What if gamification and streaks could encourage reflection and connection? With PlanetPals, I explore how these mechanisms can make space for attention to ourselves and one another.
Streaks, rewards and daily prompts give us reasons to return to an app. As a maker, I am interested in what we ask people to return for. With PlanetPals, I explore whether these familiar mechanisms can support a small daily ritual of reflection and connection.
I give that question a form in a shared virtual planet. A daily prompt invites participants to pause and reflect. Their responses come together anonymously around a campfire, while the world changes with the attention the group gives it. I use the planet as a way to make something intangible visible: the care we give ourselves and one another.
The tension between invitation and obligation is part of the work. When does a streak help us make time for each other, and when does it become another thing to keep up with? PlanetPals is my exploration of that boundary, using play to investigate how technology might support connection.
Key points
Mechanisms as material. I use streaks and rewards as design material to explore what habits they invite.
Attention made visible. The shared planet gives a visual form to the attention participants bring to the group.
Invitation or obligation. I explore the boundary between a ritual that supports connection and the pressure to keep participating.