A Board Game by Victoria Blakemore Laura Walton Emma Feinblatt The Social Life A Board Game by Victoria Blakemore Laura Walton Emma Feinblatt

The Creative Process: As a group, the three of us knew we wanted to create a board game based off the influence of social media in the lives of our generation. Us millennials have grown up with multiple social media platforms controlling our identities and becoming part of our every day lives. Social media has the power through multiple platforms to portray a personal, yet false identity that we all hold dear.

Instructions: Game Pieces: Game board The three decks of cards The Avatar pieces Game dice   Object of the Game: To be the first player to reach one million followers and make it to the end of the game board. How to Play: 2-4 Players Each player choses an Avatar and begins at the “Log in Here”. The order in which players take turns is determined by player age, youngest to oldest. Follower count at the beginning of the game is 0. Players roll the dice to determine which deck of cards to draw from. Follow the instructions on the card, moving either forward or backwards depending on follower count. If a player is instructed to move backwards on their first role, they simply remain on the “Log in Here” space. If the player has not collected the necessary amount of followers indicated on the next space, they do not move forward. Individuals keep their cards after they have been drawn in order to keep track of how many followers they have. The game continues, with players taking turns following the instructions on the cards, until one player has reached the end of the board and received one million followers. This person is then the winner.

In Class: We came up with the concept of creating a board game that showed all of the different social media platforms we have used in sequence throughout our lives. Starting at MySpace and AOL messenger, and moving all the way to accounts such as Soundcloud. We created Avatar pieces to be used as pawns, and three separate decks of cards that would either advance or move the backwards. We thought the concrete idea behind this movement would be the gaining or losing of followers on these social media platforms. You would gain followers to move forward or lose followers to move backwards. The winner is the one who reaches the end of the game board first, and inherently has one million followers.

The Final Product: The final game came out fantastic. The board has bright and vivid colors, and is now very interactive for the users. The pieces, along with the cards, were updated to look more clean and polished as if they were actual pieces of a game. We also changed one of the decks to be titled “Oh Shit!”, not only to appeal to players in our generation, but also to add some humor to the playful theme. game-board

My Thoughts: Because social media is such a large part of our everyday lives, it’s important to be aware of how we act and portray ourselves through these online forms. Although this game is supposed to be fun and mocks the drama and interactions that occurs between ourselves and other individuals online, it is clear that our online Avatar plays a key role in defining who we are as individuals. We chose to portray ourselves a certain away, which affects how others see us both online and off. Social media is a tool we use to become the individual we desire to be, but are not in reality.