Research for Design: The Concepts

After speaking with potential stakeholders, experts, and Redditors, we developed 3 concepts around the Creation of an AR-infused, gamified experience that plays a role in maintaining or revitalizing abandoned golf courses.

We developed this experience as a spy themed event called Operation: Hole in One!

Concept I

Our first concept is an AR spy game with a soil aeration intervention.

Players would be sorted into spy teams. They would then select an aeration tool as their "gadget" using the accompanying AR app and, based on their choice, would be able to

make certain decisions on the physical golf course. They will then be given a mission dossier by the "Charlie" of the game (think, Charlie's Angels), and off they go to complete.

and where you can liaise with other teams so really kind of immersing you in that narrative of the spy game. Think of it as spy cosplay in a way! Being green on the green!

This design encourages collaboration since the players' decisions provide limitations; with only certain areas of the golf course accessible to them, maybe they can only do certain parts of an action with their specific gadget. So, finding other groups that have a different aeration tool, and combining efforts to complete missions creates a fun interactive experience, all while aerating the land, making those tiny holes to revitalize the the turf.

Concept II

Our second concept takes a similar approach to a different land intervention- an AR spy game with seed bombs.

Based on our feedback from stakeholders, there is a lot of debate around the use of seed bombs that we were being very mindful of.

Their are benefits of scattering the seeds across the land in this manner, and but the downside is that it can be too randomized if the seeds are scattered in areas they're not supposed to be in. We thought that a golf course would be the perfect site for seed bomb intervention since it is a large open space. We would be able to get more control

on where to to have them be put into play, and it also works really well with our golf theme.

This concept is spy themed mini golf, where users golf with the seed bombs and attempt to increase the biodiversity on the course while getting the least amount of points possible so similar to how golf scored. The AR intervention would provide advice on where to hit the ball, the location and the distance of your hit, and the score keeping.

Concept III

The inspiration of our third concept is an educational spy game. The teams and mission style stay the same, but the teams will answer trivia questions as they travel to checkpoints around the course. Takeaways would be learning more about the history of the golf course, of golf itself, and about the flora and fauna of the area.

Conclusions

Our biggest takeaways from this work was the impact of the interplay between the virtual and physical components of the experience, which created a fun experience that what we would want for an event like this. Based on the results of running personas through simulations of our concepts, the poignancy of social interactions within this remains one of our driving forces as well.