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.
Draft, 15th November 2021.
Abstract
[150-200 words]
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 location-based, pervasive game. The topic revolves around personalised, location-based targeted content under the veil of ludification. By analysing novelty game formats like Alternate Reality Games 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
[500 words]
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 me by my 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 me?
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
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
[1200 words]
Invisible Borders
Video Game techniques of hiding the map borders subnautica, part of storyline why area is not reachable
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
Pervasive 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
automated puzzles, unlocking, methods of gameplay, progressive storyline, immersion.
Tomo Kihara: Escape the Smart City (MA project 2018)
Roos Groothuizen: I want to delete it all, but not now
Chapter 2: Take a Leap in the Dark
[2000 words]
Geofencing
Location-based advertisement
"A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. A geo-fence could be dynamically generated (as in a radius around a point location) or match a predefined set of boundaries (such as school zones or neighborhood boundaries).
The use of a geofence is called geofencing, and one example of use involves a location-aware device of a location-based service (LBS) user entering or exiting a geo-fence. This activity could trigger an alert to the device's user as well as messaging to the geo-fence operator. This info, which could contain the location of the device, could be sent to a mobile telephone or an email account." [2]
Dark Patterns
"Types of Dark Patterns
Bait and Switch. Disguised Ads. Forced Continuity. Friend Spam. Hidden Costs. Misdirection. Price Comparison Prevention. Privacy Zuckering." [1]
Pokemon Gone
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism ~ Shoshana Zuboff
Interactive Fiction meets Surveillance Capitalism:
Surveillance Capitalism spilling into the city streets, leading you to where the algorithm thinks you should be going.
Chapter 3: The Game
[2600 words]
pre-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.
Creating a visual language and communication methods
Play Tests
EtherAxis
28th November + 5th December
Development Week TETEM
January or March
in-game
Documentation of actual Gameplay.
post-game
Analysis. 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.
Conclusion
[500 words]
Based on my research on methods of location-based advertisement, I will formulate my vision of its potential and dangers, picturing a ludified smart city and celebrate ways of dancing on the structures of its system.
Bibliography
Books
This is not a Game ~ Dave Szulborski
The Case Against Reality ~ Donald Hoffman
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism ~ Shoshana Zuboff
Space Time Play http://www.spacetimeplay.org/
Tactical Tech https://ourdataourselves.tacticaltech.org/posts/inside-the-influence-industry/
Articles
http://aaaan.net/blast-theory-2/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location-based_game
https://www.playtoearn.online/category/blockchain-gaming/
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/geofencing
Games
Blast Theory: Can you see me now? 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_You_See_Me_Now%3F
Tomo Kihara: Escape the Smart City, 2018.
Roos Groothuizen: I want to delete it all, but not now. 2021.
Collaborators (to be confirmed)
Emilia Tapprest (film maker and performer)
"nvisible.studio is the independent research practice of Finnish designer and filmmaker Emilia Tapprest (b. 1992). She is currently enrolled at Filmforward’s Virjplaats residency and Stimuleringsfonds’ Talent Development programme 2021-22. Her research explores the role of value paradigms in emerging technocultural developments through worldbuilding and cinema, working closely with historian and music producer Victor Evink (S x m b r a). Their works as a duo Liminal Vision tackle themes such as human connectedness and agency in the quantified age, exploring how a system's underlying logic produces particular ‘affective atmospheres’ in interaction with its social fabric."
Tomo Kihara (game designer)
My name is Tomo Kihara — research driven designer making playful interventions that provides a new perspective to complex socio-technical problems.
Roos Groothuizen (artist & designer)
My name is Roos Groothuizen. I am an independent media artist and designer who dances on the borders of interaction, theater, intervention, web, film, games and animation.
Who is in control over what I perceive? Fascinated with the unfair distribution of information and how online algorithms systematically discriminate us, my work reflects on in-depth research and recent developments, often with interactive or game-like elements. Fun with a serious undertone.
Further Reading
Mazes & Monsters by Rona Jaffe