Inspirations

Husky Hunt Quiz had just recently happened. In the event, you are given a series of puzzles to solve. The puzzles that I liked in particular are the crossword puzzles. There is great satisfaction in figuring out the questions that are easier, and that gradually illuminate the answers to the questions that are more difficult.

I thought that an interesting idea would be to have a crossword puzzle that is about trivia about Northeastern University. There would be more difficult questions, and the answers of which are just problematic facts about Northeastern University. However, players would not know the answers for them immediately, and first tackle the easier questions. Once the answers to the easier questions give clues to the more difficult ones, and they are able to figure the answers to them, there should be a dawning realization that the answers are problematic facts about Northeastern University.

The idea of a dawning realization is inspired by a previous class project that Celia told us about. It was about moving people in a train, but it turns out that the train is heading to Auschwitz. The realization re-contextualizes the activity and invokes shock within the players. I too want players in my intervention game to have this feeling.

Goal

Intervene against Northeastern University by getting people to learn problematic facts about them.

Original Ideas

I didn’t actually move forward with the crossword puzzle idea. The main feedback I received with it is that it is too passive. I can give someone a crossword puzzle, but once they solve it, they will say “oh” and move on with their life.

An idea that Celia recommended was a trivia night. It being a live event would make the intervention less passive and more active. However, it was difficult to book a night at After Hours, and given the time that I had, it was difficult to pull off an event like that.

Final Idea

An idea that was recommended to me by one of my classmates was to bring a camera and a mic, and ask random people on campus trivia questions. This was a lot easier to organize, and will have a lot of the same effect as a live trivia night. What makes this idea especially interesting is that I am able to capture a live response, and I am able to observe the responses of the person I am interviewing.

How It Went Down

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cbVt3_MdP_tcrOAI7YOrRs-_lrTy1WWW?usp=sharing

Interesting Observations

• People were most shocked by the amount Northeastern University invests into fossil fuels a few years back. They estimated far lowest.
• People were less shocked by the amount Northeastern University invests into environmental sustainability in comparison. Still, generally people estimate higher.
• I asked one person after the trivia was done what they thought. They did realize what the trivia was about towards the end.