The Photo Shoot Experiment

On Tuesday the 22^nd, James Dunn, and myself were tasked with creating a game for the Screen School. This game can be anything from a new phone app to a unique experience.

We discussed the different aspects of games that we enjoyed in from the past, especially from the week of the 15^th, where we were testing different games. I found that the most fun kind of game are the type that can be enjoyed by both players and spectators, such as the experience shared from the posted note game.

After brainstorming some ideas, we settled for the idea of a “Photo Shootout” game. Basically a group of people will be brought together, given cameras and are then tasked to take photos of everyone in the game. But they must also try to avoid being photographed by other players.

After presenting this idea to the rest of the class, James and myself discussed the idea further and both found that the idea to be quite chaotic. So we decided to change the game slightly. We changed the game so that only one person will have a camera and the rest of the group will not know who has the camera and will not know whom to avoid.

We decided to test the game out by letting eight students play our game for an hour. One by one, we asked the students to step outside the classroom, so that we could explain the rules further and choose which one to be the photographer. Once the selection process was finished we stated that by the end of the lecture we will finish the game and reveal who the photographer is.

The tension between these eight students increased immediately once this selection process was finished. They felt uncomfortable being alone in case the photographer will capture them and so began to stay in packs of two or three.

James and myself decided to add an element to the game, where each player can make an accusation on who they suspected of being the photographer. But this element slightly changed the game. Originally it was about simply avoiding getting your photograph taken, but it turn into a guessing game, as everyone was trying to figure out who the photographer is.

I didn’t feel that this was a problem, I actually found it quite interesting to watch everyone’s tactics to find out who the photographer is and I feel that with some work this can be quite a successful game experience.

In the end, only one person guessed whom the photographer was. The photographer managed to capture two different people and come up with an interesting tactic of asking one of the other students to help them. So in the end this turned into a successful experiment. Everyone took the game seriously, they were constantly thinking up tactics and ways of winning the game and gave James and myself wonderful tips, which we will put forward when creating the final version of the game.

I am now creating a video containing all the footage I filmed during the experiment, so as soon as it is finished, I will post it here for you all to see.

Who am I?

After we had completed our Wiki pages, the class was to move on to the next task. This task is to create a game for the University. To help us experiment on all the different kinds of games, we were given 40 minutes to play as much board games and video games as we can. 

No I am not joking.

Though I could spend time on this post discussing all of the games that were available I am simply going to discuss one. The one that proved to be the most fun and crowd pleasing of all the games there.

It began with two young men, James Dunn and myself, a pen and some posted notes. The game was simple. James would write the name of someone famous or someone I know on a posted note. He would then stick the posted note on my forehead. Then I would take a posted note and do the same for him. So we would face each other and take turns in asking questions, as we try and figure out who is on our posted notes.

During our second round of the game, it was then that I noticed we were attracting a crowd, as the other students watched and laughed at our silly questions. After James and I were finished with our round, four of our fellow students wanted to have a go at the game. What came next was a good round of laughs, jokes and general fun.

I think this game shows that the best of games are not the ones that are simple, intriguing or random. The best kind of game is the one that can be enjoyed by all. In fact the people that were not taking part in the game and simply watched, were having as much fun as the players themselves. So James and I have partnered up for the next assignment and I feel that if we create a game with that same effect, it will be the best thing we could make.

End of the Wiki

On Tuesday morning, my group and I spent time on finishing our Wiki page. As I have said in the last post, our Wiki page was to write about the advantages and disadvantages of Participatory Culture. This subject was discussed in a book called, We-Think by Charles Leadbeater and the book served as a useful guide to the topic.

We found that the best way to describe the advantages and disadvantages of Participatory Culture was to find examples of the idea being used on the Internet. We also discussed different obstacles that could stop it from working, such as Trolling or lack of trust between users on the Internet. I was quite happy with the Wiki page, I feel that we provided good examples on the advantages and disadvantages of Participatory Culture and that it was presented in a manner that could be understood by most of the Internet. I feel that with more time we could have provided more content to the page, such as a Prezi presentation or a short film on the subject. But I still feel that we created a good Wiki page in the time that was given to us. If you wish to see the Wiki page, please click the link below.

We Think - A discussion in Mass Innovation and Participatory Culture