Week 2
Pepsi man thoughts– wow the graphics suck but it reminds me of temple run where you have to jump over things and collect. Equating fun with Pepsi, -running after Pepsi- the repeating sounds get old quickly
Sneak King thoughts– the character looks like lord farquaad lol. The way he’s running around is super weird he looks like he’s in pain. His dance moves are funny. Not that recognizable as Burger King, theres not as much emphasis on the burger than there is on the character sneaking around. Any why is it set in a neighborhood?
Chex quest thoughts– I love the colors. It doesn’t immediately scream Chex mix though. The characters are really cute. Why is there a spoon involved? You don’t eat Chex mix with a spoon.
M&M kart racing thoughts– a lot of the class seemed to have played/known about this game but I have never seen it. This is TEMU version of Mario Kart. This floating eyebrows really make up for the horrible driving.
7up game– good vibes to start with the music. The characters shoes are so big I love it. You get smaller and blink when you get hurt like on super Mario. What does it have to do with 7 up other than the bottle being on the screen when you boot it. Whats the connection between Caribbean music with 7 up too?
Minion Rush– would the running game be considered a persuasive game? Persuading you to watch the movies?
Americas Army Thoughts- serious/hardcore music. Enticing players. Fun game- okay now maybe the army would be fun too.
McDonald’s Game thoughts– Seems like its from farm to table- but that’s not how McDonald’s works.
Monopoly thoughts– the added role play with the new set of monopoly roles was fun. It was different for me compared to the other players because I was the 1% and had everything easy. I had no money issues and skated by with owing things.
Last weeks game idea with persuasion– The counter/ clicker game. I think to make this a persuasive game keep the counting up with the number of clicks you get, but you get rewards when you get to certain number milestones. For example, get extra get go fuel perks, or win a large fry at McDonald’s.
Game ideas that explore changing players minds-
- A game that makes you choose one or the other. The pictures will be of aftermaths of climate change and the player will blindly pick which they would rather have in the world. (Ex, severe after maths of storms, heat waves etc.) This will raise awareness and have facts at the end of the game on climate change.
- A game that you go to college, and don’t go. You pick change cards that tell you what you will be doing in your life time. I think this will change people’s views on how it’s okay not to want to go to college or conform to society’s norms of going to college.
What advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase? I have never played an advergame, or seen one until this class. I think if I was introduced to something like this it would have influenced a purchase in my younger years.
Why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? Taking care of your teeth= fun. It’s the psychology of equating fun with cleaning your teeth.
What does volvo’s drive for life accomplish? It gets the name out there and it is being recognized for having a simulation game attached to it
What company used in-advergame advertising Bed Bath & Beyond
What was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for? General Foods made Kool-Aid Man for the Atari 2600
What makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree? He says its about “tempering the very lifestyle of alcoholic overindulgence”. Its sophisticated that the game can portray drunkenness
What do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share? Influencing, Persuading, having a clear opinion of something.
Daria Komarova-Animation Part 2
Harding – Flip Book Part 1
Animation Part 2
Stop Motion 2 DiRenna
Flipbook DiRenna
Week 2 Game Ideas – Persuasion
- The Wonderful Life of a Carnival Fish – This is a game trying to persuade people that fish, such as gold or beta fish, should not be given out as prizes at carnivals. The player will experience the game through the point of view of the carnival fish and must try to survive as long as possible (a difficult task). Some of the trials that the fish will go through are residing in a too small environment (both in the plastic bag and when taken home), potentially placed with some other fish that are hostile, with unsafe aquarium decorations, unclean water, not acclimated to new water, etc.
- Well, What Was She Wearing? – This game is based on CAPSEA’s “What Were You Wearing?” Exhibit that displayed the clothing that people were wearing when they were SA’ed. This challenges the expectations that people are “asking for it” if they dress a certain way. It also shows that people could be wearing anything and it would still happen to them. The game adaptation of this would have different clothing options and people are to try to “guess”. This is to persuade people that it doesn’t matter the clothing that people wear, people get SA’ed just for existing and it is not their fault, especially in regards to their fashion choices. I think that this game would be difficult to pull off because of how sensitive this topic is, but I think that it would help give a little bit more awareness to victims.
- Fast Fashion Game (needs a better name) – At the beginning of every turn, a fashion micro trend is determined (could be determined by a spinner or cards). This trend determines the clothing items that you want to have in your wardrobe. Anything clothing that you have that is not relevant to the trend (potentially excluding some staple clothing items), goes to the landfill. Eventually the landfill will just pile up with a lot of clothing items and it will represent some of the environmental implications of fast fashion. More of the ethics of fast fashion could also be implemented into the game play. This game is to persuade people not to fall victim to fast fashion microtrends and try not to support companies like Shein.
- Toxic Friends – A game about toxic friends where you are in toxic relationships where it is impacting your ability to thrive in the game. You have to recognize these bad relationships and you have to cut them off in order to be able 2 succeed further in the game however there may be some implications when you cut these friends off for instance they might blackmail you but in the end cutting them off is probably going to be more of a benefit then something hurting. The persuasion element of this is for players to assess the relationships IRL and not to stay with the people that are harming you more than benefiting you.
- Art Activism – A game to persuade people that art can be a powerful tool for social causes and activism. This could be a board game where you must fight for a particular social cause and strategically use artwork to do that. The game could include real examples of art with a social purpose like Picasso’s Guernica, the Mexican Muralist movement, some of Banksy’s work, etc. Some of the mechanics could include conducting research and collecting art materials.
- Golf Course Game – This game would be to persuade people that golf courses are environmentally taxing in numerous ways. The game could include elements of real golf where players have to putt a golf ball, but the longer you take to get the ball in the hole, the more your character begins to take note of some of the destruction around you (deforestation, water/fertilizer/pesticide runoff, etc.).
- Earth Day – A game for younger children about Earth Day and teaching them the importance of caring about the Earth and taking care of it. This could be based on my children’s book that I wrote.
- Mindful Energy Consumption (idea from last semester) – Game to conserve the most energy on campus – Chatham University did a game like this a few years back, promoting sustainability and energy conservation. It was a competition between floors in a dorm building to see who could conserve the most energy per floor. Because of the way the buildings were set up, they could go in and see per floor how much energy was being consumed. There was also some incentive like a prize for the floor to win. I also believe they had social media accounts or an online tracker set up so that the floors could see their progress and communicate with other floors. One issue with this was that some students, especially those who didn’t like their CA, would try to sabotage the results of other floors, constantly turning on lights. One benefit of this was that the school was able to recognize that students weren’t using their ovens (I believe) enough and they were removed from the dorms. This also helps eliminate unnecessary energy consumption and makes students realize the difference turning off and unplugging certain things can make.
- For RMU to employ this, I think that it would need to be a competition between the different residence buildings and not particular floors. I think that would help to eliminate people sabotaging other floors in the same building. This would also have to have a time limit; for instance, 1 week (A good week would maybe be the week of Earth Day??). Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about how to measure energy consumption to say for certain how the results would be tracked, especially in RMU’s system. There would, however, need to be a really good prize to encourage students to actually participate.
- New idea – Maybe have this be a digital game where online users compete to have lowest energy consumption. It would likely require a lot of honesty as people would have to manually report how much energy they are consuming. It could also just be roughly calculated by people reporting how much they use a certain thing in their house.
Game about Green Final Disposition – In this game, you own and operate a funeral home and service place that is trying it’s hardest to be eco-friendly. You will have multiple options for final disposition for the deceased and must convince their living relatives to opt for more eco friendly options. It becomes even more tricky because you don’t want to disrespect someone’s dying wishes or disrespect the family’s processing of death. There could be a CO2 tracker to show how much with each deceased person as well as other key environmental factors. Some of the methods that would be included would be green burial, traditional burial, alkaline hydrolysis, human composting, and cremation. This would be to persuade people that environmental factors should be considered when making a decision about what you want to happen to your body when you’re gone.
Mind-changing Game Ideas
- Helper’s Hand – A game to encourage volunteering. Players would gather resources and support to target a cause (hunger, elderly, homelessness). Each cause has puzzle-like requirements to tackle it. Once you have tackled the problem, you get a helpers hand badge. There is no winner based on money, resources, etc.
- An attention span game. It would be a mobile game that would have daily challenges that would successively challenge the users attention span. The goal of the game is to lengthen user’s attention spans and offering an alternative to doom scrolling.
- FOMO: a travel game that sets makes a list of destinations and experiences on your trip that are not as well known. The purpose of this game would be to encourage people experience travel genuinely and show the beauty in locations that aren’t viral or trending.
- Algorithm game: a game where players get to control what is on a npc’s phone. There goal is to gradually shift them from their original feed to goal product. They would do this by choosing what posts or reels the sim sees without losing their attention. If the next post is too much of a jump or has information that insults the sim, the player loses and does their product does not get onto the feed.
- Recycling day: a game to bring attention to the different types of toxins in everyday materials. Users would essentially “collect” toxins on their app by scanning in something they encounter (tupperware, trash can, tin foil) and the app would give them info on it and a toxin to collect.
HW
- Discuss:
- generate 5 new game ideas that explore changing players minds about … (climate change, energy, politics, etc.)
- 5 game ideas for climate change, energy, politics, etc.):
- 1. steal the election: A board game in which players compete as candidates in an election. Each player has to commit as many fraudulent acts as they can in order to win the election (collect fake votes, skew ballets, or push un fact-checked ads to be publicized)
- 2. Fire Starters: Each player plays as different people involved in the California fires. (Ex. Rich Millionares, the US government, as well as campers. (The Millionares must stop the fires before it burns their expensive houses, the US Government can choose to aid in the support against the fires or aid in the support for more fires to start. The richer you are, then you can bribe the US Government to save your sector of the map, but sabatoge other rich players that you don’t like. The campers can choose to vote for which rich person they want to be in office, depending on if they want to let the forests live or burn to the ground)
- 3. Extinction Mania: Attempt to make as many animals extinct as possible with the help of global warming and unethical practices. (Kill all the polar bears by opening factories in the arctic circle. Drain the water holes in Africa to open a spa. Get rid of the lemurs by leveling out all of the trees in madagascar to make one giant golf course. Raise the temperatures of the oceans to bleach the coral reefs and destroy the entire aquatic ecosystem. Kidnap as many penguins as possible to sell in the wet markets)
- 4. Energy Tycoon: Use whatever methods you can through completing side quests and mini games within the game that allow you to gain total control over the electric industry (like monopoly but based on energy)
- 5. What Musk I do? Players play as Elon Musk as they attempt to buy out as many companies as possible, so that they can own pre existing branches and firms that they never started up themselves. Then you can then use your money to buy your way into the government, all so that you can defeat the final boss: gaining access to the treasury department’s payment system.
- Post thoughts on what we played in class
- Play:
- The McDonalds Game: Good cometary on how crazy a corporation can get just to sell a cheap burger and make a buck. I think the graphics and game play is high quality for what they are trying to accomplish and would for sure recommend this game to someone who enjoys satire as well as real world issues.
- Monopoly: with the new set of rules, not only was this game impossible for anyone other than the wealthier people, but sadly enough it gave quite a real world outlook on how monopolistic culture in our society truly works. I think this is good commentary on capitalism and consumerism.
- Homework:
- Read: Advergames from Bogost, Ian. Persuasive Games: The expressive power of videogames
- what advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase?
- Although I personally haven’t played any advergames, I’ve witnessed countless advergame walkthroughs. Such as Pepsiman, or Burger King’s Sneak King. These games reinforce brand identity but don’t really influence direct purchases. Overall, they can increase brand awareness and affinity for that said brand.
- why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? What makes chase the chuckwagon and shark bait fail?
- Tooth Protector works because it integrates the push for dental hygiene into its gameplay, reinforcing the brand’s goals at the end of the day. It also allows the player to miss a day brushing their teeth, which makes it more real life. Escape works due to it’s target audience that it is pushing for already. The other games fail, however, as they lack engaging gameplay, making them feel like a weak promotional gimmick rather than a compelling game that makes the player want to come back, or engage more with that brand in general.
- what does volvo’s drive for life accomplish?
- It accomplishes a positive message, as it urges the players to drive safely, utilizing safety features in the game as well that are a part of their cars.
- what company used in-advergame advertising
- Burger King effectively used in-game advertising with its Sneak King advergame
- what was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for?
- Kool-Aid Man- promoting (You guessed it)….Drum roll please…. *Kool Aid*
- what makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree?
- because it uses interactivity to reinforce behavior patterns. The game cleverly incorporates play into an everyday task, making it an engaging way to teach children. I think its not that crazy though.
- what do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share?
- Both communicate messages through gameplay. However Advergames typically attempt to get the player to buy more than just the game, as the game is simply a bridge to that consumer buying other products by that said brand.
Intergroup Monopoly
If you love Monopoly you will probably dislike this game, but the point of the game isn’t to be good, but rather to be an example.
In the game, there are 4 different classes (White Male, Females, Minorities, and 1%). Each class has different rules they must follow. The game is basically rigged towards the 1% to win, but that’s the point since it’s how the US functions.
I enjoyed playing this game just because it’s another Monopoly game but isn’t like the rest because there are rules specific towards players. You will get mad playing the game, but you’ll also have plenty of laughs and that’s what the game is about. Definitely plan on playing this one again with my friends.
7Up Game
This game is an example of a game that is simply not good. I found it very hard to defeat the enemies due to the elevation change in the map and only being able to shoot side to side or down. If you are on a hill, it is very hard to kill an enemy without jumping above it and shooting down, but if you miss you die since you are falling right on top of it. 4/10 would play again if someone had it plugged in, but wouldn’t go out of my way.
Game Review M&M Kart Racing
In this game, it is basically a knock off of Mario Kart but with M&Ms. The graphics are overall pretty bad, but not terrible considering the time period. The physics are also super unrealistic. But overall, the game is awesome just because it is that bad of a game. Sometimes there isn’t a good reason to play a game other than it being a bad game, but that’s what makes it so fun.
5 new game ideas that explore changing players minds about … (climate change, energy, politics, etc.)
Pollution Simulator
In this game, your goal is to either pollute the earth or to fight pollution. On the Pollution side of the game, you get to see which products cause the most pollution. On the fighting pollution side of the game, you get to fight it in ways that you think might help but do just as much damage (cough cough electric cars).
Presidential Race
In this game, you basically have to build a plot to beat the other political party. You do this by researching weak / strong points in the others argument. But in the process of doing this, you may end up realizing that you don’t support certain aspects of a political party and could end up fighting on the other side by the end of it.
Electric Racing
In this game, it’s a simple racing game that would be similar to Forza, NFS, etc. But in this game, all the cars are electric rather than a traditional combustion engine. There is barely any sound in the game due to no engines, the cars understeer like crazy due to the weight of the battery, and the wrecks are boring because no gasoline is exploding. This changes the players mind about electric vs. gas cars since they realize how boring they are.
Deepfake
Players work as detectives by analyzing news, social media, and videos to find out what news is fake. As players uncover tactics that are used to fake media, they gain tools they can use to recognize fake news. This can help encourage skepticism of misinformation so people are not as gullible as they are now.
ICE Simulator
In this game, you play as an ICE officer and do what they do best. But during this, you have to determine which immigrants should and should not be deported. This may seem like a controversial game, but the catch is that the people you are trying to find can either be really good or really bad people. So you may either have a civilized conversation and come to an agreement, or you might be in a gun fight. The aim of this game is to spread awareness on what is going on and to simply make the player change their attitude for good or worse.
Week 2 Question Set
- what advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase?
- Skate 3 may be a far reach, but for those who don’t know it is one of the largest and most popular skate games ever made. It can be considered and advergame though due to the large amount of brands incorporated into the game. You can wear Vans, Converse, Nike, etc. This did influence me into buying a specific skateboard I had in the game.
- why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? What makes chase the chuckwagon and shark bait fail?
- Tooth protector works since it makes learning about dental hygiene fun. Escape is fun because it gives a sense of adventure and urgency, keeping you playing. Chase and Shark Bait fail due to possible lack of engagement, if the product placement or gimmicks of the game are too obvious is can shy players away.
- what does volvo’s drive for life accomplish?
- They incorporated their safety features into the gameplay narrative, and by doing so it positions itself as a leader in safety for their cars. It also implants into your head that you like Volvos due to the game which can cause you to lean towards one in your next car purchase without even realizing.
- what company used in-advergame advertising
- In the case of Skate 3 which is the game I played, there was plenty of advertising for Dr. Pepper as well as Miracle Whip. In the game, you can even play as a Dr. Pepper can as part of a promotion closer to the games release.
- what was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for?
- Kool-Aid Man on the Atari was very early, with Pepsi Man later coming to the Playstation.
- what makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree?
- Ian Boogost argues that the toilet training game is sophisticated because of its ability to portray drunkenness by having to relieve yourself. The game directly relates to the product by incorporating the “solution” as the product.
- what do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share?
- They are both trying to convince you of something. But, advergames are meant to be in favor of one thing and anti-advergames are the opposite. But at the end of the day, they are both promoting a product, and there is no such thing as bad publicity.