The Rookie

The Rookie is a point and click mystery game in which players take on the role of a newly hired detective. On your first day, you are thrust into an investigation of a recent bank robbery. Can you solve the mystery of the robbery and prove to your coworkers that you are more than a “rookie?”

The Rookie uses an innovative “notice and type” mechanic where players must navigate the scenes of the game to find a clue, and then type the name of the clue to inspect it further. This means players actually need to consider what might have happened and carefully decide what to inspect at the scene of the crime, instead of just clicking blindly to try and find clues!

A prominent model of loneliness suggests that its detrimental effects occur due to a regulatory feedback loop. Lonely individuals perceive the world differently from non-lonely individuals and these perceptions then influence their social behaviors and can make them feel more lonely. In short, lonely individuals interpret benign social situations as more negative, which leads to them avoiding social contact with others.

The Rookie is designed reduce loneliness in players by disrupting this regulatory feedback loop. The story of The Rookie sets up player’s expectations about what will happen, but as the players track down clues they find twists and turns that they didn’t expect—and what initially seems like a dark mystery turns out to have an upbeat ending. The subversion of expectations in the game trains players to second guess their negative interpretations of social situations in real life—encouraging them to give social interaction a chance.