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The Thing encourages the user to move her physical arms and body, and
dance. Information from the trackers the user wears, tell the Thing if
the user is really trying. Information from the joystick reveals whether
the user is paying attention and learning or sneaking away.
The Thing's intelligence then picks a response to the user; praising
or complaining, teaching a new dance step, going over a step copied badly.
In this act the interaction is designed to be so natural as to be invisible.
The crucial element is that the Thing's reactions fit the user's actions.
The visual and sound design of the piece convey a cartoony, fairy-tale
innocence. The visuals are primitive, the sound design hearkens back to
radio stories, with the narrator creating the special effects as well as
all the voices. This innocent facade is designed to win the user's trust.
At first the ideal user thinks the Thing is cute and funny and is willing
to try and dance. The fact that it pretended to be a sweet little kitten
to get out of the box is the first hint, however, that it is a duplicitous
Thing.
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And so the story line moves along. As the dance lesson continues
the Thing reveals more and more of its character. It will flatter, coax,
whine, beg, or threaten to get its way. And it gets pickier and pickier
about the dancing. The ideal user feels more and more cramped and overwhelmed
by its demands. But if she tries to run away, the Thing follows crying
or shouting, insisting on its love, insisting on the dance.
The story moves on to the next stage depending on the user's attitude
or on a time interval. The Thing becomes enraged either at the user's refusal
to dance or her inability to dance well enough and storms off.
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As soon as the Thing has gone, the rocks that burst out
of the box onto the plain start moving. They hustle around the user, getting
closer and closer, herding her. |
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When one get close enough it will rear up and try to grab
her.
Eventually one of them succeeds. The user finds that her navigation
is disabled and she is trapped beneath a slurping rock.
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The Thing returns to tell the user, that the rock is dripping
acid on her, in preparation for eating her. However, if the user is nice
to Thing - ie dances with it - it will get her out.
This creates a symmetry in the story-line. First the user released the
Thing, now the Thing releases the user.
The second act as a whole is designed to make the user wary of the Thing.
It's behavior has undercut her initial assumptions. It can be nice but
it is clearly manipulative and dominating.
Act 3
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