MR. WHITE

MUSIC ROLE PLAY GAME

About

How can we use the social dynamics of role-playing games to create a new interactive improvisation practice?

Through this research question, I developed “Mr. White – A Musical Gaming Experience”, a concert based on the piece Mr. White by Livia Malossi Bottignole, and an ensemble created especially for this project. The aim is to offer a concert that shows another perspective on using technology and game-play in performance and the audience a chance for higher engagement through interactive activities.

Game pieces are a genre of experimental music that may be considered controlled improvisation. Mr. White is a game piece based on improvisation as a tool to explore ‘playfulness’ as a directive for performers, hoping to exploit social communication in music through non-verbal means.

The original game

Mr. White is inspired by the game ‘Undercover’, a social deduction game that models a conflict between two groups: a minority (the Undercover), and a majority (the Civilians). At the start of the game, each musician is secretly assigned a role affiliated with one of these teams and a secret musical material, which is the only clue for them to discover their identities and oust their enemies. The game has two alternating phases: first, a day round, during which performers must carefully give away information about their fragment to try to find out who is on their team and who isn’t; and second, a night role, in which players debate their identities and vote to eliminate a suspect. Through multiple rounds of elimination, they will discover their own identities and oust their enemies. The game finishes when one team succeeds in defeating the other.

A web server with a specific internal connection is used as a tool for distributing the musical materials each round as well as for the communication between players and conductor, as all interactions and votes must be secret and unknown to the musicians.

Performance History

February 11th, 2023 | JAMU Academy, Brno, Czech Republic

February 18th, 2023 | Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag, Netherlands

June 17th, 2023 | Studio LOOS, Den Haag, Netherlands

December 13th, 2023 | HaagsePianoHuis, Den Haag, Netherlands

The project was funded by “GAI organization – Giovani Artisti Italiani” and the Italian Ministry of Culture for the performance at Studio LOOS in The Hague, Netherlands, during the Dag van de Componist 2023, and the Gemeente Den Haag, as a Project voor onderzoek en experiment. Subsequently, the project obtained further funding for a workshop series by the Gemeente in December 2023, through the scheme “Subsidie Cultuurparticipatie Jong Den Haag”.

The audience can also involved in the process by being informed about the players’ identity before the performance even starts, having the possibility to gain insights into the game during its unraveling.
Rounds can also be shown via projections, images, or announced through audio samples: in this way, everybody is aware of the gameplay development.

Mr. White’s ensemble is flexible and adaptable to different performances. With a focus on improvisation, the group is not fixed and can change based on the occasion. Other musicians, selected through a call for performers, can join the ‘role-playing game’ experience, bringing fresh perspectives to the group and having the opportunity to explore a unique intersection between musical improvisation, art and games. The ensemble can work to create an intense and dynamic interplay, both musically and within the game experience, fostering a creative exchange that blurs the lines between musical performance and gameplay.

presentation engl

presentazione ita

photograph