DevConnect “Buddy Game” - Fostering Authentic Human Connections
Introduction
DevConnect is a valuable opportunity for learning, networking, and community building within our ecosystem. While these conferences are excellent for professional growth, the limited timeframe and focus on networking can sometimes lead to transactional interactions and superficial judgments. To encourage deeper, more authentic engagement among attendees, especially newcomers, I propose introducing an interactive “Buddy Game”.
Note that this document is a brief overview of the initiative. There’s significant flexibility in how this “Buddy Game” can be implemented, adjusted, or changed.
The Problem
Conference environments, while stimulating, can sometimes encourage quick, surface-level interactions. Attendees often make rapid judgments based on initial impressions (facial expressions, dress, body language), potentially missing opportunities for meaningful connections. Previous gamification attempts, while fun, occasionally resulted in participants focusing on “collecting” contacts rather than genuinely interacting.
Proposed Solution: The “Buddy Game”
This game aims to facilitate genuine human connection by encouraging attendees to look beyond initial impressions and engage in more meaningful conversations.
Game Mechanics:
-
Daily Buddy Assignment: Each day, every registered participant will be secretly linked to one other attendee via the Devcon Passport app. This person is their “Buddy” for the day.
-
Unique ZKP Avatars: Every participant receives a unique, visually appealing ZKP avatar within the Devcon Passport app, representing them in the game.
-
Finding Your Buddy: Attendees are encouraged to interact with others throughout the day. When meeting someone new, they can scan each other’s Devcon Passport app to see if they are the day’s designated Buddy.
-
Prompted Interaction (Non-Matches): If a scan reveals it’s not the designated Buddy, the app could prompt both individuals with a few thoughtful, curated questions. This encourages a brief, meaningful exchange beyond a simple “scan and go,” discouraging transactional “tag farming”. The goal is to make even non-match interactions valuable.
-
Successful Buddy Match: When two attendees successfully find their Buddy via the app, a distinct visual cue celebrates the moment. This could include a brief, abstract animation showcasing the two avatars visually connecting, making it a special and memorable event.
-
Connection Booths: Designated, semi-private spaces (“Connection Booths”) featuring comfortable seating and perhaps light curtaining for a sense of intimacy could be set up.
-
Getting to Know Your Buddy: Upon finding their Buddy, the pair can proceed to a Connection Booth. There, they can unlock a set of deeper, curated questions (perhaps 3-5) designed to facilitate vulnerability and authentic sharing layer-by-layer, touching on life experiences, values, and perspectives. This structured conversation aims to help participants connect on a more human level, potentially finding common ground they wouldn’t have otherwise discovered.
-
Interaction Tracking: The system could track the number of genuine interactions (not just scans) a participant has had, perhaps revealing a summary at the end of the week (e.g., “You connected with 30 humans this week!”).
-
Alternative Idea: Standalone Connection Booths: Another alternative idea is for the Connection booths to be their own standalone thing. They would be placed around the venue, and any two participants could step in to play the Connections Game inside. The game itself would be based on carefully curated sets of questions intended to deepen the bond between two humans.
Goal & Benefits
The primary goals and benefits of the “Buddy Game” are to enrich the DevConnect experience by:
- Promoting Authentic Connections: Moving beyond superficial networking to foster genuine human understanding and valuable human connections.
- Encouraging Openness: Creating safe and structured opportunities for attendees to share and connect more deeply.
- Enhancing Inclusivity: Helping newcomers, introverts, and others step out of their comfort zones and navigate the social aspects of the conference more easily.
- Facilitating Learning & Perspective Shift: Providing a direct learning experience that demonstrates how much more lies beneath the surface of individuals than initial impressions suggest. The hope is that this experience nudges participants towards adopting a more open and less judgmental mindset in their lives beyond the conference.
- Showcasing Technology via Engaging Mediums: Demonstrating the capabilities of underlying technologies (like ZK proofs for privacy and the avatars, if implemented for optional recording/sharing) not through dry explanations, but through an engaging, interactive, and artistic medium like this game. This approach helps attendees abstract and understand the value and potential of the technology more effectively.
- Creating Lasting Memories: Facilitating unique and memorable interactions.
Call for Feedback
I believe this “Buddy Game” could add significant value to the DevConnect experience. We are eager to hear the community’s thoughts, suggestions, and interest in participating in such an initiative.
I’m also looking for anyone interested in improving this idea further. Please share your feedback!
