Handling is a first-person arcade game that puts the player to work as a box sorter on an assembly line under heavy surveillance. The game acts as social commentary inspired by research into Amazon’s treatment of employees in their fulfillment centers.
The custom arcade cabinet uses hand tracking via a Leap Motion Controller as input. Gameplay is inspired by “Simon Says” where the employer “Simon” is looking for any excuse to fire the player to meet their high turnover, an effort to keep wages low and prevent unionizing efforts. Like Amazon’s practices toward employees, player’s statistics around performance and a metric called “time off task” are tracked. Doing anything other than the designated task will count against you. Fall short of your quota and lose your job!
