In early text-based computer games, such as Colossal Cave Adventure and MUDs, users journey through worlds of rooms and objects described only by words. Text commands such as "Go north" or "Pick up rock" allow the user to interact with the world. The precise nature of words make these games very different from the reality that they describe. Today, live action role players play out similar games in real life, often using the rigid text commands of these early games.

Inspired by these, I set out to juxtapose the textual world with the real world, in a way that would hopefully create an absurdly funny and interesting disconnection between a person and his surroundings. I have replaced a personÕs visual information with textual information by putting a mask over his head and feeding him only limited, rigidly structured information about his surroundings Ñ short texts read by an emotionless computer voice. The user blindly explores a public place by asking a very limited set of questions. An operator, listening to the masked userÕs commands over walkie-talkie, uses a simple computer interface, designed to work with the limited textual system, to reply back to the user, sending the computerÕs voice over the walkie-talkie. The computer interface is very simple and its only purpose is to limit the possibilities for communication. The restricted communication between the walker and the operator becomes a programmatic system itself Ñ a program for humans. The operator is responsible for sketching a quick textual map of the surrounding area Ñ of objects and locations, titles and descriptions.

The result is a clumsy, lumbering, silly-looking mess. In an era of GPS systems, and portable Internet, I have deliberately used technology as a limitation rather than an augmentation. The virtual reality of Guerilla Text is a strangely stark disconnection from every day reality Ñ in the video, the masked walker stands listening to a boring description of a trash can read by a computer, while beside him, a man (who he cannot see) runs around, throwing a football over his head, playing catch with his son. The walker experiences an abstracted reality that consists of very specific objects (only a limited number of the objects in the surrounding area are highlighted) that is bizarrely (and inaccurately) measured in numbers of steps.


Computer's log
Computer's saved map file


Colossal Cave Adventure information
My presentation on MUDs
Live Action Role Player video