There are many fascinating things about The ESP Game-- how it uses a game structure to construct an index of images on the web, what words become taboo from frequent use, how utterly uninteresting most of the images pulled randomly from the web really are. But by far the most intriguing aspect of the game is how often your random, unknown partner is a complete idiot. Like when a picture shows a large mountain in the background, and your partner never says MOUNTAIN. And worse, he asks to pass and move on to the next picture! Here's one that just happened to me-- the game actually gave us the same picture twice in a row, but the 2nd version was smaller and had fewer taboo words. The obvious thing, which I did, would be to type in the same answer we just matched on. But my partner didn't.
The unrelenting anonymity means there's no catharsis when it's all over, no way to yell at your partner and ask what the heck they were thinking when they passed on such a no-brainer. And yet that element of frustration makes the thing oddly compelling. I find myself actually hoping for an "idiot" on the other end of the line-- someone on such a completely different wavelength that I have to step outside of myself to get a match.
Posted by Peter at January 20, 2004 4:40 PMif that was you that i was just teamed with, congratulations. if you were the guy before then you are an idiot!
Posted by: dana on January 20, 2004 10:30 PM