gold digger
A Collaborative & Interactive Social Computing Game
Evo Pavosevich, Jessyca Beksa, Jenny Wu, Alex Yuen, Diana Thai
Picture This
You just arrived at the movie theater to see that movie you've been waiting weeks to be released.
With a large bucket of popcorn and an ice-cold drink in hand, you slump into the seats you had already pre-selected.
But wait...what's this? 20 minutes until the movie starts?
So you pull out your phone and begin mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, but there's no new content because you were on it literally less than 5 minutes ago.
Suddenly a loud sound comes from the
speaker and you look up to
see "GOLD DIGGER"
Our idea
In movie theaters, people tend to sit through pre-movie trailers by talking to friends or going on their mobile devices. We wanted to implement a game that would facilitate social interaction between people in a room. So we thought, why not a movie theatre? The already existing giant screen can be used to encourage people to use devices already in hand to talk and work together with people around them, whether they are friends or strangers.
THe GOal
Dave the digger, our beloved miner moves 1 space every 10 seconds in the direction that the majority votes for.
For example, if 60% of the people in the theater vote to move left then that's the direction he moves!
Once Dave moves, the new space changes colors depending on where the gold is. the "warmer" the square the closer he is to the gold!
Our "movie theatre"
How TO PLAY
Follow the link/ text a short number in order to see the poll
Choose the direction that the miner should move!
The "big screen"
Gallery
How we conducted our Evaluation session
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Projected Game on Big Screen
Reorganized the Chairs into Rows
Mimics sitting in a theatre next to others for us to see how interactions are made between people from different directions.
Mirrors real life experience of seeing the game on a big screen.
4 Team Members Acted as Backend Computer
Collect Feedback from Audience
3 team members are controlling the details on screen, including moving Dave and clearing the poll. 1 member keeps time. 1 member takes pictures and make observations.
Collect feedback through survey that has open-ended questions about participant experiences.
What we learned ...
From the class discussion and our survey
Pain Points
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The timer is too slow. The pace of the game loses its excitement.
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There is no incentive to play.
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Late joiners incentive also needs to be addressed.
Positive Experiences
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People found debating with others to be fun
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Enjoyed our graphics
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Audience felt sense of group accomplishment
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Enjoyed being able to talk and laugh with others.
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People rated a 7.65 avg. of “having fun” on a scale from 1-no fun to 5-indifferent to 10-had lots of fun.
Improvements
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Wanted more obstacles to encourage more interaction with others.
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Hide votes to discourage others from just "following the herd"
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More face-to-face interaction
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Game content match should match setting.
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Better, more intuitive gradient for finding gold.
... and what it tells us
about social structures and complexities of the setting
When tested under the situation of an airport, too many factors discouraged people from playing the game. Even when suggesting that the area was communal, people still pointed out the limiting factors and preconceived notions such as noise level, purposeful use of wait time (e.g. sending emails, getting other work done), and that some people may want to rest at airport waiting areas. While we wanted to encourage a fun use of time in this setting, our desire to achieve this goal clearly clashed with people's preferences at airports, so we shifted to implementing our idea at movie theaters.
From observations of the evaluation session and through the feedback form, we were able to gather data that shed light on the social structures and complexities of the setting. We found that there was a complex relationship between the atmosphere of the setting and the people situated in that environment.
Furthermore, the evaluation session showed us how easily people "follow the herd". when people saw the live polls they would be swayed in their votes. What's surprising that stemmed from this was the audience's desire to take away the poll results and add more obstacles to the game. People enjoyed friendly debate with others and wanted more challenges in order to collaborate with each other, showing enjoyment and desire for human interaction. This feeling is probably the result of the strong sense of group accomplishment that was felt by many people after uncovering the gold. Our prototype testers enjoyed talking and laughing together a lot, and got louder during disagreements, as they moved Dave the Digger, showing us that the right incentive and medium in the right setting can encourage positive interactions between strangers. It's about working together towards a common goal and feeling a sense of team accomplishment to break down walls between each other.
What we changed
New Setting: Movie Theater
In utilizing the big screen of movies, we changed our setting to movie theaters. Without other activities to do besides talking to friends and scrolling through social media, the game can be effortlessly added to the flow of waiting for the movie to begin since it would require mobile devices and working with others.
Added Incentive
To incentivize people to play the game, points will be awarded per gameplay that can be saved for free movies. Collection over time encourages more gameplay while free movie tickets bring in business for movie theaters since people also purchase foods or invite friends.
Game Details
We're hiding poll results to encourage people to talk to convince others to vote and move in the same direction as they are. We're also shortening each move time to ten seconds, with the timer displayed, to bring more excitement and thrill as the time ticks quickly by.
Our Progress
Research
Brainstorming
& Prototyping
User testing
Final prototype
We began by researching on team collaborated games and its effects. Methods included observations, interviews, contextual inquiry, and literature reviews.
We brainstormed multiple kinds of games that would encourage social interactions. We prototyped rough versions of some ideas as well.
We conducted user testing on our best idea with the class and made observations, took pictures, and discussed what we could improve on.
After feedback, we analyzed our data to understand how to better improve the gaming experience. We also made changes to our final prototype.
Here's a link to our research: http://bit.ly/123gameresearch
Research
BRAINSTORMING
Guidelines we created for our games included:
- dependency on others to progress
- communication between people
-puzzle element for collaboration
Based on this, we brainstormed some game ideas that cover these points to encourage social interaction between people.
Bomb Diffusers
Players have different parts of a bomb and must communicate to cut the right wires
Connect Circuit
Players coordinate to hold their assign colored dots on different screens to close the circuit and win
Hole in the Wall
Players have different pictures and must arrange their phones to create a bigger picture
Simon
Players click on their assigned colored screens in the right order of given pattern
first round prototyping
We liked the Simon Game idea because it was a simple game yet required coordination between people to tap their colors as they memorized the color pattern. After attempting to prototype the game, we found that the game became redundant and boring because of the low skill ceiling. In addition, simple memorization may not encourage a lot of communication between people. We revisited our other options again.
We were not satisfied with the current ideas and brainstormed more, coming up with Gold Digger. The game had lots of room for improvement and new game features. In addition, we had to hone in on a suitable setting for the game and considered a big screen as a huge part of bringing lots of people together to play the game. So we began prototyping for this setting in mind.
User testing
Final iteration
Join Anytime at tinyurl.com/golddigger
5s
Future implementations
The iterations do not stop here! If given more time, we want to make more changes to give our audience the best experience.
We would add more obstacles, like solving trivia, for people to collaborate and gain tools to help them navigate through the cave.
More Obstacles
Clearer Gradient Scheme
We would improve the color gradient to signify more intuitively to people where the gold may be.
Additional Game Details
We would add fun sound effects and use themed characters and maps relevant to movie showings, like Disney characters.
OUr Team
Jessyca Beksa
Researcher and content developer
Evo Pavosevich:
Visual lead and designer
Diana Thai
Researcher and content developer
Jenny Wu:
Innovative designer and gamer engineer
Alex Yuen
Prototype developer and researcher