Echoes of Yourself

Echoes of Yourself is a project that delves into the worlds of psychology and gaming. Through the interactions between the physical and digital world, I aim to explore the changes in personal identity through horror games.

Project Video

Abstract

Echoes of Yourself explores the way in which psychological horror games can alter one’s personal identity. Through self-efficacy — the belief in one’s own capabilities to achieve their goals, one can experience temporary personal identity shifts when interacting with horror games. Gaming genres have evolved over time, now encompassing not just recreational games, but also educational and psychological games. With new technology, physical and digital interactions become increasingly popular by the day, which allows for enhanced levels of immersiveness. Through my project, I aim to compel users to make decisions in a visual novel game in an uncomfortable environment to shift one’s personal identity. The project consists of a digital and physical part. The digital part is a visual novel game with multiple paths and endings. The concept is to force users to ponder between decisions and to arrive at different endings. The good ending should offer a sense of confidence while the bad ending should offer the feeling of failure or disappointment. Whatever ending the user arrives upon, it should instill different emotions onto the user. The physical part includes an installation of hanging mirrors, creating an environment composed of reflections of the user. The mirrors dangle in multiple angles, creating different perspectives of the self. The only light that reflects in the mirrors comes from the monitor, so users are forced to make decisions basked in their own reflections. Users have to physically touch the mirrors, which are connected to the game through keybinds, in order to continue on through the story. By forcing users to interact with the mirrors in the dark, the only light being from the monitor and their reflections, users should be instilled with a sense of discomfort while making decisions. Based on the endings, there should be a personal identity shift, both good and bad. This project is meant to induce temporary personal identity changes based on the installation and digital game, which garners more attention into digital media and physical interactions being used together to psychologically impact the users. It taps into a lesser known territory of interactive media being utilized in psychology.

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