I’ve been a fan of Nicky Case’s work for awhile, especially his Parable of the Polygons and Neurotic Neurons projects. His most recent work, “We Become What We Behold“, is the latest addition to his thoughtful and entertaining online collection.
The “game” is described as being about “news cycles, vicious cycles, infinite cycles.” To me, it’s an inspiring example of intentional…I might even say “activist”…web-based art, especially given the outcome of the recent national election and thinking about the media’s role in feeding fears and influencing voters’ choices. I initially felt that Case was being too extreme in the portrayal of media sensationalism, but his blog post about this project sheds a bit more light on where he’s coming from. He describes how his fellowship with the PBS program Frontline provided him with a deeper perspective on the lure of “clickbait” and how journalists struggle with it – the sensationalist stories end up getting the most attention from the general public. Even if you don’t agree with his viewpoint about “the media”, the experience of the game provides an interesting catalyst for conversations about the the effect of these cycles on our society and culture. It’s also great that Case has made the code for this (and his other projects) openly available for other developers to play with and freely remix.