ConcreteWebpropertyWHW
What
When people look at the game they will immediately recognize Monopoly. However there is something strange going on. The streets don't represent streets in Atlantis or any other city in the world. Instead they portray internet platforms like Facebook, Hotmail, Youtube and Twitter. When you buy part of a set you actually buy share from these web services and although you can't buy houses or hotels you're able to buy investments in ad and tracking technology. The “change” and “community chest” cards tell stories about how social media are leaking data about their users and how they are affected by this.
The game exists in two forms. The first is an actual organic game, which has been completely altered to depict a different capitalist world we are used to play with when playing Monopoly, as described above. Another form is a digital form that will be played online. A possible mix of these forms may exist as a performance where I move the pieces by hand as others watch on a distant. These turns are not taken instantly, but as with the abstract version only occur two or three times a week.
How
For now I limit my description of how to: a table that states how each element in the original Monopoly game will get restyled to fit the new game reality I want to create.
| Monopoly | WWWonopoly |
|---|---|
| Change cards | Messages about data leaks |
| Community chest cards | Messages about data leaks |
| Landing on electricity and water company | Draw a change or public fond card |
| Buying/landing on/trading a street | Buying/landing on/trading shares of a platform |
| Completing streets of a color | Owning a platform |
| Buying houses | Investing in ad and track technology
(or buying servers!) |
| Buying hotels | Investing in ad and track technology
(or buying a data centre!) |
| Buying/landing on a railway station | Buying/landing on an internet provider |
| Get salary | Get salary |
| Go to prison | Go to prison |
| Pay taxes | Only two things are sure in life: death and ... ;) |
| Free parking | Free peer-to-peer downloads |
| Take a mortgage on property | ? |
A few rules that are nice to add here:
- There is no such thing as the free p2p download jackpot (as the game would last forever)
- Each player begins with two randomly assigned properties for which they must pay (to speed up play)
- A game will last X number of turns
Why
It lies in our nature that we can't assert risks very well. A lot of people like social media, but very few seem to be aware what the risks of them are. By allowing players to take the perspective of a “system agent”, meaning somebody with power over the functioning of the social media system, the players get a bird view of what is happening. From this perspective the players are more likely to get aware of risks than when they are “in” the system with a frog like perspective. It would be good if by playing the game and reading the bits of text and articles that are attached to each game message, the player gets a better sense of how social media function and where the vulnerabilities of the system lie. Any system can get played, but it’s important that users don’t become victims because of that. By informing users in this somewhat playful manner an early warning could prevent harm.