Teaching alt.ctrl and Learning playfulness (emf2026)

The field of Alternative Controllers offers a unique way of experiencing video-games. Although all the major console manufacturers have made ventures into this world (Playstation Move, Microsoft Kinect and Nintendo Wii) with relative success, the heart and soul of these type of games are much more alive in the weird and experimental creations of individual developers, hackers and artists. Teaching classes on Alternative Controllers has led me to a few of interesting insights, which I would like to share regarding how these games are created and why. Not the technology itself, as I’m sure most of the audience would know what an Arduino is, but rather the approach I have developed over the years (which includes a lot of cardboard, dumpster diving and flea markets), the importance of bringing the digital world we created into the physical world we inhabit and, perhaps most importantly, how these types of games are actually a celebration of our innate inner playfulness, which seems to me to be so critical to embrace in today’s world. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/99-teaching-alt-ctrl-and-learning-playfulness