Re:Activism feedback
via Julienne, anthropology student who helped design the game:
Hmmm… okay, I remember that there was some dissatisfaction with the
fact that if you really wanted to win, you couldn’t engage with the
sites because that required spending a lot more time and energy - so
the basic premise of the game seemed a bit in conflict. Possible
ways to resolve that were to somehow reward quality of interaction
equally to speed, so people could decide which path to take.
Also, there were some technical difficulties with the phones, i
think, because people couldn’t figure out how to use them - or maybe
it was more that there wasn’t really any time given for reading the
instructions, so a possible change there would be to designate 10
minutes or so to digest the information/directions before setting out.
Oh, and there was some confusion about solidarity - whether that was
for a single challenge or an entire site. Likewise, some people were
kind of bitter about the sabotage - again, because if you were trying
to have a genuine interaction about serious aspects of the events
with people at your site it was very awkward and kind of belittling
to the people talking to you to have someone jump in and yell sabotage.
And it was kind of impossible to verify everyone’s documentation at
the end, so we ended up just skipping that part and taking everyone’s
word for it.
online survey from participants:
1. What was fun about playing Re:Activism?
- learning about this history of activism in new york
- learning about historical activism in nyc, my team, the creative ways we did small versions of actions
2. What wasn’t fun?
- only the weather!
- the HEAT!!!! also stress around not being able to figure out the phone/ camera.
3. What did you learn about history or activism in New York City while playing the game?
- much of the information that was specific to new york city, such as jane jacobs in washington square park and the anti-gentrification protests in tompkins square park in the 1980s. stuff that doesn’t make it into text books, since I’m not from new york city.
- the shirt factory strike, the nyc suffrage movement
4. What technical problems with your cell phone did you have while playing?
- just slow at times.
- didn’t know how to send the messages or use the camera. tension built on the team.
5. What was confusing about the game? What was hard to learn?
- the special cards, particularly the solidarity one.
- we were initially confused about the 3 options for each challenge and when we were supposed to open the envelopes, but we got used to it. also the cooperative/competitive options between teams were confusing.
6. What suggestions do you have for improving the game?
- I liked the actions. overall I felt like it was def. a LEARNING game, and could have been gamier somehow.
