Lose/Lose: Art, malware, or both?

By Stephen Withers
Friday, 30 October 2009 07:22

Opinion and Analysis

Where is the boundary between art and malware? A Mac OS X game puts real files on the firing line.

"Win/win" is a phrase that gets bandied about a lot, especially in some business circles.

The idea is that unlike zero-sum games (where the amount lost equals the amount won, as in two people betting on a certain event), real life situations can allow both parties to get ahead.

A simple example would be a desirable object suspended above two 'players'. Neither can reach it, and there are no tools or other objects that would assist. But if they co-operate, eg, by one sitting on the other's shoulders, they can together gain the prize.

But are there situations were both 'players' lose?

A fairly obvious example is warfare. When hostilities finally cease, there is usually a 'winner' and a 'loser' - but do the losses suffered by the putative winner mean it too is really a loser?

These are the sorts of ideas addressed by a game called Lose/Lose that was released last month and is gradually coming to wider attention.

Created by digital artist Zach Gage, the Space Invaders inspired game has a twist in its tale: each of the aliens is derived from a file on the computer, and whenever an alien is killed the corresponding file is deleted.

Players can choose not to fight, but if their ship is destroyed the Lose/Lose application is deleted instead.

"Why do we assume that because we are given a weapon an[d] awarded for using it, that doing so is right?" asked Gage.

"At what point does our virtual data become as important to us as physical possessions?," he pondered.

Lose/Lose is part of Electrofringe's current exhibition of online art, Electro_Online 2009.

The program is treated as malware by security software such as Sophos Anti-Virus and Intego VirusBarrier X5.