Design a game, experience, or installation that explores the subject of role playing. Projects may take a wide variety of forms, and may use digital or non-digital media to create role-playing experiences.
At some point in life, everyone wishes they could be a superhero. The power to do extraordinary things, big or small, with the ability to inspire, impress, and influence, can be deeply appealing to anybody that may feel powerless in their ordinary life. However, this notion can overshadow the fact that with just a bit of creativity and hard work, small individual differences that make each person unique can be leveraged to do amazing deeds.
I wanted to design an experience that allows users to role play as heroes of an alternate universe where supernatural abilities have become commonplace in society. However, unlike popular depictions of superhero worlds such as those in the MCU, and DC Universe, this universe is filled with heroes with vaguely extraordinary yet questionable abilities. These powers rarely have obvious uses and require some creativity (and good self advocacy) to convince others of their worth; they are powers that don’t always elicit a “Wow!” as much as a “Why?”. The application, Hero +, is a digital space where users can role play as recruiters/employers and job-seeking heroes.
