James Chao
What do Prototypes Prototype?
- Should we have pre-set cards or let people come up with their own questions?
The We’re Not Really Strangers cards are a crucial element of our game because they are the avenue through which our players get to know each other better and form more genuine relationships. Having players come up with their own questions would enable them to come up with more personalized questions and let their personalities show, but it also might lead to more pressure and more inappropriate or uncomfortable questions that not everyone might be comfortable with. To test this, we will run two different experiments, one with pre-set cards and one where players come up with their own cards and see how people react to each. I predict that more extraverted people might enjoy coming up with their own cards, while more introverted people might like the structure provided by the pre-set cards more.
- Should we implement more rules to allow people not to drink?
At its core, beer pong is a drinking game, which works well with our game since getting people drunk will make them more willing to open up and bond with each other. However, not everyone might be comfortable with drinking, especially at the quantity that this game might require. As such, we will design a prototype using water instead of beer and see how different types of people react to this. I think the game will definitely be less fun sober, but it might be more accessible to different types of people.
- Should players be allowed to submit their own challenges?
Similar to the question of designing their own cards, it might be fruitful to allow players to design their own challenges. Letting them also come up with their own challenges would keep the game truest to its truth-or-dare inspirations, and could lead to more fun and intimate outcomes. However, allowing players to come up with their own “dares” would be even riskier than letting them come up with their own “truths,” as these could easier get dangerous and make people uncomfortable. Nevertheless, it is important to see if players would respond positively to this, and as such we will again design separate prototypes for pre-set challenges and custom challenges.
