« We (HEART) Jamie (4-EVAH) | Main | Foreshadowing from the Kane Club? »
November 17, 2005
All Jamie All The Time
So, the Jamie Kane game just keeps on going and going. Here are some preliminary reflections (spoiler-free, of course) on the game so far.
First -- if you're playing the game and one of the fan club members asks you to make international phone calls to further the plot... DON'T DO IT! The game was produced by the BBC, and is strongly Euro-centric. For most of us, cell-phoning Bombay (not a real call destination... so far...) would be prohibitively expensive. Just tell your chat-partner that you can't make the call, and he or she will do it for you and post the results on the message board.
This strikes me as a real problem for the game. The immersive possibilities raised by being able to call these numbers seems great. How much more difficult would it be to set up US-available toll-free numbers to call? The game knows where we're located (via the first chat), so switching the phone numbers based on the locale of the player isn't an impossible task...
Second, we finally got a rundown of suspects. The mystery aspects of this game really started to come together, and in a surprisingly natural way. Instead of a "You're probably wondering why I've brought you all together" scene, we get a much more organic developing list of possible villains. Bravo to the writers!
Third, I don't read a lot of message boards, but those I do read are most definitely *not* populated with people who post like this:
im stil totaly gobsmaked guys!!!!!!! cdnt zzzzzzz a wink coz of piccy. Is it J???????? + if it is who woz the J in Helickopter? was the krash reely an "acksident"?? + now wot r we gona do????????????????????????????? aaaaaaaaaagggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!*
Granted the poster in question is "13," but still.
Fourth, it's a little surprising how many of the "tasks" set for us involve "hacking" into computer systems. I suppose it makes sense -- after all, we're really telecommuting to our virtual Jamie Kane Klub House, so the things we're able to do all have to be tele-present, too. However, I just can't shake the suspicion that I'm really part of a massive teen-girl version of Cory Doctorow's "Anda's Game" (which you should go read if you have not already), and which is itself a teen-girl version of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.
Fifth, I kinda like the antagonistic vibe on the message board. So far, I've been visually described variously as...
and as...
I like that. I am a boy wonder (as far as the people on the message board are concerned, I am a m4st3r 1337 h4xx0r**) and I'm also invisible (I'm the only member of the fan club without a picture or member page). Clever.
But what helpful thing have you female Kane-heads been compared to?
More reflections to come.
* Translation: Friends, I am still rather upset [over these recent developments]! I could not sleep a wink after seeing that picture. Is it Jamie? And if it is Jamie, then who was the "Jamie" in the helicopter [which crashed]? Furthermore, was the crash really an "accident"? I am now left even more disturbed and concerned than before! Heavens!
** Translation: an elite master [computer] hacker.
Posted by reparent at November 17, 2005 1:45 PM
Comments
I'm afraid I'm not in a position to offer you the sort of substantive feedback you're seeking, as I'm not currently active in the Jamie Kane experience.
Nevertheless, I did want to respond to your fourth and fifth reflections, not necessarily in that order.
In my humble opinion, being compared to Robin or to the Invisible Man is not flattering. I will grant you, however, that since many of us now associate Robin with Chris O'Donnell, you could do a lot worse than be compared to dream boy.
My reaction to your fourth observation is that I'm tired of all the movies and television shows depicting young-ish people HACKING WITH EASE into every top secret and/or pay-per-view database on the planet. It wasn't enough that, as a kid, I was asked to believe that in the future world of Star Trek it was possible for all computers manufactured throughout the KNOWN UNIVERSE to interconnect and to readily share date (or steal data, as the case may be), even though I could never seem to get my own home computer to recognize any software package that wasn't specifically designed for it.
Now I'm supposed to believe that juveniles -- specifically including a high school newspaper reporter in Smallville -- are either born with or develop with amazing speed the ability to sneak a peek at CIA files, NSA files, and the secure files of evil mega-corporations.
Oh, puh-leeez!
Posted by: coeurlion at November 17, 2005 5:12 PM