Going into this project it is important to establish a foundation for what my game might be themed around. During phase one i will research four topics that i am personally passionate about and then later explore how these could be developed into potential game concepts.
Idea generation is something i typically find to be quite challenging during the early stages, focusing too much on what could make a good game rather than letting my ideas develop more naturally. By starting off by researching into topics that genuinely interest me i might be able to tackle the idea generation process in a more organic way, letting me come up with ideas I may not have explored otherwise.
Sharks
My first topic i chose to research was sharks. I picked this topic because they are one of my favourite animals, personally finding them to be unique and fascinating creatures. I am also more passionate about some more ethical issues surrounding sharks such as the meat trade as well as the mistreatment and common misconceptions about sharks in general. They are often portrayed in a negative light, despite these creatures often being peaceful and vital to the ocean’s ecosystem. This is why i have chosen sharks as my starting topic.
Origin
As far as we know sharks have existed for at least 450 million years. They are one of the oldest remaining species on earth that we know of. The earliest shark fossils consisting of just a few scales dating back to this time, although many researchers believe that sharks may have existed even earlier than this. It is also believed that these earlier forms of shark didn’t actually have any teeth, as no shark tooth fossils have been found dating back to this period. The oldest shark teeth date back 410 million years, showing that sharks existed for at least 40 million years before developing teeth. I found this to be quite surprising, as people often think of sharks as dangerous predators mainly because of their teeth. Considering sharks lasted for such a long period of time before developing teeth definitely suggests they were much different creatures then we know today.
Around 365 million years ago a major extinction event killed off most of the oceans population, this is when sharks truly started to thrive and it was just after this that they began to more closely resemble the creatures we know them as today.
Personality
Considering sharks as i’ve stated are often perceived as dangerous, only a few species are actually known to be aggressive towards humans. Out of upwards of 500 different species of sharks only 12 are actually known to be aggressive towards people. Even knowing sharks aren’t quite as dangerous as they are made out to be i was still surprised in learning this. It shows how exaggerated this creatures reputation often is and how they are often mischaracterised due to misplaced fear.
Most of these shark attacks are actually cause by just three species, these species are often referred to as the big three; tiger sharks, bull sharks, and of course great white sharks. The majority of the different species are actually quite timid when it comes to humans, and will typically ignore you unless they feel threatened.
Sharks are actually very social and smart animals. Research was conducted on sharks testing their intelligence and cognitive abilities for many years and the results were minimal, it was only actually once we started researching sharks within the wild that we saw a spike in their intelligence. Many researches thought this meant that sharks were getting smarter, when in fact the only real difference was the sharks they were now testing were not kept in captivity. I think it is heartbreaking that creatures such as this are clearly so deeply affected by captivity, they have the ability to form social bonds, problem solve to a degree and when these animals are kept in captivity it almost negates that. Captivity is only one of the issues that this species continues to face and is just the tip of the iceberg for the mistreatment of these animals.
Social Bond In Animals
My second research topic is social bonds in animals. In case you haven’t already noticed I am an animal lover, who is very passionate about their health, happiness, and mental state. This is why i have chosen social bonds in animals, as it is something i am passionate about and find to be very interesting. Most animals do need social connection much like humans. Lack of social connection within animals can lead to anxiety, hormonal changes and altered behaviour. Of course this doesn’t apply to all animals, but a vast majority.
Believe it or not rats are very social creatures. In 1954 the ‘scientist’ Calhoun created a ‘rat utopia’, this consisted of a 3m x 4m space divided into four connecting rooms with each room being designed to hold 12 adult rats. Almost all of the initial 32 rats involved in the experiment would gather together causing dangerous crowding, resulting from their need of social connection. In Fact the rats willingly crowded the area so much it resulted in casualties, with infant mortality within the space being as high as 96%. As the population increased the rats would crowd in groups of up to 80 in one of these designed rooms during feeding times, causing competition amongst the rats. The rats began to display abnormal and destructive behaviours towards the end, as we were left with the rats that had grown up in this space with distorted social behaviours. By the 600th day the rats had lost the social skills required to mate.
Harlow Monkey Experiment
Harry Harlow was the psychologist behind the infamous Harlow monkey experiment. This experiment involved taking infant monkeys into a space of total social isolation where he provided the monkeys with a choice of two ‘mothers’. One ‘mother’ was made from wire and provided food for the infant monkey, the other ‘mother’ providing nothing more than a soft cloth ( the illusion of contact ). The experiment showed that the monkeys often preferred the cloth ‘mother’ using her as a source of comfort, only going to the wire ‘mother’ when they were hungry. Two of the monkeys died during this experiment, not wanting to leave the comfort of their cloth mother refusing to eat.
In 1958 harlow conducted another experiment splitting the monkeys into two groups. One of which being provided with the cloth mother and the other not. The monkeys that had grown up without the cloth mother presented much differently than the ones who had. They were much more timid, had more difficulty mating and the females were often inadequate mothers.
Bibliography
Josh Davis. (N/A). Shark evolution: a 450 million year timeline. [Online]. Natural History Museum. Available at: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/shark-evolution-a-450-million-year-timeline.html
Brian Handwerk. (2005). Shark Facts: Attack Stats, Record Swims, More. [Online]. National Geographic. Last Updated: 13 june. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/shark-facts
Nicholas K Dulvy. (2014). Extinction risk and conservation of the world’s sharks and rays. [Online]. ELife. Last Updated: 21 jan. Available at: https://elifesciences.org/articles/590
Julia K. Baum, Boris Worm. (2009). Journal of Animal Ecology Journal of Animal Ecology Free Access Cascading top-down effects of changing oceanic predator. [Online]. British Ecological Society. Last Updated: 4 june. Available at: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2009.01531.x
Saul McLeod. (2023). Harry Harlow Theory & Rhesus Monkey Experiments in Psychology. [Online]. Simply Psychology. Last Updated: June 15. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/harlow-monkey.html
Suomi, S. J. , Harlow, H. F. (1972). Depressive behavior in young monkeys subjected to vertical chamber confinement. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 80(1), 11–18
Edmund Ramsden & Jon Adams. (2009). Escaping the Laboratory: The Rodent Experiments of John B. Calhoun & Their Cultu. [Online]. The Journal of Social History. Available at: https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22514/1/2308Ramadams.pdf
Edmund Ramsden. (2009). The urban animal: population density and social pathology in rodents and humans. [Online]. National Library Of medicine. Last Updated: February. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2636191/