lose/lose
Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:03:00 GMT
“Lose/Lose is a video-game with real life consequences. Each alien in the game is created based on a random file on the player’s computer. If the player kills the alien, the file it is based on is deleted. If the player’s ship is destroyed, the application itself is deleted.”
Created by Zach Gage. Nope, I haven’t tried it! (By the way, this is not one of the “great playable games” I mentioned in the last post.)
(Source: f00m@nB@r, via Sensible Erection [NSFW?])
This is madness
What the fuck.
Sorry, I’m not going to lose my files playing a game. That’s almost malware territory.
I have a feeling someone is going to download this without reading what it is and shit bricks.
Also who the hell would want to play this?
Seriously the warning screen needs to be fucking huge.
I do not think my boss or any of my professors would sympathize if I lost a paper or some work I was suppose to submit to a video game.
I don’t think the IRS would sympathize if I lost all my Quicken files either.
Makes me realize how much my life is digitized now.
Brilliant concept.
Yeah, like a song that gives you cancer.
I’d play it if it was the other way around. If it made a file representing each enemy’s ghost or something, with some final words maybe?
Oh, come on, guys, this is obviously just a gimmick. Nobody would ACTUALLY make a game that would delete files on your hard drive. He’s just trying to provoke you.
…
Of course, I’m not going to TEST this theory…
I think it says something that on the high scores board on his site, there are people with one kill.
This reminds me of a game called Inner Space, which was generated around actual files on your hard drive. Of course, it didn’t delete those files…
It was a pretty fun game. Pity you can’t complete it on a modern hard drive.
If only there were an option to delete files only in a set folder. It would be one hell of a good way to say goodbye to dead project files, image collections, etc.
John Evans knock yourself out.
Oh wow, this is grea
Reminds me of the programming language Intolerant, but backwards.
I downloaded this game unaware when there wasn’t that huge warning on this page and it deleted several vital system files and I had to reformat.
This thing is malware, plain and simple. I really don’t think it’s very responsible for TIGSource to be featuring this on their page. Even without the warning, this game could easily be distributed to people sans the warning page and be used to weak a lot of havok.
This game is bound to be a weapon in a number of pranks if this is true.
“Hey Steve, check out this new game! I bet you can’t beat my score.”
“Hey, where did my homework go?”
must have been a pain in the ass to playtest
So much negativity here, heh. This is a very awesome concept.
Also, any Win7/Vista users would have to (more than likely) run this as admin for anything to actually happen.
At least I think that’s the case…I could be wrong, and don’t plan on finding out!
Hmm… time to pull out the Virtual Machine to try this out…
Oh, one last thing…
I think it’d be fun if the ships or maybe the… “galaxy you were entering” had names that were really anagrams.
Say, Boasted Hoop Hop, aka, Adobe Photoshop. That way you could potentially discover what files/software you were destroying.
DUDE That’s crazy ( and dangerous )! I’ll never try this ! (But actually it make me think of Forbiden.exe by petri puhro: http://www.kloonigames.com/blog/games/forbidden_exe )
Lastly… (sorry, wish I could edit comments),
When I say “awesome concept”, I still don’t think anyone should play this unless they’re about to format or have a junk machine set up to play it on.
I just say “awesome concept” because it expresses creativity in a way we’ve yet to see (at least on my part).
“So much negativity here”
Do you really expect praise for a game that deletes your harddrive?
I love this :)
I love the idea of real-world consequences, but I don’t think this idea is very thought through.
On the Vimeo page, the author waxes on about how he wants to question the fact that “Why do we assume that because we are given a weapon an awarded for using it, that doing so is right?”
What? Randomly losing files is not a reward! I will never fire a single shot in this game, if I do play it. He wants to examine our supposed digital bloodthirst, but he goes about it in all the wrong ways.
Sorry for copying Jared’s style of multiposting ;) but I just watched the video as well.
It’s just a textless shmup that pushes the fact that it deletes files in your face every time you kill an enemy? Wow, he’s not even close to succeeding at making social commentary…
This is just pure malware as others have posted. Didn’t think so before seeing it, but now I can’t see an actual, valid point to it at all.
How ironic that people cannot decide if its art or malware. I guess some art games is junk after all.
all games are art. let’s get that out of the way please.
now, let’s talk about this game as what it is, something that deletes files off of your computer.
Also the whole moral choices or the message this is trying to portrayed is completely undermined by the fact that nobody wants to play a game that can ruin their computer.
It’s like asking someone to shoot themselves through the brain in order to understand the plight of people living in the third world.
er, or something like that anyway
fun fact that nobody ever noticed about this game pretty much everywhere it was reviewed.
it’s not for PC. it’s a mac game.
people who are saying it deleted their system32.dll are lying.
still I agree, this is malware at best. if you have a mac anyway. and saying its “art” is a moot point. that’s like saying the sky is blue, let’s not judge it.
seriously, if you have a PC you wouldn’t be able to play this if you even wanted to. the files don’t even show up. there is no exe. the entire thing is for macs only.
Ladies and gentlemen, the next IGF Innovation award is in the bag! ;-)
I think that the idea of lose/lose succeeds at what the game tries to do. Is the way to win the game to not play at all, or is it to play to completion and void our digital shackles? The game only acts as a catalyst for these questions, adding some sort of finality to your decision as the player. The idea is what’s interesting.
If it were possible, it would have been easier to have used a link on a page that says “clicking this will delete a file on your computer” and rendered the same reaction.
That being said, the response on these boards are a testament to how effective Zach Gage is in causing some controversy. Very. I’d like to see more exploration with regards to ‘real’ consequence in games. Preferably without voiding my OS or costing me money.
It’s simply doesn’t run at all! :D
Help! How can i start this game? There is not .exe files in game directory :(
I’d never thought an idea could be so clever & dumb at the same time.
This message will delete your system32.dll.
Wouldnt it be better if killing the enemies deleted files on someone else’s hard drive? And if your own files were only deleted when you/your character was damaged/killed? It seems a bit weird how shooting your opponents results in you damaging yourself. (and, of course, by “better” I mean “more consistent”, not “actually a good idea”).
watching this video formatted my fucking hard drive.
I was going to play it, but after i downloaded, i just though it was MAC only.
Extremly brilliant concept. Actually no you should see a bunch of your file sitting down of your screen, and you have to protect them from aliens.
Yeah, that would rule.
“haha, take that alien. wait, no, NOO, MY BOOT.INI, FUCK MAN, FUCK YOU, YOU SON OF AN ALIEN PROSTITUTE.”
The idea is that you’re not supposed to actually play the game. If you read the download page, he’s talking about how just because you can shoot aliens for points, does that mean you should? He’s posing his point through the fact that he actually made a functioning game that behaves this way; you actually downloading it and playing it isn’t necessary in the slightest. In fact, if you did download and play this game, you’re affirming the worst conclusion: that people will do something with horrible real-life consequences for the sake of playing a game.
Hell, any game you play deletes real-life minutes from your day; usually a game is fun enough that it’s worth the loss. This game is obviously not enjoyable enough to be worth it’s cost; with most games it’s not entirely clear.
All of this discussion is very interesting (at least, I find it interesting). By making Lose/Lose, Zach made these ides no longer simply hypothetical which is pretty damn awesome. Thanks, Zach Gage!
Absolutely brilliant concept, new,refreshing approach to burden of decisions. … “Or merely an observer, traversing through a dangerous land?”…
the game isn’t called “win or lose” guys, it’s called lose/lose. The only way to win is to not play. It’s not about the content, it’s about the message. Just like some paintings suck, but the message it gets across is why it’s great.
I’d like to see a game like this that also rewards you somehow. Like a poker game or something where you bet a file of yours and if you win, you get a file of someone else’s that’s playing. But if you lose, your file is deleted. And have the value of files be based on how often the file gets used.
“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. (For those who don’t recognize the reference, see this video at the 3:36 mark).
Malware? Maybe if it didn’t tell you that it deletes yr files.
A bad game? Hum. Like most, I haven’t played it.
This being said, my initial reaction was one of being pleased. My decision not to play it seemed like the game already ‘won’, or at very least proved a point in a pretty succinct manner.
And that’s pretty ballsy. The description on the website is awful though. Remove all the text except the scores and the red warning. Let others spectulate meaning, thanks. Not only did it read like like a bad blurb for a show, but since I assume it’s the author talking about his/her own work, it seems in bad taste.
I’m not against people writing about their own work. Artist’s intent, or any sort of insight into the process, is always interesting. Well, sometimes it is… But when it’s actually presented together with the work, it feels like it’s trying persuade me into a certain reading and gives it an air of pretension it could do without. I say this as constructive critism, really, because I think the game is compelling enough without it.
But maybe I’m just being touchy?
this game is awesome!
This discussion around this ‘game’ has wised up faster than I though, and that applies a big smile to my face. But let me add up another important specific about the message portrayed here : Responsibility.
People who called the software as malware (mainly in the beginning of this discussion thread) must have missed something from either the website or the portrayed video. The author has displayed a nice, readable warning about file deletion in the occurance of playing it. Same goes for the application’s self-erasure, not within the game but still on the video page.
And while we understand that, or don’t, there’s the whole rhetoric aspect of the thing. Has anybody yet played this ‘game’ and suffered from file deletion? Or is it, so far, an implication?
A strange game. The only way to win…is not to play.
Oh God, is this another meta game? They’re so fucking boring. Stop making them, everyone. Burn The Rope was tolerable for about 5 seconds, after that it was all downhill. Culminating in a game that deletes your files to challenge your ethos. Ooh. Everyone thinks they’re fucking Nietzsche because they know how to use GameMaker.
And the game itself is boring. Not just the bullshit message about computer addiction/”why should we kill?” they tried pitching. It’s a basic shooter that no one would care about otherwise.
lol @ “real life consequences” I’ll jizz triplets when my toaster starts screaming at me because Mario fell in the pit. Only then will I consider there to be REAL LIFE CONSEQUENCES DUN DUN DUNNNN.
LOSE/LOSE: REAL LIFE CONSEQUENCES! A LOSE/LOSE FAN FIC BY ATEAM
SPACE CAPTAIN WAS RAISED TO KILL ALIENS EVERY SPACE NIGHT HE WOULD TRAIN IN SEMILULATORS TO LEARN TO KILL ALEINS
SPACE CAPTAIN TRAINED EIGHTEEN YARES TO KJILL ALIENS HE WAS PMUPED UP TO KILL ALIENS BECAUSE SAPACE CAPTAIN WAS TRAINED FROM BIRTH TO KILL THE ALIENS
SPACE CAPTAIN GOT ON DOCK AND PUT ON HIS SPACE ARMOR AND SPACE WEAPONS AND WAS ABOUT TO GET IN SAPCE SHNIP WHEN OLD MAN APPRAOCYHED HIM!!!
OLD MAN: DO NOT KILL THE ALIENS IF YOU KILL THE ALIENS YOU MAKE UNIVERSE EMPTY PLACE BUT DO NOT DIE IF YOU KILL ALIENS OR YOU WILL BE DELETED FROM EXISTANCE
SPACE CAPTAIN: WTDF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT OLD MAN I WILL IGNORE YOU AND DO WHAT I TRAIONED TO DO…
SPACE CAPTAIN GOT INTO HS SPACE SHIP AND STARTED FLUC CAPACATORS AND GATLING LAZOES STARTED SPINNING AND SHIP GOT OFF INTO THE SPACE
SAPCE CAPTAIN SHOT DOWN ALIENS IN HIS SPACE SHIP, HE SHOT DOWN WAVE OF ALIENS THEN REAMED HIS LAZORS AT THE OTHER WAVE LITTLE DID HE KNOW HIS ACTIONS HAD REAL LIFE CONSEQUENCES
AN ALIEN BIG SHIP CAME AND LITTLE SHIPS CAME AND FIRED AT SPACE CAPTAIN SPACE SHIP AND HE DIED
AS HE DIED HE SAW OLD MAN BUT HE WAS YOUNG THIS TIME AND HE LOOKED LIKE JESUS, OLD MAN TOLD HIM UNIVERSE IS DISAPPEARING AND EVERYONE IS FACING REAL LIFE CONSEQUENCES FROM HIS ACTIONS
THEN SPACE CAPTAIN WENT TO HELL, THEN HELL GOT DELETED TOO ALONG WITH SAPCE CAPTAIN
Pretentious bollocks.
This does seem a bit retarded as a game.. as many have pointed out, just inverting the rules so that every alien you DON’T kill will “get through your defenses and delete a file” would at least provide some reason to play the game (i.e intense challenge with real consequences on the line).
@Ateam: Now that–THAT is art. I laughed, I cried! Bravo!
“My decision not to play it seemed like the game already ‘won’, or at very least proved a point in a pretty succinct manner.”
How do you figure? Like you noted yourself, the author has made it clear that his goal was to challenge the fact that if a character holds a weapon in a game, we instinctively use it to kill NPCs. He’s trying to say “your guy has a weapon, now go ahead and be a pacifist and DON’T use it!” which is why it deletes files if you do.
But that makes the posed question inherently dishonest. We’re not given a moral choice here; instead we have a gun to our heads. “Be nice to the aliens or I’ll destroy your computer!”
I don’t think his point was for us to NOT play the game, because that does not put us in the context he has created. If we’re not playing it at all, we’re not holding a weapon and making the conscious choice NOT to use it. We’re not holding a weapon at all. We’re not even in that universe at that point, even figuratively.
Withholding from killing aliens in my bedroom while NOT playing this game is very easy; there aren’t any there!
easy money says anyone praising this inane bullshit looks like they crawled out of latfh.
Run this game on a virtual machine
Or,
Try running it in WINE within a chroot jail.
Problem solved.
@effort failed : I think you’re trying too hard. Or maybe you’re just a troll, just like the game is! dohohoho!
Just run the game on a Virtual Machine. No danger.
VMware is the best. I have it thanks to some banking software work I do, and I just copy-pasted a new machine and played it. No problems whatsoever. You can even run multiple OSes if that’s your thing (I have XP as my main)
Man, I never realized how important those files on my computer are for me :/
This is very clearly coming from a “fine arts” background (though I call bullshit on the appropriation of the term) rather than a games background; the fact that everybody is mad about it is actually a really strong indication that it’s a success. Like everybody else has said, the point isn’t playing it, but being reluctant to play it - who wants to face real-world consequences from a video game? We play video games so we don’t HAVE to actually go to war or hunt for ancient treasure or wake up in a cave on a floating island somewhere, and I think our reluctance to give this game a shot is really great evidence of that.
Very similar to another shmup, Directory Blaster where you select a folder, shoot the files contained therein because they become enemies for the game, and simultaneously delete them. http://www.brothersoft.com/games/directory-blaster.html
This is a virus, then.
“I don’t think his point was for us to NOT play the game, because that does not put us in the context he has created.”
Erm, yes it does!
In fact, as soon as you read the name of the game you were already ensnared in his insidious context!
Good show :D
This reminds me of a custom map for Starcraft. Everyone starts with 1 Infested Terran, all in a tiny room.
i.e. A game where everyone has 1 suicidal bomber.
Interesting concept, but dunno if I’d risk it. I have too much precious work on my systems.
I’ve always dreamed of a concept like this, except in reverse, where you are afraid to touch an enemy as every time it happens it would have real-life consequences. Nothing happens if you kill THEM.
I do have one system with useless crap on it - found in an alley way.. would be fun to see how long you could play the game on it before the system could no longer function and would need a reformat/reinstall of Windows.
This could also be one of those games that you’d install on a computer that you wanted revenge against. For instance if you were forced to work with some horrid piece of crap at work and you decided it was payback. Or put it on the boss’s computer (if you plan on immediately quitting) and trick him or her into playing the game.
Very interesting to make a game this way. Fun but very nasty. I like it. :D
Ok, I also misunderstood a bit. As the creator implies - what compels you to fire? If you hit an alien, the game simply destroys itself. You could play the game for as long as you want, just dodging aliens.
In real life, if you ran down a street with a gun and shot people, there would be consequences from the first person you kill or injure. There’s also consequences if you get caught just simply running with a gun - more minor, you won’t be able to do it again right away (you might have a small stint in jail) and you’ll have your gun taken away from you.
This game is art. Bravo. I think this game finally has broken that threshhold between games and art. This isn’t fine art - like pretty pixel graphics. This game is an expression.
Reading through the comments, I thought this was a poignant, though unintentional, response:
“I do not think my boss or any of my professors would sympathize if I lost a paper or some work I was suppose to submit to a video game.” - Allen
To a certain degree, I bet you already have Allen…I know I have.
This is irresponsible. Even though there are written warnings, some people might not read them or misinterpret them (maybe their English isn’t very good). And then end up unintentionally destroying their hard drive.
I remember a day when games used to be played for fun…
I mean, wouldn’t it have more sense if you were to SAVE your files? I could understand the russian rulette-like rush on that.
Like, if an alien reaches past you (you didn’t kill it), then the file goes to waste.
The way it’s now it’s like if you were playing russian rulette with 5 bullets just to DIE.
Man, this is great, someone should make a plataform game for windows that wen you die a file gets deleted. (you would had to confirm like 7 times that you understand what the game its gonna do with your computer)
It’s better to play a game where you can choose which files (“enemies”) to blast/delete, right?
Directory Blaster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhwNnLK6SeQ
This idea would be awesome if it was like an anti virus or anti spyware program. Instead of just automatically removing these things it generates an enemy based on it. The higher the rating of the virus, the harder the enemy.
@ Jared : “I just say “awesome concept” because it expresses creativity in a way we’ve yet to see (at least on my part).”
See, thats the thing… You aren’t necessarily creative just because you do something that was never done.
Deleting files is old hat. No one use it in a game because it’s daft, not because they lack creativity.
Doing it makes you daft, not creative…
The main thing to realize here is that the game is not the work, the game is ancillary. 99.9% of people will never play the game, so none of the choices and consequences presented in the game will actually be experienced by people.
The work that everyone is talking about and considering is the blurb, or the “artist statement” which describes the horrible consequences of experiencing the work. It’s just like saying “Looking at my painting has a 1% chance of causing cancer in your eyes.” The painting becomes meaningless because nobody would look at it. This is why the game is crap, and I’m sure that makes it less likely for anybody to play it. There could very easily not even be a game, very few people would even know. The work is still somewhat interesting, it is causing violent reactions in people even though nobody has actually played the game, I just don’t think it really adds much to the art game scene. If this game were displayed in a show it would totally miss the point.
My point, I guess, is that everyone who complains that the game is stupid or brilliant are getting played. It’s way too meta for that kind of shit.
I love how the post counts goes high up when such games appear (damn now I support this, too). And I bet only a tenth of you have actually played the game (I didnt), or less. This reminds me of an old virus that if it was installed to your pc, asked you to play a round of poker. You didnt play for money, though. If you lost the game your entire hard drive would be formatted. Now thats a fair virus! If you quit the game, you loose. And I think the AI was pretty good. Those kind of games remind people just how much they need their pc/files…
So, I took an old hard drive I had laying around and threw it in, over 80 gigs of crap I don’t really care about. Time to blast the shit outta it!
@fucrate : People are having this reaction because they are attached to their files, not because the game is art or a social comment.
Your painting analogy is flawed… It’s more like if there was a sign on the painting that said “Watching this painting WILL give you cancer”, and only the old and sick would ever want to watch it. It’s not art, it’s (digital) suicide.
I think it’s a fucking awesome concept, but the name “lose/lose” and the author’s commentary lessens its value in my eyes. It’s just a bit too obvious! Let us think for ourselves a little bit,
The comments for this post wouldn’t load so I immediately thought,
“The comments won’t load. OH NO, Derek Yu is playing the internet version of this right now! We’ve got to stop him!”
win/win - a lose/lose fanfic by ateam
space captain was now stuck in the darkness of oblivion, oblivion was dark and scary and if he wasn’t careful he’d be eaten by the grue
he heard loud moaning and screaming like someone was dying! he looked around and saw all the ghosts of the files he deleted!
ghosts: why did you delete uuuuuuussssssss? why didn’t you listen to the oooooooooold maaaaaaaaaan
space captain: sapce high command said i had to kill the aliens the old man looked like a hobo and smalled like chives
space captain then shot the ghosts in the brains and ran away until he hit a wall he looked up at the wall and saw a button that said “press button to regain universe or don’t press and get free money” space captain knew this was win/win he pressed the buton and erased his REAL LIFE CONSEQUANCES but there was a catch he was no longer in game world he was in real world infront of a desk programming a game called lose/lose
so he spun the his chair around and punched himself in the face and said “stop don’t program that game you will destroy the universe!” and he said to himself “i am fully aware of what i’m doing! by programming this game i will punish gamers for virtual murder of people my myself and destroying many virtual families after i press this button i will upload compile this file and send it to the internet” space captain wrestled with himself as he tried to delete the file he created to he can’t compile it and make an video game he slammed his head against the desk but oh no he hit the compile button!
haahahaahahaha! said space captain “now the cycle will begin anew my work is done” and he shot himseld in head with lazor pistol
but he did not realise in wrestling he accidentally made the code mac only but it was a hollow victory.
space captain got into his space ship and flew away into the sunset this was no win/win like he thought it was lose/lose.
them he accidentally flew into the sun and died
the end
Wow, it’s amazing how most of you can’t look beyond the surface of the game and really think about the concept. :(
Of course most aren’t going to play it. It’s digital “russian roulette” if you touch that trigger. It’s the concept of a shooter game completely twisted around and made a lot more real. A lot of you have called the game crap or viral. Why? YOU are the one who destroys your files ONLY IF YOU SHOOT!
So again why? Answer: Because this game scares the hell out of you. Even if you never shoot an alien, just running it would probably make you crap your pants. This game threatens your personal space. Your HD is part of your personal space as it contains not only files prized by you, but also the operating system data. Besides malicious programs such as virii and malware, you are the only one who can destroy what you value. YOU are your own biggest threat. In the sense of danger and destruction this game is no more dangerous than not having it. It’s pretty easy to go into any folder and randomly delete files. Why would you do that? Dunno. Maybe you went crazy? So if you run this game… why would you shoot? You can play this game harmlessly and just dodge aliens. It can still be fun, but losing is still harsh in that you have to reinstall the game, every time you die.
This game IS art. It’s definitely an interesting look at human behavior, when it comes to those that choose to take the risk of shooting.
this game would be more playable (or at least more people would play it) if it didn’t delete files that are system-critical, and only deleted media files. for example, mp3’s, jpg’s, avi’s, and other such files.
This game tries to be a message, but the message is common knowledge. It tries to be art but is too meta for that. It tries to be meta but lacks the necessary amounts of pretentious attitude (although it does get close). It tries to be smart but uses childish malware behavior.
The game is either a complete failure or a statement to the likes of a certain austrian “artist” throwing dead cows out of a helicopter while hanging naked on a rope, bleeding from self inflicted wounds - and calling it art.
I think it’s an incredibly intriguing concept, but I agree with Raigan. Many more people would be able to [or at least be tempted to] play the game if they were defending their files.
That said, I understand the whole hopeless-war analogy and the set of rules Raigan mentioned might muddy that. Yet, I’m not sure space aliens did anything to further that concept other than pervert classic gaming. Which is fair.
Good stuff.
snow: it’s because most of us realize that if it really does erase files:
It’s a time bomb. I sure hope Mr. Gage was kidding or has good lawyers.
@effort failed - “Everyone thinks they’re fucking Nietzsche because they know how to use GameMaker.” - Hell yeah! I’ve been majorly undewhelmed by the recent bandwagon of meta-games. I get the strong impression that they’re attractive to certain sorts of developers because it’s a hell of a lot easier to make a game that “challenges our assumptions” blah de blahdeblah than one that is actually, you know fun.
this isn’t made in game maker. hell, this isn’t even for windows.
but I still think whatever the author was trying to say pretty much fails due to the fact that nobody will even play it since its a malicious file
This is a game that defies being played. The people labeling this as malware are partially correct; the game makes no attempt to hide its malicious intent, yet defies the player to self-destruct their computer regardless simply because there’s a schmup that goes along with it. It is a metaphor for addicted to any form of substance/entertainment who continue to abuse their habits with full knowledge that they are wasting and ruining their lives - something I’m sure at least some of us can relate to (my history paper is due in an hour and a half, yet I’m still browsing TIGS). Gage then points out the hypocrisy of these people who ridicule his game for deleting computer files, yet continue to turn a blind eye to aspects of their own lives that are hurting them in much more profound ways.
File deletion? Fuck that pussy shit, just clamp some jumper cables to your balls during a road trip to Vegas.
It’s different, I’ll give it that.
The problem is that there’s no reason to play at all. It’s like Hit Your Dick With A Hammer: The Game. Sure, you’ll probably get masochists or lunatics doing it, but everybody else is going to wonder what the damned point is.
It’d make for an interesting bittorrent client, though. Kill enemies, get data. Die, lose data. Can you beat the game and get the file?
@Pierre B: Those are precisely my fears. Even though most people posting comments here realize that the game is serious, someone out there could easily interpret the warning screen as just being ironic. Or they could accidentally tap a button the second the game starts, before even realizing the warning screen is there. Or someone who doesn’t speak English could play and ignore the warning screen, thinking it’s just meaningless back story.
If someone directly links to the game’s zip file on a major forum, without mentioning how the game works, a number of people could unintentionally end up ruining their computers.
The game is malware. Its creation is irresponsible at best, and unethical at worst.
“It’d make for an interesting bittorrent client, though. Kill enemies, get data. Die, lose data. Can you beat the game and get the file?”
Oh my god it’s like an RPG that ACTUALLY MATTERS
@Pierre. How many people have been hurt or killed with poison that was maliciously mislabelled as something else… or given food with poison in it?
I understand the point and concern.
Whatever you file you put or program you install on your computer is always at your own risk. I mean, I would never ever have music from Kanye West on my computer as it would probably implode and rip a hole in the fabric of space.
As for the game being maliciously used, yeah that can happen. But, if you want revenge against someone else, there are 1001 different ways to corrupt their computer. Or you attack some other belonging like a car. I could tell you how to sieze someones engine within a mile with a common item… I won’t though as I would feel responsible if someone later on did that based on my post here.
So yes, this could definitely be used as a malicious tool. It’s only those who use it for destructive reasons are responsible. Not the creator. And speaking of unethical, if this was a game say that was aimed at little kids, but had mature graphics, language, racism, etc in it, that would be an example of unethical. The game by itself is not.
If you install this game on your computer, play it and SHOOT the aliens… I reiterate, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE, if you are dumb enough to do that. If you use it as a tool of malicious intent… stupid choice for a tool as there are more efficient ways of destroying data on someone elses compy, but also, YOU ARE A TRUE LOSER.
Anyway, I’ve said enough. I do respect your arguments and the concerns are valid. But, you can’t let fear of it cloud your judgement (my opinion) as to whether or not it should be recognized as art.
you guys are stupid. it’s clearly not a game, or even meant to be played. it’s just a message.
but substantial? not really.
I sent an email to a security site asking about this game just out of curiosity and it turns out that they’re already aware of it and various AV vendors have already classified it as MacOSX malware and are working to update their detection methods to detect this game and make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands (i.e. people who send the file stripped of any of the original warnings, etc.).
If you turn off the Computer, the Universe will disappear…
So now that you have read this message, whatever it happens DO NOT power off your Computer or the Universe will disappear!
p.s On the game.. Real life consequence? Pfff as many said virtual machine, and no consequence .. sorry Zach.
This message will self-destruct the 21st December 2012.
Best thing about lose/lose is this thread.
The guy who made Pasta Master already made a game with roughly this concept, done slightly better I would say.
Taken from his site:
The Windows Satan Game This is a clone of missile command with a twist. When a city gets hit instead of losing a life the program would delete a random component from C:/windows eventually causing windows to cease to function.
Anyhow, I am taking art appreciation right now, and based on the responses I’m seeing, this definitely falls under the category of “made it for the shock value”.
You aren’t seriously intended to play or enjoy it, you’re intended to be offended by the very notion of playing it.
It seems that some people are awfully easily impressed.
Hey, if you want to be confronted with stark real-life consequences in a pointless game, try lying on your bed and flicking lit matches into the corners of your room.
Of course, you’re not going to actually DO that. Just the fact that I made you think about doing it makes me a brilliant artist though, right?
Still, I would be a lot less embarassed screwing up my computer by playing this game than I would be by getting moved to tears by “Passage.”
This should be a facebook app to shoot delete all the friends, and try to avoid the people you actually do know.
I have a better game. It’s called win/win. It involves not playing lose/lose. >:D
…FUCK NO!
@Anthony Flack:
There is a piece of art that is literally a giant blank wall.
It has been called awe inspiring.
Yes, according to the art world, you are now a brilliant artist.
This is an incredible game and I highly recommend all you sour sacks play it! The fun isn’t in playing the game, it’s in the rebuilding of your hard drive. It’s beautiful. It could have been frustrating but when forced to re-install and rebuild entire sections of applications and the windows file system you actually see the beauty in it. There are far too many useless files in the System32 folder anyway! Documents and Settings, SAY GOODNIGHT!
I love this game. What a novel idea. Of course, like any game, the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now I’m hooked!
Worst idea ever.
I’d just like to add my voice to the cacophony sounding off that this “game” is complete bullshit.
Now, it’s not clever. It hasn’t subtley and insidiously caused us to reconsider any of the basic assumptions we have about anything.
It’s inane and puerile to give this “game” credit for anything, as a game or a concept. See, as a game it fails because it’s designed to discourage you from playing it at all. As a concept it’s stupid because there’s nothing deep or interesting about being warned off of something and us heeding the warning.
If I told you that I rigged a manhole somewhere in your city to explode in your face if you removed it (I tell you where it is), what purpose have I accomplished, what meaning or message have I conveyed? I’ve just warned you to avoid getting gibbed. How the hell is that art or even an interesting mental exercise?
My biggest fear is that some self-satisfied game designer is looking at this thread, sitting back in his chair, rubbing his hands and patting himself on his back, congratulating himself on a job well done. What indulgent, self-congratulatory nonsense!
personally i think this is awesome. I am gonna create a similar game but network it and also make the files risk based. so you can prevent like deleting your kernal.
@Anthony
I understand what you’re saying, but take a step back for a second. Doesn’t a work of art that makes the viewer/player think about it and influence their life a solid work?
Games are all about choices, right? Not only does lose/lose give you a deeply meaningful choice (which is strangely rare) but that meaningful choice comes before you even see the title screen. It’s the choice to play the game.
Although I’m not jumping at the chance to play this game, I do think it’s a very interesting concept.
I also think it’s sad that people are so afraid of it. It’s clear they just don’t understand it.
Plus, deleting any or all files from your computer’s hard drive doesn’t break it or ruin it any more than disconnecting your cable box breaks your TV.
Also, it certainly is a game. If I saw a bunch of kids playing with water guns and traded them their water guns for handguns, is it any less of a game? I don’t believe it says anythings about a game having to be safe in its definition.
“A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool.” –Wikipedia
By all means then Jay, knock yourself out.
and if games like this start becoming a trend I’m going to go invest in a good virtual machine or run all my games through Sandboxie.
Naturally I didn’t d/l it, but it’s an interesting concept which made me think for a bit.
I rofled @ ateam’s second post. Very epic.
You know, there are actually quite a lot of games where you have weapons but try to avoid killing things recklessly… so I’m not sure what the point of this whole thing was.
A pretentious virus? Now I’ve seen everything.
Interesting idea, but does anyone remember that Doom mod a while back in which each enemy was a random process on your computer, and killing one ended that process (the kill command as it were)? Similar concept, lower stakes.
That said, I don’t think this is a compelling examination of the consequences of violence in games. Adding a punishment system outside of the game feels forced. Don’t shoot aliens in a game, because the game might be a malware that deletes your files?
Is it trying to implant empathy for life through an appeal to materialism? That is, does it want you to value a life like you would a personal possession? The metaphor is stretched impossibly thin since a life cannot be copied, but a file can. Is virtual murder fine and dandy when you have a boot disk and have backed up your important data?
Might just be my humanist beliefs coming through, but I’d much rather see a game that tries to make the player adopt a non-violent play style through the gameplay itself and not a system of external punishments.
I tried to make an anti-shmup like that in the past Ludum Dare. Collecting objects gave significantly more points than killing. Enemies took so many shots to kill that they put you in awkward and dangerous situations if you tried. One enemy barreled dangerously down the center at high speeds whenever you shot while it was onscreen. Stalactites shook the whole screen when you shot them down, making it hard to navigate for a short time. These are all behaviors and rules within the game that immediately and predictably make the player’s task of attaining a high score much more difficult if he chooses to be violent. It’s not the best design, but I bring it up merely as an example of another way to approach this issue. I’d love to hear better examples!
I have an idea for the video game if you rea-
YOU JUST READ THIS SENTENCE YOU MUST DELETE YOUR HARD DRIVE OR DON’T DELETE YOUR HARD DRIVE
I just made an art
Figures Rod Humble approves hehe
I agree with Anthony Flack.
aeiowu, it’s not really such a meaningful choice though, is it? To play or not to play. Because of course I’m not going to play it. I doubt I would have played it even if it didn’t delete my files.
replace deleting files with ending lives and you have the plot to Gamer
modify it some more to where you die if an alien comes along and you have the plot to another hollywood movie
you just elevated video games to the level of movies!
“Plus, deleting any or all files from your computer’s hard drive doesn’t break it or ruin it any more than disconnecting your cable box breaks your TV.”
No-one’s worried about their hard drive, they’re worried about their files/OS.
I am wondering how the game can access random files and delete them, though. Wouldn’t that mean the game has way more “rights” than it should have? Can any program really just access and delete any file on your computer? I thought there was something that kept programs from normally accessing things outside its own directory, so does this circumvent these security measures somehow?
You know, it probably doesn’t. It’s probably a total bluff.
@FrankieSmileShow: So, notepad is a virus now?
On the few times I’ve seen this linked to, none of the posts have noted that it’s a Mac only game. Guess no one’s actually bothered trying to play it?
” Sergio said about 21 hours later: The guy who made Pasta Master already made a game with roughly this concept, done slightly better I would say. ” Ugh, seriously. That guy is plain crazy.
This concept is neat. I would like to try it if I had to format my Mac. But I don’t have one, so EPIC FAIL! Make a Windows version and we got a deal.
This game is like a museum that promise to kill one of your kids for every painting you look at.
I’ve seen some argue that you didn’t have to shoot, so really it was your choice and that was the statement of the game, but the problem is that it is a game, it’s meant to be played. I wouldn’t go to that museum to ignore all the painting, so why would I play that game? I wouldn’t even call that place a museum, I’d call it a gas chamber, just like I call that game a virus.
@Gutter:
The arguement doesn’t work.
Like I said on RPS, you don’t actually need to shoot to have fun, dodge the enemies instead.
‘course, I’m not about to play it. Nor do I necessarily agree with the author.
Russian roulette of the Mac gaming!
You people are all pussies. This game is all about who has a nutsack and who doesn’t. Out of the entire commentary it seems as though only two people here have the balls to actually play the game.
That’s it, there’s nothing else to it. You either will play it knowing what will happen and proving that you actually have a scrotum or you won’t play it knowing would will happen if you do proving that you’re a pussy. The choice is yours, but no matter which choice you make you still fall into one of two categories. So you’re smart because you didn’t play the game… Yeah, but you’re still a pussy. Just like the title implies, only the game wins.
Now stop your whining and either step up and show you have a pair, or step off and just be a pussy. Quite simple really, stop going for the deep analysis of such a simple game.
You people are all pussies. This game is all about who has a nutsack and who doesn’t. Out of the entire commentary it seems as though only two people here have the balls to actually play the game.
That’s it, there’s nothing else to it. You either will play it knowing what will happen and proving that you actually have a scrotum or you won’t play it knowing would will happen if you do proving that you’re a pussy. The choice is yours, but no matter which choice you make you still fall into one of two categories. So you’re smart because you didn’t play the game… Yeah, but you’re still a pussy. Just like the title implies, only the game wins.
Now stop your whining and either step up and show you have a pair, or step off and just be a pussy. Quite simple really, stop going for the deep analysis of such a simple game.
You people are all pussies. This game is all about who has a nutsack and who doesn’t. Out of the entire commentary it seems as though only two people here have the balls to actually play the game.
That’s it, there’s nothing else to it. You either will play it knowing what will happen and proving that you actually have a scrotum or you won’t play it knowing would will happen if you do proving that you’re a pussy. The choice is yours, but no matter which choice you make you still fall into one of two categories. So you’re smart because you didn’t play the game… Yeah, but you’re still a pussy. Just like the title implies, only the game wins.
Now stop your whining and either step up and show you have a pair, or step off and just be a pussy. Quite simple really, stop going for the deep analysis of such a simple game.
@TCM : How does the argument doesn’t work?
I could still go to that “museum” but not look at the artwork. If you went to that museum, would you feel like you are in a museum? Would you suggest to your friends to go to that museum?
How is that different to a game that no one want to play, doesn’t feel like a game if they do, and that they would never suggest to a friend?
Mmmh.. pussy or retard? You made your choice, but I pick pussy!
@Alwaysright “DO YUZ HAVE DA BALZ TO DALEETE UR HARDDRIVE?!”
You fucking fool. I pity anyone who would fall for such idiocy.
Great if you plan to play it in a virtual machine. You’ve got to admit the concept is quite original, though.
Jay - some of us actually do WORK on our computers and don’t want to risk losing it. WHAT AN ASTONISHING CONCEPT
I think the term ‘art game’ really indicates as much as a sappy PR kick of a new-gen game. “I’m a gimmicky, barely-playable game made by designers intent on getting across a message that will be more shunned than respected because it fails on every level (all one of them).” But we’ll pass it off as PROVOCATIVE. About as thought-provoking as BMX XXX.
The game fails more than succeeds, if all the posts above me are any indication. Trying to defend this game is ridiculous. The game is something no one wants to touch. And that wasn’t even the point of it, which is even funnier. It should’ve been. It’s the only reason it’s gotten this many comments.
The message they put across is stupid. “Why kill things just because we expect them to be enemies?” It’s not deep, it’s just a stupid question. Who says we’re killing them because they’re enemies? There was no “these shitheads are causing a lot of trouble, please, stop them” intro. No badass robots in violent cut scenes to show us how evil they were. Just a big OH NOES UR FILEZ WATCH OUT. What if part of us just wants to kill shit? What if there is no protagonist? The message should’ve been more comprehensive.
Applying meaning in a philosophical setting requires a philosophy where meaning needs to be applied. Philosophy has higher standards than just asking “WHY?” all the time. This game is just like every other art game: bland, pretentious, and forgettable. And it’s getting irritating how many games adopt the same stupid self-referential attitude because of these games flooding the indie games circuit. Yeah, we get it, achievements and upgrades are liek so totly lame. So what?
Just read Auntie Pixelante’s blog. Every entry about retro games (a.k.a. charming games with shitty graphics) is filled with completely overblown explanations of every single god damned pixel and movement and colour and level design and character and bit of code. Every post reeks of verbose bullshit. That is art games. Overreaching, say-nothing reflections on bullshit questions nobody else is asking. Because most people will never ever care. It’s great as a curiosity, but they’re less entertaining, even philosophically, than any Gradius or Halo or Mario Party.
Now, I’m going to play some REAL games. Games that aren’t 100% gimmick.
“i SHALL MAKE A POST ON THE FORMS” said alwaysright as he gripped his giant balls who werren’t a pussy because he was a man not a woman and he thinks woman suck because they have lady parts not man parts
Alwaysright made a typing on his keyboard and thought ” i shall defend lose/lose from these losers/losers he rpessed a button and his words danubed onto the commend section
“i am in the comment section” said the post as it made a danube
he gripped his balls he knew were there bcause he defends a gmae he rpobably never played.
then earth exploded
the end
The game would be more moving if there was a choice involved. Maybe give players a free copy of some popular console game with the warning that losing at said game will result in their console being bricked.
You need to bait the hook if you’re gonna catch anything.
-SirNiko
this game is art.
with the most response ever in a couple of hours, very good!
this game is art.
with the most response ever in a couple of hours, very good!
Comments in this frontpage baffle me sometimes.
I’m going to reformat pretty soon (of course, you could always run it on VMware). Should be fun.
Also, I hate how the creator tries to slip in a moral message into this.
Bleh.
Wow… plenty of discussion on this one, simple game. I think the artist accomplished his goal.
I really enjoy where this concept is going.
http://sensibleerection.com/images/iconic/drub14.jpg
This is Zach Gabe.. rotfl..
Just joking zach..
If this is an art game, it should be judged as both a game and a piece of art. It seems pretty poor as either.
If it’s just a concept game, well then… there it is, maybe kinda clever. That’s all it is. But the second the author injected any sort of “message” into it… LAME.
Ateam is making me laugh.
LOL at Ateam!! You are a genius, sir.
LOL at Ateam!! You are a genius, sir.
Oh, you silly frontpage you.
@Gutter: Your museum analogy doesn’t work. There’s no fun in not looking at the paintings. There’s potential fun in dodging aliens.
Come up with a working analogy. Until then, shut up.
Your analogy doesn’t work because I enjoy the finer things of games like the ability to move things on screen and move away from things moving on screen. I’m so deep and artistic it hurts.
Actually you’re wrong Dusty Spur, you freaking boring lifeless lamer. Why don’t you actually try it before you knock it? I love seeing how many things I can avoid looking at, it’s a really good activity to try. You’ll be surprised just how challenging and, yes, even how fun it is. Especially in places with a lot of things that catch your attention like large cities at night with neon signs, etc. You know what. Forget it, I guess you’re too closed minded to understand and would rather act like you’re right when you clearly are not.
This game reminds me of my real life, you realize I have to make these choices every day?
A good practical example of how you can take a throwaway joke too far. “Let’s make a game where for every enemy you kill, it deletes a file!” is a funny comment. Actually doing it, and putting up a link to it, even if it doesn’t actually do it, is idiocy.
Do we really need this garbage on the front page?
Now I’m off to leave a handgun in a kindergarten for the sense of importance this “artistic expression” gives me.
Anyone want any of my tasty cyanide cookies? They kill you stone dead if you eat them. It’s my allegory on weight gain.
Kid got hit by a rally car here the other day. She died. Fun and games; real life consequences … art.
Why do we assume that because we are awarded for driving like way fast, that doing so is right?
(Don’t answer that! It only sounds profound if no one answers!)
It’s actually a pretty run of the mill shooter anyway.
Why would I play this and not something more fun and less likely to destroy all the stuff I work on?
Obviously the artist succeeded in that he’s gotten all this attention - 160 comments, entire threads in other places.
Imagine for a moment that you have a sick windows box on your hands. It refuses to behave. It won’t connect to the internet. IE is hoplessly screwed up. It’s infested with malware, spyware, and fourteen toolbars. It only runs under safe mode.
You just lost 4 hours of your life to diagnosing that it is hopeless, and all is lost. There is only one thing left to do before you reformat:
You play this game and show that sorry excuse for an operatings system who’s boss.
so, who as actually played this game? anyone? no? do we have any masochists, any obsessors? any people willing to go out and buy a computer/hardrive/whatever you need to play this game without consequences? apparently you’d need a mac.
Is is entertaining to watch people shout with glee that the one who concieved of this entire thing is the new art god. yes, he does have the balls to suggest a game with actual consequences in real life, a notion that has taken the communtity that cares about this by storm. but is that a reflection on him, the audience, or neither? we go into in depth discussion on what the implications of a game like this are, yet when we recieve an email telling us to send it to other people or else face the consequences (YOU WILL HAVE BAD LUCK FOR 1425462346 SECONDS UNLESS YOU FORWARD THIS TO TEN PEOPLE IN TEN MINUTES) we quickly right it off as spam and superstition. we are seeing a continuation of that, the manipulation of your fear and paranoia to gain widespread acceptance. I personally believe that the one who made this up released it to the masses without the idea of metaphor and sophisticated art in mind, contrary to even what he/she will inevitably say after observing the effect it has had.
the gaming community has been duped.
this isn’t even the first example of this. haven’t you got the chain letter about the hallmark virus? I have. twice.
hmm, went to the website. may have spoke a little rashly there. still, not as original as you may think. lot’s o’ guts tho’.
This shouldn’t have to be said really, but just because something generates a long thread on the internet, that does not mean the thing is important, and it is not proof that something succeeds as an artwork.
The best thing about this game, and the whole discussion it’s provoked, are Ateam’s comments on the subject. May I add my voice to the load chorus of lols in your direction, sir.
This game is made of FAIL and AIDS
I am afraid that all this game appears to be is empty symbolism. It wants desperately to have meaning, you can see that, but it doesn’t manage to be art, and of course it fails to be a game.
It manages to be irksomely pretentious, though. Huzzah?
I don’t care what you guys think, I like the idea and applaud Zach for making this.
Agreed with AF, and I’ll offer a specific example to back him up. Consider any tragic newsworthy story. It will generate a lot of discussion. That does not make it art. Discussion does not define art.
This is an amazing concept for th’ theme of failure though from reading discussion here an’ elsewhere about it one can’t but help get th’ impression that alot of th’ posters are a very conservative lot with a heap of prejudices against anything that may attempt to challenge or open up thinking about games / or life.
Shame on you, especially th’ guy who reported it to th’ virus site. Might go an’ datascrape all these hilariously paranoid warblings, an’ use them as dialogue in a game about witch-hunts.!
Just as with most of you I don’t like getting virii or having my computer crash, but just recently it did an’ corrupted my Windoes install. I do actually feel better for it now, as I got rid of a heap of clutter an’ fortunately do not miss alot of th’ stuff I had on C:\ drive. Anyway most things are now ubiquitous enough to be in th’ cloud which makes th’ loss more of a time sink than anything else.
-
Again props to Zach for puttin’ his balls out, an’ no props to sundry for being such dick hammers. Get a life, be resilient, look out th’ window, your economy an’ way of life is collapsing all around you, an’ perhaps you haven’t even noticed it yet.!
So much more interesting than another trite pixel art, match 3, achievement over-rewarding, bach playing, quirky piece of 2D fluff methinks. Forza + well done Zach!
– Chuan
And for the inverse…
I painted a picture of a cloud. No one is discussing it. Is it not art now?
This is either extraordinarily dumb, or extraordinarily brilliant (He’s a hacker who wrote a virus that deletes your files.. but you CAUSE the deletion. It’s a virus-maker’s dream!)
”# Rod Humble said about 1 hour later: Brilliant concept. # nukeedit Anthony Flack said about 1 hour later: Yeah, like a song that gives you cancer.” Exactly. And I’m re-downloading FACADE, which is actually an art game, kinda.. at least it’s inspiring and not merely rhetorical.
When the Mayan 2012 Aliens invade, someone should make Enders Game and then we could debate about it.
http://www.djmoonshine.com/Poe/games.html
Jinxtengu did it first, guys.
From reading all the posts on RPS & here, it seems you are a very conservative lot! If anything Zach should be applauded for putting something unique and thoughtful out there; which has obviously stirred the pot and stimulated alot of thinking about games & consequence.
Shame on you, the person who reported it to the anti-virus authorities. Are they not a parasitic industry itself? Fact is much like the pharmaceutical industry we don’t need constant updates of virus scanners, just one which has decent updates.
To get back on topic, art is not agreeable to everyone. What truly good art does though is at least encapsulate some of the concerns of the time. This happened with Cubism, and then Dada-ism [ see: Duchamp’s urinal ] as a response to where art & meaning was for them in their milieu. While that was shocking then and would have provoked much the same outrage, it seems we can accept his urinal now in light of pop culture and our developed sense of irony.!
At least Lose / Lose attempts to speak about something important beyond re-hashing the same ideas and hoping to be liked as a safe, cute representation of ‘retro’. It brings to focus all this preciousness at a time in history when all that is about to change. Well done.
I laughed at the post above me. It’s just another poorly conveyed an generic message made to get attention.
Else, post 170, has a good point. Why do people automatically consider something controversial to be something of value?
For a fun meta-game with more than one invention, players should try Jesse Venbrux’ Karoshi 2.0.
SPOILER: put an audio CD in your disc drive to pass one level.
As opposed to your nugget of recursive shite?
Jamal: the value is not in just being controversial, but that it offers up a different sensation of risk vs. reward that’s exhilarating for some. You can be all smug about it an’ retreat to your Huizinga beside your leather sofa, but that too has become a tired cliche.
Why do people seek to be instantly critical & attempt to shut down things which actually open up thoughts? Yes, we can be smarter than th’ next guy but so what – what’s th’ takeaway apart from temporarily sating some superiority complex?
Really, you think this is an idea that’s going somewhere promising?
Russian roulette also fits the description “a different sensation of risk vs. reward that’s exhilarating for some”. That doesn’t make it good.
Martial arts master Bruce Lee once said, paraphrased here: “Rejection of the classical method as a reaction, also leads one into a trap.”
Consider the classic Hitchcock film Psycho. It is an engaging film due to its brilliant direction, inventions in sound and film techniques, and inspired performances by Perkins and Leigh. It is NOT (spoilers) because the star was killed midway through the film. Were it not for such an engaging story, this event could be considered a gimmick.
In lose/lose, the gimmick – of destoying real files – is (more or less) the game.
Yeah man, perhaps comparing lose/lose to Karoshi or classical films is a bit of apples and oranges, but do you see the point I’m trying to get at here? Thwarting game conventions in itself does not make a game good. Give me a good Cactus shooter anyday, such as Minubeat, where fun and detailed gameplay transcends the “high concept”.
CT, I am tempted to ask what a Huizinga actually is. Until then, I’ll be content to simply rest smugly on the leather sofa next to it. :P
This isn’t a ‘new and original concept’, this has been done many times before. There’s a very small community of people that like playing ‘games with real consequences’ because it makes them feel they’re playing for something I guess.
Normally it’s just if you lose files get deleted though, I believe. Nevertheless, even if it was ‘original’, not every concept should be praised just because they’re original. It’s a pathetic concept.
I think the most interesting thing out of this is the reaction. It’s shows that people who engage in destructive tendencies and hypocritically preach against destruction are disliked by society.
It also shows that none of us would touch it and all of us strongly discourage such ‘games’ and ‘works of art’ in the future.
Perhaps I would have been tempted to make a game such as this; an epic trolling attempt. But thank you, Zach Gage, for taking that urge out from me.
Sure this game is total shit, has no profound artistic meaning, and isn’t even the first of its kind.
However, I think we can all get behind it deleting itself – all pretentious art games need this feature.
cheers to mr nobody for finding the silver lining!
i think most people would have no qualms with the game were it not for the self-important commentary by the author: “By way of exploring what it means to kill in a video-game, Lose/Lose broaches bigger questions.”
but is he not well-meaning? the whole “it’s a virus/malware” escapade was a bit extreme reaction; the author plainly states the game’s function.
on the contrary, i’m glad that lots of people found some use for lose/lose, even if that use is getting revenge on old computers!