Parable of the Polygons

Last updated
Parable of the Polygons
Parable of the Polygons Meh characters.svg
The two characters, a triangle and a square
Type of site
 Blog post
Created by Vi Hart and Nicky Case
URL ncase.me/polygons/ OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Content license
 Public domain

Parable of the Polygons is a 2014 explorable explanation created by Vi Hart and Nicky Case. The article focuses on a society of blue squares and yellow triangles which have slight personal biases against diversity, which leads to social segregation. It is based on game theorist Thomas Schelling's papers about residential segregation. The article was well-received, especially its visual and playable aspects, and was called a useful educational tool for topics like racial segregation.

Contents

Content

A randomly generated board containing segregated squares and triangles Parable of the Polygons - first board.png
A randomly generated board containing segregated squares and triangles

The article is an interactive blog post, "part story and part game". [1] [2] It has a model consisting of a society of blue squares and yellow triangles, presented in a grid. [3] [4] At the top of the article, a crowd of triangles and squares are wiggling. [5] Just under, it says, "This is a story of how harmless choices can make a harmful world." [5] The article first demonstrates step-by-step how institutional bias can occur even when there is little personal bias against diversity, and individuals are well-intentioned. [6] [7] [8] The article describes the squares and triangles as "slightly shapist". [3] In the first example, a square or triangle is happy only if at least a third of its neighbors are of the same shape as it is. [3] The shapes prefer a diverse neighborhood, adopting a meh face in a homogeneous neighborhood. [4]

At this point, the article lets the reader interact with the model. [7] The reader's goal is to make all residents happy with where they live, by moving only unhappy shapes. [3] [4] At first, the bias is easily managed; however, as the population grows, the shapes' bias quickly leads to visually segregated areas. [5] The article reads: "Sometimes a neighborhood just becomes square, and it's not their fault if no triangles wanna stick around. And a triangular neighborhood would welcome a square, but they can't help it if squares ain't interested." [9]

The reader can later execute automated simulations, and increase and decrease the shapes' bias. [5] [10] When the bias is increased, the segregation is more prominent. [11] A subsequent iteration of the game shows that decreasing bias does not make a difference if the population started out segregated. [12] Shapes then have to reject the default scenario of segregation in favor of seeking out the other shapes. [1] [12] Finally, the reader can generate new models using a sandbox. [6] [8]

The article departs from Schelling's work by discussing a demand for "even the smallest bit of diversity" which reverses residential segregation; Case said that the article teaches that such segregation is "easily offset" with a "small amount of anti-bias", even if bias is still present. [2] [8] The article also departs from Schelling by concluding with encouraging words on how to enact change. [5] The article concludes with: "If you're all triangles, you're missing out on some amazing squares in your life – that's unfair to everyone. Reach out, beyond your immediate neighbors." [13]

Development and release

Vi Hart and Nicky Case, creator of Coming Out Simulator 2014 , teamed up following a talk on the lack of tech event diversity and women in STEM delivered by Hart, which convinced Case "of the necessity of active measures". [5] [8] The article applies ideas from game theorist and economist Thomas Schelling's 1971 paper Dynamic Models of Segregation. [5]

Case described Schelling's model as "perfect – simple and fun to play"; [5] Schelling played his own model on a chess board or graph paper with nickels and dimes, moving them one by one. [8] [9] Case said that they were "fascinated with taking models/systems from the arts [and] humanities, and translating them into game models/systems". [7] The second part of the article was based on a "new surprising aspect of Schelling's model", which introduced a nonconformity bias. [7] Case said that by playing around with variables, they found that "just as a small bias can turn a society segregated, a small anti-bias can reverse that". [7] Hart said they knew that nonconformity would mix up the population, but that they were "pleasantly surprised to see it work even [at a] very minimum level". [7] Case said that the article ends on an "optimistic note" that "small local changes really can change institutions from the bottom-up". [7] Development of the article began in September 2014. [5]

The goal of Parable of the Polygons was for readers to "learn to demand diversity". [5] People are represented by abstract shapes because marking their races and genders would be "really weird" and "have the unfortunate implication that [the races and genders] are binary and immutable". [7] A triangle was chosen because it appears in Hart's videos. [7] The article contains few words, and the ability to move shapes is introduced "slowly and deliberately". [5] Hart said that they felt that "it was important to start with moving the shapes by hand, so that later when shapes move automatically [the reader would know] there's nothing going on behind [their] back". [7] The article provides readers with interactive sections governed by simple rules to help them prove the counter-intuitive results to themselves. [14] Case said that there was "an effort made to keep players from being scared off by the big stuff"; thus, the article includes jokes, slang, and "cute and friendly shapes". [5] Hart said that they wanted to make sure to explain systemic bias without changing the readers' "minds". [7] Case said that a main message was "[not to] take it personally" because "large collective bias can exist even with small individual bias". [7]

In the face of large systematic problems, it can feel impossible to tackle, and that small local efforts are useless. I used to feel that way. But I now realize that not only do small local efforts help, but it's the only way any real, lasting societal change is made.

— Nicky Case, inJess Joho, "The next time someone doesn't understand systemic prejudice, send them this game", Kill Screen (2014) [8]

The article was released in December 2014; Hart noted that "matters of systematic bias [were] even more topical [at the moment]", [5] and Case said, "There's a huge gap between the racial proportions of the police force and the neighborhoods they're policing, that both reinforces and results from racial tensions." [8] Case said that Schelling's models could be identified in that "a black officer [had led] the police force one night" amidst the Ferguson unrest. [8] Hart described the reaction to the article as "more positive than anything [Hart's] ever done" and "almost disturbingly eerie". [7] Case said: "It's been surprisingly positive and polite, especially for something that touches on a touchy subject!" [7] Hart said that they planned to "tweak some stuff after release", but did not because the reception was "so overwhelmingly positive". [7] Case said that the article was doing "shockingly well", so any fixes "might weaken or confuse the message" when applied. [7]

The art and code of Parable of the Polygons was made open-source, being released under the Creative Commons Zero public domain license. [15] A remixed version which includes a green pentagon was made the same year and is featured at the bottom of the article: Several playtesters suggested more than two groups for the later simulations, and the authors wanted to include the green pentagon in the source code and on the bottom of the page to reinforce that race or gender aren't binary, but didn't want to complicate the model. [7] Several translations were also created based on the source code, and are linked on the main header of the post.

Reception

The critical reception for the article was overwhelmingly positive. Joanna Rothkopf of Salon called the article "an adorable and eloquent primer on issues of segregation". [3] Columbia Journalism Review 's Chava Gourarie described the article as "a cute, engaging, playable explanation". [6] Aatish Bhatia of Wired described the design and characters as "charming" and "delightfully animated". [2]

The playable aspect of the article received praise. Kill Screen 's Jess Joho wrote, "Parable of the Polygons asks you to tackle Schelling's concepts in a way only a game could." [8] Bhatia called the article "a truly interactive way of communicating an idea". [2] Jesse Singal of The Cut called the article "a really well-done use of the web". [4]

Singal noted the article's parallels to human behavior. [4] Bhatia said that the article delivers an "effective, lucid and very relevant" lesson on real-world segregation, race and equality. [2] Laura Moss of Mother Nature Network said that it "accurately illustrates racially segregated neighborhoods", and noted that the article illustrates "Schelling's three major findings": the effect of slight individual bias, the starting game state and the reluctancy to become more diverse, and the necessity of intervention "in creating and maintaining diversity". [10] Joho said that "demonstrating a difficult reality while still maintaining a sense of actionable hope" was the article's "greatest achievement by far". [8]

Gamasutra 's Phill Cameron praised the article for using triangles and squares and effectively dissociating itself from "the prejudices of real life". [7] Bhatia said that the article does not get "embroiled in a heated political debate". [2] Joho wrote that the article is "careful not to throw blame around", and that it constantly emphasizes that personal biases might be "unexamined, unintentional, or even unconscious". [8] The Washington Post 's Ana Swanson said that the call to action is a "powerful" message. [9] Polygon 's Megan Farokhmanesh wrote, "Half game, half informational post, Parable of the Polygons wants to encourage people to talk about topics like racism and sexism in healthy, constructive ways." [5]

Amanda Montañez wrote in a Scientific American blog that the shapes assume that "their individual preference for diversity is sufficient to propel their society toward integration", but that "the social system in which they operate prohibits it". [12] Montañez said that "true progress requires a more active, dramatic shift than expected" and that, in the article, "the complacent squares and triangles must abandon their preconceptions about the nature of 'shapism' and adopt a new, activist stance on integration". [12] Montañez compared the idea of using two-dimensional geometric shapes to represent people to the 1884 illustrated novella Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area</span> Size of a two-dimensional surface

Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or plane area refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while surface area refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-dimensional object. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat. It is the two-dimensional analogue of the length of a curve or the volume of a solid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson solid</span> 92 non-uniform convex polyhedra, with each face a regular polygon

In geometry, a Johnson solid is a strictly convex polyhedron each face of which is a regular polygon. There is no requirement that each face must be the same polygon, or that the same polygons join around each vertex. An example of a Johnson solid is the square-based pyramid with equilateral sides ; it has 1 square face and 4 triangular faces. Some authors require that the solid not be uniform before they refer to it as a "Johnson solid".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rectangle</span> Quadrilateral with four right angles

In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal ; or a parallelogram containing a right angle. A rectangle with four sides of equal length is a square. The term "oblong" is occasionally used to refer to a non-square rectangle. A rectangle with vertices ABCD would be denoted as  ABCD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shape</span> Form of an object or its external boundary

A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie on a plane, in contrast to solid 3D shapes. A two-dimensional shape or two-dimensional figure may lie on a more general curved surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geometric primitive</span> Basic shapes represented in vector graphics

In vector computer graphics, CAD systems, and geographic information systems, geometric primitive is the simplest geometric shape that the system can handle. Sometimes the subroutines that draw the corresponding objects are called "geometric primitives" as well. The most "primitive" primitives are point and straight line segment, which were all that early vector graphics systems had.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tessellation</span> Tiling of a plane in mathematics

A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of geometries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reuleaux triangle</span> Curved triangle with constant width

A Reuleaux triangle[ʁœlo] is a curved triangle with constant width, the simplest and best known curve of constant width other than the circle. It is formed from the intersection of three circular disks, each having its center on the boundary of the other two. Constant width means that the separation of every two parallel supporting lines is the same, independent of their orientation. Because its width is constant, the Reuleaux triangle is one answer to the question "Other than a circle, what shape can a manhole cover be made so that it cannot fall down through the hole?"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Schelling</span> American economist (1921–2016)

Thomas Crombie Schelling was an American economist and professor of foreign policy, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, College Park. He was also co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He was awarded the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low poly</span> 3D computer graphics mesh with low number of polygons

Low poly is a polygon mesh in 3D computer graphics that has a relatively small number of polygons. Low poly meshes occur in real-time applications as contrast with high-poly meshes in animated movies and special effects of the same era. The term low poly is used in both a technical and a descriptive sense; the number of polygons in a mesh is an important factor to optimize for performance but can give an undesirable appearance to the resulting graphics.

In 3D computer graphics, polygonal modeling is an approach for modeling objects by representing or approximating their surfaces using polygon meshes. Polygonal modeling is well suited to scanline rendering and is therefore the method of choice for real-time computer graphics. Alternate methods of representing 3D objects include NURBS surfaces, subdivision surfaces, and equation-based representations used in ray tracers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid (geometry)</span> Conic solid with a polygonal base

In geometry, a pyramid is a polyhedron formed by connecting a polygonal base and a point, called the apex. Each base edge and apex form a triangle, called a lateral face. It is a conic solid with polygonal base. A pyramid with an n-sided base has n + 1 vertices, n + 1 faces, and 2n edges. All pyramids are self-dual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inscribed figure</span> Geometric figure which is "snugly enclosed" by another figure

In geometry, an inscribed planar shape or solid is one that is enclosed by and "fits snugly" inside another geometric shape or solid. To say that "figure F is inscribed in figure G" means precisely the same thing as "figure G is circumscribed about figure F". A circle or ellipse inscribed in a convex polygon is tangent to every side or face of the outer figure. A polygon inscribed in a circle, ellipse, or polygon has each vertex on the outer figure; if the outer figure is a polygon or polyhedron, there must be a vertex of the inscribed polygon or polyhedron on each side of the outer figure. An inscribed figure is not necessarily unique in orientation; this can easily be seen, for example, when the given outer figure is a circle, in which case a rotation of an inscribed figure gives another inscribed figure that is congruent to the original one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D modeling</span> Form of computer-aided engineering

In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, and polygons in a simulated 3D space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vi Hart</span> American recreational mathematician

Victoria Hart, commonly known as Vi Hart, is an American mathematician and YouTuber. They describe themself as a "recreational mathemusician" and are well-known for creating mathematical videos on YouTube and popularizing mathematics. Hart founded the virtual reality research group eleVR and has co-authored several research papers on computational geometry and the mathematics of paper folding.

<i>The Stanley Parable</i> 2013 video game

The Stanley Parable is a story-based video game designed and written by developers Davey Wreden and William Pugh. The game carries themes such as choice in video games, the relationship between a game creator and player, and predestination/fate.

Isabel Patricia Montañez is a paleoclimatologist specializing in geochemical records of ancient climate change. She is a Distinguished Professor and a Chancellor's Leadership Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at University of California, Davis. As of 2021, Montañez is the Director of the UC Davis Institute of the Environment.

<i>Videoball</i> 2016 video game

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William Arthur Valentine Clark is Distinguished University Research Professor in the Geography Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on housing markets and residential mobility and migration, and the impacts of local residential change on neighborhood outcomes, including segregation and ethnic and racial patterns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Explorable explanation</span> Form of informative media

An explorable explanation is a form of informative media where an interactive computer simulation of a given concept is presented, along with some form of guidance that suggests ways that the audience can learn from the simulation. Explorable explanations encourage users to discover things about the concept for themselves, and test their expectations of its behaviour against its actual behaviour, promoting a more active form of learning than reading or listening.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicky Case</span> Canadian indie game developer

Nicky Case is a genderqueer Canadian indie game developer best known for developing video games such as Coming Out Simulator and Parable of the Polygons, both released in 2014. Case's most recent game, Adventures with Anxiety was released in 2019. Adventures with Anxiety is an interactive choose-your-own-adventure narrative game. Case's works are characterised by their interactive design and the recurring goal to "help people understand complex systems".

References

  1. 1 2 Schafer, Lee (19 August 2017). "Thrivent executives have hard conversations about race". Star Tribune . Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bhatia, Aatish (8 December 2014). "How Small Biases Lead to a Divided World: An Interactive Exploration of Racial Segregation". Wired. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Rothkopf, Joanna (10 December 2014). "Great new game teaches an important lesson about segregation". Salon . Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Singal, Jesse (10 December 2014). "These Adorable Cartoon Shapes Will Teach You About Racism". The Cut . New York Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Farokhmanesh, Megan (11 December 2014). "A visual guide to bias, as explained by adorable shapes". Polygon . Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 Gourarie, Chava (14 January 2016). "Could 'explorable explanations' help tell a new kind of story?". Columbia Journalism Review . Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Cameron, Phill (23 December 2014). "Using systems to explain systemic problems in Parable of the Polygons". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Joho, Jess (9 December 2014). "The next time someone doesn't understand systemic prejudice, send them this game – Kill Screen". Kill Screen . Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 Swanson, Ana (9 December 2014). "How tiny, individual biases have huge cumulative effects on racial segregation". Washington Post . Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  10. 1 2 Moss, Laura (17 December 2014). "Cute cartoon shapes show how easily segregation occurs". Mother Nature Network . Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Bliss, Laura (10 December 2014). "An Immersive Game Shows How Easily Segregation Arises—and How We Might Fix It". CityLab . Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Montañez, Amanda (5 May 2016). "Everyone's a Little Bit "Shapist"". Scientific American Blog Network . Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  13. ↑ Weiss, Suzannah (8 September 2015). "This Video Game Challenges Stereotypes". Bustle . Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  14. ↑ Case, Nicky (9 February 2015). "I Do And I Understand". Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Case, Nicky, Github - ncase/polygons , retrieved 2021-09-24
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