Yingjie Mu
WORKS
INDEX
ABOUT
A speculative interactive marketplace where personal data is visualized, priced, and traded as a commodity.
Game Design · Visual Design · Interaction
2024 /
Interactive 2D Game / Speculative Design
DATA MARKETSPACE
WEBSITE
& VIDEO
Data Marketspace: Identity as Commodity is a playable 2D game exploring how personal identity is transformed into data, value, and exchange under systems of digital surveillance.
The project began with Michel Foucault’s writing on the Panopticon and expanded into the idea of networked surveillance. In contemporary data systems, identity is no longer observed only through cameras; behavior, preferences, communication, and personal information can all be tracked, stored, and converted into measurable data. The game turns this invisible process into a fictional marketplace where personal information can be collected, priced, bought, and sold.
What remains of identity when personal information becomes a commodity?
ABOUT
Unity / Figma / Photoshop / Illustrator
TOOLS
Playable 2D Game Prototype
UI and Information Panels
Speculative User Flow
Data Marketplace System
OUTOUT
Concept Development
Visual System Design
Game Design
Interaction Design
UI Design
ROLE
Game Structure
The game progresses across four rounds. As players advance, the data becomes increasingly private, trading time decreases, and each transaction carries a greater personal cost.
4 ROUNDS
Privacy increases each round
MAX. 3 TRADES PER ROUND
Limited trading choices
DECREASING TIME
Less time in each round
WEALTH + LIFE COST
Every transaction has a consequence
Data Collection
Round 01 → 02 → 03 → 04
Data Market
Trading Place
Round 01 → 02 → 03 → 04
Body Puzzle
Data Graveyard
Ending
Core mechanics
Personal data is displayed as merchandise and can be bought or sold under a decreasing time limit. Each transaction affects wealth and life value, while successful trades reward extra time for the next round.
Trading place
Data Market
Players must submit personal information to continue. Each round unlocks more private categories, gradually turning participation into a deeper surrender of identity.
01 / 04 →
Data Collection
HEALTH: Decreases with each transaction
WEALTH: Used to purchase data
TIME: Rewarded after successful trades and used in the next round
Each data item has a price, a health cost, and a time reward. Trading forces the player to balance three resources-wealth, health, and time-while deciding how much personal information they are willing to exchange.
The system turns privacy into a resource-management decision rather than a purely narrative choice.
Trade Mechanics
When life value falls below 10%, the player enters the Data Graveyard. Personal and acquired data fragments coexist in the same body, blurring the boundary between ownership and identity.
Data Graveyard
After 4 rounds trading, the player’s identity is fragmented into movable body parts. Dragging attempts to reconstruct the fragmented identity. Moving the final piece triggers a complete redistribution, making the original identity impossible to restore.
Identity loss becomes a playable consequence of trading.
Body Puzzle
BACK TO WORKS
PREV WORK
