LibÈration :†In Memoriam au-del‡ du virtuel is a review/comment by Bruno Icher in Liberation.fr about the game In Memoriam from Lexis NumÈrique. The review is of a game that includes fictional news in LibÈration – Recherche (you have to search for “Jack Lorski” to get these stories.)
Let me scribe the circle: a newspaper review of a game that relies partly on fictional news placed on the same real newspaper Web site – news of a game of news. Bruno is aware of the questions this raises, here are the questions he asks of this ludic circularity,
Il y a presque deux ans, Eric Viennot a souhaitÈ impliquer liberation.fr dans cette aventure. Si nous avons acceptÈ, c’est qu’on avait envie de jouer. Un faux site Web est-il possible ? Que croire de ce que l’on peut y lire, Ècouter, voir ? Voil‡ pourquoi quatre pages du site de LibÈration font partie intÈgrante d’In Memoriam.
I think “faux Web site”, even in English, describes such a phenomenon, and yes it’s possible if we can tell the difference. What Bruno doesn’t ask about is the advertising on the faux and real pages – are they for real? Is this a way for news sites to draw eyeballs to sell ads? Is it unethical for a news site to do this? Can we agree on a disclaimer that doesn’t ruin the game?
For an English review of the English version of the game with the title In Memoriam see, “Missing: Since January” a strange slightly spooky journey by Neil Davidson, Canadian Press, July 20, 2004.
The game, which I haven’t played in either French or English version, has apparently been a hit in Europe. It is a successful working out of an experiment that Electronic Arts failed at with Majestic which was terminated in 2001. See Can PC gamers handle innovation – Dec. 19, 2001 by Chris Morris in CNN Money.
Engines that can manage such chat/mail/faux Web games could have research/education applications. Suppose a course was designed as such a complex treasure hunt.
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