Voyeurism is addictive

Posted on July 31, 2007 by Melissa Worden

I can’t play video games. Don’t get me wrong, I have good hand-eye coordination and excelled at Doom back in the day.

No, I can’t play because I become this couch-zombie game addict who rarely blinks. Really, my eyes become so dry they hurt! (The Wii, I can do, however, because I’m movin’ around. Swinging my arms wildly trying to beat my opponent at boxing; well, I *have* to blink during all that commotion.)

Besides, I just don’t have time for that stuff, anyway. I already spend too many hours on the computer reading blogs and the latest on multimedia and journalism.

But I’ve been administering the eye drops because last weekend, I have to admit, I caught a “video game” bug and spent a little longer than I’d like to admit playing: The HBO Voyeur Project, which is a series of multimedia stories that revolve around the theme of voyeuerism. “See what people do when they think no one is watching …”

It takes some time to download, but it was worth it because right off the bat, I was wowed with the Flash design and presentation. Watching the scenes in the first apartment building was jaw-dropping enough, then I realized there’s a whole city to explore. Each building (four at this point, but they may add more) and unit with its own storyline.

Aside from the Flash aspect, how can we apply this example to journalism?

>> This is non-linear storytelling. The user must choose their own route through the presentation.

Sure, it’s entertainment, and we wouldn’t *necessarily* tell a news story in this fashion. But you *could* use this technique to reenact the scene of a crime or to create a more visually interesting interactive timeline.

>> The story is told on several platforms. This isn’t where the presentation ends or begins.

From wikipedia:

“The Project includes the main website, HBO On Demand and HBO Mobile exclusive content, MySpace pages for the characters from the stories, supporting websites, and additional content for those willing to follow the breadcrumbs or “artifacts” hidden in the other media. Clues /discussion about voyeur artifacts found at the promotional blog http://www.thestorygetsdeeper.com. The project was estimated to have cost between $7 and $10 million dollars, and took about a year to create.”

>> The content and presentation is addictive. The site is set up to draw you in, and it encourages you to stay and explore it. (Don’t forget that Nielsen will count only unique users and time spent instead of page views.)

Comments

3 Responses to “Voyeurism is addictive”

Angela Grant on July 31st, 2007 11:46 pm

That’s really neat!
Patrick Beeson on August 1st, 2007 9:08 am

Looks interesting. I’ll have to check it out.

Unfortunately, I have no problem burning hours playing the Wii. And have the time it’s games that don’t require getting off the couch! (Darn that Resident Evil 4!)
Mindy McAdams on August 1st, 2007 9:10 am

Thanks for the tip! (Or will I curse you after I start wasting time?)

This reminds me of the book “Convergence Culture,” by Henry Jenkins (which is a good read, btw). It opened my eyes to the growth and pervasiveness of stories that are designed from the start to be cross-platform and yet still work even if you get them only on one platform (his big example is the Matrix movies, video game, anime, etc. — but he also discusses Survivor in this vein).