Researcher profile:

The serious side of gameplay

The merits of gameplay and the Internet are not discussed -
but Frans Mäyrä speaks out

Text: Jarkko Kangas
Photo: Jonne Renvall
Translation: Virginia Mattila

Frans Mäyrä has been playing ever since he was a child.  And now he researches gameplay.

The hottest new games on the corner of the desk, two consoles connected to the television, a bookshelf loaded with professional journals?

Wrong. There is no sign of any games or equipment. They are under close guard locked up somewhere in the Hypermedia Laboratory. However, the publication Pelit, which comes to the coffee room, is there to sustain the frivolous images easily connected to gameplay research.

Frans Mäyrä, professor of hypermedia, is serious about games. He stresses that playing and other interactive media are important areas of life on which people really concentrate.

"We should realise right now that these are serious matters. The digital world is just as real as a university built of bricks and mortar, for example. The social world is not confined to the physical world," Professor Mäyrä stresses.

In addition to researching gameplay Professor Mäyrä's field extends to digital culture. Most recently he has made a study of poker on the net and of playing through internet services such as Facebook.

From electronic games to hypermedia

Ilkka Olavi Mäyrä, who was born in Paavola, took an interest in games as a child. The electronic games which came out in the 1970s fascinated him, and this enchantment has not worn off.

"Games get a hold of you so that even researching them professionally they offer you experiences," he says.

Professor Mäyrä came to gameplay research through general literature. His doctoral dissertation was concerned with the problematique of the self and polyphony, addressing the effect of technology on the conception of the human being.

The researcher's own self was transformed in literature studies by a change of first name. Since the turn of the millennium he has been known as Frans.  He has been a professor of hypermedia since the beginning of 2007.

Getting away from a negative stigma

Frans Mäyrä believes that researchers should seek ways of utilising the Internet and playing which benefit society.  Currently there are numerous negative images associated with the digital world, such as obesity or violent behaviour.

In the future Professor Mäyrä would like to research how games and other interactive media can be used to bridge social gaps and bring people together.

"You can see ‘connecting people' all over the place, so why don't people connect?" asks Professor Mäyrä.

He believes that games and the Internet can be used in other positive ways. The net environment offers an opportunity to overcome shyness, for example. Games can make it easier to process the dark side of human relations, such as the propensity for violence.

"Ultimately, however, playing is an end in itself. Life shouldn't be only work and achieving; there should also be playfulness and fun," says Professor Mäyrä.

Fun enters Frans Mäyrä's life not only through games but also through his family and hobbies outside the virtual world, such as exploring nature and photography. They provide a good counterbalance to hypermedia research.

"We have a small child so nowadays I'm photographing butterflies in the back yard," he says with a smile.