The Performer and the Gamer

It’s now HALF A YEAR that improv has been online. The world is divided between off-line and on-line improvisers. The first party feels online shows are just “not the same”, preferring to wait it out. The second party are improvisers who are not really affected. I think it’s cool. But I like to ponder what factors make one more inclined than the other.

Improv has always been a funny mix. It is a unique arena that brings together:

• actors and IT guys
• the sports athletes and the class nerds
• the life of the party and the quirky hobbyists

This is the beauty of improv. There’s an innate odd dichotomy in improv. It’s sort of extroverts and introverts, but with the audience. I prefer Performers and Gamer. Neither is better than the other; but it’s useful to understand where they draw their energies from.

The Performers

The Performer draws their energy from the audience. They revel in audience connection, the laughs, the silences that would fuel them. They don’t necessarily have to play up to the audience (some do — the “wink-wink” to the audience, cracking puns and making melodramatic moves). In Improvisation in the Speed of Life, TJ & Dave wrote that they don’t care what the audience wants them to do, but still they draw in the energy, and use it for themselves. The Performer loses the most by the switch to online improv.

The Gamers

The Gamer draws their energy from within the scene. Each scene is a puzzle to solve, a Rubik’s Cube, to figure out between them and their partners. These Gamers don’t lose so much energy when shows move online. In fact, it allows them to play more. They appreciate it if the audience peeks in, but that’s not their main energy source — it’s fine to do a scene by themselves.

I think it’s very interesting times for improv.

Improv had been defined by the physical stage — this brings the two energies together, and the physical stage favors the Performers. The Gamers are obliged to play on another person’s court and make it work. (Some Gamers do develop cravings once they taste the first blood of an audience’s laughter).

Online improv goes the opposite way. It’s the Gamers’ court. It frustrates the Performers with the current limited technology. Maybe that’s partly why improvisers who switch online in my community tend to be newer players— populated by the juniors, instead of the seniors who are more used to draw energy from an audience. That’s why for me, the best shows are not the “Show” Shows. These in fact are sometimes rather painful to watch (though I can understand it’s needed for theatres to raise funds or maintain visibility).

But personally, I prefer watching the few improvisers playing a scene without a care in the world of who’s watching. This is a world like Twitch Gaming. Gamers just enjoying themselves playing a videogame, and people just voyeur into what they are doing.

Over time, the tech will improv. This will make it an equal ground for both types of improvisers, the Performers and the Gamers. A more mature online environment like the current Youtube content creators would allow both. The people who make well-polished, highly presentable work, and people who just post small things for themselves.

The world may be divided, but that’s a good thing.

We understood ourselves better now.