War in Games Exhibition (sponsored by Rebellion)
Overall rating 8/10, that’s my review
But to go into more depth, why was it important to go check out this exhibit. For one this was an exhibit about games which in itself it quite interesting, but it did also possess and interest topic of use, being how war or at least the idea of war has impacted the game industry as a whole, so it had some historical value to it as well which could be implemented in this prototype although considering it’s closing down soon, I doubt I would have to oppurtunity.
Regardless what were the key insights which could relate to a Virtual Museum
Insights
The Idea of Choice
One particular segment was fairly interesting as it allowed people to interact with a big board presenting three different questions, this was picked from three different screens which were numbered, but initially the questions that the user could pick from were anonymous until selected, in order to do this, there was a big red button below each of the screens which you are then prompted to pick one. once you pick one you want it will have the question on the bigger board which then goes into sequence of intereviews from industry profressional telling you why it’s an interesting topic to cover.
That’s the basics of it, but here is what I think is interesting if the level of interactivity, although fairly minimal it is somewhat impactful because you are making a choice to decide what you want to ‘learn’ about. The idea of choice is a very powerful design idea and you having to physically interact with it puts your own interest first. My only problem with this is the interview do take a while to finish and felt like they did drag on for the general consumer, but did have some insightful information about the topic regardless.
“I had to tell the machine to talk back to me” is how I would summerise it, I had an active influence in what I wanted to be given back to me.
Museum Journey
This was okay in that standard, the journey of moving through the exhibit did have structure until a certain point which initially was followed with arrows and numbers to detail where you are meant to go. Near the beginning it was effective as a straight line, but then quickly devolved into having that sense of freedom, which initially in this case didn’t really work. I understand that it’s supposed to be expansive, but the general idea would be to keep that linear structure. The argument could be made, that it was the space they had and couldn’t and were restricted because of it but nevertheless, that was the outcome. So for the prototype, it would be best to focus on making that journey easier to follow for the user whilst still offering an illusion of freedom.
The types of interactions
With the type of interactions available, the exhibit did use headphones to present audio pieces where you could sit down and watch a mini-documentary making the experience more about you rather than multiple people. You could interact with objects using your hands like I mentioned earlier but there was also a button to shoot a pixelated models asking the question “who would be be willing to shoot in a virtual environment?” but that is what it was limited to. Although there was minor interactions that felt catered to just one individual at the time, this would be something important as it could be used interestingly to the current prototype.
We need the player to interact with the artefacts, but they could be audio based like a small device that plays audio, or could be a button. I gave inspiration for the type of interactions that could be included.
Conclusion
The exhibit did spark an idea of what the user journey could be and the small interactions that could be included, but also adding the idea of choice is something that could be considered if in fact, the player might have to be restricted initially in the process.