First day in London

BA (Hons) Arts, Design and Environment

Stage 1

Elena Kee

Spatial

20^th of November, 2007

Unit 2: The Scavenger Hunt Game

Maida Vale Group

The Evaluative Report

The project of Unit 2 consisted on creating a game where our classmates could discover a known or unknown area of London in a very creative and interesting way, perhaps not feeling as a “classic tourist”. The major purpose of this game, as the name defines it, was to develop an entertainment for our peers where they could gain an insight into the chosen area of London, which we, as a group, had researched.

As fun and interesting as it might sound at first glance, this project has had some difficulties that we had to cope with. For instance, the most important fact was that we had to use and explore in depth our specific district of London: Maida Vale. This was our essential resource. We had to know and find out how to exploit the most of it. This was not easy to deal with at first: every member in our group was a stranger to Maida Vale. Therefore, as we tried to research thoroughly the region, we were simultaneously learning everything from the beginning and had to deal with what was relevant or not for the game. Probably, at the beginning, we were quite confused with the purpose of the game, as to what was the specific information expected: which buildings were considered of architectural significance, which shops were more appropriate following one or more of the three pathways, which were considered as green space, etc. ? We have had our concerns about not having enough interesting things that would help evolve our game to discover Maida Vale by our peers, especially in the cultural and historical aspects.

Analogous to this, the geographical space was also an issue throughout the creation of the game. We first thought that using the whole area confined by the limits of the postcode was vital for the game, as a thorough learning process. However, we found out that the volume of territory used for the game was not relevant as long as we were designing a game with all the essential factors on demand.

Fortunately, at the end, we had come up with twenty-one riddles which would lead the players to gain knowledge of the nature of the place observing its social, cultural and historical meaning, in an enjoyable way.

In addition, relating to the development of the group and team work, I believe it has been a very positive and exciting experience. The work has been following a democratic process where everyone worked together. Contrary to how most of the other groups worked, we did not divide the region to work separately focusing on individual type of resources such as galleries, museum spaces, library or green space. We tried to go most of the times altogether and analyze the area as a group. We might think it would be quite difficult and would have needed a lot of patience but I must say that most of the members of our group were comprehensive and always tried to help each other. In fact, according to a dictum: one works better with more brains than only one. Even if we had to go several times to the site, we would easily bring up more ideas or new sights to make the game more innovative. We have worked very effectively and productively.

If there was something to change in the near future, I would only say that we would have tried to manage time better and maybe be more creative on the presentation of the game (riddles solving and prize).