Monday, September 16, 2013

Twitter vs Zombies 3: #safezones and #zapbites and #brains, Oh My.

Any readers of this blog are already familiar with #TvsZ - I've participated in two iterations
already, and each time I've had a blast and met great people. This weekend, I've been involved in Round 3... and while RL has meant that my participation has been segmented and unpredictable, I have to say that I'm glad to see the enthusiasm and planning that have made this round more than just a repeat of the past two.

Let's start with the rules. This time around, there've been some creative new parameters to the gameplay, giving unexpected advantages to both humans and zombies alike. By encouraging players to expand their media footprint beyond the single medium of Twitter, rules like #zapbite and #safezone lend further credence to the premise that TvsZ is something a bit beyond a fun flash-mob digital experience (though there's no doubt it's that too) - it's about experiencing and learning digital literacies in some of the most engaging ways imaginable. :-)

Hand-in-hand with the ever-developing ruleset, though, is an important parallel strength of the environment: the backchannel G+ community, where communication can happen freely (that is, without in-game consequences) so that the community of players can resolve issues, questions, and disputes as they arise. Anytime smart, passionate people start getting competitive, there's always likely to be the chance of tension - and I think it's been a strength of the game that, instead of falling back on a top-down "referee" model, we've been (imperfectly, but always with good will) doing our best to reach consensus.

One of the constants in the #TvsZ experience has been the fun, creative environment it fosters - giving free rein to a bunch of geeky, creative types to do something fun together! In that spirit, my own contribution this round has been a lighthearted pop zombie love song...

"Eat Somebody" on Soundcloud

Blog posts that count as fortresses against the depradations of the zombie horde; picture posts as weapons with which to stun an advancing member of the undead; and a just plain fun zombie music Popcorn medley. Who says the zombie apocalypse isn't fun?