A game design analysis of the QAnon movement
During the month of January, after the terrible facts in Washington DC on the 6th, the conspiration theorists movement known as QAnon has become heavily discussed.
I have been very fascinated by this article, which tries to analyse the phenomenon as if it was an Alternate Reality Game, a particular kind of game which has become popular in the first decade of 2000. ARGs were mostly marketing stunts directed to raise the awareness of a core community around some piece of entertainment. They use (used?) a combination of hidden websites, physical happenings and even clue postage in order to create a sort of elaborate mystery that a spontaneously formed community has to solve through collaboration and what in that time was labelled as swarm intelligence.
In the less optimistic ‘20s, the swarm intelligence takes the form of people led by propaganda techniques and simple psychology to believe in improbable conspiracy theories and possibly to attempt a coup on the American democracy. It’s kind of ironic and scary at the same time.
I think the article has the merit to break down game design concepts like the power of puzzle solving, the concept of rabbit hole and even (without expressively talking about it) the magic circle.
For what are my interests and vision about games, it very effectively show the development of a parallel language through symbols, metaphors and puzzles and the use of that very language to depict an alternative reality. It doesn’t matter if that reality is there, but the “game” gives people the language to describe it and conjure it. These people are playing a game, and taking it extremely seriously. To the point it has concequences on our tangible reality. Old anthropologists claiming that a game is unproductive and isolated from the real world, rest in peace. It’s the second decade of the millennium and things are a little upside down, right now.
Once someone asked me which game design advice I would have given if I could give only one single piece of advice. Here’s what I wrote:
You create worlds for other people to experience. Think deeply about the verbs you use to conjure these worlds. They are a message.
Speaking of ARGs…
They found Satoshi. He was one of the last puzzles of Perplex City, an alternate reality game ran by the London company Mind Candy in 2006. The game was based on a set of cards with different puzzles with an overarching enigma (which has already been solved). Satoshi is a real person and the players had to find him starting from a photo. It was meant as an experiment about the theory of six degrees of separation. Turns out it’s not that easy to get to that distant connection.
Here’s a complete wrap up if you’re confused and you want to know more.
The hi-tech dystopian accessory of 2021
Let’s get this out immediately: even if you will get a Covid vaccine in 2021, that doesn’t mean you will be able to stop wearing a face mask. It’s very likely that face masks will become the norm, at least for people not involved in the ARG discussed above.
Razer is a company that produces gear for gaming enthusiasts, ranging from overpowered laptops (which, if you ask me, are the new Macbook Pros) to gaming keyboard, mice, and so on. All with too many coloured LEDs.
They have recently showed a prototype of a mask which tries to tackle many common problems: muffled voice, impossibility to read facial expressions, fogging if you wear glasses. They also propose their own concept of looking cool in a mask, which you can agree or disagree on but which quite resembles the ones seen in Watchdogs Legion.
I normally wear masks which have been hand made by a person who creates fantasy LARP clothing (her instagram is here, though I don’t know if she still makes them). That makes me think: we talk a lot about compulsory masks but never about which ones are actually effective and reliable.
There is an empirical test, where you try to blow out a match while wearing a mask, and if you can then the mask is not protecting you, but… how scientific is it? Even if the use of masks is enforced, shouldn’t we know which masks actually do the job? Please, if you are a no-mask person, refrain to comment.
BTW I’m still waiting to sport the plague doctor look with my cape ;)
Creative production and public domain
I have been thinking for a very long time that copyright and the concept of public domain should be deeply revised. The rhythm of creative production is almost parossistic, but it stays inside the rules of capitalism. After 3-4 years, I believe, anything that has been created shouldn’t provide direct economic value anymore, but it should be given to humanity back for freely building on top of it.
So, makes me very happy when an artist like the person formerly known as Wootha decides to release to the public domain 90 GB of their beautiful artwork. And it makes me even happier reading the motivations behind it, the heartfelt call to arms to our collective creativity.
We can bring to humanity imaginaries of a vast multitude of possible, desirable, and magnificent futures if we come out collectively.
Their manifesto is just what we need to hear right now.
Thank you, Stéphane Richard.
Gradients and Shades
Director Daihei Shibata shows us the importance of gradations, of gentle passages, of blurring lines. I love shades.
New role models
Not that I’m usually much into sports series, which tend to glorify individualism and power fantasies, but I got (super late, I know) into two very different TV shows that show a less toxic, more wholesome side of team sports.
Ted Lasso, on Apple TV, has been a pleasurable surprise. After a first episode that didn’t convince me so much, the show has started ramping up for me until I decided to elect Ted as one of my role models.
Italian people could maybe see hints of a certain Italian comedy here. Ted Lasso is an american football coach hired by a small UK football (the rightful football, the one that on the other side of the pond call soccer) team. Ted makes his way inside the extremely cynical team, plagued by prima donna star players, fallen stars that can’t cope with the fact they lost their best days, bullies and so on. He does it with a quiet, kind approach, the right humour and a general positive attitude that ends up spreading across the team.
The guy even bakes shortbreads for his boss (a divorced woman who, at the start, just wants to see the team fail as a form of revenge towards her horrible ex-husband). Ted Lasso is a comedy imbued with the most positive side of humanity. It doesn’t refrain to show dark sides and imperfections, but it does it in a brilliantly healthy way. It effectively shows how men can be better when they embrace kindness and nurturing and let go of toxic masculinity. Really something we all need in these difficult times. Ted, you’re a damn inspiration.
On a completely different side, Haikyu! is a anime series featuring a group of high school kids and their volley team. There is a protagonist, Hinata, short but athletic and overenthusiastic; but the story is really focused on the team dynamics. The show doesn’t refrain to show the fragilities and the problems of the team member, but does a great job in portraiting a dynamic of mutual support as opposed to the classic star player centered one.
The team is imperfect, sometimes confused. The kids are clearly finding their way. But they do it with honesty and group spirit. I really enjoyed how some of the negative aspect of some characters, like Tanaka’s bullying tendency, as a clear example, are in some ways smoothed out by the fact that they manage to redirect that same energy in a more positive way (as for Tanaka, by being loud and motivating for the whole team). Like in Ted Lasso, we see how toxic behaviors can be changed through kindness and mutual understanding.
The first two seasons of Haikyu! are available on Netflix.
Cuteness overload
Baby Sea Stars.
Things I’m doing
My PhD has officially started, but term is in its busiest time (and I also teach an evening short course, WHAT HAVE I DONE!) I am keeping up though; looking around for good material about how games create languages.
I have got an Oculus Quest (add me as a friend, I’m kurainisei there) and I’ll been soon reporting to you from that metaverse. For now, I rediscovered my thrill for fast paced point and shoot games (yes, I do love Pistol Whip. Sue me). And I’m inspired and would like to make something soon. Maybe porting Eta Aquarids to VR, for a start.
For now, enjoy this, tell me what you think and see y’all in about a month time. ❤