Disaffected: The anti-advergame satire
by Blake Snow 
{ Jan 17th 2006 at 1:30PM }
Disaffected, a free downloadable
game created by a Georgia Tech assistant professor, is an anti-Kinko's game that allows players to fill the shoes
of virtual Kinko's employees. Where advergaming is
funded by companies who pay to have their products featured in a game, Disaffected intends to criticize Kinko's commercial service free of charge. From the article:
"What Bogost hopes to inspire now is a subcategory that he calls 'anti-advergaming.' Such games, like 'Disaffected!' would stand apart from the many Internet pop-up... Web site... [and
video] games that are actually designed to sell everything from airline tickets and iPods to movies and beer."Anti-advergamer's, rejoice! You now have a consumer tool to combat in-game ads.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zher0 @ Jan 17th 2006 1:49PM
I actually created a flash-based game that had the same concept. I didn't come up with a name as cool as 'anti-advergaming', though.
http://www.shawnmcgough.com/index.cgi?article=24
GTgamer @ Jan 17th 2006 1:54PM
Georgia Tech representing. Actually, I think I recall seeing Bogost being interviewed on the Science channel once. A lot of the political games seemed kind of simple/hackish (both in presentation/meaning...I think they're collaborations with the LCC department), but this one at least seems to be pretty funny. I'm going to have to check it out when I get home.
Glenn @ Jan 17th 2006 11:16PM
Of course, this is just an advertisement for a point of view...
Franklin @ Jan 17th 2006 11:50PM
Actually, I question whether this game makes Fedex Kinkos look bad overall. I found myself rather enjoying playing this game. It made me appreciate what their employees must go through. Several times I've been in a Kinkos and witnessed them becoming overwhelmed with cranky customers, simply because there was a mad rush. Maybe Fedex Kinkos won't send a cease-and-desist to this game's developer (to remove its company logos from it). The game almost comes across as a fun employee recruitment adver-game for the company.
I'd like to see them make a similar game based on being a Starbucks barista.