Games situate players in one “real” space while giving them license and liberty to interact in another. As systems that operate within a separate and imagined space of possibility, games offer a unique opportunity to explore a wide range of immersive and participatory experiences. The game LESBERATION and the accompanying research considers ways in which certain characteristics of radical political movements—strategizing, anti-authoritarianism, setbacks, hard-won victories conflict/collaboration and cathartic release—might inform and structure the design and experience of a game. While the histories of radical political movements are far from game-like, I was eager to explore how some of their energy and emotion might translate into game play.

Lesberation takes place on the night of the historic events at the Stonewall Inn that sparked the gay-rights movement. Game play begins inside the bar and players are charged with making their way through the city, capturing—or “lesberating”—as many locations as possible before the night is over. As the timer ticks away, players place brightly colored acrylic tiles down, simultaneously building the game board and their route around a fictionalized New York City. As tile placement reveals various key strategic locations, players “lesberate” these locations by articulating their liberation scenarios. As players create their own lesberation narratives, they spin history, imagining a world in which history’s firebrands can win.

Shinyoung is developing a customizable product-service system called Funji through which people can share emotions with each other.

Funji devices and the facebook application not only deliver a voice message from individuals, but also provide a representation of their identity or the relationship through customized colors and designs.

Funji device also randomly vibrates, yawns, snores or plays unique sounds to give a user a sense of companionship. It is also small enough to fit into the palm of a hand so that people can easily hold and touch it and carry it around wherever they go.
Funji hopes to be a new medium that can capture a certain memory of a certain relationship in the digital world so that you can keep them forever. You can also use it as a secret note that you pass in classes or secret code that you use with your special friends.

The interface is partly about the idea of looping music, a key to the production of most modern popular music, but also about the juxtaposition of body motion with music creation and playback.

My thesis has been exploring the pros and cons in what we can do with videos and the audience’s interaction. It started with the idea of clicking on the videos for instantaneous correlated information to what the viewer was watching. After trying experimenting with that, I moved into a more creative area allowing the viewer to make decisions, which would result in alternative stories.

Using the most popular distribution channel we have online, YouTube we now have the ability to tell new and innovative stories or possibly a new form of narrative.