We frequently find ourselves asking why someone behaves a certain way, says the things that they do, and believes what they believe. Furthermore, these questions are usually asked with frustration. We’re easily irked and are spoiled with the micro-control we have with every aspect of our lives. We can block whoever, listen to any song any way we want, and see exactly what we wish to see. The integration of modern technology in our daily lives makes lacking empathy easier than ever, especially when in the same room. All you need to do is find a good app to scroll through and let your acquaintances’ complaints fall on deaf ears as you rhythmically respond with whatever neutral colloquial bark is trending.

What I intend to create is an experience where each user can operate independently in theory, but has their actions slightly affect the other user. I aim to achieve this with one person controlling a digital environment, and another person controlling an entity that exists in this environment, free to engage with it in any way they desire. The environment can be changed with basic keyboard inputs that can slide varying values to change how the environment looks, whereas the entity can move around the scene (changing what is in view on the screen) and engage with different objects laid out in the environment. I believe by having the users share a screen/scene but exist in different forms with different limitations, it can explore our behavior with the new ways we can engage with one another.

The environment I am considering is an abstract one. I’ve been very interested in the motif of early 2000’s hardware that I grew up with, and how that aesthetic can be applied to the newest interactive experiences and environments such as metaverses. When the computer is what we are connected by, it’s interesting to see how we both create and curate our digital environments and tiny shared metaverses. Do we engage in different personas when connecting with one another when provided with the digital guise? And what then when it becomes the prominent way we engage with one another?

I plan on researching interactive experiences where players can play with a God-like ability, along with virtual realities where players socially engage with one another and see what interactions can be inspired from those experiences. I plan on making a basic structure with the MakeyMakey kit with keyboard input but am uncertain as to whether or not I want the user who controls the environment to use alt controls with Arduino sensors. This leads to my Artist Question: would weight and flex sensors be an ideal way to engage/manipulate the environment as a user? Or would something like microphone input to change the visuals/environment with an audio visualizer be more engaging?