Category Archives: King of Two Wheels

Feedback Questions

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Questions for feedback from the participants of the King of Two Wheels:

QUESTIONS FOR CONTESTANTS
1. What about the game (which elements) made you bike more during the challenge?
2. What did you do, in regards to biking, during the game week that surprised you?
3. What did you enjoy about the game? What was delightful?
What did you not enjoy?
4. Which challenge did you enjoy the most?
5. Why did you do the challenges?
6. Which parts of the game got you excited vs. feeling like you just had to do them?
7. On a scale of 1 to 10, how aggressive were you in your efforts to win the game? Why or why not?
8. From your perspective, how aware of the game were your classmates?
9. What was confusing about the game?
etc.

QUESTIONS FOR PARTNERS
1. How did you respond to the invite? (excitement, confusion)
2. What was your perception of what the game was about?
3. What made or didn’t make you feel a part of the game?
4. How clear were the objectives of the game?
5. What did you feel like your role in the game was?
6. Why did or didn’t you place a bet?
etc.

King of Two Wheels

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On October 15th, we launched a one week bike challenge in our SVA IxD studio. We explained the game rules to four eager studio mates, toasted in some bubbly, and then released them to the chaotic streets of New York City to compete for the title ‘The King of Two Wheels’. From the game rules, the most important thing to understand was the objective of the game:

Have the least amount of thread on your spool at the end of the game.

The idea for the contest was born about two weeks earlier. We had to act fast to make sure our contestants wouldn’t have to fight the bike battle in the snow. See the post King of Two Wheels Launch for some behind the scenes and reflections from the day before game launch, like this very early prototype to figure out the scale and position of the map interface:

We wanted the game to be more than just a race to bike the furthest distance. Given that urban biking is our area for thesis, we had a few concepts we wanted our bikers to explore, namely way-finding, tracking, discovery of places and motivation through social pressure. We gave them eight challenges:

And we put them in a confession booth every day to talk about their biking habits, recent rides and challenges:

The King of Two Wheels challenge allowed us to explore the motivational aspects of biking, both through the contest itself and by making the bikers efforts visible on the studio walls. We proposed opportunities for our contestants to share their bike love by getting other studio mates to bike. To get the whole SVA IxD community involved, bikers and non-bikers alike, we invited students to bet and cheer for the contestants. The blog post Behavior Change and Motivation elaborates on this aspect of the game.

Game Rules of King of Two Wheels

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Hello there. At the launch of the King of Two Wheels bike challenge, we got together with the contestants to toast in bubbly and review the following game rules.

King of Two Wheels
The SVA Ixd Community Bike Challenge

Welcome. You are competing to become the King of Two Wheels of the SVA IxD studio. Prepare to bike a lot and to be bet upon by your studio mates. The final winner will be honored on the studio kitchen Wall of Fame, as well as be celebrated along with the other contestants at the King of Two Wheels finale party. The winner will also be treated to a complimentary, candle-lit, crock-pot dinner following the competition.

OBJECT OF THE GAME
Have the least amount of thread on your spool at the end of the game.

HOW TO WIN
There are two ways to dwindle your thread—(1) map your rides with your thread or (2) earn rewards to cut off thread through challenges.

Map rides: For every mile you take on your bike throughout the duration of the game, map it. Be as specific as possible with your route. You are welcome to use digital tracking apps to assist with this. And it may even help you score extra points later in the game.

Earn rewards: You get rewards by doing challenges. Challenges will involve a bike-related activity and a report (or confession) about your experience.

CHALLENGES
Challenges spur you to try new things and to encourage you to reveal your biking stories and strategies. Trying new things will happen on the streets of New York; Revealing biking stories and strategies will happen in the ‘King of Two Wheels’ confession booth.

REWARDS
There will be daily winners and a final winner – the SVA IxD Bike King. For each challenge completed, there will be rewards in form of inches of thread cut of your spool. The scoring and rewards of challenges differ based on its nature. Some daily challenges are judged by the quality of your confession. Challenge winners are honored by day on the studio Wall of Fame.

CONFESSIONS
First and foremost, we want you to have fun! Our second want is to capture your insights as New York bikers. The confession is a place for you to record your thoughts based on some questions we put on the wall. Talk to the camera in the booth as you would with your nice game administrators. Talk about what you encounter while biking, your strategies for finding your way on a bike in NYC, and what motivates you to get your bottom on the bike seat.

TRUST
This game operates on trust. Yes, trust. Please be honest about your miles. And please keep your nose to yourself in the confession booth.

DURATION
The duration of the game is one week. It starts Tuesday Oct 18th and lasts until Tuesday Oct 25th at 1:00PM. Your two-wheel enthusiasm should last forever.

Please be safe out there on the road. We are not liable for any incidents on the road.

May the best rider win!

Carrie & Kristin