The three responses I wanted to explore was discomfort, horror and being at peace. These three experiences came to me at different times and can all be found in games as well. I wanted to avoid common responses and aimed for more nuanced and overlooked reactions.
For discomfort, I was much inspired by social media and paparazzi's. I feel that today's social culture is very ironic. There are paparazzi's taking pictures of celebrities and people posting selfies on social media. People who take selfies want to gain attention and in a way it's emulating how celebrities often get their photos taken. However, people don't realize it's an entirely different case when your picture is being taken by someone else without your permission. I imagine it would be very uncomfortable finding pictures of yourself that were taken without your notice. For this reaction, I want people to come to the realization that they need to respect other people's privacy as well and develop empathy for others.
While I was playing Bioshock this past week, I arrived at the turning point/plot twist of the game. It was an encounter with the main "bad guy" of the game, Andrew Ryan. The goal of the game so far is to kill him, but he gets killed in a very unorthodox manner. The horror I felt upon watching the scene of my character killing a defenseless man could not have left a deeper impression on me. Throughout the game, I've been killing enemies because it was easily justified as self-defense. However, 2K, the game developer, did a great job switching that up and instead of a boss fight that people usually expect, the "boss" just hands you a golf club and orders you to kill him.
The last one is a positive feeling that for me, is difficult to recreate. I wanted to create the feeling of being at peace with the world, to forget all worries and responsibilities, and to simply be able to relax enough to space out without worrying about due dates and assignments. I feel that this would be the most difficult to recreate simply because I cannot spontaneously get rid of everyone's responsibilities.
This project is pretty open ended, so it's hard figuring out exactly what will be most impactful and successful. I'm not too happy with the ideas I have so far, but I'm hoping after some discussion, I'll have an aha! moment.
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