Examentrainers

Big Kids on the Block

		Johnny Dee
1		Last Saturday, an account manager
		from south-east London spent
		seven hours sitting in her Vauxhall
		Zafira parked outside the house of
		a stranger she knew only as the
		Giraffe. “It was,” she says, “one of
		the most exciting things I've ever
		done.” The woman, who would like
		to be known as Agent Squirtel, in
		order to protect her identity from
		rogue commandos, was taking part
		in StreetWars Killer, a water-pistol
		assassin game that has turned 150				graphics designer whose alter ego,
		Londoners into paranoid snipers				the Mustache Commander, is
		with super-soakers. At about 8am				behind the StreetWars craze.
		her target emerged from his house				“Where's the law that states that
		and she gave chase down the				once you get to a set age you can
		street, successfully aiming her gun				only have fun by going to dinner
		at his upper torso. It was only then				parties with other adult friends?”
		that she realised she had squirted				The average age of competitors,
		the wrong man: it was the Giraffe's				says Liao, is 25.
		flatmate, Dave. “He was OK about		4		Frank Lantz, a US college
		it,” she says. “It was a hot day, he				lecturer who encouraged his
		said he would dry out.”				students to play a human game of
2		StreetWars is just one of many				Pac-Man, believes the social
		large-scale urban games being				aspect is the main reason why
		played in cities all across the				urban games are becoming a
		world. All of them are similar in that				trend. “A lot of these games use
		information spreads via the				new technology but they're also
		internet. To anyone who chances				about a return to the classic values
		upon them on the street, they				of pre-computer gaming: face-toface
		seem like surreal, random events.				social interaction,” he says.
		All of them also utilise wireless				“I also think there's something
		technology such as GPRS¹, use				appealing about [id:69055] to run
		real streets rather than boards or				around public space creating a
		computer screens as their game's				spectacle.”
		grid, and all resemble childhood		5		Indeed, not everyone can be
		games in their simplicity.				good at football or kung fu, [id:69056]
3		“They definitely appeal to people				we're all pretty good at hide and
		with a Peter Pan complex²,” says				seek.
		Yutai Liao, a San Francisco

noot 1  GPRS: General Packet Radio Service, used by GSM mobile phones
noot 2  Peter Pan complex: when you suffer from this, you don't want to grow up

Games:

Pac-Manhattan Human-sized Pac-Man game Players:10

StreetWars Killer Water-pistol assassina-tion Players 150

Botfighter Robots in disquise Players: 40.000+