QAnon resembles the games I design. But for believers, there is no winning.
QAnon resembles the games I design. But for believers, there is no winning.
QAnon resembles the games I design. But for believers, there is no winning.
By Reed Berkowitz
May 11, 2021
Summary
I work in a very small niche: I create and research games intended to be played in reality - stories and games designed to come to life around the players, using the real world as the backdrop.
The games I design entice players through clever rabbit holes found in the real world that start them searching for answers - maybe something written on a billboard, seen at a rally or printed on a flier.
The similarities are so striking that QAnon has sometimes been referred to as a live-action role playing or an ARG. But QAnon is the reflection of a game in a mirror: It looks like one, but inverted.
In one of my earliest games, the plot led investigators into a creepy basement to look for a clue.
Games can easily go off the rails - because there are rails.
In a well-designed game, players arrive at the intended epiphany, the puzzle is solved, new content is revealed, and the plot moves forward.
In a real game - or real life - it's hard to solve puzzles.
The most important difference between QAnon and real games is that Q claims it's not a game at all.
You can't play a game if you don't know you're playing one.
Just like in a real game, the players came with their cellphones turned on, taking pictures and streaming video to record the big event.
Reference
Berkowitz, R. (2021, May 11). Perspective | qanon resembles the games i design. but for believers, there is no winning. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/qanon-game-plays-believers/2021/05/10/31d8ea46-928b-11eb-a74e-1f4cf89fd948_story.html