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#1 Jul 06 2012 at 10:52 AM Rating: Excellent
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I give you Curiosity, courtesy of Peter Molyneux.

Here's the nuts & bolts of the experience:

Quote:
Curiosity is set in a virtual room that contains a single black cube. As you tap away at it it fractures. Other fractures caused by other players can also be seen. After a large number of taps the cube opens, revealing its innards. Only the player who performs the final tap gets to see what's inside.

22 Cans will then record and study how news of what's inside spreads across social media in an attempt to explore the psychology of social media users.

But before the cube opens, players will be able to buy one of a limited number of chisels to improve their tapping strength. An iron chisel - 10 times more powerful than the default tap - costs 59 pence. The diamond chisel is 100,000 times as powerful - but it costs $50,000, and there is only one available.


Molyneux wrote:
But the reason I'm charging for the chisels is as a proof point on that motivation. Is the simplest form of motivation in the world - what's in the box? - sufficient to ask people to invest money in it? That's going to be a fascinating experiment.


Personally, I think Molyneux is vastly overstating how fascinating this experiment will be (from what's been revealed thusfar). The psychology of social media use has been explored deeper, and in more thought-provoking ways elsewhere. I get the feeling that Molyneux is asking questions we already know the answers to.

I suspect that some people will put money into the game, and some won't. For those that do, the amount that they put in will be related to how disposable their income is. There are people rich enough to throw $50,000 around without a second thought. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if someone plunked that cash down, whether it be as a donation to Molyneux, a PR move, or for the lulz.

...and that's basically it. I don't see it getting much deeper than that. I don't see what's supposed to be fascinating here.

Amusingly, though, Ian Bogost went and stole some of Molyneux's thunder, implementing the idea into his extant game Cow Clicker (a satire on Farmville's skinner box). And since Bogost is open and clear about his game's message, and does it with some humor, I find his take much more interesting. Molyneux's words on his own game just strike me as pretentious.

What'cha think? Anyone here gonna click the cube? It comes out on August 22.

Edited, Jul 6th 2012 12:57pm by Eske
#2 Jul 06 2012 at 11:12 AM Rating: Excellent
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I wouldn't spend anything on it (or even waste time clicking) because there's no real reward in it for me to know what's in the cube. It's not as though I'm going to walk away with anything material. Granted most of my clicks also don't provide anything material but at least they're more entertaining that clicking a box for a 0.0000000001% chance of seeing some image.

That said, I have no doubt that Mr. Molyneux will walk away $50,000+ richer.
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#3 Jul 06 2012 at 11:14 AM Rating: Excellent
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A boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything. It could even be a boat! You know how much we wanted one of those.
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#4 Jul 06 2012 at 12:56 PM Rating: Good
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lolgaxe wrote:


FIFY
#5 Jul 06 2012 at 1:47 PM Rating: Excellent
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I don't get it. I have no idea who this person even is. Why would I care what he's got in his nasty little pocketses?

If he wants people to pay to find out what's in a box, he needs the box to matter. Or to matter himself.
#6 Jul 06 2012 at 2:24 PM Rating: Good
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teacake wrote:
I don't get it. I have no idea who this person even is. Why would I care what he's got in his nasty little pocketses?

If he wants people to pay to find out what's in a box, he needs the box to matter. Or to matter himself.


He's the old head of Bullfrog/Lionhead Studios. He's got Black & White, Populous, & the Fable series to his name, and is fairly big in the industry. Lots of awards & such, particularly in the UK.

Not that I think any of that means what's in the box is interesting. Unless....
#7 Jul 07 2012 at 1:14 PM Rating: Good
I won't be playing it, but I will be spreading misinformation.

A woman's severed head is in the box.
#8 Jul 07 2012 at 1:47 PM Rating: Excellent
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selebrin wrote:
I won't be playing it, but I will be spreading misinformation.

A woman's severed head is in the box.



Eske beat you to that joke.
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#9 Jul 07 2012 at 4:03 PM Rating: Good
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Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
selebrin wrote:
I won't be playing it, but I will be spreading misinformation.

A woman's severed head is in the box.



Eske beat you to that joke.


I beat IGN to it, too. Currently exploring my legal options.
#10 Jul 08 2012 at 6:50 AM Rating: Excellent
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Eske Esquire wrote:

He's the old head of Bullfrog/Lionhead Studios. He's got Black & White, Populous, & the Fable series to his name, and is fairly big in the industry. Lots of awards & such, particularly in the UK.


I see, thank you.

Still don't really get why I should care what's in his random made-up box.

Anyhow, we're in a fight, because now I'm going to have nightmares. Scariest movie ever!
#11 Jul 08 2012 at 11:45 AM Rating: Good
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Since it's from Peter, here's my guess as to what's in it.
Obligatory NSFW
#12 Jul 08 2012 at 2:11 PM Rating: Decent
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teacake wrote:
Eske Esquire wrote:

He's the old head of Bullfrog/Lionhead Studios. He's got Black & White, Populous, & the Fable series to his name, and is fairly big in the industry. Lots of awards & such, particularly in the UK.


I see, thank you.

Still don't really get why I should care what's in his random made-up box.

Anyhow, we're in a fight, because now I'm going to have nightmares. Scariest movie ever!


Because a lot of people place far too much weight on his opinion. He has been irrelevant for years in my opinion.
#13 Jul 09 2012 at 8:07 AM Rating: Good
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Molyneux tends to put too much weight on Molyneux's opinion.
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#14 Aug 23 2012 at 10:37 AM Rating: Good
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An update from the world of pretentious gaming!



According to Molyneux, the game will be "life-changing" and will "make world news" says Destructoid.

Oh, also, it's been delayed till September. I know you're all bummed.
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#15 Aug 23 2012 at 10:42 AM Rating: Good
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Eske Esquire wrote:
According to Molyneux, the game will be "life-changing" and will "make world news"
Well, it'll be on the internet, and that's kind of like world news ...
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#16 Aug 24 2012 at 7:11 PM Rating: Good
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Microtransactions taken to the extreme. Pay $50,000 and you'll be better than anyone else playing the "game".

I'm guessing there's a white cube inside the black cube. The white cube cannot be broken with a diamond chisel, so you have to wait for the laser drill DLC to find out what's inside.
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#17 Aug 24 2012 at 7:13 PM Rating: Good
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Secret is that no one will get see what's in the box, the "user" selected to win opening it will not really exist and no one will ever see in insides.
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#18 Aug 24 2012 at 8:09 PM Rating: Excellent
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lolgaxe wrote:
Eske Esquire wrote:
According to Molyneux, the game will be "life-changing" and will "make world news"
Well, it'll be on the internet, and that's kind of like world news ...


Mazra wrote:
I'm guessing there's a white cube inside the black cube. The white cube cannot be broken with a diamond chisel, so you have to wait for the laser drill DLC to find out what's inside.


Nah. It will be life changing because as soon as the winner breaks open the cube Molyneux will introduce to the world his real project, a new cube shaped facility hidden underground somewhere in the world. The winner will then be picked and personally escorted to the facility by Molyneux's hand picked and heavily armed "Congratulatory Unit", where they will have the first honor of discovering whats in this new cube.

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— James D. Nicoll
#19 Aug 29 2012 at 12:33 PM Rating: Excellent
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TirithRR wrote:
Secret is that no one will get see what's in the box, the "user" selected to win opening it will not really exist and no one will ever see in insides.

[Error 3001: Connection Lost To Server]
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Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#20 Aug 29 2012 at 12:39 PM Rating: Good
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Inside the box is the identity of the man behind Peter Molydeux, the infinitely more interesting twitter spoof of Molyneux.
#21 Sep 08 2012 at 2:10 PM Rating: Good
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i hope i live a long productive life and die without ever learning what was in there.
#22 Sep 18 2012 at 5:54 PM Rating: Good
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axhed wrote:
i hope i live a long productive life and die without ever learning what was in there.


This. I can't think of a bigger scam.
#23 Nov 06 2012 at 3:57 PM Rating: Good
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So, I obviously don't have to tell you chaps, but Curiosity has been released! You all knew that, of course, because you're avant-garde gaming hip-cats, and you've been diligently clicking away cubes at the first opportunity, no doubt.

Some stats:

Number of users: 70,000+

Layers removed: 0. But they're nearly through with the first of [who the hell knows how many?] 'em, so....yay? It has revealed the picture of a lava lamp. An inauspicious reveal, that.

Genitalia drawn: 143,651 (approximate)

Since I've no idea how many layers there are to this thing, I can't tell how close they are to revealing the great truth that's hidden at the chewy, nougat center. Also, I don't believe that for-cash purchases are enabled yet. So you'll have to keep that $50,000 under your mattress for just a little longer.

Molyneux's tweets, post launch, have ranged from bemused self-satisfaction to effusive self-satisfaction.

UPDATE: The server has apparently buckled under the weight of a larger-than-anticipated number of downloads (roughly 1 million between all devices). Now they're asking for donations to buy more space and get the thing back up and running.

Dunno what that means for the game's future, though. I can't imagine that it's got a very high retention rate, and this won't help.

Edited, Nov 12th 2012 12:20pm by Eske
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