Summary
This rant (not solution, specifically), raises a question worth exploring: Will our future be built on thin means of interaction, or should we design more interactions that engage the full range of human senses?
The article illustrates through the large number of physical operations that our hands, or fingers, can perform, that the future of our interactions will not necessarily be about manipulating screens. (As shown in the video)
Takeaway
I really like the example that this writer uses —— hand.
Hand has various sensible functions. Different gestures, behaviors and positions can act various effects. The world become vivid through the organic media of hand. Those glass-like screen only provide smooth touch scene, which is not a direct feedback for our touch work properly.
I tend to agree partially with the writer’s opinion that the future interaction should stimulate five senses so that people can better understand the world. But I keep part of my opinion that the reason why people invent tool is because people are lazy. (You can find the clue from the trend of industry revolutions) That’s the reason people tend to only use figures to control all the stuffs instead move their whole body.
Maybe the question can be, with the rapid development of technology and simplified interaction, where can people keep the functionality of their body and gain a physical understanding of the world?
Real-World Example
You know what, one example I find that fully use of people’s limbs is Switch Controller developed by Nintendo.
Switch Controller is a simplified tool iterated from the arcade game. Though the majority of them have been simplified with physical button. They still keep the control stick to track those imperceptible changes which can tracked by physical change of player’s finger. In many of their games (again, I want to use Zelda as an example), you can also see them go through a variety of interactions that use Switch Controller to approximate a real effect.
- When the player wants to throw the stone in their hand, they will first hold the button in the upper right corner to save power, and then switch to the button in the upper left corner to throw it.
- There are many motion sensors built into the Controller, and tilting the Controller will have a different operating experience to simulate the physical effect
What impress me a lot is that Nintendo has also developed a bunch of controller based toys:
These toy-like physical components are combined with gamepads to give players more realistic physical feedback through specifically developed games. Many Nintendo players have bought their fitness rings, and they can complete more interesting fitness games by installing controllers on the fitness rings.
Burning Question
The writer of this article clearly throw a arguable question but with no answer. One question worth exploring is whether people want to be lazier or whether they want to have more sensory-rich interactions. Or perhaps the two propositions are not supposed to be discussed together.