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 |
Pac-Manhattan Human-sized Pac-Man game Players:10 |
StreetWars Killer Water-pistol assassina-tion Players 150 |
Botfighter Robots in disquise Players: 40.000+ |