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Saturday Timewaster: Attention Hog
Posted by Maggie Greene at 5:30 AM on August 17, 2008
From Chris Basmajian comes a darling, piggieful little game called Attention Hog. As the titular attention hog, your job is to capture the attention (and love) of as many people as possible, while avoiding bacon and nabbing power ups to make your job a little easier. Basmajian says the game "reflects some of the social and psychological trends present in social-networking communities, including self-promotion, social anxiety, obsessive need for peer validation, and distraction as entertainment". Heavy stuff. Ian Bogost notes that while he's "happy to see a game that critiques today's attention culture, but I'm not sure Attention Hog reaches the level promised in the description". Still, while I'll admit to being a sucker for cartoonish pigs (my little Monokuro Boo collection is probably a touch unseemly for a 25 year old), it's adorable and worth a few minutes of time on a lazy weekend.
Attention Hog [Chris Basmajian via Water Cooler Games]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
supremesonic
Posted 8:36 AM 17/8/08
Sorry, there was a moral message? I was too busy making my pig do all my bidding in an odd slave/master relationship.
supremesonic
Ecks
Posted 6:29 AM 17/8/08
I beat the game, not difficult, you don't even need to use the power ups.
Ecks
.em.
Posted 6:20 AM 17/8/08
Well, that was fun.
Don't feel bad about your MK collection. I have two Monokuro Boo pillows (one black, one white), that I cuddle with every night, and I'm 19. ^__^"
.em.
Geminosity
Posted 6:19 AM 17/8/08
It's funny because as you get further into the game you find yourself madly dashing in front of people practically screaming "LOOOOK AAAAAT MEEEEE!!!" to keep your love meter from emptying out.
It might not get it's message across completely but that small behaviour made me laugh and think of its supposed message.
A game without any enemies in it is always a nice change of pace though =3
Geminosity
Glass_bomb
Posted 6:18 AM 17/8/08
@SpiritBoy: You will never be more right in your life about anything else. Ever.
Glass_bomb
SpiritBoy
Posted 6:06 AM 17/8/08
Recipe for getting your game known -
1 - Make it so it will be somewhat fun
2 - Say it has a hidden message about a popular / known subject
3 - ??????
4 - PROFIT.
SpiritBoy
jBusiness
Posted 5:58 AM 17/8/08
I got to level 5 and stopped on my own accord. It's pretty fun tho. I'd imagine it'd be even better at work.
jBusiness
tooji
Posted 5:56 AM 17/8/08
OKAY I BEAT IT WOOT.
highscore: 7747200
tooji
Tim Reilly
Posted 5:52 AM 17/8/08
Cute little pig.
Tim Reilly
Evil Tortie's Mom
Posted 5:50 AM 17/8/08
Now I want bacon.
Evil Tortie's Mom
Ad-hominem
Posted 5:42 AM 17/8/08
As for the message of the game?
Nonexistent. While he may have a valid point (I've seen myself fall into those traps at time), the game fails to illustrate them at all or even bring up the concept of them.
Even Bogost's Fatworld, which was literally the worst game I've ever played in my life (no offense to Bogost), managed to get it's message through clear and effectively.
Ad-hominem
tooji
Posted 5:34 AM 17/8/08
Ok I did one round and I ate the mysterious bacon and it made me go slower and it made my screen all weird... wow
tooji
Ad-hominem
Posted 5:33 AM 17/8/08
I don't think you're allowed to do this.
There's gotta be a law against two Hot Flashes in one day or something.
Ad-hominem
Kado
Posted 11:38 AM 17/8/08
Well, yup! That was certainly a timewaster. The novelty kind of wore off after the first 30 seconds or so, but I completed it anyway.
Kado
Dragoonkin
Posted 2:56 PM 17/8/08
I got to level...four? I think? Then went "This is failing on both the level of being a fun game, and having a message" and just quit.
Flash games where something just chased your mouse cursor around the screen stopped being interesting five years ago. Then people actually learned how to PROGRAM in Flash.
Dragoonkin
Crawl to China
Posted 8:19 AM 18/8/08
ermm 1 851 200 on the first go...not gonna try and beat it.
Crawl to China