My team’s party game will be some sort of combination of We’re Not Really Strangers and Fear Pong.
1. Does the “consequence” of drinking motivate players to answer vulnerable, intimate questions?
We hope that our party game will bond our players through sharing intimate experiences, but players might not open up if they would rather drink every time. A prototype to test this could be writing various intimate questions on blank cards. The participant will flip through the cards, and each time, they can choose to answer the question or drink. We can observe the participant’s ratio of drink:answer and whether the participant answers at a higher rate towards the later parts of the experiment. I anticipate that participants will choose to answer the question most of the time, and if not, they will choose to answer questions more frequently after a few drinks. People become more open and brave when they’re tipsy or drunk, and I hope we can leverage drinking in a healthy way to help players bond.
2. How can we maintain playfulness and lightheartedness in the game while players share their vulnerable experiences?
Serious environments are the ultimate killers of fun. Although we want our party games to foster personal conversations, getting to know people does not mean it has to be done in a serious manner. To test what game elements can keep the mood easygoing, we can get participants to answer vulnerable questions while simultaneously integrating our test element. For example, after a participant answers a question, we can require another participant to make a ridiculous, funny comment in response to the story. I anticipate that this can help bring the game back to a silly mood after a potentially serious conversation.
3. What is a suitable substitute for alcohol to be inclusive of people who do not drink?
This question is vital for the sake of inclusivity. Games are only fun if you can play with all of your friends who will likely have different drinking preferences. The prototype to test this question can be similar to the one mentioned in #2 about testing what elements will help maintain playfulness. The only difference is that we will test various alcohol substitutes instead. For example, instead of drinking to avoid answering a question, people who do not drink can perform a dare instead. I predict that incorporating dares will be a good substitute and will only add more fun!
