Author: admin_burner

When I took the first part of this class I worked with a color sensor, connected to the arduino, to generate patterns based on atmopheric color. Pretty and benign. It would be interestng to use the color sensor in a more political way. What if, at the onset of the game, the color sensor measures the color/ tone of the players skin to determine what character they will play. Assuming this is a multiplayer game, the other players can see who you are playing, but you cannot. This could generate multiple results- it could be an exploration of racism or public perception allowing the players to “experience” what it would be like in another person’s body, or if it is a collaborative game, it could mean experimenting with tactics to figure out which other players are your “in” group. Much has been written about the implicit biases within facial recognition and maybe this could comment on that too.

This isn’t an experience I have every day, but I have added some gamification to part of my walking commute. I live in Inwood, which is the very northern tip of Manhattan, where the Broadway Bridge connects it to the Bronx. I cross that bridge frequently to get to Target or the grocery store with the better cheese selection, or to take Metro North. When my daughter was little and I’d push her in the stroller, we noticed how many different kinds of transportation were on that bridge and made a game of it (which I still play and she thinks is lame).

Players: 1 or 2- This is a cooperative game, so both players receive the same number of points

Rules: You have to walk at a normal pace and can’t stop. Points begin accruing when you step onto the metal bridge structure and stop when you step off on the other side.

Points: 1 point for each unique form of transportation. Above: subway Street Level: car, bus, taxi, bicycle Below: Metro North, jet ski, boat, Circle Line (2 points), crew team

I mentioned Sleep No More as an example of a curated experience in class, but I think I will actually choose Embassy Suites. Embassy Suites is a chain of hotels and growing up they were the places we stayed for band trips and soccer tournaments- anything that required piling a bunch of kids in one room. The selling point of ES (I don’t think anyone calls it that) is that all the rooms are suites, so parents had a space to read or watch tv and could still make sure we went to sleep at a reasonable time, or the pull-out couch in the second room could be used for 5 or 6 more people. The layout of the hotel is also open to the center. Rooms have full-length windows facing a shared corridor overlooking an atrium. The parts of this experience that I felt were meant for me is the faux authenticity of the space. You’re meant to feel like you’re at a resort with climbing vines and greenery (fake), a water feature or river (fake and highly chlorinated), and the feeling of being in a shared space as you could see people walking past the room through the huge windows. Growing up in a rural part of NJ where no over ever just walked past our house, coupled with the fact that I knew many people in the hotel (class trips), made me imagine what it might be like to live in a city with landscaping and people and the ability to take a glass elevator (lots of glass!) down to a cafe (fake) to have chex mix with friends. I’m not sure if the designers of this space had all of this in mind, but their choices did influence my experience in the space.

Participation = Passive. Connection = Immersion

I should probably come clean and admit that I haven’t really played video games since Atari in my childhood basement. Subsequently, I have no gaming skills and find navigating within a 2D/3D environment very frustrating. In thinking about a narrative for this experiment, I was reminded of the similarity of that feeling and the feeling of annoyance and frustration that comes from trying to clean up glitter (my daughter has transitioned from craft glitter to makeup glitter). My plan was to add a sparkle surface to the cubes and make them nearly impossible to move. I found a few tutorials that were way beyond my week one skills, and went with gold instead, which doesn’t look like glitter really at all. Then I experimented with making the sphere invisible, which, when it taps the gold cubes, makes them shimmer a little. Not being able to see the movement trigger is a little cool and definitely increases the level of frustration as it works a little and then (I think) rolls off the plane completely so it stops working. Enjoy!