Pigs follow light (that humans move via tablet device) with their snouts on a touch-sensitive screen. If the pigs and humans move the ball through a goal triangle, it triggers fireworks.

By Yvette Wohn

Question: I understand that the novel component is the use of a game played by both humans and pigs. What is the importance of having the pigs play with humans? (Why can’t they just play with the computer…or other pigs?)

Kars Alfrink is a designer/ researchers at the Utrecht School of Arts in the Netherlands.

Kars Alfrink: The practical reason for this is that we think humans can provide a continuously varying form of entertainment for pigs, who are bored very quickly. A more philosophical reason is that we are interested in using play to transform the relationship between pigs and humans.

Clemens Driessen: The way we relate to animals in our society tends to be strictly defined by them being considered either food, a pet, wild, or something to test medicines on. What we wanted to explore with this design project is whether this is necessarily so, or that more ambivalent types of relations could be meaningful as well.

Question: Do the farmers have time to “play” with the pigs? Can anyone in a remote location with an iPad play with the pigs?

Kars Alfrink: The game is meant for the general public. As shown in the video, humans can play from a remote location (i.e. a cafe) using an iPad. Farmers are busy enough as it is, we don’t presume they have time to play.

Question: We have traditionally not used technology to entertain pigs. Why is it now that entertaining pigs is important?

Clemens Driessen, researcher and applied philosopher, Wageningen University

Clemens Driessen: Since 2001 there is an EU directive requiring that: “… pigs must have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities ….” (EC directive 2001/93/EC; Art.4). But already before this date pig farmers have been concerned with aggressive behaviour amongst pigs, which leads to the animals damaging each other and makes the farmers preventively cut off their curly tails.

Calls to improve conditions for farm animals have been growing louder for decades now. After the EU wide ban on battery cages for laying hens and veal crates for calves, many expect the next requirement to be to stop bodily mutilation of animals such as ‘debeaking’ of chickens and cutting the teeth and tails of pigs. This all means there is a growing interest in developing ways to entertain animals in ways that are meaningful enough to stop them from hurting each other. Perhaps a better solution would be to let them go outside or at least increase the space they have to live in. Most people concerned with animal welfare tend to think in terms of an ideal of naturalness, which often means letting them forage outside or give them some straw to munch on. What we wanted to explore here is whether we can develop more high-tech environments that would cater to the exploration and play needs of pigs. This offers an opportunity to find out what these animals that were domesticated thousands of years ago could be capable of.

Question: What are your personal moral views on animal welfare?

Kars Alfrink: My personal view is that it is important to limit animal suffering (without going so far as to abstain from eating meat). I try to be conscious about the kinds of meat I purchase, and limit my meat consumption. I am willing to pay a higher price for meat that is produced in an animal friendly way.

Question: What do you think are the potential of games to increase pigs’ cognitive abilities? Do you think a situation like that in the novel Animal Farm is something that is probable in the future?

Clemens Driessen: I had a conversation with a thirteen year old avid gamer last year about this project, and he confessed he was a bit worried that pigs would become smarter than humans and might take over the world. What is interesting from many of the responses we are getting there seems to be an implicit notion of being good at computer games as a defining feature of intelligence, and even of what it means to be human. I personally don’t believe pigs when given their own i-pad will take over the world any time soon, but I do like the idea of not seeing the abilities of these animals as fixed. In their current confined conditions they already manage to learn amazing things like opening gates and cheating on their automated feeding systems, so who knows what they will reveal if given a more challenging environment.

I guess the way Orwell described pigs to be the devious and ruthless rulers in his Animal Farm novel comes across as realistic to many people’s imaginations of what pigs are like, as if these animals have a craving for world domination. Perhaps in an interactive game we can find out more about their character, this time in a setting that would make pig personalities emerge also in terms of curiousity and playfulness.

Question: When not designing games for pigs, what kind of games do you personally enjoy?

Kars Alfrink: I personally enjoy a wide range of video games, board games and other kinds of games. My personal favorites are board games with a lot of social dynamics. Recently I have been very preoccupied with collaborative games such as Pandemic and Space Alert, but also the party game The Resistance.

Question: How important is the interactive aspect of the game? Would playing a game be different for the pigs than watching a movie?

Kars Alfrink: Watching a film and playing a game are two very different activities for humans. I believe this applies equally to pigs. Playing a game together is in a way an act of communication. It is an exploration of each other’s abilities. This is something film does not offer.

Clemens Driessen: One of the central features of what animal researcher Francoise Wemelsfelder has described as debilitating boredom for animals is the experience of a lack of control over their environment. So while some TV show might offer a bit of distraction, what we want to do in designing interaction for pigs is actually challenge their cognitive abilities and help them gain some sense of agency.

And by creating new forms of interspecies interaction we hope to also explore new ways of doing research into animal welfare. A large part of trying to define, measure and debate animal welfare involves interpreting behaviour and somehow taking the perspective of the animal. By creating a game this would allow a broad audience to participate in this type of research in an immersive and playful way.

Question: You seem to be incorporating an iterative design process based on feedback from the farmers and pigs. How do the pigs provide feedback? (One grunt for yes, two for no…?)

Kars Alfrink: As with testing designs with humans, we rely heavily on non-verbal cues. That is to say, we try to be sensitive to signs of enjoyment and base design decisions on what appears most successful.

Irene van Peer is a designer/ researcher at the Utrecht School of Arts in the Netherlands.

Clemens Driessen: Hard to tell, if the pigs get up and play all day they might become a bit leaner, but since domestic pigs are known to sleep a large portion of the day I don’t think it will make much of a difference. In general their taste seems mostly determined by the way they have been bred and the food they get.

Question: Can you recall an interesting or funny story related to this research?

Irene van Peer: While filming with Hein Lagerwij (shooting the footage) for the video sketch, there was this one piglet who preferred laying just in front of our view. She tucked herself nicely against the ‘screen’ blocking the field of action for the other piglets. It once again made us conscious of the differences in characters and behavior we are dealing with. As humans not everyone will be attracted to the same game.

Nothing is as engaging as a video game played together with family. Stating from a Commodore 64, video games have had a great impact on use of our family time. Whether it was Pacman or Mario Bros., we had to make sure that we did not play more than an hour a day.  I still remember loading a game from a cassette player onto the Commodore, and it took no less that 30 minutes! Back then it seemed to be the greatest technology anyone can get his/her hands on. Not many would deny the natural lure of video games and the excitement associated with colorful graphics, engaging sound effects and endless fun.

With the advent of consoles, faster processing and large storage, computer gaming had started gaining popularity.  I am happy to state that I had tried all those consoles of that era. Atari at that time seemed like the best console on the planet; and it was. As the gaming world developed to where it is today, it has progressed through stages and remembering all those stages is nothing short of a great experience; great because zeitgeist is always engaging, always exciting.

Commodore 64 was my first computer in 1988.  I got introduced to the gaming world through it. Can still remember many of its games and loved every bit of those days. IBM personal computer appeared on them market as a big leap in computing. It had also evolved in terms of the types of games and their complexity. The arrival of Windows operating system changed the computing landscape and is leaving its mark till today. It was nothing like anything out there.

Total Annihilation (PC) was released on Sept. 30, 1997. Developer: Cavedog Entertainment

With the passage of time, I had become busier with studies while my younger siblings took control of my wealth – my video games and my computer. They became far more knowledgeable about gaming and introduced new games that were simply amazing but very time consuming. One of their favorites was a strategy game called Total Annihilation (those game enthusiasts out there would know exactly what I am talking about).

I could not fathom experiencing an activity that involved fighting for superiority using advanced weapons even if it is in the virtual world. So the very idea of engaging in a war was beyond my imagination at least till the time I had not played the game. It would be for hours that I would see my younger siblings staying in front of the computer screens, with passions ignited and no idea about what time of the day it was or whether they had to take a break for some nourishment especially at lunch or dinner times. So being the kind of control freak that I was, I was requested to participate in the game for just once. Taking advantage of the availability of time in the summer break, I decided to give it a try.

Screenshot of Total Annihilation

The game was quite engaging and offered attractive graphics and superb sound effects. It was also very attractive because it was the first game to feature 3D units and terrain. The game involved constructing things that would increase one’s power. Raising an army was only one aspect while planning a successful conquering strategy kept every player busy. With battles raging on surface of new planets and moons, each team player vied for superiority, carving out an offensive or defensive strategy upon which survival hinged.

I realize how that game was very beneficial in stimulating our cognitive processes. We had to plan a good strategy using limited resources, and make the best of what was available. The game also allowed creating alliances if that proved to be a winning combination against a stronger player. These skills translate well into our real lives. Time, money and various other resources are usually limited in our lives. We have to move forward using our mental abilities. We have to have the foresight to meet challenges and a strategy based social game not only sharpens our minds but also serves a glue to further bind the family together, as it did in our case.

So I do believe that games are wonderful. Games can also be directly learning oriented and a good game design can do wonders for its players. Social and strategy games can challenge our intellect, help us interact with each other in a strategic manner, stimulate our foresight, teach us patience and to deal with issues with caution, increase problem solving skills, and allow us to evaluate options and possibilities. If the objective is winning and maximizing benefits, then these winning strategies can potentially be applied in real lives.

Laeeq Khan is doctoral student in the Media & Information Studies (MIS) program at Michigan State University. His research interests are diverse and include understanding social media and learning. To see Laeeq’s personal portfolio & blog, visit www.laeeq.com

Editorial Notes

• To see a video playback of Total Annihilation click here.
• Good Old Games, a website that offers old favorites so people can play them on current operating systems, recently added Total Annihilation: Kingdoms to its collection (via rtsguru). You can download it for $5.99.
• Look at user reviews of Total Annihilation on metacritic
• Watch Emilio’s review of Total Annihilation on YouTube.

Although there is not much scientific evidence proving this is true– some people would argue that there is none– even if video games did make children violent, I don’t understand why that is a problem, because the games that are being discussed as being problematic are those that are rated M for mature audiences. What puzzles me is that parents don’t let their children watch R-rated movies that portray blood and gore, yet are perfectly okay with buying M-rated video games for their under-aged children.

So you can imagine how frustrated I was when I saw a relative of mine post on Facebook pictures of her son opening his presents– among which included Battlefield and Call of Duty: MW3. Call of Duty:MW3 is rated M for Mature, which means it should only be played by those 17 and older. The game includes blood and gore, drug reference, violence, and “strong” language.

Of course, it is up to the parents’ discretion as to what kind of media their children should be exposed to.  However, if we as a society are going to blame video games for spoiling our children, than we should, at the very least, discourage playing of violent video games instead of handing it to them as a gift.