Concept Map for Youtube Cancel Culture:
Concept Map for Our Game:
Write-up:
Our game is based on how Youtubers navigate cancel culture on the platform, so the first concept map we made looked at the moving pieces of Youtube. There are two fishbone maps (one for the positive parts of content creation, one for the negative parts), plus a core loop and arc that describes the process of content creation and cancellation, respectively. Our second concept map is for our game, and it shows a core gameplay loop based on the loop in the first map. However, each round of the game also features the DMCA Strike, which we considered an arc in the original system. The reason this “arc” is part of our gameplay loop is because we need a means by which to evaluate which player wins the round. By allowing the “Community” to weigh in and affect the odds of a DMCA strike, we seek to mimic cancel culture — although the entire Youtube community often weighs in to cancel or support certain content creators, Youtube ultimately makes the final decision. One abstraction we are making for the sake of our game is the use of Theme cards and Attack cards. Theme cards determine the video topic for the round while Attack cards give players a means by which to stir up controversy without having to come up with personal insults on the fly. Then, players simply roleplay their videos to the group. Obviously, real content creation doesn’t work like this, but we needed to give players a way to act out absurd behavior without it being tied to themselves in real life.
Finally, one major distinction between the maps is the round-robin structure of matchups. Functionally, this ensures that each player gets to face off against all of their competitors, but Youtube doesn’t work like this. Controversies often involve more creators as information is revealed and Youtubers look to make content out of the drama. While we are currently considering a mechanic that allows players not involved in the matchup to add themselves to the controversy, but we’re unsure of how this would work.
