Games
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Background: In video games, the player generally has only a few options for interacting with the environment: often just “shoot a gun”—and maybe nothing else (Figure 1)! In particular, most games lack a button for, say, “raise eyebrow” or “shrug noncommittally.” Proposal: Despite the prevalence of “shoot a gun” as a video game option, this…
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Background: Sometimes, a game will have a political statement to make, which you might disagree with. For example, in the game “Papers Please,” you must perform bureaucratic duties in a stifling faux-Eastern Bloc nation, and there is a strong negative message about the oppressive regime. But what if you think that totalitarianism is actually a…
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Background, part 1: Clothing catalogues occasionally provide a summary of the clothes that a model in an advertisement is wearing; usually this will be a piece of text that looks something like “Get this Look: Jeans $100, Shirt $40, Weird Socks $10.” This is a good system: the company can sell you more clothing this…
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Background: There have been a number of historical attempts to bring exercise and video games together. However, these have mostly required additional attachments and/or gimmicky peripherals in order to function. But improved computer vision algorithms (plus the widespread availability of inexpensive cameras on laptops, televisions, and monitors) mean that it is now possible for the…
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