November 30, 2017

Just like the game Spent, with it’s simple play, I think it is wonderful that anyone can play and relate and empathize, in order to understand the greater issue at hand— that these things are peoples’ realities. But I also agree  with the fact that these realities may not apply to the player, therefore the player is still in a viewing mode. They do not have actions and they cannot speak for a refugee’s experience. But when, “Silverman points out that, at best, disability simulations offer the experience of becoming blind, becoming paralyzed, and so on”, I am reminded that there are new ways to understand how others function versus how I myself function. I know I cant put everyone into this lump sum, but I believe it is important for me to remember that this platform of VR is being explored and as long as it is beneficial to more than just the creator, I am hopeful that it can be used to change lives for good.

I really love the symbolism of Parable of the Polygons. I believe a game like this can truly display what segregation means. When I think of games and platforms and anything that anyone can interact with, I always try to see how these kinds of games could be understood by children.

Public Secrets calls the player into attention immediately. It is important for the player to focus on narrative and symbolism as the narrator speaks. The intro sequence truly establishes art and life and it is not easy to pull one’s attention away from listening. I love that the graphics display the dichotomy of these spaces of outside and inside, public and secret and so on. There is no way to narrow any of it down either, the further one listens on to these testimonies, the more of a gray space inside vs outside becomes. But also, the more we hear from individuals the more we see how women are able to have agency from within this facility. They are being heard and represented despite some circumstances, allowing players (rather, those who choose to listen) to focus in on how these individuals shape and are shaped by this dichotomy.