Rosbitt Gonzalez (he/Him)

Design Sophomore / Des 3515 Design Research Studio 1

During the Spring ’23 Design Research Studio term our class was focused on understanding the research process and how to produce work from our research. Multiple short projects were introduced to teach us how to select an area of research and approach each different research topic. All this was to prepare us for our final project for the semester which was an open interpretation of the word “play”.

The project revolving around our interpretation of “play” meant that we spent a lot of the beginnings of the project thinking through different applications of play. Did we think of play in the context of a verb and apply it some playing a game or sport? Or did we think of it as a theatrical play? Here we spent a great deal of time attempting to find a piece of “play” that naturally seemed to us it needed to be explored further.

To me, the feeling of getting “played” seemed an important area to explore. The idea that the act of deception could be downplayed to it being playful just did not sit right with me. While unpacking the feeling it gave me a mention of Las Vegas was brought up and a new connection was made. I began researching Las Vegas and how it came to be one of the most popular cities in the world while still maintaining a reputation for deceit and manipulation.

All this research led me to my project titled “PLAYED” which explores the psychological tactics and practices used by Las Vegas casinos to keep people coming back time and time again.