Week 1-11

The class in which we started designing Shapely has now ended for the quarter, and we presented our process and prototypes to the class and a group of industry experts. We received a lot of incredibly useful feedback that will be useful for further prototypes should we continue our work on Shapely. 

The first bit of feedback we received was on considering the medium and theatricality of the game. As the game requires light roleplaying and not very many materials, a lot of it takes place cerebrally. It was suggested that we take a look at Nordic Larping. While we were both unfamiliar with this form of larping, reading about it, it seems like the emphasis on collaborative and collective creation rather than obtrusive rules could provide much more opportunity for Shapely. 

Another bit of feedback brought up was a suggestion that we narrow the focus of Shapely. The term "trans" is such a large umbrella, encompassing such a large group of people, that it is futile to try to simulate the feelings of all trans people. The experience of non-binary, trans-men, and trans-women can wildly vary. Additionally, the experience of trans people of color significantly differs from that of trans white people. A more specific, intersectional approach could give Shapely more focus, and thus more impact on the desired transformations.

We briefly explored this area in our post-presentation discussion. Robin mentioned we had designed Shapely with the class [as in the school course] in mind, but due to a poor Zoom connection, it sounded like Robin said we designed Shapely with class [as in socio-economic] in mind. This misunderstanding led to a fruitful conversation about what it would mean to develop Shapely with socio-economic class and wealth inequality in mind. Like race, upper-class trans people have more privilege than lower-class trans people. What would it mean for Shapely to center on low-income and poor trans people? How would the rules change? Would this added focus make Shapely more impactful? If we continue our work, this would be prudent to investigate.

Another point that was brought up was the importance of considering the audience's safety. While we had considered the emotional impact of the game which we addressed with the X card, something we did not discuss was considering the safety of trans people potentially trying to play this with transphobic people. This highlights the importance of addressing these issues in the game's potential presentation, whether online or in the ruleset.

We have yet to decide if we will continue working on Shapely, but if we do, we have plenty of directions to explore and improve.