Come out & play 2007

On: September 30, 2007
About Laura van der Vlies
Laura van der Vlies is currently a New Media master student at the University of Amsterdam. After finishing the New Media bachelor program and finishing the propedeuse year CMD at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam, this is the year to finally really learn the inside of new media today. This summer I participated in the Digital Methods Initiative. This really made me learn to use knowledge in a different way. With interests in the topic of journalism on the web and certain forms of censorship I hope to make valuable contributions to this blog.

Website
http://www.lauravdv.nl    

28 & 29 september were two days full of ‘big urban games’. Together with the Picnic festival several games from all over the world were played on the Westergasterrein and other places in the city of Amsterdam. Luckily I was there for two whole days and had my share in all the fun. Two games definately stood out for me and one other just needs to be cited :)

/ Collectic

Imagine people running around with a PSP in their hands, pushing all the buttons as fast as they can and not really noticing what happens around them. This could be players of the Collectic game :) The players need to collect several different ‘objects’ that appear on their screen because of local wi-fi points. While being busy collecting the objects, at the same time a game of tictactoe needs to be played with the collected objects, to earn points. It is too complicated to explain the whole game, but it is definately the best version of tictactoe I’ve ever played. More information can be found on: http://www.pixelsix.org/collectic/ Also on the maker Jonas Hielscher, whom all the credits go to!

/ OMMRPG
No, this isn’t a misspelled version of a MMORPG. OMMRPG stands for Offline Multi-Mirror Reflector Positioning Game. Although this game had nothing to do with gps, computers or an online world, it really fitted into the programm of Come out & Play. Put two teams of players together with mirrors and gloves and see what happens with the beams :) The main goal was to score points by aiming a laserbeam at a designated place. But ofcourse, not without people trying to block the beam with black gloves. The games needs teamwork and lots of body movement. But once you found the way how to do it, it’s great! More information: http://www.ludology.co.kr/
OMMRPG

/ Snap-shot-city
Saturday around two, the journey began. Together with a camera, three teammates and the rain I started the game snap-shot-city, which was fun and easy to learn. 20 Themes were given and the assignment was to interpret these themes creatively and make photos. Some examples of the themes are: ‘oasis’ ‘whats new pussycat’ ‘wrong side of the tracks’ and ‘splat’. Believe me, walking in a city like Amsterdam, with three great and creative people around me, it was much fun to think of places and actions that would fit the themes and actually make photos of it. It makes you look at the city in a really different way. Great about it too is that the game is played by teams based in cities all over the world, within the same time frame and on the same day – and linked online. Photos can be seen on snap-shot-city.com and later one of the movies we’ve made will be posted on the blog. Designer of this game is Bonnie Shaw.

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