Keep Me Occupied: the unofficial video game of the Occupy movement

[Ohio Joe]

Hundreds of participants of the Occupy Oakland movement gathered for their "Move-In Day," an event that proposed to transform an abandoned building into a social center and makeshift headquarters for the Occupy movement. They would have to bring furniture, office equipment, food, lighting, etc. But Anna Anthropy, Alex Kerfoot, and Mars Jokela had another idea: the movement needed a video game.

That's what led to the creation of Keep Me Occupied, a co-op arcade game designed to show off the value of working together.


The game is relatively simple. Two players must try to go as high as they can within a sixty second timeframe. There are gates along the way which can only be opened through cooperation. After sixty seconds, each player leaves a ghost behind to occupy the last gate touched, holding it open for future players. "So every player who plays, no matter how unskilled, contributes to the collective success of all players."

You can try Keep Me Occupied for yourself. It's a free download for Windows and Mac OS X

http://www.shacknews.com/article/72929/keep-me-occupied-the-unofficial-video-game-of-the-occupy

Also, link to download the game:

http://auntiepixelante.com/keepmeoccupied/

[Voice for Peace]

1. I'm a bit uneasy about downloading a game designed to attract Occupiers who use computers.

Seems like it would be too easy a way to spy on them.

[Leopolds Ghost]

2. Perhaps some tech persons can test it out and put up a trusted download

On a blog devoted to computer security and open source activism issues.

[Leopolds Ghost]

3. But then it's a matter of trust (and hence cooperation) right? How ironic

How do we reconcile the DIY ethos an open source cooperation needed to build an alternative to corporate-capitalism,

with the security culture needed to hamstring disruptors? There ARE security culture methods for open source
cooperation that minimize the effectiveness of disruptors, that's one of the values of consensus, for instance.

My other concern is that Occupy not become narrowly focused on lifestyle left issues. I'm seeing lots of actions geared to "historically marginalized groups" (sex workers, pot smokers, what have you) and while we should be justly angered at the treatment of marginalized groups, the only way to un-marginalize them is to stop singling people out for victimology. We need to maintain the 99%. At least in the context of Occupy. JMNSHO

[Ohio Joe]

5. A little paranoia when online is fine...

However, being paranoid and not educating and protecting yourself from your fears is plain silly.

1 - Get some anti-virus software. There are many fine ones to choose from, I like Avast.

2 - Get a good mal-ware scanner. Again, there are many fine ones available, I like Malwarebytes.

It is important to keep them both updated, updates happen all the time and the software will prompt you to update it. With these basic safety precautions you will be protected and know if your computer tries to send or receive unknown data.

or... You could simply remain afraid to download anything because it might be someone spying on you.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

6. The first thing people who create malware do

is test to see if they'll be detected by malware programs.

I'm usually against excessive paranoia as well, but I think a little paranoia is warranted when it comes to protest movements.

[Voice for Peace]

7. thanks - no I'm not afraid of downloading in general

but it seems too easy a way
for authorities who are not OWS supporters
to gather information about OWS people
and distract them online with a game, to boot

[Zalatix]

4. I can just see a Freeper reacting to this game now.

" Cooperation? Nooooooo! What ever happened to every capitalist for himself? The communists, they're coming to get me! I can already taste the granola bars in my mouth and I hear they're selling Birkenstocks next door and OH GOD A PRIUS JUST DROVE BY!!! It's an invasion everybody run!!! Everyone run to the Rush Roo-er, NOOOOO Rush has been taken off the air! We're DOOMED OMFG!!"