Gaming The System @ UW: Project 3 Post

Group:
Micah
James
Thyrza
Cameron

Base Location:
Outside Paccar Hall, South entrance.

Concept:

The design of our project ushered an anonymous user into taking action (moving our object) by creating a familiar scenario of partaking in a "Quest"!

By this time, most everyone knows what it means to "go on a quest" or "go off on an adventure". The designated object would be the weapon carried by our player who uses it along the way to destroy enemies along his/her path.

Here is our written story seen by our possible participants:

"Come hither brave warrior, we seek your assistance against the forces of evil! We have been silenced by a magical wizard who has also captured our princess, lady Thyrza. Take arm of the holy weapon and follow us!"

The Hero's Weapon

We have decided to set up targets along the path towards the other base in which our participant can either shoot the weapon or throw a water balloon. Drawn on each target is a commonly-encountered game creature in RPG or Adventure style games. Each target was hung within eyesight of each other so that the pathway was clear.

A fireball-casting Wizard that our warrior must defeat!

With our bread-crumb design and straightforward item all we needed was the ability to communicate to people what needed to be done. For risk assessment we also needed to think about what happens if a person leaves midway through the quest? What happens if we run out of water? How will the signs be placed in response to different surfaces (trees, walls, posts, etc.)?

To make sure we can continue to roll the project forward if our participant leaves in the middle, we decided to propose ourselves using a sign containing our story, which we can relocate at any given moment.

We carried an extra bottle of water for worst-case-scenario purposes of running out of ammunition (multiple squirt guns were even bought if one broke).

In order counteract the problem of putting paper targets all around campus, we used a combination of string, wood, and tape to mount each creature securely and noticeably.

To add extra effect, some of us decided to dress up in medieval-fantasy clothing to evoke the experience of a quest - as well as cement our concept into the minds of our spectators.

Thyrza, the to-be-rescued princess in our story. Bottles of water (Mana) for extra ammunition.

Micah and James getting ready at our starting location.

On the day of execution we have encountered a number of obstacles in our design. It became very difficult to draw people into our endeavor for it didn't have public shock value except for the costumes (basically it didn't demand attention, it just simply asked for it). Our ability to attract people solely rested on the shoulders of our large whiteboard and the story (above) that was written on it. Our item was also very small and indistinct to being picked up, other than being referred to as the object our hero must wield in our adventure, it was your run-of-the-mill squirt gun.

Despite these setbacks and the very hot day, we were encountered by a person who read our entire story and motioned to complete his objectives! With his trusty crossbow in one hand and a supply of holy hand grenades being put in the other we ran through our destined quest in the matter of 10 minutes from start-to-finish. Destroying each target along the way, we finally reached the fountain (last area), rescued our princess and placed the weapon in the ending zone.