Friends an interactive virtual pet. A permanent game installation designed by FourceLabs. by Julius Huijnk from netherlands

Friends

Since October of 2010 the +/- 1000 residents of a student housing complex in Utrecht, the Netherlands, have been collectively taking care of a virtual pet. The permanent game installation is called Friends and is comprised of a large video projection which the inhabitants can interact with of 24 square meters (269 square feet) in the entrance hall of the complex.

The architecture was having an adverse effect on the inhabitants’ readiness to get in touch with each other. Residents weren't happy with the atmosphere in the complex, caused by the abundance of gray concrete walls and lack of decoration in the building. Friends was designed to have an icebreaker effect by introducing collective ownership and at the same time providing a colorful focus point in the entrance hall.
When entering or leaving the complex, every resident or visitor gets the opportunity to briefly play with the installation. The virtual pet consists of a bunch of happy creatures we like to call friends, who live in a bubble together. The more attention they get, the more friends will be summoned into the bubble, resulting in a jolly bunch. There are four colored tiles on the floor of the entrance hall and by stepping on them chunks of food are fired into the virtual pet’s environment. When this happens, the creatures will start to move and crawl towards it until they're able to consume it. If the player times the shot well he/she can hit power ups and the friends will be even more satisfied when they get to eat the food, resulting in quicker growth.
Friends needs to be fed regularly to maintain a happy state and grow into a bigger bunch. The installation has been running for almost half a year now and is being regularly updated with fun time-based visual themes. For instance, during holidays (e.g. Christmas) their world will be decorated in appropriate themes, as a constant reminder that Friends lives and grows together with its players.

On the creators of Friends
FourceLabs is a Utrecht-based design studio specializing in games and playful installations for public space with a focus on physical participation and playful collective experiences. Their interest ranges from artistic explorations to applied design. In the future, FourceLabs will keep focusing on playful (game) installations while further exploring the intersection between architecture and interaction design.