Pastiche of Life

Lose/Lose Is a game, this is obvious but the point it’s creator makes is that it is a interactive question or at least the opening point of discussion into the value of data and the consequences of virtual actions.

Of course the question has been asked before but with a different hook, How can previously made data be included or added in a new organisational system?
In previous titles the process created new values from the previously existing data be it music/software or the simple barcode (Vib ribbon/Monster Rancher/Barcode Battler) this creation of secondary value was the process of adding or making other data inclusive with new meaning, It is a positive process of creation, a reflection of Growth and nurturing games. This process is reversed in the creation Of Lose/Lose as data becomes the target of deletion with the destruction of each Alien invader. In doing so brings to question the environment of the consistently aggressive action that online shooters inhabit. We begin to ask are the attributed kills in a Death match worth anything? was this existential question one of the reasons we see RPG elements are a growing importance in our FPS Shooters especially in online play?

The clever construction of the game with the passivity of the alien’s creates a vacuum of purpose for the ship the player controls with its own weapons. In taking the aggressive stance we now dam ourselves to critical losses while this may seem like inherent pacifism we don’t get hammered over the head with morality we simply begin to equate how much the individual is willing to expend on a simple task.
the creator said himself

"Why do we assume that because we are given a weapon an awarded for using it, that doing so is right?"

in asking this we make a split decision as to what is valued most and in what situation can it be considered acceptable losses. As the already apparent competitiveness of the scoreboard attests you can in fact not just lose to the game but lose to other players willing to expend data and time. To otherwise lose to the game and let it delete itself we are not even relieved of our consequence as the game self destructs. Metaphorically we do only have one life to make the decision.

There have been shooters in the past that use content from the users hard drive to inform or Propagate fields of view like using video files as a wall panel or using Image files as a level wall texture either directed by the user themselves in user create maps but also uncommonly by the games process, A single example where the games name escapes me was a descent like shooter that let to the player act as the computers antivirus using directed folders of data/pictures/video that created the additional background content of the level while you exterminated the viri. The other side of this coin was consternation of people playing the game and minor sensationalist reports of the game being a virus in reality. This has come true for LOSE/Lose as Symantec Lists the game as Low threat Trojan

The Creation of LOSE/LOSE is an elegant reminder of the existential problems of playing a game and divorcing it from the consequences of actions. It Informs and elucidates the argument for creative and expressive games without even attempting and if you have a few MB to lose of data and you don’t really mind I’d recommend you give it a try. The action of deleting your own data can in truth be fun and more terrifying than most survival Horror.

Joystiq – deletes files as you play

LOSE/LOSE – Original Site