A visual investigation surrounding the societal problem of parasocial relationships, stemming from the advent of viewers' interactions with content creators on platforms like Youtube. My goal was to research my chosen topic in order to provide a basis for a physical exhibit embodying and explaining the dangers and potential solutions for the problem, as well as formulate a written and printed book documenting my process throughout the course of my senior year.

The college experience is enlightening, empowering, educational, but can also be overwhelming and stressful. If one investigates the atmosphere at your standard university campus, there is no doubt that all students are exhausted in their own unique way. The various responsibilities and obligations inherent in the academic course load, student organizations, sports teams, and other extracurricular activities that a student commits to fosters this stress. A common pattern, especially among students, is the progression from stress to exhaustion to lack of motivation, or helplessness. The Mayo Clinic published an article stating: “when stress begins to accumulate from negative or challenging events in life that just keep coming, you can find yourself in a state of feeling emotionally worn out and drained” (https://www.facebook.com/MayoClinicHealthSystem, 2020). That being said, the implementation of gamification in the college experience can significantly improve intrinsic motivation within students, thus reducing the stress and exhaustion. Gamification with regards to higher education is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts in order to engage and motivate learners. The primary purpose of gamification is to make learning more fun and interesting, as well as to increase learners’ engagement, motivation, and productivity. Video games and the concept of gamification in general have shown positive signs of relieved anxiety and increased enjoyment in many different aspects of life, such as education. The overarching goal of introducing gamification into the college environment is simple: To increase satisfaction, learning, participation, engagement, and retention among the student population.

Party on Wall Street is a web-based video game developed by Maroon and Gold Game Studios. As an educational entrepreneurship video game, Party on Wall Street provides a refreshing and exciting new experience for the tycoons in society who want a little more of that entrepreneurial lifestyle. With proper research on customer demographics, Maroon and Gold Game Studio’s brand identity consists of a modern game with multiple use cases. With strong partnerships with multiple creatives and built from scratch game development, Party on Wall Street implements a fun, high intensity business competitive environment for players and students to engage in. This thesis consists of building an interactive experience through the use of AirConsole, a third party platform that hosts the game and allows players to join it by connecting to the same website on their mobile device. The primary user has access to hosting a game which can be casted to a larger screen, typically a television. When hosting a game, a room code is generated which can be typed in on the mobile device to connect to the game. When all players have joined the game, the host can initiate it. Players go through 6 rounds of pitch style investing presentations and have the opportunity to invest in other products with the ultimate goal of earning the most money. In the end, the game was successfully implemented, extensively user tested, and is under review by the AirConsole game team. Over the last year, the team successfully brought an idea through the entire product development process, learned to build a game in Unity, made practice of extensible testing and validation methods, and leveraged customer research and feedback to design a game that is ultimately both enjoyable and educational.