From the LA Times article:
Any of us who have used Zoom, either for a business or social call, have likely seen it interrupted by a pet. ¡°Kitty, You¡¯re a Star¡± is designed for those moments, to take advantage of what everyone is instantly now doing: paying attention to the kitty or puppy. Participants are called to immediately begin narrating a story about the pet¡¯s thoughts or life.
¡°Kitty, You¡¯re a Star¡± was created by Lark under the name Social Distance Warriors. ¡°I think people are pretty good at making games on any platform or with any constraints they find themselves in,¡± he says.
The rules are direct: ¡°During a call, if a player¡¯s pet enters the frame, they must immediately move and give their pet center stage. The pet is now the protagonist of a story that the other players will narrate.¡± To make sure no one talks over the other, the story of the pet shall unfold one sentence and one person at a time.
?This one, says Watson, can be potentially dangerous, but also potentially full of extreme hilarity.
One person stands up, puts on a blindfold, spins around and then must be guided back to their chair by the other players on the Zoom call. To make it more difficult, and to take advantage of Zoom, the player who spins should hold their laptop, phone or tablet to their chest, forcing others to describe a more narrow point of view.
¡°It¡¯s something very Blind Man¡¯s Bluff-ish,¡± says Watson, ¡°but it¡¯s also something that¡¯s very attuned to Zoom.¡±
Watson cites the work of Henry Jenkins, USC provost professor of communication, journalism, cinematic arts and education, specifically his look at ¡°medium specificity.¡± ¡°Since we¡¯re all spending so much time on Zoom, we¡¯re seeing if people can come up with cool things to do with it ¡ª that we can only do with it,¡± Watson says. ¡°We can try to turn this weird potential panopticon situation into something more playful, fun and social.¡±
Another story-driven experience, ¡°The Messenger,¡± designed by Hesiquio Mendez A., requires the use of breakout rooms and background images, the latter of which most everyone is already using in a playful manner.
Essentially, the idea is to create a story around someone¡¯s background photo. One person is designated as ¡°the messenger.¡± That person enters each breakout room individually. There, the messenger will ask for a sentence to advance the story. In the next room, the messenger will relay the last sentence given ¡ª and only the last sentence ¡ª and build upon this story. Repeat this at least six times (the game should be played with no less than three) until there is a story to share.
There are a couple mind games at work with ¡°MUTE-iny,¡± designed by a team calling themselves Quiet Rebels. How well can you read the facial expressions of a friend? And how well can you guess the kind of things that may randomly come out of their mouths? Or maybe you¡¯re just an ace lip-reader.
¡°MUTE-iny¡± requires that everyone mute themselves. Best turn off the volume of your device just to be safe.
One person counts down from three and then says a sentence, speaking very slowly. Everyone else tries to guess what the person said and types their answer in the chat field. This continues until everyone has had a turn, and then the actual sentences are revealed. It¡¯s the sort of game, says Watson, that can work in multiple settings and be a quick diversion ¡ª a way to ¡°give the Zoom session an extra sort of pizzazz and surprise.¡±
Paul Nunesdea