MASTER OF DESIGN (RESEARCH) – EXEGESIS
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Design(Research)
Written and submitted by Mo, Juexiao
School of Design Creative Industries Faculty 2018
Statement of Originality
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge & belief, the project contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.
Signature: QUT Verified Signature
Date: April 2018
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ACKNOWLEDEGMENT
This work would not have been possible without the incredible support and encouragement I have received over the years from my supervisors, my friends and my family.
First, I would like to thank my principal supervisor, Dr Deb Polson, who has mentored me and always support me. Words cannot express the thanks I have to Deb, who first inspired me on the ARG when I was doing my MCI degree. Without your encouragement and support this research would never have been possible. I am thankful for the great attention you showed whenever we met, and your words of wisdom over many meetings, emails and phone calls. I would also like to thank you for your mountains of support on this project.
Second, I would like to express my thanks to my associate supervisor, Dr Gavin Sade, who provided valuable feedback and advice in editing and writing this exegesis towards the end of my research journey. Many thanks for your support and amazing attention to detail, a wealth of theoretical knowledge and a helpful guiding hand.
A special thanks to MCI students who played the ZOOMBREAK game. Their participants, insights and feedback was critical to the refinement of this project. Moreover, this research would obviously not have been possible without the support of Soochow University and Southeast University. Many thanks to the special permit on the campus investigation. I am also very thanks to Giovanna Shakhovskoy, who is the owner and designer of Escape Hunt Brisbane, sharing the valuable experience on game development.
I would like to specially recognize the support of my friends En Bo and his wife Enya, Zhitian Luo and his wife Binyi Li, helped me revise the final draft of this exegesis, and their recommendations and corrections made it much better than I could have alone. Vivian, Sara, Bike, Sally, Cora, Kuan Chen, Linda, Peter, thank you for all your love, support, guidance, consultation, words of encouragement and extreme patience.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their unending support and encouragement over the years, within and outside this project.
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ABSTRACT
ZOOMBREAK is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) designed to support the orientation of new students to Chinese universities. This project was designed and tested according to the iterative design-based research process. It draws inspiration from interactive techniques prominent in Real Escape Games (REG); and takes into account the recent popularity of ARG among China’s youths, through the proliferation of such games in reality TV shows. The purpose of the project is to establish an effective and playful orientation and induction to improve student’s engagement with the environment and help students gain confidence in transitioning into the University culture. ZOOMBREAK offers new students useful information about University locations and services, and at the same time promotes communication and interaction.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDEGMENT ...... 2 ABSTRACT ...... 3 TABLE OF CONTENT ...... 4 SUPERVISORS AND THEIR CREDENTIALS ...... 5 ABBREVIATION ...... 5 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 6 2. LEVEL 1: DESIGN APPROACH AND PROCESS...... 8 3. LEVEL 2: CONTEXT REVIEW AND CASE STUDY ANALYSIS ...... 11 3.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND ...... 11 3.2 CONTEXT REVIEW ...... 12 3.2.1 Literature ...... 12 3.2.2 Case Study Analysis ...... 13 Case Study 1: "Who is Herring Hale?" ...... 14 Case Study 2: 'Blood on the Stacks' ...... 17 Case Study 3: SCOOT ...... 19 Case study conclusion ...... 21 3.2.3 Research Problem and Aim...... 21 Conclusion ...... 23 4. LEVEL 3: GAME DESIGN AND PLAYTESTING ...... 24 4.1 GAME DESIGN ...... 24 4.1.1 Game Model: Real Escape Game ...... 24 4.1.2 Game Themes: Detective Role-played Game ...... 25 4.1.3 Game Scenarios: Background Story and Rules-sketch of Game . 28 4.1.4 Game Resource: Graphics and Artefact Design ...... 30 4.2 PLAYTEST AND FEEDBACK ...... 35 4.2.1 Pre-game: Setting the Scene ...... 36 4.2.2 In-game: Playtest Process ...... 38 4.2.3 Post-game: Feedback Summary and Analysis...... 46 Conclusion ...... 48 5 LEVEL 4: REGIONAL CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS ...... 49 5.1 CAMPUS INVESTIGATION ...... 49 5.1.1 Soochow University (Suzhou) ...... 50 Design considerations: ...... 64 5.1.2 Southeast University (Nanjing) ...... 64 Design considerations: ...... 79 Campus investigation conclusion ...... 79 5.2 RELATED CHINESE TV SHOW ...... 80 5.2.1 The Run for Time ARGTV ...... 80 5.2.2 The Crime Scene ARGTV ...... 88 Design considerations: ...... 93
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Regional context conclusion:...... 93 6 LEVEL4: GAME REFINEMENT ...... 95 7 REFLECTION ...... 98 8 REFERENCE LIST...... 100 9 VISUAL CREDITS ...... 104 10 APPENDICES ...... 106
SUPERVISORS AND THEIR CREDENTIALS
Dr Deb Polson (QUT) – Principal Supervisor Senior Lecturer, Interactive and Visual Design School of Design, Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology
Dr Gavin Sade (QUT) – Associate Supervisor Assistant Dean (Academic) Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology
ABBREVIATION
ARG – Alternate Reality Game RPG – Role Play Game REG –Real Escape Game
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1. INTRODUCTION
The design-based research project - ZOOMBREAK, is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) designed to serve as an alternative to traditional university orientation events, especially in the context of China. It leverages the social engagement of an ARG to encourage participation, facilitate cooperation between new students, and build a culture of camaraderie.
Uniquely to ZOOMBREAK, elements of a Real Escape Game (REG) were added to allow participants to familiarise themselves with not only the different facilities around the university, but also with the places in which they are held. This combination of social engagement and environmental problem solving allows an ARG such as ZOOMBREAK to address the typical problems with orientation process, such as low participation and poor information retention due to a lack of engagement. It Offers universities a new way of socializing and orientating new students, making the daunting task of entering university a friendlier one.
Together with this exegetical document, ZOOMBREAK is an original work to be submitted to meet the final requirement for obtaining a Master of Design (Research) Degree from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). A presentation of the final work is published at http://www.zoombreak.com. A wide spectrum of various artefacts of the design process is also presented in this a website.
In the context of game design, this exegetical document refers to the project progression as ‘levels’. ⚫ Level One outlines the design approach and process, guided by the main tenets of a Design-based Research methodology; ⚫ Level Two discusses the university context with case study analysis so that the potential limitations and opportunities of related projects is understood; ⚫ In ‘Level Three’, the resulted game design and playtests are presented demonstrating how the original game models, game themes and game scenarios were delivered, observed, and documented; ⚫ In ‘Level Four’, the focus returns to the Chinese context to better illustrate the university environment and recent trend of TV reality shows that may influence the reception and participation there; and ⚫ ‘Level Five’ contains a synthesis of this study and a playtest analysis as a design framework for a future project to be carried out in China upon completion of this degree.
This project has adopted a design-based research approach strengthened by case studies to inform the overall design concept and techniques for delivery. The analysis
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has included formats such as games, television shows, and marketing campaigns with similar themes and objectives, which reveal the creation, evaluation, and refinement of the work. Hence, this exegesis may be used as a guide and reference for similar projects in the future.
Two main outcomes are: (1) The original concept for ZOOMBREAK as a challenge-based interactive reality game that promotes orientation and social interaction is reported in this document and further evidenced at http://www.zoombreak.com. (2) A design refinement for the creation of future challenge-based interactive reality game and MPE (Multi-Platform Event).
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2. LEVEL 1: DESIGN APPROACH AND PROCESS
This project combines a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach with a case study analysis of successful campaigns to explore insightful techniques to discover, test and improve workflows from an in-depth conceptual study into investigational creative work (Barab & Suire, 2004). This creative work effectively combines an overarching narrative with a series of collaborative challenges, using simple and accessible technologies.
There are four distinct processes in this project: ⚫ Concept ⚫ Development ⚫ Testing ⚫ Refinement
The project starts with the case study analysis of some successfully established game models. Based on the exploration and research of these case studies, some important criteria for success will be listed, which leads to the construction of the project’s basic concept. At this stage, the problem as well as the corresponding solution to be applied are identified. The second step in the process involves fleshing out the design solution into an interactive prototype, which can be user tested. In the next stage, testing will be conducted to measure my prototype against the initial criteria, allowing an estimated measure of its effectiveness in different areas. Finally, in the refinement stage, the data collected from user testing will be proceeded to find solutions to modify the design. The final two steps in this design process will then be repeated to reach satisfactory design forms.
The following is a brief outline of each stage, which includes the objective and main activities. These stages will be further explained in later chapters of the exegesis.
1. Concept
The concept will be refined based on insights from case studies of successful campaigns with similar themes and objectives. The concept design will involve the creation of the overarching narrative, the development of the core challenges, and the creation of the overall game concept.
Objective: Develop a framework to identify and analyse ARGs for university
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orientation to assist in concept development of a new project.
Activities: ➢ Identify theoretical criteria of ARG for university orientation. ➢ Review the relevant literature on the thesis topic. ➢ Review and analysis of innovative design solutions for university orientation. ➢ Refine research project aims that could be deemed as a guide to design a new project.
A critical part of the concept stage is to undertake case study analysis (see chapter 3) of successful university orientation campaigns. Guided by insights and lessons from these case studies, this document summarised criteria for successful games. It will also serve as a guide and reference for a similar project in the future.
2. Development
At this stage, a game model will be generated (the theme, scenario, etc.) and how various elements and techniques from different projects have been adopted and re-combined from across examples will be demonstrated.
Objective: Develop a prototype and prepare to be tested.
Activities: ➢ Confirm the original concept that involves the creation of the overarching narrative, the development of the core challenges, and the creation of the overall game concept. ➢ Determine core theme of the game. ➢ Design rule set ➢ Create props and clues needed for deployment.
This stage is presented in chapter 4.1 and includes a description of the game model, themes, scenario, and resources. Central to the entire process, development allows the initial concept of this ARG to flesh out into an interactive prototype that can be playtested.
3. Testing To research the effectiveness of the project and its attractiveness to the intended audience, the prototype will be playtested among a small group of students. According to the results and insights from this playtest, a design framework for the further orientation campaign will be improved beyond this study scope.
Objective: Playtest among a small group of people.
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Activities: ➢ Predict risks that may occur during the playtest, and try to avoid them. ➢ Design resources for observing and collecting relevant data. ➢ Test the developed prototype module among small groups. ➢ Collect and organise feedback.
In chapter 4.2, the steps in user-testing are outlined, which answers general questions integral to the development of any game, as well as specific questions regarding the ARG in the context of university orientation.
4. Refinement A refinement will be included in the project process. However, during and after the deployment phase, a series of evaluation activities will be carried out, which will feed into the rollout phase.
In summary, with the concept, design, and development of the game as the core of the study, this project intends to use the alternate reality game as a tool for the research on how to effectively introduce quality orientation campaign using multi-platform resources. This involves the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the ARG medium, and the eventual roll-out (not included in this study project).
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3. LEVEL 2: CONTEXT REVIEW AND CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
3.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND
Higher education is perceived as a beneficial strategy for both citizens and the society. Governments around the world have used a ‘human capital’ approach (Becker, 1975) to connect national economies with the education degrees of working population. It could be presumed that the achievement of the national economy is affected by the higher educated labour force. For individuals, receiving higher education provides not only more comprehensive knowledge, but also the growth of mental maturity as well.
Due to the benefits of higher education, the university enrolments are rising steeply. Chinese Higher Education Institution (2014) announced that there were 4,200,000 students who attended university in 2004, and in the past few years, the number had expanded to 6,980,000. However, with more new students being enrolled, the number of students who drop out before graduation has also increased. The Beijing Daily reported that in recent years, 3% Chinese students dropped out from the university in the early weeks after their enrolment, and the number of university dropouts reached nearly 50,000 per year in China (2011). Subsequently, it becomes a challenge for universities to increase student registration and to curb student attrition rate at the same time.
According to Kealy and Rockel (1987), the first impressions formed during orientation visits tend to influence students’ understanding of the quality of the university throughout their life as a student. A positive first impression has the potential effect of inspiring confidence and motivating adaptability for a student, and vice versa (Allen, 1999). This indicated the fact that orientation events are critical for engaging students in the university culture, which has a direct correlation to the retention of student enrolment and subsequently, the completion of their studies.
An effective orientation should provide new students with the skills to adapt and develop independence, resilience, and motivation. A successful orientation program will encourage students to build up confidence and help them adapt to the new environment as fast as they can; provide the new students with concise and accurate information to participate in upcoming courses. It will also contribute to a more productive learning experience and promote communication and collaboration among students.
Nowadays, several university departments have adopted games to improve student
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engagement and interaction with new environments and achieved encouraging results. Current work will be reviewed in the next section.
3.2 CONTEXT REVIEW
This section will review relevant research throughout: 1. Overview of Literature on orientation for new students in learning environments to acquire an understanding of the needs of relevant user groups.
2. Case studies of comparable ARG projects to gain an insight into the requirements and potential impacts of current ARG design practice and delivery.
3.2.1 Literature
In Australia, South African and New Zealand, the week before the beginning of a new semester is known as “O-Week”, aka Orientation week, or Frosh or Frosh week in Canada. In the US, it is commonly known as the acronym SOAR, standing for Student Orientation and Registration, or the acronym WOW for Week of Welcome; Freshers' week in the majority of the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Sweden, it is known as nollning (from nolla, "zero", in this case meaning zeroth-year student, i.e., before the first university year starts) or inspark (being "kicked in" to university life).
Orientation activities are usually carried out at the start of the semester when commonly new students find the experience of being in an unfamiliar environment overwhelming. This is a time when they may encounter difficulties in the induction activities or when they are to ‘subsequently retain and apply the information and skills, and induction may be more appropriate and useful to students when it lasts for a number of weeks’ (Billing, 1997). Current models of orientation campaign do not always meet students’ needs. With the increase of diversity of the students (eg. age, culture, and religion) , however, they have not been fully reflected in induction activities. “It is important that induction activities provide students with the opportunity to meet other students and build social networks” (Trotter & Roberts, 2006) rather than only providing basic information.
Game-based learning has the potential to be used effectively in education to “improve engagement when used appropriately and purposefully” (Whitton, 2007). In this sense, ARGs offer a “feasible solution to the issues of game development for
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learning in higher education and there is already some evidence of the potential effectiveness of this model” (Piatt, 2007). A pilot scheme "Who is Herring Hale?", run by Katie Piatt at the University of Brighton, concluded that the ARG ‘provides an interesting alternative to existing mechanisms for introducing students to certain types of information or services’ (Piatt, 2007). The “Blood on the Stacks” ARG arranged by Trinity University Library was “applied to a library orientation for new students presents numerous opportunities for encouraging collaboration among participants” (Donald, 2008). Another successful example is SCOOT ARG. SCOOT focused on facilitating cooperation and relationship building among its players and was designed, modified, and delivered by Deb Polson at Victoria University in 2007 and 2008, and at Queensland University of Technology in 2004 and 2009.
3.2.2 Case Study Analysis
This section presents the analysis of a selection of successful orientation events to both refine the research question and inform the creative practice portion of this study. Furthermore, the strengths and limitations of each event are analysed to produce a series of insights that inform the exploration and development of my research area.
Each case study analysis will begin with an overview of the work to introduce the basic background of the ARG. "How it worked" will describe the technology and user interactions of the game design. Through the analysis of existing literature as well as statistics of user feedback, “Strengths” and “Limitations” of each case study will be identified, which in turn provide a set of criteria for the development stage of design. “Strengths” details the specific aspects of the game project conducive to an ARG in the orientation context, while “Limitations” presents the aspects of the case study less suited for the purpose outlined. Finally, a few relevant insights that have been identified as most pertinent to this study will be derived from each case study analysis.
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Case Study 1: "Who is Herring Hale?"
Figure 1: A screen grab of the introduction page from the game.
"Who is Herring Hale?" is a story-based treasure hunt designed by Katie Piatt. With weekly clues, the game introduced University support services with points and prizes arranged at University of Brighton during 2006 and 2007.
How it worked: The game took place in Term 1 of the Academic Year 2006/2007. The format was a series of ten tasks, one per week over the term, with an underlying time-travel storyline and a supportive online community on the campus social network. The tasks were based on services available to students, both online and in the physical locations around the campus sites.
In the game, each task covered one of the major support services at the University and was designed to point out an aspect of the service that was an effective strategy for better preparing students for their new campus life ahead. The clues all involved finding codes and cryptic content hidden within ordinary information about the featured service. The ten tasks and timeline for the game were allocated to corresponding support departments with Mini-prizes in some weeks (see figure 2).
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Figure 2: The chart of the game tasks. Strengths： According to student feedback (attached below), this game provided some evidence that the ARG format can work for introducing students to certain types of information or services. Although this format may not appeal to all students, it is highly effective for those who enjoy such an activity. The format also provided students with a sense of belonging as well as a casual environment to unwind after their courses.
Sample feedback from the 12 students (retrieved from Katie Piatt’s Blog) who completed all tasks:
"In induction week they tell you where to go to get help, Careers for instance. But you forget it all 5 minutes after you've left. This was brilliant - now I really know where to go."
"I was wrapped up in too much programming, it helped give me a break and get a new perspective"
"...a really good way to learn"
"Thank you all for a wonderful and inspiring term! From chasing orange techie people to strapping spoons on my forehead, it’s been fun :)"
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(Piatt, 2009)
Limitations: Even though "Who is Herring Hale?" is a carefully designed game with strong playability, the participation and completion are far from ideal. According to Whitton’s analysis on "Who is Herring Hale?",
“…any student could play, but direct invitations to the game were sent only to new students who had scored at least 70% on a new students quiz (217 students out of approximately 5000 new students). The content was designed to allow in-depth and physical exploration of selected support services and resources. In total 42 students completed at least one task in the game (15% of those invited). Twelve students (29% of all active players) completed all nine tasks.”
(Whitton, 2009)
As the game progresses, the increase in difficulty of the play poses greater challenges to players. Admittedly, the levels of difficulties were designed deliberately for the appeal of the game. However, it prevented some from even trying it out.
On another note, from the view of visual expression, the graphic design of this project still leaves room for improvement, as the inadequate visual expression has negatively affected the impression of the quality, leaving people questioning the amount of work devoted into the game. Hence, following that logic, the graphic design also plays a significant role in early game stage retention.
Insights: "Who is Herring Hale?" was available to play over a long period of time (entire Term). This is a strategy supported by Billing (1997) who found that “induction may be more appropriate and useful to students when it lasts for a number of weeks”. It allows students to get familiar with university services of various departments step by step.
With the support of the University of Brighton's new campus-wide social networking system, the online collaboration among players has become more convenient. At the same time, it helped raise students’ awareness of the new system that had been used infrequently within other academic contexts in that period. At the beginning period of the game, it provided concise and accurate information on the public area to encourage students to make use of the resources. The game also made use of other existing technologies around the University: quizzes and information on the Student Managed Learning Environment, the video streaming service, and email.
The most significant success of the design of "Who is Herring Hale?" was the
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flexibility of the game. This is a sustainable design model in that its tasks did not need to be accomplished as a whole. Instead, it was always “intended to evolve as it was played, considering the success of the previous task to gauge the players’ readiness for harder tasks or collaboration opportunities”. Whitton’s analysis in the book of Learning with Digital Games pointed out that this approach allowed tasks to be responsive to real events – “such as using information on a new series of posters for a student ball to provide clues for a task, or helping to promote the newly released fire safety video by attracting the players to it. Tests were run by willing colleagues on each weekly task prior to the release so as to check if the instructions were clear (2009)”.
Case Study 2: 'Blood on the Stacks'
Figure 3: A screen grab of project home page.
The 'Blood on the Stacks' ARG arranged by Trinity University Library for new students presented numerous opportunities for encouraging collaboration among participants (Donald, 2008). It is an alternate reality game that helps new students familiarise themselves with the school’s library. This is evidenced in feedback received from a student player on a personal blog:
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“anecdotally the library and support staff reported feedback from students of feeling more familiar, less alien in the environment, the library was associated with fun and the staffs were more approachable.”
(Blogucause07. 2007)
Obviously, this student benefited from the game. This game design facilitated students’ independence on learning and problem-solving.
How it worked:
“Recently, in addition to the security video footage of the crime, a new video was found that authorities believe was posted by the thief. Apparently, the thief had more in mind than a simple theft...
He or she intended to engage us in a game of wits, and that's where you come in...
Follow the clues to identify the thief.
The still unknown thief left a MySpace URL on our comment board. That, and the footage above are our first clues...”
(Retrieved from 'Blood on the Stacks' project web site)
There are two ways to win the game:
#1: Just come to the library during the scheduled time, and the player will have a chance to test their research skills and win prizes. (Follow the clues that appear on the website and wherever the player sees the head of Anubis to get a head start.)
#2: Go for the Grand Prize: Once the gamer identifies a suspect, they and their teammates can enter to win the grand prize by solving additional research questions for points, using the new knowledge learned from the game of the library and its resources.
For the final prize, the group with the most points can win an all-expenses-paid study break.
Strengths: When the staff at the Coates Library at Trinity University asked themselves questions on how to teach new users to get familiar with the library, and who the best trendsetters of library use are, they found the answer was that current students can serve as library staff for newcomers. This is a win-win situation for both the
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students and the librarians. Through the game the participants became more comfortable asking questions, experimenting with new tools, accessing resources, and promoting such activities to others.
Furthermore, much different from the previous case study, the 'Blood on the Stacks' challenge is relatively simple to do and easy to start. It focuses more on a simplified activity, which enables students to discover the services of the library. This kind of mode reduces the difficulty of the game and makes it more accessible to students. In this way, students would not be discouraged by the complexity and difficulty of the game.
Limitations: Compared with case study 1, the scope of both the story and the orientation is much narrower, choosing to only focus on the library. Even though the scope and range of interaction are reduced, the 'Blood on the Stacks' had not been observed a higher completion rate. Firstly, the time limitation can lead to failure of this game. Secondly, even though it was a successful model for the promotion of the library, it is not a sustainable project for the whole student orientation event. The goal of this project is promoting familiarity with campus areas, people, and behaviours. However, it was restricted to a specific environment and did not really serve as a complete orientation campaign. Finally, the visual expression was also not successful in this project.
Insights: To start with, the student participants switch the role from receivers to providers, where they teach new users to get familiar with the context and to be aware of its resources. Also, it encourages students to ask questions, experience new tools, and promote those behaviours to others. Finally, this orientation campaign scaled down the activity to focus on only one department at the university. It is a great way to keep things easier. This is an ideal model for a general audience, who frequently need to be eased in into an activity to gain their full participation. Keeping activities as simple and as easy as possible also helps remove intimidation or hesitance when students try something new or unfamiliar. The simpler and easier something is to do, the more likely that it would be done.
Case Study 3: SCOOT
Figure 4: Character designs of SCOOT
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SCOOT: is an ARG created by Deb Polson for Australian universities and museums between the years of 2004 and 2009. SCOOT is an interactive mixed reality game (Polson, 2010) that employs multiple platforms such as the web, mobile devices, and public displays as tools during the game to guide players to the target locations and tasks. SCOOT, designed for sites such as museums, universities, and parks, is presented as a virtual carnival bringing pending chaos to these spaces. SCOOT has been deployed not only for university orientations but also for festivals and cultural institutions across Australia.
Figure 5: Photographs of students participating in SCOOT 2008, Victoria University, Australia.
How it worked: SCOOT has been designed for various user groups (2 to 6 players) including university students and family groups. Normally a SCOOT ARG was hosted as a three-day event and limited the number of registered groups to 300, encouraging them to attempt no more than two sites in a day. The SMS pathways were designed in each site to take a group an average of 45-60 minutes.
Strengths: SCOOT is a project that continuously tweaked its design with each iteration to improve player participation, completion, and satisfaction. It has a core module which is an online version for the virtual world, and other after-stories in alternate reality game happened in the real world. With an original role-play and narrative, it also becomes unique and distinct from other alternate reality games.
SCOOT is a combination of the real and virtual world. It transfers aspects of gameplay to places to alter people’s perceived reading of the sites and evoke play. It concentrates on the well-established genre of Role Play Games (RPGs), which is most compatible with the design intentions. In the case of SCOOT, such broad features include role-play, quests, exploration, and narrative (Polson, 2007).
In conclusion, the success of SCOOT is credited to the game strategy. SCOOT
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contained game elements to make this project more playable and enjoyable. Additionally, all players had to work in a group. The meaningful teamwork spirit was established during the game, and it is a significant experience for new students earning trust and friendship from their team members.
Limitations: The rule set described by Polson (2007) is one with exceptional deployment versatility, suitable for a wide range of location and context of use. Because of the attractive storytelling and interesting role-play based rules, the game is workably served as a team-building game: all the players are engaged with their peers. However, it is not really providing much information on contextual spaces and university culture. Thus, this design focuses more toward the encouragement of cooperation and bonding, while its orientation aspect regarding campus services does not have the same depth of involvement as the other case studies.
Insights: SCOOT is a successful model demonstrating how an ARG event can be integrated with real-world environment and interactions. It works not only for the university but also for the society. It is a considerably sustainable design model for the ARG market;
Case study conclusion
After analysing each ARG case study, common ‘Strengths’ were found, which outlined a rough design pattern conducive to engaging gameplay. This study offers a synthesis of the case study analysis compiled as a set of design attributes considered and applied in the design of ZOOMBREAK:
➢ Compelling: the background storyline is interesting, attractive, and flexible in various contexts. ➢ Accessible: the game is easy to understand and convenient to participate in. ➢ Competitive: it contains an element of reward and competition. ➢ Inclusive: the game focuses on the communication and cooperation among all participants, including student groups, parents and their children. ➢ Efficient: develops a model for the game to be deployed in multiple contexts with careful customisation that is cost-effective. ➢ Social: benefits the social development of players.
3.2.3 Research Problem and Aim
Because of the initial phase of this study, a more focused question was formed:
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How can an ARG be designed specifically to socialise and orientate students new to a university?
To assist with the iterative design and development of ZOOMBREAK, the following criteria have been formed as a result of reviewing the context and analysing relevant works:
Mixed Purposes: Provide multiple functions for new students at orientation events. Each of the previous case studies focused on one part of the functional induction, while it cannot serve as a complete orientation campaign. The event should promote social inclusion activities as well as basic orientation information. Social inclusion can also result in resilience and drive for the students. Each of the case studies serves their respective function. For example, with the 'Blood on the Stacks', an increased sense of confidence is expected as they transformed in the game from a passive receiver of services to an independent user of the university services and facilities. Students learn by themselves, even learn to help; SCOOT helps students to improve their resilience, as most game challenges require group work with other new students. Consequently, players practice their social skills among stranger peers by motivating interaction through game mechanics; and "Who is Herring Hale?" extended the activities throughout the semester to continue building students’ social resilience and independence. ZOOMBREAK includes several challenges that also promote such outcomes.
Evaluation Strategy: Collecting test data and play results with an effective feedback system is advantageous. "Who is Herring Hale?" and SCOOT features an efficient feedback system allowing the design team to analyse play and respond efficiently to improve the project. ZOOMBREAK was play-tested in an Australian University with international student groups to improve the design. Further analysis of the Chinese context was also undertaken to tweak the final iteration.
Challenge Difficulty: Provide the right level of challenge/ difficulty for each activity. Finding the right balance between too challenging and too easy is essential in a game campaign. If it were too difficult, people would be turned away from even trying it out. If it were too easy, there would be no challenge to keep players interested in the long run. Finding the middle ground in difficulty is the point in designing a challenge for a general audience, especially when it is a purposeful project provided by the education department. ZOOMBREAK was designed and improved according to players’ feedback and analysis during and post playtests.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, the aforenoted case studies show that the ARG can serve as a framework for student orientation. Through ARG, orientation participants feel more socially engaged throughout the event, and new students are provided with the motivation to adapt and develop independence, resilience, and confidence with university services. Helping new-comers quickly get used to the new environment and offering them with clear and useful information will make them more comfortable in the learning period. Moreover, from the University perspective, it constructs a more effective and engaging learning environment and promotes communication and interaction among students, and it is the core concept for this design project.
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4. LEVEL 3: GAME DESIGN AND PLAYTESTING
4.1 GAME DESIGN
Everyone plays games, no matter it is chess, cards, capture the flag or hide and seek. These simple games brought hours of fun to many of us in our childhood, and the influence of the games on individuals and society cannot be underestimated. Games benefit us by improving hand-eye coordination, brain training, and social interaction etc. Games also have an impact on how we think and feel; how we decide and react; and how we compete and cooperate.
This section presents a game model, a theme, and a scenario designed for the development of the ZOOMBREAK ARG and demonstrates how various elements and techniques from different projects have been adopted and re-combined from across these examples.
The playtesting section provides a game testing among a small group of students to test the main module of the game design and to provide user feedback for further improvement.
4.1.1 Game Model: Real Escape Game
Real Escape Game (REG) is an alternate form of an ARG and is an increasingly popular format both in Australia and China. Both game formats facilitate communication and cooperation among new students of a University. The initial project idea is creating a challenge-based multi-interactive event, like a large size of room escape and treasure hunt game.
The real-life “Room Escape” is a first-person reality adventure game simulating online room-escape flash games, like Crimson Room (Takagi, 2004) and QP-Shot (Takagi, 2003). In the game, the player is locked in a room and must explore his or her surroundings to escape. Similar to War Game and Haunted House, the game requires players to be observant and use their critical thinking skills to solve the challenges and riddles.
After experiencing a number of REGs, it is realised that this format provided a better chance for the players to be more dependent on each other and to create a closer relationship because of the temporal and spatial restriction in the game. REGs are increasingly popular among students and family groups, and even strangers can form
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a group to complete a game. Due to the challenge of the game setting, people can smoothly communicate and cooperate with each other.
In Brisbane, there is a local site of the growing global franchise, “The Escape Hunt Experience” (http://escapehunt.com/). It is a worldwide real escape brand founded in Bangkok, Thailand, in April 2013. The intention was to create a new form of edutainment based on the new craze of escape games springing up in several cities. Currently, there are more than 130 branches, across 16 countries around the world. The total play time is more than 3,000,000 minutes. In Australia, it has 6 branches located in Adelaide, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and Brisbane. The successful ‘real escape game’ model adopted by the Escape Hunt franchise imposed a significant influence on this project.
To gain further insight into this format, I participated in the playtest sessions for the Voyager Escape (The Edge, 26th-31st Oct 2015), a collaboration between QUT, CalPoly and Escape Hunt Brisbane (www.tinyurl.com/escaperoomqut). During this period, I also communicated with the owner and designer, Giovanna Shakhovskoy, of Escape Hunt Brisbane, to discuss the game experience and share opinions on game development. An important suggestion that she gave is to consider about the culture group who is engaging with an escape game, as the appropriate structure and desired outcomes differ significantly across cultures. Furthermore, we also talked about how to encourage the players to feel more immersed during the game.
4.1.2 Game Themes: Detective Role-played Game
It is common for REGs to adopt the ‘Detective’ theme to support the inclusion of investigative activities such as finding clues and solving puzzles. According to the experience of playing the role of detective, it is influential on the immersed degree of players in a positive way. So the basic theme of my game design is the detective groups setting. The players form a group of detectives who are going to investigate cases. They all have the same responsibility: to work and cooperate together and to try to discover the clues and solve the puzzles.
Sherlock Holmes is a classic detective model who is still very popular these days. The success of escape hunt is to establish a brand of a room break and role-played, more specifically, the utilisation of the detective theme. Normally, even for various branches, the similar mini detective theme park will be added; customers not only play games but also have a lounge to use before and after the game where they can dress up and take photos as detectives. As the detective element creates a sense of immersion, it will be incorporated into my game design.
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The detective element is effective and easy to enhance the interests and sense establishment even for a simple game. A board game named Crime Scene (Jolly Thinkers, 2014), which the creator, Tobey Ho, developed by playing with family and friends, has much fun regarding its detective role-playing and case-solving settings.
(The author was playing broad games with cousins)
In Crime Scene, players find themselves in a murder scenario. They have to win the game by deduction and deception. The Murderer secretly chooses their means of crime and then continues to conceal this knowledge to mislead the investigation. The forensic scientists hold the key to find the criminal but are only able to express their knowledge through analysis of the scene. The detectives collaborate to interpret the clues with their wits, hunches, and their keen deductive insights to find out the killer hidden among them. The process of the game depends on either the detectives can see through the lies and figure out the criminal in their ranks or the murderer will muddy the water to lead others away from the truth.
(Figure 6: Board game – Crime Scene) The cards include role cards, clue cards, means cards and scene tiles. A forensic scientist (Game master) has responsibilities to guide a detective through scene tiles, while a murderer and other detectives need to use clue and means to play the game.
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(Figure 7: Scene Tiles)
(Figure 8: Clue Cards and Means Cards)
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Popular board games such as Crime Scene will often contain challenges and elements of intrigue during the role-play process. It is a simple board game only with a general simple background on the case of murder, while the players can either choose to act as a detective or the tricky murderer to mislead the detectives’ inferences. The only way to win is to find out the murderer and figure out the right clue and means cards. Another board entertainment named CLUEDO (HasbroWaddingtons Parker Brothers, 1949, designed by Anthony E. Pratt) is similar to the Crime Scene, which is to find out the murderer and room as detectives.
4.1.3 Game Scenarios: Background Story and Rules-sketch of Game
A potential site for ZOOMBREAK is the Soochow University at Suzhou, a southeast city of China. It is a historical education institution with rich cultural heritage (more information about Soochow University in section 5.1.1 Soochow University). The ancient corridors and creaking wooden floors provide ample spaces for a sprawling mystery. A ‘missing person’ storyline can utilise the long and storied history to good effect. The experience could be themed on detectives finding clues and solving puzzles, which takes them on a journey through space and time.
Time travel is the concept of movement typically using a hypothetical device known as the time machine. One of the first stories to feature time travel by a machine is "The Clock that Went Backward" by Edward Page Mitchell, which was published in the New York Sun in 1881. In the story, there was an unusual clock, and when wounded, it would run backwards and transport people nearby back in time. Even though this is a fantasy of fiction, the story has been very successful and as such, has been adopted as a theme for ZOOMBREAK.
Time travel includes forward time travel and backward time travel. From the view of University new student, to do a “time travel” discovery and learn more about the historical stories about the University is a nice and smooth way to introduce the campus environment. Therefore, the background story will focus on the backward time travel for the detectives.
Combining well-known themes for ZOOMBREAK, the detective team is a group of time travellers. They are referred to as “time travel investigators” who come from an undefined future. They use mock-technology to travel through time and space, solving the difficult cases in that time. The origin of the story begins with the University:
Professor W. is a researcher at S. University who has an extensive general knowledge in various subjects including physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, cosmology, algebra, calculus, differential equations, vector calculus, computers, electronics,
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engineering, history, geography, linguistics, etc. He always works alone, and nobody knows that he created a time machine and used it to travel frequently in his office. One day, he disappeared suddenly.
A group of detectives invited by the University will investigate the disappearance of Professor W. They need to discover and solve the clues and puzzles inside the professor’s office, and then find out the secrets about the time machine, and to rescue the Professor who has been locked in the time trench through time travel.
For the prototype module and playtest among the small groups, the story will end when the detectives find the professor’s secrets about the time machine. Two locations are utilised as the playtest location. The first room for level 1 is Professor W’s office; the players need to find the clues that lead to the other related location. There is a laptop which is locked by password on the desk. The mission in this room is to unlock the laptop by solving the combination password of 5 letters and 4 numbers in order. When the players turn on the laptop, they will find a message leading them to the next location, which is a classroom on campus. The level 2 is a classroom where Professor W normally presents his lectures. Players will find puzzles in images, numbers, and alphabetical characters. They will need to solve the puzzles, unlock the mysterious box, and finally figure out the reason for professor’s missing by time travel.
(A missing word puzzle)
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4.1.4 Game Resource: Graphics and Artefact Design
This section presents the design and development of game components of ZOOMBREAK. The graphical style and construction of the artefacts are a result of both the study of examples and the application of my own creative concepts and practices. Subsequently, this game, ZOOMBREAK, is both part of the traditions in ARG and REG design and a unique re-versioning of multiple models, themes and scenarios.
The visual design started with the creation of a project logo drawing in a graphical style. It was originally derived from experimenting previous student projects and further developed during the making of ZOOMBREAK.
The original image is a project logo designed for the Brisbane airport project on an interactive monster creation application. The design of the logo is important as it can communicate the actual activity and the style or mood of the project.
A further logo expansion (the logo in the middle) is for another real escape game project of mine, targeted at teenagers to develop individual confidence and increase the teamwork cooperation among peers. Furthermore, this project also has a combination format on REG and ARG contained my initial understanding and expression of the reality game design.
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Therefore, in the project logo, the similar style element is maintained, with the name following the ROOMBREAK project. The subtitle is “Jump & Track”, where “Jump” is for movement of time travellers’, and “Track” for the motion of detectives.
(Sample of playtesting poster design) Another important clue in the game is the calendar. Because Professor W uses this calendar to control and record the time travel. For the time recording, in every 19 years, the calendar repeats again, and the difference between the Lunar Calendar and the Gregorian calendar is only one day.
The calendar on the left is the original design, which is clear to show the year, where the time interval is the multiple of 19. The calendar on right is a more refined version that will be used in the game.
Detective badges are used for player identification with multiple colours. They were
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designed with swirling shape to represent a “ZOOM” action, which is used to instruct the pace and style of the intended gameplay.
The utilisation of retroelements and duller colour expresses the theme of the game design in an extraordinary and historical context, which is easier to lead the participants into the intended game atmosphere. Here are several game artefacts adopted and adapted for use in the ZOOMBREAK gameplay and playtest:
(Detective badges in box)
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(A locked notebook contains a letter)
(A clue hide inside the plastic bull)
(The mug is a hint for the password, a letter at the bottom)
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(A Postcard from Professor W in the past, a letter hides inside)
(Important clues in level one and related artefacts)
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(A photo with number”2”) (A locked mysterious box)
(Professor’s time travel journal pages)
The core gameplay of ZOOMBREAK is designed to encourage students’ engagement with the environment and the group work. It works within the format of a REG and the detective theme to increase active cooperation among the group members. In the scenario, the participants can discover clues and figure out answers which lead to progress in the storyline. This process will help students to gain confidence in transitioning into the University culture. In the next playtesting section, the effectiveness of these design intent will be evaluated through feedback.
4.2 PLAYTEST AND FEEDBACK
To validate the effectiveness of the design concept, a small-scale playtest session was conducted. This section presents the playtest session method and feedback in three phases: Pre-game, In-game and Post-game. ‘Pre-game’ involves preparing the game environment and resources before the game testing. ‘In-game’ refers to the actual participation of playtesters. ‘Post-game’ is a summary of the identified successes and risks understood from an analysis of observations and recordings of interactions post the playtest session.
The playtest group was made up of volunteer students of the Masters of Creative
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Industries(MCI) degree at QUT who participated as both players and observers. This cohort of students were identified as an ideal testing group for three main reasons. Firstly, this cohort were enrolled in a unit that required them to research, design and evaluate ARG and Escape Room projects. Secondly, as current students at a university they have recently experienced personal challenges with orientation to a new campus and meeting fellow students. Most significant is that the majority of the student cohort were from mainland China or had travelled from other Asian countries. With such familiarity to the both the ARG format and the context of the project meant that this group would be best placed to represent the desired demographic and also insured that they could provide thoughtful and well considered feedback. The international students from China, in particular provided in-depth feedback regarding the cultural appropriateness of the Chinese specific plot elements within the game’s setting.
There were 2 groups of 4 and 5 players that stated and completed ZOOMBREAK level 1, and 2 groups of 4 people completed level 2. Before the playtest, I predicted several risks that might be encountered during each phase of the implementation and recorded observations about the effectiveness of my mitigation measures. While there were mostly promising outcomes, some strategies were insufficient in managing the predicted risks. Details of these identified risks and the playtest evaluation are presented in the following sections.
4.2.1 Pre-game: Setting the Scene
Risk: The restriction of time and space. Results: As the location for the game is in the university context, it is easy for me to find sites for playtesting on my current campus. Nevertheless, the challenge encountered conflicts with many groups of students using the campus facilities. I had to book offices and classrooms to display the game environment and ensure access for pre-playtest preparation and testing period. This situation happened during the playtest, and I had to quickly find and use alternative rooms to test the puzzle design. The ways in which rooms are secured for events at University sites vary and need to be fully understood before the testing can commence. Alternate sites and plans must also be arranged.
Risk: Damage to the game props and other unforeseen circumstances. Result: Because the main material of the playtest artefacts is paper, and some of the props inside the playtest are unrecoverable or fragile. I was worried about the paper flowers I made from newspapers (it was so thin and fragile). To prevent the loss of important clues or hints, I made spare elements on pivotal props.
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Documented Playtest Observations: The QUT Kelvin Grove campus was the playtest location. As the starting point of the game is the missing of Professor W, a small researcher room at Z2 block was arranged to be set as his office. This is level 1 of the game.
Only one table was used in this room, to give enough free space for the observers’ recording during the playtest. For the scene setting, except the clues and other related properties, various environmental artefacts were brought in to simulate the office.
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The level 2 facility is a classroom, according to the scenario, the group of detectives went to the lecture room of Professor W and tried to investigate more clues.
4.2.2 In-game: Playtest Process
Risk: Players cannot facilitate or finish the game. Result: Compared with the experience of puzzle design I did or knew before, the difficulties in this project is obvious. There was various hidden information needed to be discovered in the game. Therefore, the massive unidentified information made the game too complex for the target context. The basic of the game design should necessarily focus more on the cooperation and communication among peers or the ice-breaking utilisation.
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Documented Playtest Observations: Video (published at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUZHq52ksvc) The playtest interactions were captured on video footage that was later analysed and annotated. The video data was useful as it also provided spoken feedback for consideration. Screengrabs from the video footage is provided here along with photographic data that was collected along with player quotes recorded by the observers. The first group found the clues quickly, but found the puzzles themselves challenging.
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Initially, this group was expected to perform well due to their shared background knowledge of Asian culture. However, they failed to complete the mission in time as they did not find a main clue, the number “1” inside the paper flower. This occurred even though they recognized and inspected the flowers several times. This group’s delays could be the result of a lack of cooperation from other group members.
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Documented Playtest Observations: Photographs and recorded quotes.
“The room setting of level 1 is great, especially for the bullhead inside the black sand.”
“The colour match part of level 2 is easy to play and can build confidence.”
“Find the text to fill the password is playful.”
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“Remove the books or other props which are not really related to the game.” “Try to avoid mixing clues that may mislead the player.”
“This game may help people recognise the target landscape or environment quickly on campus.”
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“This game may help students gain more fun in University life.”
“It is a good icebreaker.”
“Game makes more fun and breaks the boundaries.”
“Game makes more fun and breaks the boundaries.”
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“It may be better to use different themes instead of repeating one theme all over again.” “It does not allow too many people to play at the same time.” “Finding the password is challenging and logically, and the level 2 is too difficult.”
4.2.3 Post-game: Feedback Summary and Analysis
Risk: Not enough players to play the game. Result: I highly appreciated that my supervisor introduced my project to her class and support were given by MCI students. As the playtest was run after the lecture, most of the students have a chance to join the playtest. However, after the class, some of the students feel tired and indifferent to the tasks.
Risk: The shortage of data collection. Result: The most significant concern of this playtest is the lack of data collection. Compared with running the game testing, the result and the summary of the playtest are much more valuable. I was very grateful that the students could take the role of the observer to help me record the game process and collect useful feedback in different levels.
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(The student helps to record the playtest video)
Documented Playtest Observations: According to the feedback forms and informal interviews, the result of game testing is acceptable and effective. All the participants agreed that the general game concept is interesting and playful. However, most of them felt challenging during the game on the clues connecting and the irrelevant props misleading. Furthermore, the iteration of the final game should be focused on a larger group participants and a smooth clue to clue transition in the leading story, to make the game easier for the organiser to facilitate and for players to finish.
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Conclusion
The core design for ZOOMBREAK consists of an ARG framework containing a central theme, individual scenarios, and resource preparation. At its current fidelity, the testing and feedback focus on two main points: 1. Deployment risk. 2. Completion rate
From both user feedback and observations, it can be concluded that: for a single themed ARG to accommodate a large crowd of university students in an effort to orientate them in a complex environment, the gameplay puzzle elements need to be extremely simple to solve, and robust in construction.
From this point on, the refinement of ZOOMBREAK will target the puzzles and game logic, to serve a wide range of skill levels and to keep participants interested from point to point. Furthermore, a Chinese University campus investigation is on schedule, and my game design should draw on existing local context such as University history, building spaces and mainstream media psyche.
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5 LEVEL 4: REGIONAL CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS
To refine ZOOMBREAK for implementation in Chinese Universities, a contextual analysis is conducted to allow the project (originally designed and playtested in Australia) to fit in a Chinese university context. Firstly, a campus investigation at selected examples of a typical Chinese campus, Soochow and Southeast University, is presented. To deepen contextual understanding, the second part of this section discusses a new popular format of Chinese reality television that may affect local audience expectation and participation with ZOOMBREAK.
5.1 CAMPUS INVESTIGATION
During the summer holiday, I returned to China to visit several Chinese universities. For me, the most attractive factor of Chinese universities is their historical and picturesque environment. Soochow and Southeast Universities were selected. At each location, I have a local guide with access to and knowledge about the campus to introduce the history and interesting places. This section presents a summary of the visits and findings relevant to this study and resulting project design.
The Aims of these investigations are: 1. To capture key themes in the University history to modify ZOOMBREAK’s theme to be an ambassador for local culture. 2. To record specific historical locations and cultural assets to be used as clues. 3. To design ways for the clues to highlight key services and features.
(Photo in front of Soochow University) (Photo with my guide Mr Peiwen Sheng)
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5.1.1 Soochow University (Suzhou)
http://www.suda.edu.cn/ Overview Soochow University, colloquially known in Chinese as Suda, is located in an old town of Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. Suzhou is also called "the Paradise on Earth". The establishment of the university can be dated back to 1900. It now has three major campuses: the main campus, Dushu Lake Campus, and the Yangcheng Lake Campus, covering an area of 2,705,000 square meters with a total building area more than 182 million square meters.
The gate of Soochow University main campus History The original Soochow University, also known as the Central University in China, was founded by a group of Methodists in Suzhou in 1900 (Chinese Republican period). "Soochow" is a former English translation of "Suzhou".
The site of Soochow University lies on Shizi Street, and its historical campus has been protected by Suzhou cultural relics protection units since 1991. In the 10th year of Qing Emperor Tongzhi's reign (1871), American Christianity Supervision Association
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set up a CunYang academy at Suzhou Shiquan Street. In the fifth year of Emperor Guangxu (1879) the school moved to Tiancizhuang. Then it changed its name to Boxi Academy. In the 27th years of Emperor Guangxu, Anglo-Chinese College also moved to the site of Boxi Academy in Tiancizhuang. After that, it became Soochow University. The Soochow University is one of the earliest church universities built by American Christians in China. The very early predecessor of Soochow University only provided middle school level education, with less than 100 students.
In October 1952, national schools, departments, and colleges were reviewed, and Soochow University was reorganised as Jiangsu Normal University adopting a teaching methodology of a typical American university. In June 1982, it was reformed and became Suzhou University, the first comprehensive university of Jiangsu Province, and the school scale was greatly expanded.
Gate of the old Dongwu University The building of Law School
The site of Soochow University covers an area of about 60,000 square meters, with a total construction area of 21,000 square meters. From the school gate, the general layout is presented as a vertical rectangle, and the main buildings are scattered in north, west and east of a large lawn area. There is a Bell tower “Lin Tang” located in the centre of the whole school, which was built in the 27th year of Qing Emperor Guangxu, and completed in the 29th year; the library “Sun Tang” was opened in the first year of Emperor Xuantong; the science museum “Ge Tang” was built in the fall of 1924; and student dormitories, “Wei Ge Tang”, was built in 1934; student dormitories, “Zi Shi Tang”, was built in 1935; and gyms were built in 1936. These were built in various styles including current European style, a middle ages castle, and an American cathedral. In addition, there are six buildings in a row in the north, parallel to the gate, of which some are styled to look like residential buildings commonly seemed in the United States at the time as they were originally used as accommodation for senior staff.
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Main Street of Campus A traditional style kiosk at campus Campus Investigation My campus guide, Mr Liang Li, is the deputy director of the Soochow University student support office. Mr Li spoke in detail of the Soochow University history and the architecture.
Suzhou, once called "Eastern Wu” in the past, was Wu’s capital in warring states period more than two thousand years ago. Soochow University was founded More than one hundred years ago and was one of the American Style Church Universities in China. Based on Gong Xiang Academy, it later combined Suzhou Bo Xi Academy, Gong Xiang Academy, and Shanghai Anglo-Chinese College together.
The architectural style of the century-old Soochow University fully embodies the characteristics of western architectural form at that time. The original buildings represented by British Victorian architectural style, focus on the proportion, pursue pure-form style.
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Soochow University site faces Fengmen inner river on the east, with various kinds of trees surrounding buildings with red pillars and blue tiles next to each other.
(The photo I took when I was visiting Soochow University. It was a rainy day, but the weather could not spoil the beautiful landscape.)
The traditional gardening and landscape is a key feature which sets the tone for the location. In stark contrast with the modern western buildings, these traditional landscape work put the clash of old and new into the forefront, thus creating a time-warped reality throughout the campus. This ‘time-warped’ aesthetic was one of the original inspirations to ZOOMBREAK’s time traveller storyline, allowing the campus culture and atmosphere to be reinforced by the ARG.
Lin Tang is the key Administration Building of Soochow University, presenting the aforementioned ‘western/modern’ edge to the university. Its facilities include student services support institutions such as Academic director office, Recruitment and Employment office, School comprehensive section, School deputy director office, and so on. It was founded in 1901 - 1903, to commemorate Lin Lezhi, who is one of the founders of the University.
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Lin Tang (at Back) The architectures design adopted the colour tone of red and blue brick walls, and the stone band seems calm and lively. It was once the largest western-style building in Suzhou area, famous for its clock tower on top of the building located on the central axis of the campus. So “Lin Tang" is also known as the clock tower and is still the landmark structure for the whole campus. It would be important to include such a landmark in the Game Campaign as it demonstrates the history that the new students will become part of. This is an important aspect of the ZOOMBREAK experience.
Lin Tang (in front)
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Built between 1908 and 1912, Sun Tang is named in the honour of Lewen Sun, who is the first President of Soochow University. With an exquisite architectural style, the layout and facade composition of Sun Tang are symmetrical, showing excellent construction technology. The entrance porch of the building is a 2-storey gothic pointed arch modelling, whose doors are decorated with elegant stone carving floriation, making the whole building a rare and high-quality one in modern western style. In summer, the appearance is covered with vines, very similar to the building of Ivy Universities in the United States. “When you gaze at the majestic building at sunset, you will witness an ineffable sense of nobility, elegance, mystery, and peace,” Mr Li said to me in a rainy day.
Sun Tang
(Openings are decorated with elegant stone carving floriation)
Nowadays, SunTang is the teaching building of Mathematics Faculty. Its mysterious appearance makes it a good candidate for ZOOMBREAK as it adds to the aesthetic
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feeling of the game experience (see how on page 27 background story on chapter 4.1.3).
(The creaky wooden floor and the dim corridor light)
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(Lewen Sun: First President of University) (Inner of Sun Tang)
Martin Simard Stadium, built in between 1934 and 1937, is the representative work of the second phase of Soochow University development. It is named after commemorating American teacher Martin Simard’s merits in advocating sports teaching at Soochow University. This is a visual two-level building; whose main body as a steel roof and wooden oblique beams for support. The openings use the semicircle arch type, guarantee the indoor daylighting. The Entrance stands out with its Renaissance mouldings garnish, and the lintel is inscribed by Kong Xiangxi.
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(Martin Simard Stadium) Wen Xing Ge is a traditional Chinese styled bell tower. Built from the 17th year of Ming Emperor Wanli (AD 1589) to the 25th year of Ming Emperor Wanli (AD 1597), it has a history of more than 400 years. In the 40th year of Ming Emperor Wanli (AD 1612), the Square Tower was rebuilt. Wen Xing Ge’s appearance presents four-layer squareness, with each side has archways with waist eaves, flat seats etc. and the four corners overlying with tented roofs. Wen Xing Ge is located near the North Gate of the Campus. There is a famous food street of Suzhou outside the North Gate, where a time-honoured restaurant, De Yue Lou, can be found. For this reason, Wen Xing Ge is also known as a food landmark for students of Soochow University.
(Wen Xing Ge) Zi Shi Tang was established in 1903, named in the memory of Zishi Cao. Built as student dormitory, it is four floors high. It has a simple but lively style, with red bricks
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all over and only the entrance modestly decorated.
(Zi Shi Tang) For many students in Soochow University, the Red building is a mysterious and fascinating place. On the façade of the red building, a line of English words "THE LAURA HAYGOOD MEMORIAL” was engraved. Laura Haygood is the first female Christian missionary sent by American Christian Methodist Episcopal Church to China, dedicated to the course of Chinese women's education for 17 years. Red Building originally belonged to “Jing Hai School for Girls” (in honour of Laura Haygood). Many ancient books are stored in the red building. Master of Chinese Culture, Qian Zhonglian, once owned a library, using old Changshu dialect to give lessons for students of Doctor of Literature on Ming and Qing dynasties poetry.
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(Red Building) In general, the gate is the most fanciful place of a university, embodying the university's history, conveying messages of the times, and embracing the hope of the future. In the campus of Soochow University, there is a simple, traditional yet majestic and solemn school gate, engraved with Soochow’s school name and school motto in English on the back. On the gatepost, a Chinese school motto "unto a full-grown man" was vertically engraved. It was the essence of Soochow spirit, and it gradually becomes a classic symbol of Soochow University today To travel between different times in history allows the story to build with historic context，and places such as the one just mentioned serve as a great location for the time travel. This was useful when considering the trigger of time travel in ZOOMBREAK. In some of the story (described in 4.1.4, page 27), the time travel may cause by an unusual clock. However, in the story of Soochow University, the gate could work as a trigger point through ancient times, run backwards and transport people nearby back in time.
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(The old University Gate)
(The overall view of old University Gate) Besides all the historical architecture, the modern buildings also embody traditional Suzhou architectural beauty. The Kenneth Wang School of Law is sited in a modern building based on early Chinese rules of landscape design. It is described by famous writer Shengtao Ye as “A different view with every step; let the delicate frame the grand.” It is good at organising the subtle changes of landscape composition and structure in a limited space cleverly.
(The Building of Kenneth Wang School of Law)
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(The Inner space of Kenneth Wang School of Law)
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Design considerations:
The Soochow University offers the opportunity to expand the current ZOOMBREAK storyline with more clues to help the students orientate to the campus both spatially and temporally (Check on Chapter 3.2 page 11 context review on student orientation). The key historic buildings and service sites are grouped in close proximity, thus allowing each clue to be within the walking distance, which is feasible and comfortable for the student participants. In this way, they will be less likely to get lost and waver from the game path. Additionally, the timber historic structures will add a great sense of narrative atmosphere, creating a richer experience tied to the wealth of this universities historic past. When implementing an ARG for this university, the number of clues and complexity of narrative (Check the game design on Chapter 4) can be increased to make use of the affordances of a closely packed, historically rich university.
5.1.2 Southeast University (Nanjing)
http://www.seu.edu.cn/
Overview Southeast University is a public research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. It is one of the oldest universities and the first co-educational university in China. There are three main campuses, namely the Sipailou Campus, the Jiulonghu campus and the Dingjaiqiao campus. The Sipailou (Xuanwu District) and Dingjiaqiao campus (Gulou district) are in Nanjing city while Jiulonghu campus is in the suburban area of Nanjing (Jiangning District).
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(The gate of Southeast University Si Pai Lou campus)
History Southeast University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in China. The origin is Sanjiang Normal College founded in 1902. With the constant development and expansion, it was combined with another two colleges, i.e., Nanjing Higher Normal School and National Southeast University, and became National Central University. During the nationwide restructuring of institutions of higher education in 1952, Nanjing Institute of Technology was established at the original site of National Central University. In May 1988, the institute was renamed as Southeast University. In addition, in April 2000, Nanjing Railway Medical College, Nanjing College of Communications and Nanjing Geological School were merged into the university, whose main campus is located at the centre of the ancient capital city of Nanjing, a sacred place for education since the Ming Dynasty. At present, Southeast University has four campuses i.e., Sipailou, Jiulonghu and Dingjiaqiao, covering a total area of 427 hectares.
Campus Investigation My investigation was guided by Mr Peiwen Sheng, the deputy director of the Southeast University student support office. He showed me around the Si Pai Lou campus, discussing the culture and history of Southeast University.
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(Bike is the most important transport in Chinese universities)
Si Pai Lou Campus was located at the centre of the ancient capital city of Nanjing, a sacred place for education since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Juniperus chinensis, also known as “Six-Dynasties Pine”, is an ancient tree located on the campus that has a thousand-year history. According to the legend, it was planted in the Six-Dynasties period. There are other Juniper Trees as big as 9.6 meters high and 2.6 meters around. Being an ancient and wild profusion of vegetation, the Six Dynasties Pine is believed to be planted by an ancient southern emperor, Liangwudi. It is one of the most important symbols of Southeast University.
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(Six Dynasties Pine) Apart from the “Six Dynasties Pine”, the stone Chi Shou is also a historical relic from Ming Dynasty. “Chi Shou” is the head of “Chi Wen”, “Chi” is the 9th son of Dragon. As “Chi" loves water, it is a symbol to prevent fire disasters (Wang, W. 2008). This is also a suitable place with historical context that can be used to set the time machine, as the turning point of the game. Please refer to the background story of the game on Chapter 4.
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(Chi Shou: the oldest cultural heritage of Southeast University)
Si Pai Lou is the original campus of Southeast University (Former National Central University). Its western-styled buildings were built in the period of the Republic of China. In 2006, it became a national key cultural relics protection unit for “the National Central University site construction group”. The auditorium is the landmark of Southeast University.
(Main Street of Campus)
The area of the campus can roughly be divided into teaching and living areas. The north of the campus is Beijing East Road, and the south is University Road, with Cheng Yin Street and Jin Xianghe Road respectively being the boundaries of the east and west. The living area is loosely distributed around the campus. The Lanyuan, in the east of the Taiping North Road, is the dormitory area for undergraduate and postgraduate faculty. Sha Tong Park and Cheng Park dormitory areas are located in the south of the campus; they are for graduate and doctoral students. Southeast University affiliated kindergarten is also in the vicinity.
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(Mr Sheng told me there were many film shot at this view.) The auditorium, located in the centre of Sipailou Campus of Southeast University, had formed a central axis with the South Gate of the campus. The Auditorium has a grand western classical architectural style, with its main facade made of western classical column composition. The bottom three stand side by side facing the south; the facade adopts a flower pattern using the Ionic order, and the top cover is the large copper dome in European Renaissance style; the hall can accommodate more than 2,700 people. For decades, the alumni regard the hall as the most memorable symbol of Southeast University. It is also the former site of the first National Congress of the national government. The auditorium is a landmark of the original National Centre College and of the Southeast University, and it is one of the most popular film locations of Nanjing.
(Figure 9: The inside of the auditorium: a screenshot from the film the Founding of Republic)
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(The front of the auditorium)
(The west side of the auditorium)
Mei’an is located in the northwest of Southeast University. It was originally founded in 1914. At the beginning, it was the three cottages with flat roofs and named by Li Ruiqing. Li Ruiqing's handwritten letter was hanging in front of the door with inscribed wooden board writing "chewing roots, doing event". In 1932, the cottages
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were demolished and converted into a brick bungalow with an area of 203.66 square meters, as well as a layer of a basement. The plane layout adopted middle corridor type with the combination of Chinese and Western content architectural style. There is a stele inscribed "Mei’an" by Liu Yizhi in the front. The Chinese Communist Youth League was founded in 1922 here. Now, it is the location for the Department of Art of Southeast University and the Chinese folk-art museum.
(People practising Qigong near Mei’an) (Old people playing Mahjong out of Mei’an)
Unlike other building, Mei’an is in a corner of the campus, and away from other building. It is a place full of vigour for Nanjing citizens, where there are always people doing activities such as Qigong, Mahjong around the Mei’an. Such activities would be suitable to be included in ZOOMBREAK, linking ancient games with contemporary ones. This is also a good place to place the character Professor X, as the beginning of the game. According to the background story of the ZOOMBREAK, Professor W. is a genius and a maverick who always works and lives alone (Professor X as introduced in 4.1.3 page 27). The idiom said “Greatest genius often lies concealed” and as a Chinese philosophy “A real hermit lives in the bustling place” Mei’an is a really suitable for Professor W.
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(Mei’an)
The old library was built by Qi Xieyuan to commemorate his father Qi Mengfang. It was designed by Pascale and was completed in 1923. The word "library" on the horizontal inscribed board was written by Jian Zhang. Emboss was carved under the eaves, in the window frame and in the door header. Such forms may be interesting to be integrated into the clues for ZOOMBREAK as a way to engage students with the buildings in more details. (As noted on chapter 4.1.4 page 29) The reading room was expanded on both sides of the old library, and the stack was built in the backside of the old library. Now it is the Administration Building of Southeast University.
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(The old library has been used as Administration Building. The gold carving still reads: Library)
The changes of functions for many of these old buildings over the years inspired me to design a game setting with a dramatic reveal of its history. Player clues and plot points can be hidden in the history of the buildings to create suspension and to promote the time travelling theme.
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(The new library) Designed by Zongkan Li, Zhong Da Yuan was built in 1929, and it was a former biological Museum. The door opens to the south without a porch, but there are four Ionic columns with flowers. In 1957, two wings of the classroom were added. Zhong Da Yuan and the old library are located in the east and the west respectively, and now Zhong Da Yuan is the hall of the architecture faculty.
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Founded in 1909, Jianxiong Institute was originally a two-floor architecture. In 1923, it was destroyed by a fire and then was rebuilt with three floors. The building plan is I-shaped with Ionic style porch. There are three arched doors, with cast iron ornamental engraving. It was renamed as "Jiangnan Institute" for a short period, but was soon renamed "Jianxiong Institute". It is currently serving as the Radio Engineering Faculty. This building is emblematic of how the school buildings evolved dramatically over time, which provides a rich cultural tapestry for Real Escape Game (REG refer to 4.1.1 page 23) to draw upon.
(Jianxiong Institute)
The university stadium is another important location for new students to know, as it represents a key aspect of student life. Like the rest of the university, this stadium also represents a myriad of historical milestones. The stadium was constructed in 1922 and was completed in 1923. At that time, it is the most expensive stadium among domestic universities in China. After the completion of the stadium, it was not only a place for physical fitness but also a place for holding important events. Many famous people made their speeches here, such as British philosopher Russell, American educator Dewey, Indian poet Tagore and so on the stadium started construction in 1922, and completed in 1923.
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(The daily utilisation of the stadium is a badminton hall.)
Southeast University is at the palace ruins of Ming Dynasty, and after years’ precipitation, the “Six Dynasties Pine” is still full of vigour. The Si Pai Lou campus is an epitome of the City Nanjing, which has experienced the change of history and the pass of time but is still developing. The buildings of the university reflect these changing times and record its dramatic and storied past. These points of historical drama and cultural artefacts can be used to highlight important location which serves a real contemporary purpose. Below is a group of locations and cultural items selected for this purpose.
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(Historical relic is housed at the centre of Square Tripo, while the surrounding lawn used for project exhibitions, this place is selected for the end of the ARG)
(Modern Graffiti wall in the building of engineering)
(Bikes outside of the auditorium)
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(Architectural design & research institute) (State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics)
(Popular local dish Duck blood soup with rice-noodles and Duck blood and vegetable soup)
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(Basketball court and ground track field) (A street on campus)
Design considerations:
The Southeast University boasts a lively community of student-run clubs and societies. The high participation rate in events and public games is one of the university’s proudest characteristics. It also demonstrates a potential for ZOOMBREAK to be incorporated into existing volunteer activities for new students.
⚫ Aim 1: The dramatic contrast between the old and the new, the eastern and the western pervades both universities, which allows ZOOMBREAK time travelling storyline to be used to good effect, connecting the school’s past to its present.
⚫ Aim 2: In the search for suitable historic sites and cultural locations, numerous ‘out of place’ buildings were found. They used to have different names/functions in the past, and these changes can be incorporated into the clues of ZOOMBREAK, giving the player a sense of the ‘past’ and knowledge of the present.
⚫ Aim 3: Numerous historic artefacts can be found throughout both campuses. Thus, they were incorporated into the local implementation of ZOOMBREAK like the bread crumbs leading students to key services that they are expected to be familiar with.
Campus investigation conclusion
The enthusiasm for public games as well as the rich historical backdrop of the Chinese university culture can be leveraged in refining ZOOMBREAK to enhance its performance according to the success criteria listed in Chapter 2. A key aspect of the story can be modified to include the natural intrigue and stories pervasive in the halls of these ancient universities, making the story more compelling to the students. Furthermore, participation and promotion can also be scaffolded upon the existing campus tradition/club induction, increasing both the social and accessibility aspect.
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5.2 RELATED CHINESE TV SHOW
In addition to the local universities, the broader Chinese mainstream media also offers some ideas of how an orientation ARG came be organised. ARG themed reality TV shows (referred as ARGTV henceforth) are competitive games broadcast as a theatrical presentation. These TV shows raise two interesting considerations when designing an ARG orientation in China:
1. The increasing popularity of ARGTV potentially may contribute to higher participation rates in ZOOMBREAK, as many of China’s youth are now familiar with and interested in activities involved with an ARG experience.
2. The social marketing integral to ARGTV provides a foundation for gameplay, where core participants interact with audiences in the same way new students and the orientation staff interact through ZOOMBREAK.
To refine the current design further, such emerging formats need to be considered to attract the targeted demographic - Chinese youth.
Although the term ‘gameplay’ is often negatively associated with video game addiction in China. TV game shows, however, have been popular over the last decades. Due to the combination of the game show, theatre, board games and chase games, the latest ARGTV formats have attracted the public’s attention. Recent successes in ARGTV are The Running Man, Run for Time, Go Fighting, Twenty-Four Hours, and Crime Scene, capturing a wide range of audience’s interests in various aspects of the game format and features. The concept and structure of Chinese ARGTV are mostly adopted from Korean or Japanese shows before adding localised content of Chinese history and culture.
To demonstrate this relevant format, this section presents an analysis of Run for Time, an ARGTV first broadcast by HBS Hunan Television on November 6, 2015.
5.2.1 The Run for Time ARGTV
Run for time is a reality game show with its origin being Run for Money in Japan. Run for Time was introduced by Hunan Television and in cooperation with Dongyang
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Huan Yu Movie & TV Culture Co., Ltd. Over 40 Chinese actors, singers, and artists participated as guest contestants (players) in this popular show.
In Run for Time, the players need to avoid "hunters" ('non-player characters, NPCs) and complete tasks given as soon as possible in a designated area within a time limit (usually 100 mins). At the end of the game, only players who evade capture can win a large amount of the 'victory coins' (game reward mechanism), while those arrested can only keep a very small amount of victory coins. The players, each being referred to as a "Running man", can accumulate victory coins in each episode. Only players who are the top 20 are granted eligibility to the final episode. Finally, the player winning the most victory coins can receive the greatest rewards, and the victory coins are converted to real money for donations to charity.
(Figure 10: TOP 20 Rank Lists)
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Using a science fiction trope, the game begins on the fictional Kepler planet, which is 600 light years away from Earth. As an energy crisis worsens on Kepler, the people look to save the planet and have identified Earth as being 98% similar to Kepler in the corner of the universe. As a result, a collection plan for positive energy is devised. There are also some deliberately provoked conflicts among Kepler top leaders throughout the show to create an atmosphere of internal intensification and contradictions.
(Figure 11: Bai Ze and Jing Wei launching a mission at the game control room)
In the game control room, two NPC Directors (Bai Ze and Jing Wei) and a NPC Kepler Planet Leader (Bi Fang) are the core team controlling the whole game. They can directly select and customise the game location; increase the difficulty of the challenges; change player's properties and so on. From the view of a game designer, this is the most significant innovation of this project, as they use a smooth and reasonable narrative mechanism to introduce and even influence the game process. For an example, when participants become too challenged by the game, the control room can reduce the difficulty by freezing a specific hunter or the time to reduce the difficulty.
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(Figure 12: A screenshot from Run for Time showing how the time is frozen for a character that is having difficulty with a challenge, giving the directors of the show more space to tweak the gameplay before unfreezing the broadcast again.)
Another interesting mechanic that is used to add complication and interest for both the players and the audiences is that the players must avoid black-suited “Hunters" within a certain time while completing a mission.
(Figure 13: A screenshot from Run for Time showing a black-suited hunter that the players must avoid within a certain time limit)
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Every episode has a unique plot and is set in a different time period. By interacting with the NPCs and completing the tasks, the players can influence how the plot and the game progresses. The stories for each episode are different but are all designed by a famous Chinese scriptwriter, Zheng Yu.
The main roles of the Run for Time ARGTV reality show include the Running Men (contestants’ PCs), and the Hunters, Bulletin Forces and Pretenders (all NPCs).
The Players (PCs) always carry several basic equipment such as mobile phones, through which the game department can send out information, news, and tasks. In addition, the fugitives can call or text each other by mobile phones. The phones cannot be muted, and any messages sent will be received by all the players. There is also a map displaying paths and some important landmarks in a game location. Every player has wearable equipment like helmets, knee pads and wristbands, to prevent injury. Depending on the specific tasks in each episode, they may have different equipment assigned for the mission.
(Figure 14: The “Hunters” in black) The Hunters are all action bane of running man. There are four original hunters in each gate opening. A hunter’s standard dressing are black sunglasses, black suit and black shoes with a black mini camera. They are responsible for hunting escapers in the escape episode, and they need to have both “sprint power and long-distance endurance” when hunting. The setting of hunters is mainly used for creating obstacle for running men completing the task. The more hunters there are in the game, the harder the game will be. Players can only get the designated powerful props when they have completed a certain task or survived until the last minute.
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(Figure 15: A Player hides from a nearby Hunter to avoid capture)
Apart from amateur actors, some famous actors might be asked to play as NPCs as well. Players might be requested to do side tasks for NPCs. However, they risk getting nothing after completion, or benefit greatly from the possibility of receiving some extra clues and a few game coins. There are also some main tasks for NPCs to participate in.
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(Figure 16: The NPCs will lead the story and sometimes participate as players in the game)
Xi Shi was one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China, and she is also the main character of this episode. The player's task is to save the five brothers who can rescue Xi Shi. The NPC is one of the five brothers, and the players must cooperate with him to activate the five stone lions to open the gate of the prison.
(Figure 17: Activating the stone lions) Bulletin Forces are other NPCs that interfere with the players progress. Although they do not directly capture the players, they will attract Hunters to the Players’ position. Bulletin Forces generally act together to interrupt players’ activities. Any NPC can be changed at any time into a Bulletin Force character by the game master as a mechanism to control the game pace and difficulty.
Other effective NPCs are the Pretenders (referred to as “traitors", "spies" or "secret agents"). For example, they may use mobile phones to talk with other players, while secretly reporting the name and position of the player to hunters. Once the report is successful and the person being reported is "dead" (captured), the Pretender can win 50,000 Victory coins (not deducted even if the pretender is eliminated). If all Players get caught, the rest of the Pretenders can obtain double victory coins.
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Figure 18: The Pretender is excited about winning double Victory Coins. This screenshot also shows how the directors add graphical elements over the broadcast image to show results and scores in a similar way to a video game interface.
Figure 19: Players were running away from the black suit men at the beginning of the game. The “hunters” are hidden inside a big gift box.
One of the Players, Huang Xiaoming, explained in an aftergame interview that "this show is very special and full of fun, I really enjoyed myself here... but when we saw the man in black suit, we went crazy!"（27th Oct, People’s Newspaper）
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The format of the Run for Time program is very much like that of an ARG, except that it is broadcast on TV. This is becoming a very popular format in the Chinese market as a unique challenge-based interactive entertainment utilising a large cast and crew with popular player participants. It challenges the limits of the star effect in most reality shows, as it invites many lesser-known actors to play and perform in the show. They use large props and plot scheduling to establish a virtual game scene played in the real world.
Most relevant to the design of ZOOMBREAK are to consider the mechanisms used to program and host a live interactive, challenge-based ARG with large groups of players. Such ARGTV projects also provide a vital introduction to the general public to familiarise them to the ARG format, hence making it is more likely be accepted in a similar event in a university context.
5.2.2 The Crime Scene ARGTV
The Crime Scene is a role-play detective ARGTV produced by the Korean Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company (10th May- 11th Jul 2014). The program includes massive variety elements such as attractive plot, hilarious act, and logical reasoning, which combines the drama with the reality show. More importantly, it is a weekly online reality show online. It stands out as a successful pioneer which lives only on online video platforms instead of traditional satellite TV networks.
If we have a look at the popular Sherlock Holmes, it is not hard to see that the detective element has always been an eye-catcher for almost all age groups. In the Crime Scene, each episode targets one intricate murder case. The real murderer hides among the five characters. Each episode invites six participants, one playing as a detective, the other five being potential suspects. Six players are allowed to search the crime scene to collect clues and evidence which suits their purpose either as a murderer or the innocent.
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(Figure 20: Screenshot of a Crime Scene Case Four) Proper social network engagements boost audience’s interaction with the show through the ‘hashtag effects’. From the perspective of inter-audience topics, a discussion of ‘who is the murderer’ with friends will probably produce extra attachments to the program.
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(Figure 21: Online vote page) Each Crime Scene story contains two episodes, namely the investigation and the reveal section. Two sections are broadcast in two separate days. Normally the investigation section starts at 12:00 in the Saturday noon. The audience is able to observe the case from the view of the real murderer; thus, the audience can cast the vote to identify the murderer. The voting campaign links with audience’s Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter), so that the “hashtag effect” comes into its power. While interactions from all platforms reach its peak, at Sunday 20:00, the reveal episode will crack the case with the proper reasoning and narratives, and the real murderer is identified, putting a full stop to the story. After the truth is revealed, online participants with the right answer will have a chance to join in the playtest of the real TV game scene.
(Figure 22: The official Weibo site of Crime Scene has 248,606 fans)
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(Figure 23: The screenshot of my Weibo page, participants the interactive campaign of Crime Scene)
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One Detective, Four Suspects, and One Murderer
The Crime Scene not only manages to produce the suspenseful deduction story but also demonstrates the concept of social media engagements. Additionally, attractive rewarding mechanism contributes to keeping the topic under the spotlight.
Design considerations:
The popular ARG themed reality TV shows in China offer great design insights on what is viable as well as what is popular. One of their biggest features revolves around a set of a voting system which allows audiences to participate in and affect the outcome of each game/show through social media messages. This works both as a marketing tool and an interactive element for audience engagement.
The inclusion of a social media-based voting or progress ranking in the ZOOMBREAK will greatly increase its accessibility in the Chinese university context, making it not only more inclusive but more social.
Regional context conclusion:
Both the profound university culture and popularity of Chinese ARG themed TV shows offer affordances unique to China that can be leveraged to build a truly engaging campus ARG. The need for audience participation for existing students, as well as a need for the effective dissemination of game via social media, will become
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the focus of further refinement of ZOOMBREAK.
Larger puzzle piece can be broken down into smaller tasks over a wider area so that the congestion problem will be alleviated, and the higher student density and population will not become an issue. The bigger locational spread will also increase participants’ contact with observers, which in turn creates many opportunities for social interaction, resulting in increased effectiveness in the social criteria.
Additionally, the introductory puzzle piece will be released on the social platforms of various campus clubs/societies. The consorted effort from them will not only increase the stakes of winning, but also allow increased exposure for new students to enter the race. This change will allow ZOOMBREAK to reach greater success in the accessibility criteria.
The investigation into regional context presented a number of great challenges for ZOOMBREAK deployment in Chinese universities. However, these challenges will also bring major opportunities to extend and enhance aspects of the game.
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6 LEVEL4: GAME REFINEMENT
The investigation of the specific locations will have a major impact on the deployment of ZOOMBREAK deployment area. The results of this local investigation greatly informed the design refinements, which not only makes the game better but is also better suited for deployment in Chinese universities. The summary of game playtest also gives me a clear guide on the aim of these changes:
1. To address the local needs of audience participation; and 2. To use social media as an effective layer of interactivity.
Instead of many complex puzzles which required a competency in the detective genre, I have decided to design easier mission steps which require the use of social media sharing. The platform of Chinese microblog is used to accomplish this, and the design process leading to detailed changes in the rule set will be described in the following section.
Refinement Rationale
Although seen merely as a form of entertainment in traditions, games have gradually become more functional than just a medium for leisure in past few years. The game-based learning has the potential to be used effectively in education or the challenge-based social campaign was served for charity cause (classic case: #ALS Ice Bucket Challenge). With the rapid advancement of technology and the natural progression of game development, games have become a valuable platform for communications due to its inherent compelling and interactive qualities. Game scholars Edery, D and Mollick, E suggest that games are compelling because “at their best, they represent the very essence of what drives people to think, to cooperate, and to create (2009).”
To refine and improve the potential for my challenge-based ARG design, I turned to several best practices for good game design. McGonigal, J (2011) who is a pioneer in ARG design area and an advocator of the “game can change the world”, says that all games share four defining characteristics: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and the voluntary participation. Guided by these characteristics, I simplify the game process and clarify my design framework as follow:
Goal: Complete at least one puzzle to finish a campus explore once and share a photo of related campus scenery or University history on social media.
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Each puzzle will lead to a place on campus or a period of time in the University history. Through this activity, new students can independently explore the campus and share the basic information of the campus as soon as they start to play this game.
Rules: Every student can participate. By using the hashtag #ZOOMBREAK# on social media, they can be involved in the event and has a chance to get further clues or win the prize.
According to Dryer, P from the online community Social Media Today, “hashtags can be powerful tools that drive brand recognition, increase reach, build community, create buzz, and positively impact customer loyalty (2014).” The utilisation of a public hashtag is a simple but effective way of instantly setting the context and delivering the message of a campaign. In recent years, hashtags have become ubiquitous on social media because of this purpose. A well-designed hashtag is informative and catchy, providing many benefits in communicating the overall theme and message of a campaign. Hashtags also provide a convenient and effective way to immediately categorise and organise content.
Feedback System: The posts using photos and the hashtag #ZOOMBREA# are deemed as visual feedback for participants’ progress. It allows them to check the game process and allows them to see what the other students have done.
Voluntary Participation: Players are invited to do the challenge and are free to start or end their participation at any time they wish and they can choose to finish one or more missions.
(I also improved the logo design)
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Conclusion:
As the next level of design refinement, a feature is added to allow audiences and players to use social network hashtag system as a form of progression or causal participation. This directly addresses the affordances of Chinese universities and allows ZOOMBREAK the ability to evoke familiar interactive forms, and engage participants in ways which have been proven to be effective. The final version of ZOOMBREAK will result in higher participation and completion rate, as well as fulfilling the original purpose of social mediator and orientation program.
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7 REFLECTION
Games are always connected with our life. In the past, all we had was the basic traditional game, until video games came along. Now, this shift is coming full circle as interactive entertainments are using geo-location, image recognition and augmented reality technologies to combine the real and virtual worlds. The alternate reality game not only has the unidirectional data transfer of user experience or the human interactive activity but also has the multi-platform interaction.
As ZOOMBREAK and its case studies have shown, challenge-based alternate reality game is an exciting form of interactions and communications, especially for young adults. Although ARG has just emerged in the Chinese market in a different form (reality show and social campaign), a challenge-based ARG takes the deep interactivity of games and combines it with the immense sociability and interconnectedness of the reality television and social media platform. This area is relatively untapped and holds tremendous potential that will provide market and opportunity for such campaigns to be made today.
Furthermore, with an appropriate design and suitable context, challenge-based ARG produces one of the most effective ways of conveying message to a general audience. Inspired by the three typical ARG case studies, the refreshing of histories and importance of two mainstream universities of China, as well as the realisation of ARG in present reality TV shows, the form of campaign that ZOOMBREAK adopted has a significant influence in promoting immersion in an unfamiliar environment. Due to the game experiences and deeper levels of interaction among the participants, the communication and cooperation have been established.
Due to the limited timeframe and resources, ZOOMBREAK prototype is, to an extent, restrained by the following factors: - The project playtest was conducted only at one university i.e. QUT. In future, the project may be extended to other universities to test the relevancy between the theory and the practice. - Require larger sample size. In this article, only a small group of students was involved. Increasing the sample size may strengthen the interrelation between the concept and realisation. - Should repeat the experiment in various areas. Geographical difference acts an important role in participant interaction, which then leads to different preferences that are hard to anticipate. The result of ZOOMBREAK is expected to be different between developed and developing area, and the mechanism of the project may be altered.
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With ARG being a practical and effective form of communication, it is within reason to expect more ARG or related campaigns to be made in the near future. The orientation ARG in college is just a springboard for the promotion of ARG in Mainland China. These age groups are more open to this form, and the current models of communication and relationship building can sometimes fail to address their needs.
ARG orientation event holds great potential in providing new experiences and deeper levels of social interaction and engagement. The growth and development of ARG and related campaigns have barely begun, and there are many avenues of design to explore. It is hoped this project could be a breakthrough point for the use of the ARG in the University setting as an orientation tool, especially in the context of mainland China.
Future undertakings in this problem space should consider key lessons learnt: Design an ARG as a modular skeleton and build it up over time instead of a single monolithic undertaking. The key gameplay components of the ARG can be developed offsite and implemented to a different location as the need arise. Through repeating cycles of Testing and refinement, the gameplay and story can be fleshed out over time using playing testing with local students by incorporating cultural context and environmental factors. This will likely result in an ARG which retains the strong core gameplay of original concept and localised to suit each campus in both story and feature.
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8 REFERENCE LIST
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Chinese higher education institution official web site: http://www.gaokao.com/baokao/yxdq/zsjz/zsjh/
Clarke, C. Ritchie, K & White, Ed. (2008). Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). Toronto: Infomart, a division of Post media Network Inc. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/274923247?accountid=1338 0
Davila, G. (2003). ARG plots 'instant' direct campaigns. Precision Marketing, 0-P. 1. Retrieved from:
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http://search.proquest.com/docview/217963015?accountid=13380
Donald, J.W. (2008). The 'Blood on the Stacks' ARG: Immersive Marketing Meets Library New Student Orientation. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=lib_faculty
Donald, J.W. & Viklund, A. & Graves, E. (2006). 'Blood on the Stacks' Project Web Site http://www.trinity.edu/jdonald/bloodonthestacks.html
Fields, T. & Cotton, B. (2012). Social game design: monetization methods and mechanics. Waltham, MA:Morgan Kaufmann.
Gosney, J. (2005). Beyond reality: a guide to alternate reality gaming. Boston: Thomson Course Technology. Retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/qut/docDetail.action?docID=10087001
Grave, D. Brown, S. & Macanufo, J. (2010). Game Storming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers. USA: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Ho, T. (2004). Crime Scene (Board Game). Jolly Thinkers.
Hon, A. (2005). The rise of ARGs. Gamasutra. cited in Whitton, N. (2009). Retrieved 23/04/2015 from: http://www.academia.edu/772921/Alternate_reality_games_for_developing_student_auto nomy_and_peer_learning
HUB Studio (2014). Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/HubGames
John, M. Braxton William, R. Doyle, Harold V. Hartley, III, my S. (2014). Rethinking College Student Retention. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Piatt,K. (Posted 11th May 2009) Studentquest 2006 aka “Who is Herring Hale?”. Summary Project Report. Blog Technology, Games and Learning. Retrieved from: http://katiepiatt.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/studentquest-2006-aka-who-is-herring.html#!/2 009/05/studentquest-2006-aka-who-is-herring.html
Polson, D. (2010) SCOOT Project Web Site. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/
Polson, D. & Morgan, C. (2010). The 10% rule. Maximising learning through collaborative game
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design. In Arnedillo Sanchez, Inmaculada & Isaías, Pedro (Eds.) Proceedings of IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2010, IADIS Press, Porto, Portugal, pp. 197-204. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/articles/featured/10rule/
Polson, D. & Huang, S. & Morgan, C. (2007). Cipher cities: effective user interface design for building a digital social network around location-based gaming. In Mobility conference 2007 : the 4th International Conference on Mobile Technology, Applications, and Systems, Mobility 2007, September 10-12, 2007, Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore. Retrieved from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/26096/
Polson, D. & Morgan, C. (2007). 'Now Everything Looks Like a Game': Mobile Phones and Location-Based Games. In Mobility conference 2007: the 4th International Conference on Mobile Technology, Applications, and Systems, Mobility 2007, September 10-12, 2007, Singapore. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/articles/featured/everything-looks-like-a-game/
Polson, D & Caceres, M. (2007) Lesser-known worlds: bridging the telematic flows with located human experience through game design. In de Castell, Suzanne & Jenson, Jennifer (Eds.) Worlds in Play. International Perspectives on Digital Games Research. Peter Lang Publishing Group, New York. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/articles/featured/book-chapter-scoot-2005/
Polson, D. & Adkins, B & Grant, E. (2006). 2006 Ethnographic Report. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/articles/featured/2006-ethno-report/
Polson, D & Wang, Y. (2006). 2006 Technical Report. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/articles/featured/2006-tech-report/
Polson, D. & Simpson, M. & McColl, I. (2004). 2004 Technical Review – Systems, Devices and Case Studies. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/articles/featured/2004-review/
Powell, N. (2005). ARGs bring web gaming into reality. The Guelph Mercury. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/355733489?accountid=13380
Pratt, A. E. (1949). Cluedo (Board Game). Hasbro Waddingtons Parker Brothers
Sydell, L. (2011). How to Save the World, One Video Game at a Time. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/11/135248010/how-to-save-the-world-one-video-game-at-a-t ime
Takagi, T. (2004). Crimson Room. Retrieved from: http://crimson-room.com/
Takahashi, D. (2008). Chinese online game market forecast to more than triple in five years.
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Retrieved from: http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/02/chinese-online-game-market-forecast-to-more-than-tri ple-in-five-years/
Thomas, L. (2002). Student retention in higher education: the role of institutional habitus. Journal of Education Policy, 17 (4) 423-442.
Tomkinson, B. & Warner, R. & Renfrew, A. (2002). Developing a strategy for student retention. International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, 39/3, 210–218.
Trotter, E. & Roberts, C. A. (2006). Enhancing the early student experience. Higher Education Research & Development, 25/4, 371–386. cited in Whitton, N. (2009).
Whitton, N. (2009). Learning with Digital Games: A Practical Guide to Engaging Student in Higher Education. Retrieved from: http://digitalgames.playthinklearn.net/index.htm
Whitton, N. (2009). Alternate Reality Games for Orientation, Socialization and Induction. Retrieved from: http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140614200833/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/p ublications/reports/2009/argosifinalreport.aspx
Whitton, N. (2007). An investigation into the potential of collaborative computer games in Higher Education. PhD Thesis. cited in Whitton, N. (2009).
Yamnikar, J. A. (2006). Increasing Retention Rates of New Students by Improving the Induction Process. Centre for Education in the Built Environment Case Study. Retrieved 21/05/15 from: http://cebe.cf.ac.uk/learning/casestudies/case_pdf/JohnAshtonYamnikar.pdf
Yorke, M. (2006). Student engagement: deep, surface or strategic? Lanacaster University. Retrieved from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.470.7507&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Yorke, M and Longden, B. (2004). Retention and student success in higher education. The Society for Research into Higher Education, 2004, 1. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=zh-CN&lr=&id=4azlAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq =Retention+and+student+success+in+higher+education&ots=QaexksyrKJ&sig=nWocKS8nV MZAO5uwnXJNzxZ_TiY#v=onepage&q=Retention%20and%20student%20success%20in%20 higher%20education&f=false
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9 VISUAL CREDITS
Figure 1: A screen grab of the introduction page from the game. Retrieved from: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/quest1herringhale-100922092335-phpapp01/95/university-of- brighton-studentquest-1-who-is-herring-hale-4-728.jpg?cb=1285147675
Figure 2: The tasks form of the game. Retrieved from: http://digitalgames.playthinklearn.net/cs1.htm
Figure 3: A screen grab of project home page. Retrieved from: http://www.trinity.edu/jdonald/bloodonthestacks.html
Figure 4: Characters design of SCOOT. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/story/
Figure 5: Photos during the game. Retrieved from: http://scootagency.com/events/
Figure 6: Board game – Crime Sence. Retrieved from: http://boardgame-record.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/cs-files.html
Figure 7: Scene Tiles. Retrieved from: http://design-forces.blogspot.com/2013/01/csi.html
Figure 8: Clue Cards and Means Cards. Retrieved from: http://boardgame-record.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/cs-files.html
Figure 9: The inside of the auditorium: a screenshot from the film the Founding of Republic. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11TkHp9UOnI&index=4&list=PL9BBC21737A5CA6EC
Figure 10: TOP 20 Rank Lists. Retrieved from: http://www.jnylxw.com/zongyi/18_208655_1.html
Figure 11-19: Retrieved from: Run for Time video collection https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hceZTo5txNI&list=PLUM8x224JrX9dLTiYav0cAUx1kfnULz81
Figure 20: Screenshot from a Crime Scene case 4. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0RlDxSPHJo
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Figure 21: Online vote page. Retrieved from: http://www.mgtv.com/v/2016/mxdzt/
Figure 22: The official Weibo site of Crime Scene has 248,606 fans. Retrieved from: http://www.weibo.com/u/5862147128?from=huati_jingxuan
Figure 23: The screenshot of my Weibo page, participants the interactive campaign of Crime Scene. Retrieved from: http://www.weibo.com/1741871310/profile?topnav=1&wvr=6#!/1741871310/profile?topnav=1 &wvr=6&is_all=1
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10 APPENDICES
Timeline
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What is ARG?
Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is “an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and uses transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by participants’ ideas or actions”, as per the Wikipedia definition. Compare the traditional experience and the modern way, the Alternate Reality Game is multiple views, the experience is invasive, (positive) the audience could earn more feeling experience, more join into the environment, whatever the dominating game or another promotion campaign.
ARG stands for Alternate Reality Games, Alternate reality games are a comparatively recent genre of game; the first fully formed ARG is widely considered to be a game called The Beast that was created in 2001 as a promotional vehicle for the Steven Spielberg movie AI (Hon, A. 2005). Alternate reality games have been described in web magazine CNET as “an obsession-inspiring genre that blends real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online community” (Borland, N. 2005). Michael Smith, the CEO of Mind Candy, creators of PerplexCity, one of the best known and most popular ARGs in the UK, describes the genre as ‘part story, part game and part puzzle’ (Brightman, J. 2008). As another pioneer in alternate reality game area, Jane McGonigal has not only designed a lot of sensational projects, such as I Love Bees, Find the Future, Cruel 2 B Kind, The Lost Ring, Superstruct and World without Oil, but is also an evangelist for the idea that games can save the world also. Game is a good platform for people to get familiar with the world. Take a successful ARG design that has a positive influence on society from Jane McGonigal the “world without oil” for example:
The storyline is about our world reeling from a sudden oil shortage; people have to work together on simple and practical ways to get through it. It is a social camping, the players created own story of life during the oil crisis and share by e-mail, blog, video or podcasts. Through the information sharing, they do not feel alone and work with team. The success of this game is the model of collaborative problem-solving. The interesting thing is that even after the game some gamers still keep the energy saving habits in their normal daily life. As the result, one year later of the game, the oil shortage real came, most of the players benefit from their experiences.
Suzhou Suzhou (simplified Chinese: 苏州; traditional Chinese: 苏州; pinyin: Sūzhōu; ancient name: 吴) is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens, which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Suzhou has been regarded as an important centre for China's silk industry and continues to hold that prominent position today. The city is part of the Yangtze River Delta region.
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The History of Suzhou Suzhou, the cradle of Wu culture, is one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze Basin. 2500 years ago in the late Shang Dynasty, local tribes who named themselves "Gou Wu" lived in the area that would become the modern city of Suzhou. In 514 BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period, King Helu (阖闾/阖闾) of Wu established " the Great City of Helu", the ancient name for Suzhou, as his capital. In 496 BC, Helu was buried in Huqiu (Tiger Hill 虎丘).
The Humble Administrator's GardenIn 473 BC Wu was defeated by Yue, a kingdom to the east, was soon annexed by the Chu in 306 BC. The golden era of Suzhou ended with this conquest. Remnants of this culture include remainders of a 2,500 years old city wall and the gate through it at Pan Gate.
By the time of the Qin Dynasty, the city has known as Wu County. Xiang Yu (项羽) staged his historical uprising here in 209 BC, which contributed to the overthrow of Qin.
During the Sui Dynasty - in 589 AD - the city was renamed Suzhou. When the Grand Canal was completed, Suzhou found itself strategically located on a major trade route. In the course of the history of China, it has been a metropolis of industry and commerce on the southeastern coast of China.
During the Tang Dynasty (825 AD), the great poet Bai Juyi (白居易) constructed the Shantang Canal (called "Shantang Street" or 山塘街) to connect the city with Huqiu for tourists. In 1035 AD, the temple of Confucius was founded by famed poet and writer Fan Zhongyan (范仲淹). It became the venue for imperial civil examinations. In February 1130, the advancing Jin army from the north ransacked and massacred the city. This was followed by the Mongol invasion (1275) and destruction of the royal city (in the centre of the walled city) in the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1367).
Thereafter, the city had a more prosperous time. Many of the famous private gardens were constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, the city was to see another disaster in 1860 when Taiping soldiers advanced on and captured the city. In November 1863 the Ever Victorious Army of Charles Gordon recaptured the city from the Taiping forces.
The next crisis that met the city was the Japanese invasion in 1937. Many gardens were devastated by the end of the war. In the early 1950s, restoration was done on gardens such as Zhuo-Zheng Yuan (Humble Administrator's Garden) and Dong Yuan (East Garden) to bring them back to life.
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In 1981, this ancient city was listed by the State Council as one of the four cities (the other three being Beijing, Hangzhou and Guilin), where the protection of historical and cultural heritage, as well as natural scenery, should be treated as a priority project. Since then, with suburban economic projects, Suzhou has developed into one of the most prosperous cities in China. Classical gardens in Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000. The online tour of the gardens can check at the 'World Heritage Tours' website.
The game setting of Run for time:
Game time: a general setting can be known from 90 - 100 minutes. The longest is an ultimate episode in the first quarter, can unlimitedly extend the known time outside of the unit and total plays ban abstaining. In addition, the game's task or sub-line events may be shortened, and suspend reverse the escape time, or directly comes into overtime. Some tasks do not need to record the escape time, such as at the beginning of the resurrection in ending task. Formally, the running time is suspended.
Victory coins: the game coins are determined by two factors: the game time, bounty accumulation rate. Bounty rate is counted in seconds, generally 50 COINS/SEC. The game task might change accumulation rate, might increase, could seriously exceed the time, only return to zero to re-accumulate. The uncaught player at the end of the game can also get the current accumulated all victory COINS. However, once the player is caught, he/she can only get the one over ten of current accumulation.
Waiver: the guest can choose to abstain, exit the game. Waiver guests can get all accumulated victory coins. However, due to out of the game, abstention guests have no right to revive. Every game has different ways of abstention, usually call (modern) or write a waiver (ancient scenario), also have a period of "the book of double dragon" demanding players fill in the blank of famous Jian article Look at Several then a waiver of success.
Plot: every episode has plots of separate time background, players can use task notices to promote the development of the plot.
Task: over time, the game will attach a series of tasks, and via text message pass to the mobile phones of all players, guests can manage to finish the task according to the message. Such missions are divided into compulsory tasks and free tasks.
Mandatory task (mainline task): all team members must participate in the task of at that time; some tasks require a random roll and part of players are banned to join properly. If they fail to complete or low condition is considered automatically
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arrested (mandatory elimination), if it is so serious, the exercise on-spot position of players will be directly reported to the hunter.
Free tasks: players free custom to choose, whether to complete the task, how to arrange, purely personal freedom, each player can choose whether to participate in such tasks.
Notice: same as tasks, also be released in the game, usually add some emergency unit within the tasks, or change the occurrence of some event (such as the gate close, night scene blackout, etc.), also affect the game process, generally triggered by the game plot.
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