For P1, we want to design a party game for people to explore their relationships among players. We would want to answer the questions:
- Does cooperation or competition dominate?
This is an important question because it dictates the types of relationships we design and the balance between good will and bad will behaviors. We can make simple card game prototypes to experience what it feels like to find a friend/lover/enemy and what our reactions are. My guess is that it wouldn’t be much fun if there’s no in-depth interaction between players.
- Do players want to talk freely or be limited to certain actions to discover the social network?
This is an important question because this decides the mechanics and rules of how people gain information. We can come up with several means of communication and try them out ourselves (look and feel prototype). My guess is there has to be some limitations in how we communicate. Otherwise, one can just reveal the information he/she knows and that’d kill the fun of the game.
- How complicated should the social network be (how many pairs of relationships/edges) such that the game wouldn’t be too difficult or too easy?
This is an important question because this would affect if people enjoy the game or not. If there’re too many relationships that the players can’t even remember, people would quickly find it boring or too difficult, and vice versa. We may want to make some implementation prototypes and test it out to see what the average amount of info people can remember during the game. My guess is that it should be about 3-4 types of relationships. There are already a number of players, and between them there are a lot more pairs of relationships. This is not a memory game so it’s best not to make it a brain exercise.
