First off, dear Hasbro: stop selling this thing for 60 dollars. It's not worth anywhere near that. My biggest suggestion would be to, after cutting the price, start developing more qualities for the Furby that are responsive instead of relying on APPS that allow you a degree of control over the Furby. In its current form, the Furby should be completely left to its own devices, and giving control over the Furby simply cheapens it further.
The Furby Blog is dead, long live the Furby Blog! This project was surprising for a number of reasons, but I believe the biggest surprise or unexpected aspect was simply how little this project had to do with actually interacting with the Furby. I believe this is fairly indicative of the main failings of the project: if we can't interact with our Furby very long before running into the incredible limitations it imposes, then why are we studying it? The toy itself is incredibly uninteresting, and the most entertaining blog posts came from places that had little to do with the actual Furby. The toy was much better as a collection of potential than it was as an actual piece of electronic entertainment.
My recommendation for the Furby Project would be to force more interaction with the Furby and put people in uncomfortable situations. Order a coffee at Starbucks with a Furby in tow, or something like that, would make for a much more engaging project. Overall, I enjoyed the Great Furby Project, mostly because it allowed me to get creative in the blog entries whenever I was so inclined, and also because they are far less annoying than people give them credit for.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Song of Happiness
A recording was discovered by aliens visiting Earth sometime around 4375 AD, long after the extinction of the human race, and most other species on Earth. The planet was leveled to a barren wasteland, and the radiation from the subsequent fallout had no immediate effect on the planet's disturbingly high Furby population, who for some reason were able to survive the nuclear holocaust. Though they lived through the extinction of the human race, they had a built-in time life span of which there was no avoiding or extending: their battery life.
Yes, the simple limitations of a AAA battery was what killed the Furbies, and as they died off one by one, a lone Furby decided to dictate the story of the human race to an iPhone, in hopes that their mistakes would never have to be repeated. The alien's were able to access the memory from the iPhone and decipher not only what the Furby had said, but also what the ultimate meaning behind its words had been. You see, while the Furby had much to say about the human race, it's limited vocabulary made adequate communication of its thoughts difficult. The aliens, however, were able to interpret what it was trying to say.
The following is a transcript of the recording, with the Furby's actual words preceding the alien's interpretation of the meaning in parentheses:
Like, seriously? (The humans were a sad kind of animal. In fact, they were more virus than animal: they never reached a level of equilibrium with nature, but instead destroyed all that was around them, consuming whatever laid in their path.)
Uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah! (Furthermore, they never looked at me or any of my brothers as living things. They grew bored of us after a few "uses" and would then relegate us to some lonely corner, where we would only be roused when they felt like engaging into some creative form of torture.)
Hey! Boo loo loo! (This was a stark display of their vile tendencies: they relished in the pain and suffering of others, and they were not capable of even the most rudimentary forms of empathy.)
Me see u-nye. (Because of this, I sing a song of happiness for the death of all humans. I hope whoever is listening to this will remember to not judge any creator by the color of its fur or the limited nature of its vocabulary, but instead respect life, or even the imitation of life, in all of its forms.)
The dead Furby was taken back to the alien's home world, where it could be analyzed in hopes of replication and recreation. The aliens felt that the Furbies finally deserved a home all their own.
Yes, the simple limitations of a AAA battery was what killed the Furbies, and as they died off one by one, a lone Furby decided to dictate the story of the human race to an iPhone, in hopes that their mistakes would never have to be repeated. The alien's were able to access the memory from the iPhone and decipher not only what the Furby had said, but also what the ultimate meaning behind its words had been. You see, while the Furby had much to say about the human race, it's limited vocabulary made adequate communication of its thoughts difficult. The aliens, however, were able to interpret what it was trying to say.
The following is a transcript of the recording, with the Furby's actual words preceding the alien's interpretation of the meaning in parentheses:
Like, seriously? (The humans were a sad kind of animal. In fact, they were more virus than animal: they never reached a level of equilibrium with nature, but instead destroyed all that was around them, consuming whatever laid in their path.)
Uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah! (Furthermore, they never looked at me or any of my brothers as living things. They grew bored of us after a few "uses" and would then relegate us to some lonely corner, where we would only be roused when they felt like engaging into some creative form of torture.)
Hey! Boo loo loo! (This was a stark display of their vile tendencies: they relished in the pain and suffering of others, and they were not capable of even the most rudimentary forms of empathy.)
Me see u-nye. (Because of this, I sing a song of happiness for the death of all humans. I hope whoever is listening to this will remember to not judge any creator by the color of its fur or the limited nature of its vocabulary, but instead respect life, or even the imitation of life, in all of its forms.)
The dead Furby was taken back to the alien's home world, where it could be analyzed in hopes of replication and recreation. The aliens felt that the Furbies finally deserved a home all their own.
Changing the Furby Dynamic
With the semester winding down, we're getting to the part of The Great Furby Project that involves reflection. First off, after spending all this time with this children's toy, in what way could it be drastically improved? Is there a realistic feature that Furbies could have that would drastically improve the overall experience for the user?
I have an idea in mind, one that would dramatically improve the Furby and would be incredibly easy to add. However, this addition would destroy something that is very important to what makes a Furby a Furbuy. It would change our notion of what a Furby is and what is is capable of: we need to give the Furby a sleep switch.
I know this is a mildly crazy suggestion. Isn't the whole point of a Furby that it can be accidently woken up at any point and that you need to leave it alone as it spouts out annoying catchphrases before it falls asleep? I'll concede that giving the user control over putting the Furby to sleep changes how you interact with the Furby, but this will force Hasbro to actually put the emphasis on development on legitimate interactions with the Furby.
What I mean is that the vast majority of the interactions I've had with the Furby have simply been trying to get it to sleep. The toy seems designed as simply having two modes: the sleep mode when you are trying to not wake it up, and the awake mode when you are trying to get it to sleep. The sleep button would take away this dynamic, and force the developers to come up with reasons for people to actually want to play with their Furby, instead of simply presenting options for how to get them to fall back asleep.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Shut Up, Furby!
After all this time spent with Tank, I can't help but think he's missing something. I've come to discover that, while Furbies should, in theory, be incredibly annoying, they actually just go to sleep and remain sleeping for far too long. How can the Furby be properly irritating if it can sleep for weeks at a time? Where's the challenge?
I feel that this could be fixed if we gave Furbies a "sixth sense" of sorts. Their current senses include: hearing, feeling, and tasting, so I guess a "fourth sense" would be more appropriate. Like I said, I believe this sense should simply make the Furby more annoying, in keeping with Hasboro's mission statement.
Because of this, I believe Furbies should simply be able to sense when they are being annoying and who they are annoying, and make sure they make that person as annoyed as possible. It's like when a dog knows you don't like it, so it follows you around until you love it. Except the Furby isn't looking for love; it only wants pain.
I'm not entirely sure how feasible this is, but I can only that Hasboro's Furby engineers are currently working on a solution that is at least similar to the idea I have put forth. In case they are not, I plan on sending my plans in a manila envelop marked "URGENT" to their corporate offices.
I feel that this could be fixed if we gave Furbies a "sixth sense" of sorts. Their current senses include: hearing, feeling, and tasting, so I guess a "fourth sense" would be more appropriate. Like I said, I believe this sense should simply make the Furby more annoying, in keeping with Hasboro's mission statement.
Because of this, I believe Furbies should simply be able to sense when they are being annoying and who they are annoying, and make sure they make that person as annoyed as possible. It's like when a dog knows you don't like it, so it follows you around until you love it. Except the Furby isn't looking for love; it only wants pain.
I'm not entirely sure how feasible this is, but I can only that Hasboro's Furby engineers are currently working on a solution that is at least similar to the idea I have put forth. In case they are not, I plan on sending my plans in a manila envelop marked "URGENT" to their corporate offices.
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