ORIGINS
“Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree“
– Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart
Who hasn’t heard the phrase “Life is but a game”, or rather “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”, or maybe that we are living in a simulation. The Matrix. The Metaverse. Marshall McLuhan’s Message Medium, Marvel’s Multiverse of Madness, what does it all really mean, and why does it matter?
The reality is that it is nothing new, it’s been in development through our collective imagination for eons. If the Internet feels familiar, it’s because it is. It’s a reflection of our reality, a mere extension of our selves.
Virtual Reality is the metaverse and it should be decentralized and open source. I think now, more than ever, with big tech companies like Facebook trying to claim the very concept of community for themselves, we have to help people realize community comes from within. It belongs to ‘us’, not ’them’. We communed for millions of years before social media ever came along, and I hope we are still able to do so.
Why are politics so complicated? Why is it so hard to do good things? It could all be so simple. Societies need economies, but those economies need to be sustainable. Humans have the potential, and so perhaps the responsibility, to be the custodians of life. That responsibility doesn’t have to feel like a burden, in fact, it could feel like a privilege. Technology can aid us in that pursuit by helping cultivate a better connection between the metadigital and physical world.
Attention is power. If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it, does it really matter? Context is relevant. What we pay attention to is what we buy into, and what we buy into is what we become. Capitalism is not sustainable, it’s productive. Facebook is not the product, you are.
Platemate is an online digital companion boardgame designed to motivate people to find fulfilment while creating content they can share and monetize. Its main goal is to streamline self care and community engagement in society.
CONTROLS
Run with WASD and arrow keys, change camera angle by moving mouse, equip special items with E key and scroll wheel, activate items by left-clicking, and jump with spacebar. For PAUSE or endgame options press Windows or Command key + G.
PREMISE
Artemis is a capture-the-flag type arena where players collect light and dark eggs throughout a set of 3 rounds. The eggs can be combined into whole beings who can be added to player parties. Players are transported to unique worlds based on their inventory upon exit. Inventory can be changed by equipping or trading items with the robots at the top of the 3 core towers. Play classic games on the rooftop, check out the kitchen, or try to escape the matrix. The choice is yours, your choices matter, and affect the progress bar every time you activate an item.
Except for the top floors, the rest of the buildings are currently empty but content generated and based on community engagement will be added in to occupy those floors.
If you have any suggestions for something you’d like to see or be able to do in this game, please let us know! The full version of the game, when development allows, will have multiplayer functionality and multiple worlds accessible through different combinations of 3 equipped items.