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Every Reopen Plan: "This space won't ever have more than X people in it!"
Me: "Okay... how will people know? How will you guide behavior? How will you design the space?"
ERP: "Oh, we're gonna put up a sign!"
Every reopen plan is like a game design document with no prototype.
Me: "Okay... how will people know? How will you guide behavior? How will you design the space?"
ERP: "Oh, we're gonna put up a sign!"
Every reopen plan is like a game design document with no prototype.
Things I have learned from over a decade of game design research, education, and practice:
- Nobody reads the sign. Most won't even see it.
- Putting up more signs doesn't help people read the sign.
- Forcing people to read the sign doesn't mean they understand how to enact it.
- Nobody reads the sign. Most won't even see it.
- Putting up more signs doesn't help people read the sign.
- Forcing people to read the sign doesn't mean they understand how to enact it.
My favorite example of this behavior, by the way, was when I was teaching an intro game design course. Some students made a little menu with some instructions. Then, upon testing their own game, they tried to skip past the instructions and got frustrated it wasn't skippable.
Anyway, a quick game design reminder:
- Signal to people in as many ways as possible what the current state is and whether it deviates from desired behavior.
- Design spaces that encourage desired behavior.
- Expect a lot of mistakes, and give feedback when they come.
- Signal to people in as many ways as possible what the current state is and whether it deviates from desired behavior.
- Design spaces that encourage desired behavior.
- Expect a lot of mistakes, and give feedback when they come.
My grocery store, like I'm sure many others, has a maximum capacity limit. Nobody's enforcing it, so in the absence of further info, people just go in.
It has marked one way signs for aisles. They follow a logical progression. They have been there for months. People ignore them.
It has marked one way signs for aisles. They follow a logical progression. They have been there for months. People ignore them.
This is utterly unsurprising, if infuriating, behavior. The space is designed for people to go in and to allow multidirectional travel. Signs do nothing.
There's a "social distancing" announcement that plays so often I could recite it, but it also doesn't alter behavior.
There's a "social distancing" announcement that plays so often I could recite it, but it also doesn't alter behavior.
My kids' daycare center has sent out reminders every single day about what the new pickup/dropoff protocols are. We're asking people to break years of trained behavior in familiar spaces that have not been meaningfully redesigned.
Social incentives also matter:
The building I work in has a very slow elevator. It's made me late to a class that's three floors above my office.
It will have a capacity limit (good!). Will we stop holding the door? Stop rushing the door? Will people wait for the slow elevator?
The building I work in has a very slow elevator. It's made me late to a class that's three floors above my office.
It will have a capacity limit (good!). Will we stop holding the door? Stop rushing the door? Will people wait for the slow elevator?
(I hope the answer to all these questions is yes! But, let's be honest -- if someone's late and tired and stressed and unthinkingly rushes when they see the elevator door closing just as they have done for every elevator their whole lives... will they stop to look for a sign?)
