Episode 105 Liminality, Transition, and Games

Liminality, Transition, and Games

Hi and welcome to Experience Points by University XP. On Experience Points, we explore different ways we can learn from games. I’m your host Dave Eng from games-based learning by University XP. Find out more at www.universityxp.com

On today’s episode, we’ll discuss the concepts of Liminality, Transition, and Games.

The term “liminal space” may not be familiar to you. But if you’ve ever made a transition from a physical place; a mental space; or experience anything that you would ever consider “life changing” or “transformative” then you may have already experienced “liminality.”

But what exactly is liminality? Why is it important? How does it relate to games, learning, and games-based learning?

This episode discusses games as liminal spaces. But prior to diving into that, it will first define “liminality” as well as provide some of the most critical characteristics of liminal spaces.

Liminality will be reviewed from multiple disciplines as well as situate the term in relation to transformation and transition.

Liminality can be experienced in multiple different modalities and in different places and stages. Therefore, this episode will examine liminal experiences in physical spaces as well as non-physical ones.

“Rites of passage” represent one of the most well-known liminal spaces and therefore will be discussed as it relates to personal experience.

Finally, this episode will close on liminal spaces in learning, education, and importantly games as part of the player experience.

Let’s first start by discussing what we mean by “Liminality.”

Liminality in liminal spaces have been studied in various fields including psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Perhaps the most important thing to consider with liminality is that it is often associated with creativity, transformation, and significantly: personal growth.

Liminality is about “transition.” It is derived from the Latin word “limen” which means threshold. Therefore, one of the most important aspects about liminal spaces is that it represents a present boundary between two points in either time, space, or both.

Liminal spaces inhabit a place, state of change, or transition.  This change could be physical, psychological or both.

Often, liminal spaces are documented specifically in imagery that depicts an “in between” area. Usually these include regularly crowded areas that are now devoid of people. Some of the most popular examples are empty shopping malls, hotels, or transit hubs.

These liminal spaces often possess a kind of “eerie” quality about them because they exist between the familiar - the space - and the unfamiliar - the lack of people and-or activity inside of them.  When this is interpreted as a psychological concept, we see it as a place between where individuals are and where they intend to be.

Part of what makes these spaces and places so eerie is that liminal spaces exist as a “transitional zone” between two states where an individual is neither one nor the other. Rather, they are engrossed in a process of change and “becoming.”

As such, individuals could often become disoriented or confused during these liminal stages. Such is the case with “rites of passage” where someone is no longer the person they once were but are not yet the person that they will aspire to become.

This lack of status itself can be uncomfortable; but is often integrated as part of growth, development, and achievement through this space.

Now let’s discuss some characteristics of liminal spaces.  Liminal spaces are areas of transition - they sometimes seem unknowable and indescribable. These are places that are partly present and not present. 

However, since these spaces are generally described as processes of transition, then they could also be interpreted positively. This could be observed from someone ending a bad experience and beginning a new and more positive one.

Despite this, many people view and interpret this part of transition and change from one state to another or movement from one place to another with a negative bias.

Transitioning through liminal times often doesn’t feel good because we need to change to adapt to them.  This causes discomfort. As a result, we do not always look at liminal spaces in a positive light – despite the fact that we could be moving through them to achieve a positive goal.

An example of this is ascribing a gym as a liminal space where someone who is unfit would go to become a fitter person in the future.

Perhaps the reason that many find these spaces uncomfortable is because of the lack of clarity or destination. Liminality represents transition, and as such there will be change.

Often this includes growth; but we are unsure of what we will become - or who we will become at the end. However, depending on the space, we often have the agency to determine the scale, scope, and speed of this change over time and its eventual effect on it.

Despite this, the aspect of the “liminal” presenting a period of “unknown” remains a frightening prospect – even for the heartiest individual.

Liminality has been discussed, written about, and shared by various individuals throughout history. Liminality as a term was first coined by Arnold van Gennep as an anthropological term in his 1909 book Rites of Passage.

Author Richard Rohr (ROAR) described liminality as "Where we are betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown. There alone is our old world left behind, while we are not yet sure of the new existence. That's a good space where genuine newness can begin."

This summarizes both the period of transition from one place to the next as well as feeling of discomfort associated with the process.

Likewise, Joseph Campbell discussed that the world is made up of sacred spaces and profane spaces. As such, we travel and traverse the terrain between and amongst these spaces. That traversal forms liminal spaces in which we enter one area while also leaving another.

This travel and transformation was discussed by researchers Alexander Diel (DEAL) and Michael Lewis of Cardiff University as part of why liminal spaces often possess an unsettling quality.

It’s because this transition includes the phenomenon of the “uncanny valley” where the familiar - yet unfamiliar - realms and surroundings of liminal spaces evoke an emotional response of uneasiness in ourselves. As such, we experience feelings of discomfort while we transition through these spaces.

The common characteristics for all applications of liminal spaces is the transformation of the individual and the transition from one “state” to another. This transitory process is important to understand prior to examining liminality in learning, education, and especially games.

This is because liminality represents a threshold of this transition. In games, this is most often observed in the transition of players into the magic circle of game play. In other formats this could take place through a rite of passage where an individual is “transformed” into another.

What is dissociative about these rites and transitions into the magic circle of game play is the disconnection from one framework of understanding and the connection to another. Our core concepts of reality and what “is” are shaken and reevaluated as we make this transit to a different state.

Often, some of the best ways to understand this process is to examine physical liminal spaces. This is seen in transit hubs such as subways and underground rail systems where passengers must first enter deep within the earth to access the terminal or station.

The physical space that represents the transition between these two worlds can take many forms that include stairs, escalators, elevators, and more. The process of moving between spaces is the liminal process.

Likewise, these liminal spaces are also seen in metaphorical situations. An example of which is when a person is vacillating between options prior to deciding. They exist in a liminal space prior to committing to a decision.

Individuals can also exist in these liminal spaces within the decision framework of games. Those decisions include everything from deciding whether to play to how to play the game.

Games form a greater liminal space than other modalities because many people first experience them when they are children and through their transitory years into adolescence, early adulthood, and finally adulthood. The process of aging and maturing is a liminal act as well as learning, adopting, and playing different games during these formative years.

These times often represent a great upheaval and change for persons at a physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive level. That’s because they represent stages and transitions in many forms from one phase of a person’s life to another.

As such, they can also be interpreted with fear, uncertainty, and disdain as individuals often cling to what is known and comfortable rather than branch out and experience the unknown that is the transition of liminal change.

Liminality can and does occur in different places and stages. As we’ve discussed before, it’s often easiest to think about transition from one state to another through physical structure. This means that liminality can exist as physical spaces as well as non-physical ones.

However, no matter what modality liminality is experienced in, individuals process such change over a series of stages. Those stages include the pre-liminal stage; the middle liminal stage; the post liminal stage; and the re-integration stage.

The pre-liminal stage is where an individual is at the cusp of separation. Often, they are the beginning of the process and are about to start their transformation from one form or place to another.

Physically this represents entering an escalator at the top of the track before descending into a subway station. From a psychological perspective this could represent a person experiencing a transformative event such as a personal or academic milestone.

The second middle liminal stage is the one that we know most often associate with liminal spaces. This is where the individual is in a stage of transition. It is here where a participant’s identity and their relationship with the environment and others is in a stage of change and flux.

A physical representation of this would be moving through a transit area such as a hallway that connects two buildings together. Cognitively this could be represented by a gamer in a flow state where they are learning the game and performing on the fly at the peak of their ability.

The third post-liminal stage represents them exiting the stage of transition and into their new location or being. From a physical perspective this represents arriving at a new destination, room, or location. From a psychological perspective this could be the realization of a new personal conclusion or definitive life choice based on reflection of past behavior.

It helps to examine liminality in two distinct spaces. They are physical spaces and non-physical spaces. Physical liminal spaces are easiest to experience and imagine since many people can already visit and experience them on their own. Therefore, these physical liminal spaces are easiest to understand.

Previously mentioned were examples of physical liminal spaces that separate one state from another. Other physical liminal spaces to consider are pathways that connect one location to another.

This could include paths and trails in public parks; passageways between different compartments on a ship; or specific doorways or portals that connect rooms and buildings together.

Likewise, we can also expand this to terminals between two locations. Therefore, airports, parking lots, and border crossings all represent areas of liminality as they serve as the point of origin and departure for individuals leaving one place and entering another.

Other examples of physical liminal spaces also include areas that were once highly trafficked and served many individuals moving and transiting between locations that are now empty.

Such spaces include abandoned buildings like hospitals, hotels, and malls. All of which possess the quality of liminality – of transition – but now lack the sense of people moving through and around it on a regular basis.

In addition to physical spaces where people and things are transiting from one place to another, we can also examine non-physical spaces. These non-physical spaces can exist psychologically and therefore are not necessarily liminal places but rather liminal states.

These transitory periods of people can often transcend different emotions and feelings. These can occur at an individual level as well as on a group level. When progressing through a liminal state at a group level we often experience a “bridge;” a gap or a crossing from one state to another and from one group to another.

Likewise, we can also experience non-physical liminal states through cognition when imagining and debating between two ideas that we must decide upon. This touches upon psychological liminality where we form, shape; and transit the bridge between ourselves and others.

Such a state of change and transition can often take place via conscious thought. However, it can also be experienced through different states of consciousness such as using induced meditation or through drug use.

No matter what the modality, non-physical liminal states considers these periods of transition as “lived experiences” and is focused on how individuals interpret them. This is perhaps an indicator of why liminal spaces can sometimes be considered “strange” or “eerie.”

It’s because they begin to blur the lines between what we may know well and what we are completely unfamiliar with. However, the characteristics between the known and the unknown are blurred in observation.

This is often why experiencing an empty hallway you’ve only observed as busy can be unsettling. You recognize the hallway; but have never observed it devoid of anyone else.

Likewise, non-physical liminal states can also be eerie as we reconcile how we can experience familiar feelings - such as happiness - in unhappy circumstances - soaking in the rain - when we experience it through another medium - such as when consuming alcohol.

Now let’s cover different rites of passage as part of liminal spaces. So far, we’ve discussed that liminal places and spaces are areas of transition from one state to another. These can occur within a particular structure - such as with games - or within a known physical framework - such as moving from one room to another via a hallway.

However, these transitions can also occur outside of typical social structures or norms. Of course, many of us are consumed by everyday liminal activities such as waking or going to sleep or commuting to and from work. However, there exist certain milestones or changes in our lives that are also liminal. These are often called “rites of passage.”

Rites of passage are marked as major landmarks in individuals’ lives. They often signify a turning or inflection point from which growth or maturity occurs. Examples such as first steps; first words; first birthday; first graduation; and first kiss all mark particularly important rites of passage in the lives of children and young adults.

Often these milestones are accompanied by some kind of ceremony. The ceremony helps to mark and delineate the passage from one state to the next.

Birthday parties, graduations; baptisms; and commencements all mark different stages and transitions in different people’s lives. Part of marking these occasions is to recognize them as major achievements for individuals as well as help communities and society as whole acknowledge the change and transition of different people through different life stages.

These liminal spaces also exist within learning. Graduations and commencement represent one of the many rites of passage that different students experience throughout their lives. These are important ceremonies that mark the accomplishment of major educational achievements.

Likewise, individuals’ learning history are also marked with different periods of liminality. These too often signify critical transitions in individuals’ growth and maturity.

Therefore, it’s also important to acknowledge the impact that these liminal moments have on students. It’s because they mark the transition and progression through different changes and stages of learning.

Some of which could be fraught with challenges such as ambiguity, disorientation, and uncertainty as they move from ignorance to understanding as well as from “not-knowing” to knowing.

These liminal spaces in learning can often be exciting and include a set of milestones on their own such as the first day of school and enrolling in the first class of a major. However, they can also feel uncomfortable and disconcerting as individuals struggle to grasp different concepts and changes.

These challenges are further compounded by the fact that these learning experiences can also oscillate at uncertain rates. These experiences also include individuals gaining and losing focus over the course of their learning journey.

Such vacillating changes can make persistent learning more difficult as individuals struggle to make sense of new concepts while simultaneously developing their own meaning.

However, these challenging times are not without their rewards. Persistent learners often achieve mastery and expertise through diligence, patience, careful study, and practice.

These often occur experientially when learners are required to apply their new knowledge in different applications that they may not have experienced before. This may occur when they must adapt to face a new problem or challenge.

Such is the case with serious games, simulations, and games-based learning where individuals can practice and apply their knowledge in a closed and limited environment.

The rewards are great for learners who are willing to dedicate their time and patience towards achieving a goal that is only accomplished by traversing difficult liminal states.

They may often be tempted to leave the learning experience to avoid these uncomfortable feelings; but doing so would sacrifice their achievements. Instead, dedication, tenacity, and discipline rewards those who are willing to endure the transition.

There is a difference between liminal spaces in learning and liminal spaces in education. Liminal spaces in learning reflect the learner’s and the individual’s perspective in transition. Comparatively, liminal spaces and states in education can be interpreted as areas and opportunities for growth and development.

Education represents a framework for liminality as it can provide learners with an opportunity to reflect on their own current understanding and assumptions.

Experiential education focuses on this through reflection activities of learners where they are asked to question their given assumptions as well as explore new possibilities.

Despite this, these changes and transitions can remain sources of frustration and confusion - especially if learners become lost and are unable to determine a clear path forward.

As individual learners continue to grow, change, and mature, the discomfort of liminality and tolerance for uncertainty can grow. These transitions represent continual developmental growth, and as such become an integral part of the learning process.

These learning transitions - often that occur as a means of experiential education - are structured in a way where scaffolding and supports are meant to aid the individual through the period of transition.

These supports can take on different representations: everything from individual counseling and advising to scaffolding in games and games-based learning.

These supports are not only critical for learner success but are also important to provide to learners widely. Especially as it can be used to address inequality, inequity, and accessibility issues for learners, individuals, as well as for players of different and diverse backgrounds.

Therefore, it’s important for educators to recognize the existence and importance of liminality in education, teaching, and learning. These often represent a period of discomfort as learners navigate the learning space.

This warrants educators to structure and design learning spaces that support learner agency and competency as well as growth and development through scaffolding and feedback.

Of course, this brings us to liminal spaces and places in games. Games are perhaps one of the most active and recognizable liminal spaces. They create this sense of transition when players move into the magic circle and consent to the ludological agreement of play.

This transition - like other liminal transitions - is often met by some degree of ambiguity and disorientation. Anyone who has played a first-person shooter with dual control sticks for the first time versus using a keyboard and mouse can attest to this.

Similarly, anyone who has played dexterity games such as Crokinole will know how challenging it can be to gain base level competency through play. Therefore, players need time, patience, and ultimately agency when entering the liminal space of games.

Games themselves can also possess “liminal” areas that separate one part of game play from another. These include digital representations of physical liminal spaces such as elevators hallways, and doors. They could also include loading screens and animations that serve as a delimiter between different game levels, areas, and worlds.

You may already be familiar with these liminal spaces in traditional commercial games; but other forms of games such as serious games and pervasive games challenge these aspects of liminality.

Such that with pervasive games the line between the real and the game world is broken. This makes it challenging to determine which participants in the game are real and who are not.

The skewing of liminal spaces is no more evident than with learning and educational games, where learners and players experience liminality in different forms. They enter liminal spaces when first playing the game as well as meeting the learning outcomes set out for them.

This is compounded even more by learning game designers who attempt to balance multiple aspects including learner agency, competency, learning outcomes, and fun in a motivational and impactful experience.

This episode defined “liminality” to better describe characteristics of liminal space and places. Liminality was reviewed from a broader societal and academic perspective as well as discussed how it is experienced in different places and stages.

The two main modalities that liminality is experienced in are in physical places as well as non-physical spaces. Examples of both were offered up as well as a connection of “rites of passage” as liminal activities.

Finally, liminality was discussed from a learner focused perspective as well as through the lens of educators. Liminality was also covered in specific instances and examples in games with connections made between educational liminality and games-based learning.

I hope you found this episode useful. If you’d like to learn more, then a great place to start is with my free course on gamification. You can sign up for it at www.universityxp.com/gamificationYou can also get a full transcript of this episode including links to references in the description or show notes. Thanks for joining me!

Again, I’m your host Dave Eng from games-based learning by University XP. On Experience Points we explore different ways we can learn from games. If you liked this episode please consider commenting, sharing, and subscribing.

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