Times Square tourists learn that it's "Cruel 2 B Kind"
by Scott Jon Siegel 
{ Sep 26th 2006 at 12:12PM }
When the masterminds behind I love bees and Disaffected! band together to design a game, you know it's going to be good. This past weekend, Jane McGonigal (42 Entertainment) and Ian Bogost (Persuasive Games) premiered Cruel 2 B Kind, a self-described game of "benevolent assassination," during the Come Out & Play Festival in New York. And according to players, it made for a chaotic--yet oddly convivial--Saturday afternoon in Times Square. In the tradition of street games like Assassin, Cruel 2 B Kind pits players in a "kill or be killed" scenario. Unlike Assassin, however, your weapons and weaknesses are not super soakers or water balloons, but random acts of kindness. Dennis Crowley, founder of dodgeball.com, was one of over 100 players signed up to participate. At the start of the game, Dennis and his teammate received a text message with their weapon, "spectacular day!" and their weakness, which was "to be cheered on in a big way." Teams aren't told who their targets are - only that they will react to a particular act if it's their weakness.
Because the game is set in Times Square, players can have a difficult time telling the difference between tourists and targets. "The area is filled with tourists with maps," Dennis says, "and players holding [game] directions... It's very hard to tell the two apart, so you get a lot of us yelling 'have a spectacular day!' at tourists who look at you and are like, 'um, ok...'"
When a team successfully assassinates their target, the losing team gets incorporated into the winning team, and the group must work together to hunt down the remaining players in order to win. After 25 minutes of playing, Dennis's initial team of two had expanded to 20+ people. This was a mixed bag for the players, however, who felt as though they were losing interest in playing when they were part of a larger team. Still, with larger groups forming towards the end, the game became an enjoyable spectacle, if not an entirely fun play experience: "It was really interesting to see non-players reacting to a group of 20 yelling 'keep on trucking!!!' to another group of 20 across the street who then reply 'you're too kind!!!' in unison."
Jane McGonigal and Ian Bogost have designed Cruel 2 B Kind to be played anywhere, and hosted by anyone. An application for hosting can be found on the game's official site.
See Also:
SnagU impresses NYC crowds with addictive gameplay
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
everythingyellow @ Sep 26th 2006 12:47PM
That sounds so funny. I would be so confused if I saw groups of people yelling words of encouragement across the street in unison. I would suspect a cult meeting before a street game.
IslandLife @ Sep 26th 2006 12:51PM
This really must be a slow news day.
Do better Joystiq. Do...better.
omg @ Sep 26th 2006 1:03PM
Shut up Island Life, its game related and its interesting. Get a life and quit whining.
benjamin @ Sep 26th 2006 1:12PM
Ouendan!!! Oh, wait, that's Nintendo.
Jeff @ Sep 26th 2006 1:19PM
"I would be so confused if I saw groups of people yelling words of encouragement across the street in unison."
Except that this is New York; I see stranger things than this every time I look out my window.
In fact, I've noticed nothing out of the ordinary in Times Square at all (I work there/here). Seems like a pretty dumb place to set this game, though. Times Square is not a place any actual New Yorker goes if they aren't absolutely forced to, because it's probably one of the most annoying spots in the city. Just jammed with people, none of whom know where they're going or seem to have any inclination to ever actually get there. Hundreds of thousands of tourists just standing around gumming up the sidewalks.
(Note that I have nothing against tourists, I just wouldn't have any desire to play a game in the middle of the busiest tourist area in the city.)
brandon @ Sep 26th 2006 1:26PM
ummm dont tell them to shut up its dumbest dam thing ive ever seen for news so y dont you quit being a fanboy and shut the fuck up and quit whining
Riggy @ Sep 26th 2006 1:43PM
Gee....thanks for the fantastic comment Brandon.
Anyways, that sounds pretty cool. Rock on Joystiq!
x876543 @ Sep 26th 2006 1:34PM
Actually a few of my friends played it on Saturday. The game was ok. They said it was fun early in the game cause you text message a number that you are in the game boundaries and they message you a code, your weapon, and your weakness. Some people disguised themselves as tourists or as bums etc. but when the groups got larger that's when it got cumbersome. I guess they need to tweak it a bit so that you don't have huge herds of people roaming everywhere.
I played thegogame.com on Sunday with some people and it was pretty fun. The pictures (not posted yet), were freaking great! People imaginations at thier best and worst :)
_habit_ @ Sep 26th 2006 1:44PM
That sounds like so much fun :(
Trauts @ Sep 26th 2006 4:14PM
haha, that's amazing! That'd be so fun / random. The reactions of non-players would be perfect.
And to people saying "Joystiq can do better"... YOU can do better. Articles like this are what sets Joystiq apart - it's a slightly broader range of topics. It's not Joystiq's fault if there isn't much going on in gaming on a specific day.. but they're still going out and finding gaming articles. For that, Joystiq gets +1 awesomeness.
Nathan M @ Sep 26th 2006 4:53PM
Ha, this looks awesome. I would so love to play that.
Oh, and I'd like to quote reader rabbit: "It must be a slow reader day." :P