Last week, some of us gathered for a talk about games, mobilizing and activism as part of the e-Campaigning Forum conference in Oxford. The first thing I did as the moderator of the session was ask if anyone knew a game. Luckily a man with a big black beard did.
So we all stood in a circle and spent a while trying to grab each other’s thumbs. Specifically, to play this game, you old your left hand out palm up (under your neighbor’s thumb), and your right hand out thumb down (over your other neighbor’s hand). When the bearded man said, “Go!” we’d all try to grab the thumb of the person on our left, while trying not to get our thumb grabbed by the person on the right. When you thumb was grabbed, you were out and the circle got smaller. (Thanks bearded man! – who I found out later is Dave from Friends of the Earth UK.)
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Posted by Andrew under Digital
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Topic: Practical ways to turn any website into a game, and the serious risks of doing it wrong. (description)
, by Andy Baio.
Starts off by showing some games…
Quest for the crown
Desert Bus (1995, Sega TV, unreleased) – Drive the Penn and Teller tour bus in real time. Get to the end (after 8 hours) and you get 1 point. (video)
Marathon video tame – Run a virtual marathon in real time button tapping, guy did it, took him three hours. Showed vid. Guy looks like he’s going to die.
You only live once – Standard platformer. When character dies, it’s for good. When you restart the game you’re still dead.
Upgrade complete – Game about upgrading a game. Game play itself is pretty booring. Can even buy the ending. (walkthrough here)
Achievement unlocked – Get achievements for everything.
Punchline: All these use games to discuss what games are. Last two focus on the meta game. Even though you know you’re being manipulated, it’s still fun.
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So we all stood in a circle and spent a while trying to grab each other’s thumbs. Specifically, to play this game, you old your left hand out palm up (under your neighbor’s thumb), and your right hand out thumb down (over your other neighbor’s hand). When the bearded man said, “Go!” we’d all try to grab the thumb of the person on our left, while trying not to get our thumb grabbed by the person on the right. When you thumb was grabbed, you were out and the circle got smaller. (Thanks bearded man! – who I found out later is Dave from Friends of the Earth UK.)