Refined Research

After answering the questions provided to us during the Good Start / Bad Start launch, I decided to expand on eight of the themes or subjects that came up during the discussion. Below you will find mind maps on each of the eight subjects, as well as a brief analysis of how I felt during this stage of the research process.

At the moment of writing this, I have really enjoyed briefly looking into repression as a topic. The subject broadens into interesting avenues of research such as psychology, behaviourism, and how people cope with issues in their lives. Additionally, the idea of a conscious and unconscious mind, proposed by Sigmund Freud, really stands out to me. The idea that we only use part of our mind seems crazy to me, and I would happily delve deeper into this topic, regardless of whether or not I take this forward to be one of the four subjects I research for the next couple of weeks. Furthermore, I am interested in the conditions which relate to repressions, such as anxiety, and the causes of both, especially trauma. Collectively repression as a whole resonates strongly with me.

When looking into Random Encounters I struggled to find much which could be wrote about. The History of Random Encounters in games is short and concise, and the users are also very limited. To research the subject in more detail by taking it forward would be a strenuous task, as there is not much which can be dived into. In our lecture, we talked about "Good Start / Bad Start". In this case, Random Encounters is a bad start as straight away there are issues with finding enough subject matter to expand upon during the upcoming weeks.

Food has a lot of avenues of research to go down. Technologically it has developed considerably throughout history, and basic tools have existed for millenniums. Agriculture has always been a key staple to society, and the industry in modern times uses complex practices to help sustain an ever-growing population. However, although there is a lot of condensed subject matter, that could easily expand out into multiple paths of research, what I have seen so far hasn't really stood out to me. Currently, I do not think I want to look into food as a subject anymore within the next few weeks. However, I still have five more topics to research, so I cannot make a fair assessment until everything is complete.

Upon finishing my brief research into pollution, I believe that this could be one of the topics I take forward. In terms of Good Start / Bad Start, this subject is definitely a good starting point for research. Pollution broadens out into topics like health issues, environmental changes, the impact of the industrial revolution, and how modern technologies might present a clean alternative to polluting industries. Furthermore, there is a lot of information to be found online and in articles which advise how a person could lower their carbon footprint and the damage they do individually through polluting. I found this part of my research interesting and may take it forward.

Psychology was one of the things I wrote to answer the question "What interests me". I have always enjoyed learning about psychological theories at school and in my free time, and whenever possible I try to apply it when relevant. I therefore really enjoyed freshening up on some old studies I had nearly forgotten about when making this mind map. Psychology is such a large and expanding subject so I know that if I choose to investigate it in more detail I will be able to learn new things and have plenty of small subjects to choose from. Although I have a bias towards psychology as it is already an interest, I am keeping an open mind, as there are still a few more themes to research first before I settle on my final four.

Competition has a few avenues to look into when you look past the surface. Business competition in regards to marketing could be a whole subject on its own, the same goes for self-competition. Additionally, there is a strong message surrounding the warnings of competition and the negative effects it can have on an individual or group. When doing this brief research I found it fairly interesting, and there are paths of research that can break off of what I have already noted down, so this could become one of the four themes I further explore within this phase.

Philosophy has always been an interest of mine. The subject is phenomenally expansive and continues to grow with the addition of modern-day philosophical beliefs and views relatable to modern-day life. There are numerous figures and theories which can be explored in greater detail. Ethics alone is large enough to be its own stand-alone theme. However, it is a topic which I've looked into a lot over my life, I've studied it before and included it in university work before, so I'm still unsure if I will take this theme any further. Once I have completed my last research mind map, I will choose the four to research for the remainder of phase one. I'm still trying to keep an open mind and block out any ideas for how this could be gamified.

Ancient History, for me, is such a rich and diverse subject. It has always fascinated me, the history of societies, the gods and beliefs set in place, and the wars which were waged all offer knowledge and underlying messages. I will definitely take this subject forward as there is a lot of content that can be extracted from it. In my opinion, this is a great start, as so many questions can be asked about ancient historical civilisations. I definitely think this subject needs to be wrangled in, as it is far too broad at the moment, but I can take a deeper look into this subject during this phase before making a decision on a final theme.

Final Decision

After researching these eight themes, which have risen from the questions presented on Fridays Good Start / Bad Start lecture, I have come to the decision that the four themes which will be researched further in Phase 1 are:

Pollution, Psychology, Philosophy & Ancient History.

With these four themes, I will produce visualisations as well as a variety of questions that can be asked with each subject. Furthermore, with the more broad themes I have chosen, I will try to simplify them and lock on to a certain aspect that interests me most. Above you will find links to the corresponding pages, click on the bold underlining words above to be taken away.