonchalance is the key to keeping the streak of that childish imagination alive, and sooner or later you feel a sense of not knowing what is reality and what is not. The movie I understood well, and I saw the differences and how it impacted each and every participants lives. Some it made a major change to life as in they really believed that this wasn’t a game, and some saw it as fun and wanted to be apart of something amazing.
The Questions I have:
Why is Eva so important to Jeff Hull?
Does he know her personally?
If the game is esoteric and you want to give this game to more people in society, wouldn’t it no longer be kept in that tight cult?
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This explains to me that the institute was basically to engage peoples imaginations into the “third place” that Jeff Hull was talking about. The “third place” is basically everything between home and work; these places are usually streets and public places. Jeff wanted to bring more art and imagination to these dull environments. Another clarification was that he wants adults to be able to “play” as well. Kids have playgrounds and sports teams have fields, but what do adults have? This is why he created the institute. He wanted to enable adults to play and use their imagination, something that seems to have been lost between their childhood and adult life. Jeff wanted to create an artistic and playful spirit into the environment; something that can last.
Questions:
-What does Eva represent in these games?
-Are these games part of a study? Is Jeff Hull taking notes on what happens?
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Jeff Hull explains how the human brain these days seeks playful pleasure but is restricted to our everyday routine. With his adventure, he wanted a new way to interact with the third place, which happens between that routine. By changing the content of our routine, he tries to bring adults together to exploit their imagination and to go further in their everyday creativity. He says that lacking fun and lacking games in our adult lives is a fallacy that our society has created and that we must go back to our younger selves who were more curious and more creative. He said this with the metaphor of the rabbit hole, where he says that every person has the choice to go in their rabbit hole and to stop when ever you feel unsafe, but sometimes if you go further you will find a treasure. This helped me understand the purpose of this whole alternate reality game and it allowed me to go further in my understanding of the activities the participants went through.
Questions:
At what point does this game goes beyond reality? Is it meant to go beyond it?
What other social impacts can an alternate reality game have?
Is there a chance of people with bad intentions to use this kind of game at their advantage? How can a curious person tell if he’s in a dangerous game?
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I understand why Jeff Hull would want to make the Institute. He just wanted to create an adult friendly game full of imagination. He wanted something apart from the mundane adult life. He wanted something apart from the desk job and picking the kids of from daycare. I like the Institute, I think it is necessary for a happy life. A place where adults can live like kids and let their imagination run wild.
Questions: Why didn’t he do this in more than one state? Why doesn’t he start another one? Members of the Institute love the game, they wouldn’t be afraid to put a few dollars towards it.
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This video shows me that “The Institute” is basically a game to get people focused on their surroundings and everything wonderful around them. People can easily get sucked into the daily routine of work or school and the Institute wants to pull people away from this and let them enjoy life. This video makes me believe that everything in the movie is all just a show and makes the viewer of the movie have their own nonchalance and create a game for the viewers of the movie.
My questions are-
Is there a point when this goes to far?
Are there precautions in case if someone takes the game to seriously?
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