Play Deadly 7
Ever felt like you’re better than someone else?
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You’re in a house comprised of 8 rooms. In each of the rooms there is a character. In all but one. Each of these character’s represents one of the 7 deadly sins. To advance in the game you are required to go through every room of the game. To get from one room to the next you must push each character to its extreme in the sin it represents. This death is slow. They cry for your help. This death is forced. This death is your doing. Your fault. Think you can make it to the last room?
-think you know what’s waiting? cause you really don’t...
Will you choose the path of sinners.... In opposition to many commercial games, Play Deadly 7 is meant to
make the player feel helpless and out of power. Despite the main act being killing, this is a killing that is not a pointless blasting of guns but an intimate and sorrowful act. It is one of the few interaction modes offered to the player and the character can only die by the sin it represents. Each sin is a painful indulgence rendering the killing as a forced act; seeing as the only way to get out of forcing the character to it’s death, is for the player to fall for the sin him/herself and by that killing off his own character to save just one.
or the path of saints....?
Lust Lust is described as an inordinate craving from the pleasures of the body. In PlayDeadly7, Lust is presented as a room with women hung in chains or leather bands. This is to portray the objectification of the female body as an erotic instrument, where they can be used in whichever way pleases the dominator.
Envy Envy is considered to be the desire for others’ traits, status, abilities or situation. Here, envy is presented as a personification of societies youth obsession. Envy is an older woman looking longingly at the females that are hung from the ceiling of Lust, as they are young and beautiful. Envy’s desire to be young and beautiful drives her to obsessively seek the right formula for youth in her laboratory.
Gluttony Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires. Obesity is one of societies modern problems; gluttony in the form of over consumption of food has become a common problem. We are getting bigger and bigger and our health is rapidly failing. The population has never been as overweight as in present day, due to over consumption and lack of physical work. Here, gluttony will be represented as an obese character that, because of his weight cannot be moved from the bed he is lying in, but continuously asks for more to eat.
Greed Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual34. This is a very common issue in modern society and can be seen in people’s strong desire for material possessions, which reaches far beyond necessity. In this game greed will be represented as a thief, as character that cannot get enough of material things no matter the cost of others.
Sloth Sloth is described as the avoidance of physical or spiritual works in some cases but can also be considered as mere laziness or unwillingness of putting effort into ones doings. Sloth is represented as the highly digital individual. As a character that sits in front of his computer, all day every day and does all his acts from there. He lives, plays, shops and works online. An individual who cannot even be bothered to care for his personal hygiene.
Pride Pride is excessive belief in one’s own abilities or can also be defined as vanity. Vanity is a very common factor seen in modern society for example in beauty contests. In this game vanity will be represented as a character that has had extensive surgical beauty treatments has been stretched and stitched and filled with substances such as silicone.
Wrath Wrath manifests itself in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. Wrath is something that has always been an issue in society and in the world in general. Wrath can for example be seen explicitly in racism. In the game wrath is posed as a criticism on Muslim honor killings, which are punitive murders committed by, usually, male members of a family against a female member of the family that has been thought (by the family or a wider community) to bring dishonor upon the family often (in Danish society) by pairing up romantically with a male of a different race and/or religion.
Play Deadly 7 is founded on the game model1, represented on the opposite page. This game model is specifically created with alternative game design in mind with a focus on aesthetic and rhetoric qualities in game design. These are elements that should follow the game from the very stages of the creation until its launch, from the launch to the player and it should stay with the player after the game as an off-gaming reflection. If you are interested in learning more about this model, please contact me at: iam@iamfigurine.com
1 Alternative Game Design - the art game genre Ágústa Magnúsdóttir 2008
Alternative game design model © Ágústa Magnúsdóttir