Part of the three game play test at newcastle college in the cafe space with six students. Wordplay didn’t seem to elicit much excitement or enthusiasm. It seemed to go w ell this in the studio when I was developing it, but I think they found it hard to fully comprehend and without the hard end goal. The sticky backs that have to be removed by them, are an obstacle, and lots of complaints about having to do it to play the game and engage. In fact some said they couldn’t remove the sticky backs, and I had to do it.
They I felt didn’t really get into why they were doing it. The others who sat around, also looked a bit flummoxed watching, so it was received pretty badly. We played two rounds of it, but it didn’t seem to excite. But the people in it did take on lots of diff stances to read it, and did play up while doing it, but never got that excited, to be doing it. I think they found the reading hard. Maybe I am wrong about it, maybe the mechanics don’t really connect the participant/player in a meaningful way for them. Starting to see the footage, and actually the mirror one is more visual. It is interesting seeing their faces as they seek to decipher the text. It is also an example of boundary testing, at times they try and put the text on places the participant doesn’t want the text put. One participant is definite that he doesn’t want it touching his hair, as the other approaches him with the text. I thought i had explained it was in number order, but they found that hard to take on board. Before this I had been saying the numbers aloud, and I returned to this, as it seems to make the participants more aware there is an order to the text. They also grabbed their clothing, to pull the text and make it straighter, that no other groups had done before. At the end of the round, the atmosphere is subdued, unlike in the other games where they are exuberant. In fact they aren’t sure they have finished at times. Maybe the goal needs to be strengthened. Even if not competitive, they need to see the end, task completion.
I think though that we kind of lost the whole placing scenario, which was the main crux last time. Nobody around us came over to take part, though people around did watch. A few people also approached the area and asked the students around what was going on.
So it didn’t draw people in the activity but did make people around come over. Some danced and posed in front of the mirror on their way. So the mirror itself, did seem to affect the space, and I broke it, so will need a new one. This time did experiment with the idea of the Riddle, so they have to solve a puzzle and work out what is being referred to in the text. I used this ancient Essex riddle book from medieval times. But it didn’t really come across, maybe because they were pretty slow at finding the lines, so it was all very disjointed. But they really played up the idea of having to pose in various unwieldy stances in order to read the text. At times it did seem they took the most unlikely route to having the text readable when there were easier stances. In none of the studio tests was there such cavorting. The others around, came alive when this happened and did play a facilitatory role in how they attempted the reading, and they egged them on to sillier and sillier stances.
One of the participants took the text off themselves as they did it. Which was interesting, I let them continue doing this, but thought at the end, it obviously makes it too easy to do. Though it does speed it up, but speed it up for what, a there is no winner. But maybe if they remove the ext each tun and place it somewhere so you can see it build up. I think the backings, and the handing out of the parts, seems kind of bitty, unstructured. In the second round, rather than each other sticking the lines on, they all took turns to stick the text on, even those not playing. I like this aesthetic, of many people sticking the text on. But where was the energy? Is there some mechanic missing that joins the participants to the activity. Are the components, the text not seductive enough. They don’t seem driven to say the words. Watching there is too long between the goes, or the way they say the lines isn’t that engaging or theatrical. There is a move where the guy goes on one leg, and that seems theatrical.
research 