Pirate Chase 2.0 – by Jackson Pruitt
The final project proposal chosen was the adaption of my partner’s and my midterm project: Pirate Chase. The conception of this project was to allow users to interact in a space that assesses their willingness to sacrifice others in order to achieve personal gain when in reality, cooperation is more beneficial. However, the existing model of this project did not fully realize this intention and, therefore, we’ve decided to adapt the project to have a stronger focus on this idea. The new design of the project is one that is larger and has a singular goal, allowing more users to compete and an increase in competitive interaction. The concept mimics closely to the concept conceived by evolutionary biologist Garret Hardin called “tragedy of the commons” which describes a circumstance where an individual acting on their own self-interest will deplete resources against the benefit of the common good. The interactions accumulated by a public audience engaging with Pirate Chase will physically display the repercussions of competition with a singular goal.
In order to realize this goal for our project, my partner and I have devised several new components that will allow for better user engagement and comprehension of the idea. Firstly, we plan on making the design a lot bigger by using a small plastic pool made for small kids. The size will allow the game to consist of up to 4 different users, which would make competition higher and the game more challenging. Secondly, we will design several obstacles placed throughout the body of the game to increase navigation challenges faced by users in comparison to the former one-lane model of our midterm project. This will not only enhance competition but also make the game more dynamic as if offers users to be more strategic in their interaction. Another component is the island sensor, which will be a singular infrared sensor placed in the middle of the body symbolizing the “limited resource” of the common. Lastly, processing features will allow us to display game rules and a clearer proclamation of a winner relative to the red LED used in our previous model. Additionally, this will allow for better game aesthetics.
There has been a lot of research that has inspired the design and conception of this project. One of the articles that really stuck out to me was Bret Victor’s A Brief Rant On The Future of Interactive Design, as he mentions that we should strive to design interactive products using a “dynamic medium that we can see, feel, and manipulate”. I thought that by including the element of using your breath to move the boats takes away this privilege of interaction and would further support his idea as there’s a struggle of not being able to fully feel or manipulate the boats. Another piece that inspired me was one I saw at the Chronus Exhibit that used both natural elements along with technological ones. Although I enjoyed seeing this juxtaposition aesthetically, I thought the main conceptual purpose of having both nature and technology presented in my project would fit the context of the “tragedy of the commons” very suitably. I feel that both of these pieces are insightful to the general public, which is the primary audience of Pirate Chase. I think that for younger users, the purpose would be contextualized as something more entertaining and fun, whereas for older users, the context would be more apparent to this idea of competition for a limited resource.
Works Cited:
http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/