War Games Conference
So this week I was invited up to UMaine Orono to hang out with some of the artists that were participating in the War Games conference that the New Media Department put together. The whole thing was great, so I figured I'd let you know about some of the projects I saw:
Ruth Catlow, Three Player Chess, which is actually different from the variant that most chess players know as "three player chess". I prefer calling her version "pacifist chess", but that kind of screws it up when you try to convince your non-political, liberal-hating chess buddies to participate in what is really a pretty awesome game. The rules are as follows: traditional chess board, but you need a coin and a piece of paper. Every turn, white and black flip the coin- heads, they go, as usual, but they can't move their pawns, just nobles. If tails, the third player gets to move a pawn of their color, with the intent of blocking either side from taking any other pieces. For every turn that goes by without any "bloodshed", the pawns player gets a point, and at every five points they get a safe tuft. I've played it a few times, it's fun and ridiculously illuminating. You can play it online, too, here.
Alex Galloway wrote an essay highlighting the differences between American kids who play war games and are far removed from war, as opposed to the gaming cultures of societies like Palestine, where war is right outside- and how war games manufactured by Hamas where you take Israelis hostage are more or less the same as "counter strike" except for context. It's a great essay but you can't read it because it isn't online.
Anne Marie Schleiner is one of the minds behind Velvet Strike, where you can download "intervention recipes"- strategies for disrupting online war games, particularly counter strike. One recipe: During the battle, tell everyone you are martyrs for peace, then jump off the tallest structure in the level, killing yourselves. Rulz0r. You can also download custom sprays for the game, to get the message out.
John Klima designed florafox.com, which is a video game representation of the daily ins and outs of the war in Afghanistan.
Lastly, I heart Mary Flanagan. She created The Adventures of Josie True, a web-based historical adventure game for girls. The hero of the game is Chinese-American Josie True, a regular girl who becomes involved in intrigue across time and space as she tries to find her inventor-turned-teacher Ms. Trombone. She time travels with one of Ms. Trombone's inventions, the Intellicat ™.
Here is Mary Flanagan's dog.
Ruth Catlow, Three Player Chess, which is actually different from the variant that most chess players know as "three player chess". I prefer calling her version "pacifist chess", but that kind of screws it up when you try to convince your non-political, liberal-hating chess buddies to participate in what is really a pretty awesome game. The rules are as follows: traditional chess board, but you need a coin and a piece of paper. Every turn, white and black flip the coin- heads, they go, as usual, but they can't move their pawns, just nobles. If tails, the third player gets to move a pawn of their color, with the intent of blocking either side from taking any other pieces. For every turn that goes by without any "bloodshed", the pawns player gets a point, and at every five points they get a safe tuft. I've played it a few times, it's fun and ridiculously illuminating. You can play it online, too, here.
Alex Galloway wrote an essay highlighting the differences between American kids who play war games and are far removed from war, as opposed to the gaming cultures of societies like Palestine, where war is right outside- and how war games manufactured by Hamas where you take Israelis hostage are more or less the same as "counter strike" except for context. It's a great essay but you can't read it because it isn't online.
Anne Marie Schleiner is one of the minds behind Velvet Strike, where you can download "intervention recipes"- strategies for disrupting online war games, particularly counter strike. One recipe: During the battle, tell everyone you are martyrs for peace, then jump off the tallest structure in the level, killing yourselves. Rulz0r. You can also download custom sprays for the game, to get the message out.
John Klima designed florafox.com, which is a video game representation of the daily ins and outs of the war in Afghanistan.
Lastly, I heart Mary Flanagan. She created The Adventures of Josie True, a web-based historical adventure game for girls. The hero of the game is Chinese-American Josie True, a regular girl who becomes involved in intrigue across time and space as she tries to find her inventor-turned-teacher Ms. Trombone. She time travels with one of Ms. Trombone's inventions, the Intellicat ™.
Here is Mary Flanagan's dog.