I am interested in exploring one of two different ideas for this networking project. The first is a fun take on a chat application where some arbitrary value judgement will be placed on them by a computer third party. The main challenge in the piece is going to be choosing an absurd enough value to judge the “quality” of the conversation to make it clear that the overall interaction is made to be silly. I want people to change the way that they talk to one another to conform to the computer’s idea of a valuable conversation. The inspiration for this idea came from the frustration, competitiveness and finally relief that we feel when we are asked to create a “strong” password for any of the web services that we use. What happens when this extends to more than just our passwords?
The second idea has to do with the way that we cope with loneliness in the increasingly connected world. This work, Loneliness, by Jordan Magnuson. The piece is an experimental, minimalistic microgame about loneliness, made for the Korean middle school students the creator taught for a year. despite the very simplistic nature of the interaction with the game, it is very effective in making the player feel lonely and separated from the “human” interaction that is constantly just out of reach. This piece affected me more than I expected it to. However, I feel like a lot more could be done here with a deeper analysis of what it feels like to be “lonely.” Furthermore, I feel like adding a multiplayer aspect to the game would have made it more effective as well
