Thoughtcrime could be double plus good

Thoughtcrime is a student project which aims to bring Orwell's 1984 into a literary virtual world:

Thoughtcrime is a literary game designed for use in secondary literature classes reading the novel 1984. Played in a virtual world that brings the totalitarian regime of Big Brother to life, Thoughtcrime pits players against each other in a subtle struggle for survival.

Thoughtcrime may be played with small or large classes, from school or home computers with Internet connections. Played over the Web in real time, a game of Thoughtcrime may begin at school but extend well beyond school hours. The game is currently being played in the Secondary Worlds MOO.

-- Thoughtcrime website

Pretty neat idea. Again, it's a reminder that as graphics have become more powerful game have become more cinematic ... and yet less literary in nature. Not everything that is possible with text is possible with a renderer. I'm not sure what kind of compelling gameplay would be needed to bring players into a textual world, but it would be interesting to see.


tagged: game, gaming