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Overview

Digital games typically make representations of players’ actions clear and non-confusing, so it is always known whose movement representation belongs to whom. We wanted to explore what would happen if technology represented some players’ actions but not others. Game and HCI designers have explored how incorporating ambiguity in a system’s design can enable new opportunities for play and interaction, in particular concealing representation data from some players but not others. Therefore, we designed and implemented i-dentity, a multiplayer movement-based digital game that looks at how making these representation associations ambiguous can facilitate novel and engaging play experiences. i-dentity is a game that involves players trying to move together in order to conceal from other players the players whose controllers represent movement.

We use i-dentity as a research vehicle to ask questions such as: what happens if technology represented some players’ actions but not others, if a player could take control over another player’s representation or whether the representation could challenge players to perform their actions together at the same time? What if the challenge in the game centered around a lack of clear relationship between action and representation, where it is not clear whose action is represented on a screen?

With i-dentity, the goal is to enhance our understanding of how ambiguity of representation associations when designing digital games can extend the range of digital movement games and further the associated experiences for players.

Publications

Proceedings

Garner, J., Wood, G., Pijnappel, S., Murer, M., Mueller, F. 2014. i-dentity: Innominate Movement Representation as Engaging Game Element. CHI 2014. Long Paper. 10 pages.

Garner, J., Wood, G., Pijnappel, S., Murer, M., Mueller, F. 2013. Combining Moving Bodies With Digital Elements: Design Space Between Players and Screens. Interactive Entertainment (IE) 2013. Long Paper. 10 pages.

Extended Abstracts

Garner, J., Wood, G. 2014. i-dentity: Concealing Movement Representation Associations in Games. CHI 2014. Student Game Competition. 4 pages. FINALIST.

Garner, J., Wood, G., Pijnappel, S., Murer, M., Mueller, F. 2014. i-dentity: Innominate Representation as Engaging Movement Game Element. CHI 2014. Interactivity. 4 pages.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLROs4bz4FQ

i-dentity by Jayden Garner, Sebastiaan Pijnappel and Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller from Exertion Games Lab, Gavin Wood from Culture Lab UK, and Martin Murer from ICT&S Center Austria. Video by Rowan De Silva.