Louisa-thesis outline

Thesis outline proposal to be submitted by Louisa Friederike Teichmann in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the final examination for the Master Experimental Publishing, 2022

Abstract

If we were living in a simulation, there wouldn't be so many commercials.

In this thesis i will document the process of building a city game. The topic revolves around personalised, location based targeted content under the veil of ludification. By analysing game formats like ARG's and Escape Games, and connecting them to methods of targeted advertisement, I am building a networked narrative through augmentation and modification of physical spaces. Idea of shared geographical markers.

Introduction

I am drifting in and out of a parallel state. I am getting better and worse at the same time. I have started to become overly aware of the funnel through which I am experiencing my surroundings, blinders encoded into my perception. The bottle falls, the dream is over. I am in the same space in a new timeline. The dreamer wanders through bridging fields.

Consciousness has grabbed you by your hair and pulled you out of the dense swamp of non-linear experience, to hang you on to the threads of time to dry. How many dimensions have been stripped from you?

Frustrating experience as child of telling reality and dreams apart, core interest in making people doubt if something is real or part of a fiction to feel less isolated in experience. Creating games in order to activate people and change their state of mind and experience of their environment. Looking closely, everything could be a potential hint. Building on research of text-adventures and targeted advertisement. Making use of the group present and the things everyone could contribute to the game experience instead of making them passive spectators of a work.

Subconscious Drifting

- in PTSD sensation of being a character, arms not belonging to you, like in a video game. Dissociation - Sleepwalking being able to move around in a real space without too much issues since the geographical markers are the same, sharing the same space. walking down long stairs

Chapter 1: Navigating Invisible Borders

Invisible Borders

Video Game techniques of hiding the map borders

VR, geographical markers translated into fictional environment to make sure players are not walking against walls or outside of playing field. wall could look like abyss

subnautica, part of storyline why area is not reachable The Case Against Reality ~ Donald Hoffman

Location-based Games

Alternate Reality Games

This is not a Game ~ Dave Szulborski interest in mystery, collective storytelling/networked narrative. building a small ecosystem for storyline.

Blast Theory

Escape Games

Tomo Kihara: Escape the Smart City (MA project 2018)

Roos Groothuizen: I want to delete it all, but not now

methods of gameplay, progessive storyline, immersion

Chapter 2: Personalisation & Dark Patterns

Location-based advertisement

Dark Patterns

Interactive Fiction meets Surveillance Capitalism

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism ~ Shoshana Zuboff

problems identifying where is thesis and where is personal project make difference clear, finding elements that are still not known instead of finding references to things already known.

wikipedia: Geographical and location-based targeting This type of advertising involves targeting different users based on their geographic location. IP addresses can signal the location of a user and can usually transfer the location through ZIP codes.[5] Locations are then stored for users in static profiles, thus advertisers can easily target these individuals based on their geographic location. A location-based service (LBS) is a mobile information service which allows spatial and temporal data transmission and can be used to an advertiser's advantage.[26] This data can be harnessed from applications on the device that allow access to the location information.[27] This type of targeted advertising focuses on localizing content, for example, a user could be prompted with options of activities in the area, for example, places to eat, nearby shops, etc. Although producing advertising off consumer's location-based services can improve the effectiveness of delivering ads, it can raise issues with the user's privacy.[28]

Retargeting

Main article: Behavioral retargeting Retargeting is where advertisers use behavioral targeting to produce ads that follow users after users have looked at or purchased a particular item. An example of this is store catalogs, where stores subscribe customers to their email system after a purchase hoping that they draw attention to more items for continuous purchases. The main example of retargeting that has earned a reputation from most people is ads that follow users across the web, showing them the same items that they have looked at in the hope that they will purchase them. Retargeting is a very effective process; by analysing consumers activities with the brand they can address their consumers' behavior appropriately.[57]

https://www.playtoearn.online/category/blockchain-gaming/ PLAY TO EARN

Chapter 3: The Game

Forming a progressive storyline

Geographical markers connect alternate spaces

Playing the game results in subtle changes in public spaces of city

Game adapting to the way its being played

Narrative

I had to smile when I saw you, holding that mobile phone in your hand, big and heavy. You remind me of myself, many years ago. I should feel nostalgic for those years, but I feel anxious for you. For what is yet to come, until we finally meet again. Back in the 2020s, I was one of the gamers who started living entirely off of data provision, when the data ownership lawsuit guaranteed millions of internet users a constant flow of income. It was really: “The more you interact, the more you get paid.” and that came easy for me. I spent my teenage years consumed by video games, I would get drawn into the beauty of the digital landscapes and somehow, the thought that someone created it, thought of every detail and placed every single object with a purpose, made me feel a sense of intimacy and connection. I dedicated all of my attention to my favourite games (put examples here) and eventually gained international success by joining the esports team Dolphin Waves. The recognition I received for my performance was unimaginable and made me feel like I was floating above the world. But something felt off. I could never feel complete with the pressure of success and the real time ticking in the back of my mind. When I started to get paid for my time spent interacting in the metaverse, I would spend the money on minted in-game items and the worlds would get better and better.

Do you see the skyscrapers on the side of the water? What you are seeing is the vertical city. It was built to accommodate any need inside one massive structure, reaching only upwards. In your time, there were still many offices next to the living spaces. In the late 20s, a tech spa opened on one of the floors, with a small number of flotation tanks connected to the VR game Dream Chaser. The first time I tried it, I could never look back. It was like something clicked and I realised, this is all I need. I started investing most of my pay into XR, and with me many others, which finally allowed for completely invisible tech. Do you see the floating pavilion? Three translucent domes, interconnected to create a sheltered platform. In 2021, it became abandoned due to the covid-19 pandemic and was up for rent to anti-squatters for a while. Its best days as an event space were long gone, once the vertical city bought it as a part of their XR program. Look inside? Seems empty, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not, but you can not see it. It is a worlding space, we use it to move around in our hyper-individualised landscapes. We all see different things. It becomes exciting when we share the space. At the moment someone joins the space, they become non-playable characters in each other’s worlds, matching the aesthetics of the other. How, do you ask? We connected our brainwaves to a massive computer network run in the harbour. Everything is completely intuitive. The beauty of it is, now I am the creator of the landscape, and everyday, I am rediscovering myself inside of it.

I am trying to read what you are thinking right now. I am watching you from inside the pavilion. I wonder, what would your game world look like? Would you feel this same sensation of excitement of discovering yourself everyday anew? Would you, like I did, move beyond ideas in which only the physical is real and immerse yourself in infinite worlds? Would you allow artificial influences to help you shape realities?

Play Tests

Conclusion

I am planning to review the different game methods I have tested and applied and in what ways they have supported the progression of the narrative through lived experience. Based on the results of this analysis I will suggest areas of improvement and propose a future set-up of the game.