III. DIGITAL RELATIONS

We talked about a set of characters all in a particular relationship with the protagonist, the hero. We mentioned the hero’s love object. The mentor. The ally. The antagonist.

I know, right now it seems a bit too much for characters in an application. We can leave it as we talked about in the last chapter—characters with specific functions inside the specific miniature world of a website, service, or application. That’s interactive and entertaining enough to attract users and keep them, loyal customers.

Or we can take it a step further by creating some characters who are in certain relationships and interact with each other at the same time as interacting with the users (the heroes). Like the real world. You can set foot in a family-owned coffee shop where the husband (the ally) serves at the counter, the daughter (the ally) deals in customer relations, and the wife (the mentor) prepares food in the kitchen.

What if they have a fluffy cat that lurks in the coffee shop although the owners always lock her on the second level of the building, in their home. The cat stealthily moves through the coffee shop and chooses her targets—loose objects she can knock over, like coffee cups, plates with pastries, headsets, phones, tablets, and even laptops and bags. There you have your antagonist.

Or let’s take the first example—the online shoe store. The Guide is in love with the Stylist. The Stylist is in love with the underground Fighter, who is also the Guide’s mentor. And… and we can have one more character—the Fashion Policeman. Obviously, he is the true villain and our antagonist. He is in pursuit of the Fighter and wants to eradicate all the good deals the users may obtain in the store. He wants to raise the prices and establish an aristocracy of the shoes.

Now imagine that while the user, our hero, is interacting with the Stylist, the Fashion Policeman passes by and tries to interrogate the Stylist to find out where the Fighter is. And while there he even wants to interrogate you, the user. You look like an easy target seeing as how poorly you’re dressed. You clearly don’t have a fashion sense and deserve to be fined by the Fashion Police.

But the Fighter sweeps in and saves you. And then he introduces you to the sweetest deals the underground can offer. All while the Stylist melts away with love. Just a scenario among many others.

I would shop in such a store. I would want to become part of that fictional drama even for a minute or two. It is better than a reality show. It is the future of online interactions.

First published on https://costigurgu.com/blog-costi/