Interdependent Wearables (for Play)

Typically wearable devices are conceived of and constructed as stand-alone, individually based technologies. However, in practice wearables become part of the social context and ecology of overall device use. We present a strong concept for design: Interdependent Wearables (for play): wearables designed to require shared attention and mutual awareness, with interdependent functionality that encourages and rewards collocated interaction. The concept arose through design, development, and public exhibition of Hotaru, a collocated social game that uses wearables as game controllers. Hotaru has been shown in festivals and also formally playtested with 62 individuals. To more fully articulate the Interdependent Wearables strong concept, we compared this system's design with wearable and embodied systems for play and other purposes, and drew upon relevant HCI theory. The work is of benefit to those in the HCI/UX community focused on the design and development of social wearable technologies, especially those interested in supporting collocated interaction.