After Hours

Photos: Come Out and Play festival

By // September 25, 2006, 8:36 PM PST // billdetwiler

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  • Two teams faced off Saturday in Jane McGonigal and Ian Bogost's game, "Cruel 2 B Kind," one of several featured during the Come Out and Play street games festival in New York.

    "Cruel 2 B Kind" teams send "kindness" text messages (such as "Have a spectacular day") to an opponent in the hope that the greeting matches the opponent's designated weakness. If there's a match, the message recipients are "assassinated" with kindness and must join the winning team in its quest for more kindness victims.

    If there's no match, the targeted team responds by texting "You're too kind" to the attackers, and both teams move on.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • A "Cruel 2 B Kind" team of at least 30 people walks down Broadway in Manhattan. It was sometimes difficult to distinguish between the groups of tourists and opposing teams.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • Winners in each of several different categories in "Cruel 2 B Kind" got glittery hats as prizes.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • Social scientist Danah Boyd talked with "Cruel 2 B Kind" designers Jane McGonigal and Ian Bogost at the conclusion of the game on Saturday in New York's Central Park.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • GameLab CEO Eric Zimmerman standing with his bike at the conclusion of "Cruel 2 B Kind."

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • The shelves in game developer Gamelab's Manhattan offices are stocked wth nearly every kind of board game, video game and old computer one could imagine.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • Players in game designer Nick Fortugno's "Ghost Engines in the Sky," a live-action role-playing game, studied their clue sheets on Friday.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • This dog became a course hazard on the streets of Manhattan during "Manhattan Megaputt," one of many events in the Come out and Play steet games festival, by trying to eat one team's ball.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • GameLab CEO and "Manhattan Megaputt" contestant Eric Zimmerman hits his orange golfball while an opponent's yellow ball sits idle.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • Players in "Manhattan Story Mashup" studied their cell phones for clues on Saturday.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

  • David Hindman and Evan Drummond perform "Modal Kombat," in which they control the fighters in a video game on-screen by the way they play their guitars.

    Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

Two teams faced off Saturday in Jane McGonigal and Ian Bogost's game, "Cruel 2 B Kind," one of several featured during the Come Out and Play street games festival in New York.

"Cruel 2 B Kind" teams send "kindness" text messages (such as "Have a spectacular day") to an opponent in the hope that the greeting matches the opponent's designated weakness. If there's a match, the message recipients are "assassinated" with kindness and must join the winning team in its quest for more kindness victims.

If there's no match, the targeted team responds by texting "You're too kind" to the attackers, and both teams move on.

Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com

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By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop supp...