Research Questions
- How can we leverage technology not possible on a live stage?
- What does the immediate context of a background do for viewer understanding?
Game Overview
Discourt features two performers – a defendant and a prosecutor. When the scene starts, the prosecutor calls in a witness to testify against the defendant. This witness is an audience member that’s signed up to be called on the Discord social media platform. The witness provides a random statement to the prosecutor (I saw the defendant eating ice cream… with a fork!). The prosecutor and defendant talk back and forth about the statement until a new witness is called to the stand. Eventually, a story is formed from the many random statements put together. Once the scene has ended, a new prosecutor and witness can take the stage.
Interface
Viewers were given an input field into which they could type and submit their Discord tag.
They were added to the back of the queue. If they were the next person in line, they saw a message that indicated they should wait for a Discord call, as well as instructions for participating.
Technical Implementation
The host would use the submitted Discord tag to initiate a voice call with the participating viewer. The viewer’s voice was broadcast via speakers to the performers.
Lessons Learned
Because the main interaction in this game was joining a voice call on Discord, there was an exceedingly high barrier to entry, which made viewers reluctant to participate.