Experience Realm

 “Staging experiences is not about entertaining [participants], it’s about engaging them.” [Pine & Gilmore, The Experience Economy]

Experience engages guests by two things:
1. Guest participation
2. Connection between the guests and the event

1. Guest Participation: 

A. Passive participation

• At one end of the spectrum lies passive participation, where customers do not directly affect or influence the performance. 
•  Such participants include symphony goers, who experience the event as pure observers or listeners.

B. Active participation

• At the other end of the spectrum lies active participation, in which customers personally affect the performance or event that yields the experience. These participants include skiers, who actively participate in creating their own experience.
• But even people who turn out to watch a ski race are not completely passive; simply by being there, they contribute to the visual and aural event that others experience.

2. Connection/environmental relationship: that unites customers with the event or performance

A. Absorption

• At one end of this spectrum lies absorption–occupying a person’s attention by bringing the experience into the mind.

B. Immersion

• At the other end immersion – becoming physically (or virtually) a part of the experience itself.

Example: In other words, if the experience ‘goes into’ the guest, as when watching TV, then he is absorbing the experience. If, on the other hand, the guest ‘goes into’ the experience, as when playing a virtual reality game, then he is immersed in the experience.” [Experience Economy, Chapter 2, “Setting the Stage”]

Four Realms formed:

The authors go on to describe that crossing these two dimensions create four “realms” of experience:

• Active participation + Absorption = Educational (EPCOT Center)
• Active participation + Immersion = Escapist (theme parks, casinos, online gaming communities)
• Passive participation + Absorption = Entertainment (Mickey Mouse, live and in-person)
• Passive participation + Immersion = Esthetic (360 degree movie theater experiences)

The troubled economics of anti-consumerism

 published on the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Blog, September 2010

A narrow-minded old-school economist would say: “Great, GDP is increasing, economic growth is high. Everything is getting better.” An enlightened anti-consumerist economist would counter: “Look closer. Both X and Y now have stomach ulcers from overwork, take antidepressants, their family lives are brittle, and their social lives are in tatters. They are richer – but only in useless status symbols.” In the words of the Spirit Level authors:

“If an important part of consumerism is driven by emulation, status competition, or simply having to run to keep up with everyone else, and is basically about social appearances and position, this would explain why we continue to pursue economic growth despite its apparent lack of benefits. If everyone wants more money because it improves self-image and status in relation to others, then each person’s desire to be richer does not add up to a societal desire for economic growth”