This week marked the beginning of our project. As a team, we decided on the name RECreate.
Our project focuses on designing a meaningful social experience inside Rec Room for ETC’s 25th anniversary alumni gathering. From the start, we agreed that this should not just be a virtual room people walk around in. It needs to actively support interaction, connection, and celebration.
Defining the Experience
We began by aligning on what makes a reunion meaningful. Alumni gatherings are about reconnecting with old friends, meeting new people, revisiting past projects, and celebrating shared experiences. These ideas helped us define the purpose of our space.
As a team, we identified key actions that define social interaction: chatting, listening, exploring, playing, sharing, celebrating, and friendly competition. Focusing on these verbs shifted our thinking from “what should the room look like” to “what should people be doing inside the room.”
We also clarified the emotional goals of the experience. We want participants to feel connected, inspired, joyful, and nostalgic — but also slightly surprised. Ideally, the space should feel welcoming and leave people wanting to come back.
Exploring the Potential of Rec Room
This week, we also discussed what Rec Room allows that a physical reunion does not. The platform supports customizable environments, avatar costumes, multi-event spaces, and easy accessibility for alumni who cannot attend in person. It can also feel more comfortable for introverted participants.
Understanding these strengths helped us see the platform as an opportunity for playfulness and experimentation, rather than just a substitute for a real-world event.
Early Ideas and Team Progress
We brainstormed potential components such as ETC-themed mini games, cohort-based gathering areas, shared-interest spaces, interactive message boards, and photo spots. At this stage, we are intentionally keeping ideas flexible until we better understand technical and resource limitations.
Alongside concept development, we began identifying practical next steps. We plan to reach out to Robin Mitchell and Jen Sciullo to better understand alumni expectations. We also need to clarify Rec Room server limitations and request permission to reference ETC resources, including past projects and themed assets.
During this process, design discussions focused on defining experience goals and interaction principles, while early visual conversations explored how ETC’s identity could be represented in the space. At the same time, we started identifying technical questions that may impact future interaction systems and scale.
Challenges
The biggest challenge this week was scope. Rec Room offers many possibilities, and it is easy to imagine features that may not be feasible. We realized that before committing to specific mechanics, we need clearer constraints and stakeholder input.
Plan for Next Week
- Reach out to Robin and Jen
- Learn more about Rec Room’s technical limitations
- Clarify permissions for ETC-related assets
- Begin narrowing down our core interaction direction
This first week focused on alignment and foundation-setting. Moving forward, we will begin turning ideas into more concrete design decisions.