Trail of Breadcrumbs 2: Trust!

Is it the subject matter? Is it the execution? Either way, this thing grabbed me.

Global Gathering have found an interesting way to reveal their lineup this year. Why should this even be an issue?

The truth lies in what it means to host an event. There is nothing, absolutely nothing to draw anyone to a music event, other than who is going to be there and the inpalpable nature of the crowd. The second one is your emotional draw, and is a branding job. The lineup, though. That's your meat. How to take the lid off the silver platter?

Most events have a fairly standard procedure for doing so - reveal most of the 'good' acts before sale date, and allow speculation and fever to build up around the identity of the headliners (promoters' note: this may very well be because the headliner hasn't confirmed, but that's another story). So it's a system of withheld information. But if this is only an strategy of patience, well, how is that interesting?

So GG wove the possibilities of interaction into it. Basically you drive the car, and every checkpoint reveals the identity of another headliner. That also gives you a little extra time, as does picking up fuel. Avoid cars and potholes.



The game is eminently playable. It has 4 buttons and 3 elements - not far from 'AVOID MISSING BALL FOR HIGH SCORE' (thanks Pong). You only go forward. The artists are not revealed in order of 'importance' so there's always motivation to keep trying - and yeah, I left unsatisfied with plenty left to uncover. I did discover the identity of a certain out-of-retirement duo that will guarantee I go, though.

It's simple, playable, and shareable. And there's a hell of a lot of bravery involved here. When was the last time you trusted consumers to use their skill to 'get' a piece of comms, let alone their intelligence>

Good job, Global Gathering!

P.S. I got 30th. Though that's certainly gone down by the time of post...

(written Sat Apr 1, 2006, sent Mon Dec 25, 2006)

http://www.futureme.org

That website where you can write yourself a message, and it'll send it back to you at a time of your choosing. Some use it for goal-setting, some as the ultimate confessional. The first random one I clicked on today was a little of both.

§

Dear FutureMe,

I hope this Christmas is better than all the ones you have had since you went crazy.

That is, I hope this is the first good Christmas in six years of shitty ones.

I hope you get some money, or maybe even a nice comfy duvet for your house that you SHOULD BE LIVING IN WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND BY NOW.

If you ruined that... I apologise.

But I still hope you get a nice puffy duvet.

I hope mum is nice to you and I hope there isn't a family dinner for the siblings to take as an opportunity to pick on you. If there is I suggest you disappear without notice because you and I both know it will only end up making you feel crap. Like last Christmas.

And the one before that.

Etc etc etc etc right back until you were a pubescent blank slate.

Whatever you do, don't go to K-Fry. Because K-Fry on Christmas day is surely the beginning of the slow, painful end. Have a good Christmas night. Say goodbye to 2006 in a smashing way on New Year's Eve. Get horribly drunk and take some uppers. Make a fool of yourself. Hug strangers and throw rocks at passing police cars. Hump your friends on the corner of the street. Eat greasy drunk food. Sleep.

Give Briar a kiss for me. If she's not around, cut yourself like an angsty little emo kid for me. You know you want to ;)

Love always,

Your depressingly cynical, bitter and twisted 18 year old self.

§

One of the purest slices of the human condition you can get? Or is it written to be read? The language suggests not - after all, there's plenty that's left unexplained. What happened 'last Christmas'? Why should one avoid the dreaded K-Fry? Or is this stuff filtered through layers of teen angst, what the media tells us we should be aspiring to? It's all very well to appreciate the idea of stranger-hugging, but who's set that agenda? So many questions, and only these shards of writing to offer any light. What will the historians of 2100 make of these?

Whoever you are or were, FutureYou, I hope you had that Christmas you were hoping for.