Claxtech® AGON DIVISION™ Internships Opportunities Seminar at the University of Tennessee Knoxville with Representative Christine Ellis

Things just got really tragic.

As a brief review, the first Claxtech® Agon Division project introduces Caillois's concept of agon, couples it with Wark's 'gamespace', then takes algorithm to an extreme where it would be applied to various mundane activities to create standards guides. By the means of these standards, one could be "perfect" but the fullest extent of the definitions allowed in the gamespace overlaid in reality.

In this second project, a representative of Claxtech® comes to campus to offer internship opportunities to our class. Internships are the most directly accessible thing that a large corporation such as Claxtech® can offer to a college student. This fact seemed to accurately capture the hearts of a few unsuspecting college students on campus.

Apply Now?

Claxtech® itself is a game, where we (most of us who were present) are willing to play along with the game that Claxtech® is real, not for the sake of benefitting from what it has to offer, but for the sake of simply being "in on it." This embodies another term of Caillois, mimicry, wherein participants willingly enter an "imaginary universe" where Claxtech® is real. One major inspiration that brought attention to this action for me was a work by Synydyne from 2008, called This is My Milwaukee. The project scenario revolves around an alternate universe Milwaukee, where an underground resistance group is banding together against a corporation known as Blackstar who has created a god that destroyed Milwaukee. When viewing the website that originally houses the video, there is a tourism information hotline. The phone number is the missing link that allows participants to temporarily play/interact with this "other world."

"Milwaukee: Come for the weekend, stay for life."

The first phase of this project centered around discussions about achievements, perfection, and what is defined as "the best." There was a unanimous conclusion that perfection is almost always a trap that leads to false Utopias. But perhaps perfection is nonexistent altogether and unachievable, as noted by an observation that halving never leads to zero. This concept is exemplified in Pippin Barr's rendition of Zeno's Paradox in his game, Ancient Greek Punishment. Another face of perfection, as illustrated by Airwolf™, is the act of being denied something that is unattainable.

Take solace in the fact that even if you can't have Airwolf™,  no one can have Airwolf™

The second phase of this project, in a direct nod to My Milwaukee, was to revisit an internships opportunities flier that was created with the first project. An established voice actress lent her voice to an automated answering service (generously lent to me by a friend in radio). Then, under the philosophy of "infiltration, not proliferation", the fliers were distributed throughout campus in places where they are permitted normally by outsiders. To my surprise, people actually called this number to request internships. This was unexpected. Many were invited to the actual performance, though the actual turnout remains to be seen/doubtful. This led to some important questions about the "corporate veneer as a shield."

Infiltration successful.

Just as in the last project, the identity of Claxtech® remains unchanged. The typeface is consistently helvetica with a strict visual language and grid system. Helvetica is infamously used by various government offices and insurance companies to express "transparency" and "trustworthiness." The language of Claxtech® is a well-known one in this vein. Typography remains an invisible art to the typical viewer, unless they are willing to look further (or actually read). Perhaps it isn't just helvetica, but the use of graphic design as a whole that communicates a language of trust and expectation.

Seems legit.

The final phase was the actual visit from Claxtech®. In the presentation, we are given a brief overview of two projects in production by the company with a focus on spread of Claxtech®'s reach of control on reality. Most notably is the newly introduced, through brief, Plus Points Initiative™. This is a fictitious project in which achievements would be attributed to nearly anyone who uses any sort of networking on the internet and critiques them based on Claxtech®-defined values. For Claxtech®, this action (referencing McGonigal's standpoint on achievements taken to a disgusting extreme) would be in an effort to regulate and direct "normal" human activity.

However,

If Claxtech® actually went through with the Plus Points Initiative™, its hierarchies and restrictions still exist within a game that runs parallel to reality. The moment that this Initiative becomes mandatory, it is no longer a game.

And what a wonderful world it was. Or maybe for some it is their dystopia.

I consider these two projects to be an antithesis to my graphic design thesis project. While one strives to channel the strong effort and energy in communities that already exist within gamic constructs, this project has taken gamic constructs and has applied it in such a way that would be damaging to the human psyche and actually remove the user's freedom to disconnect.

Through these two projects, I've learned that disconnecting is key to all games. When the player knows that they can disconnect, then they can comfortably play the game. There is a sense of reassurance in knowing that Claxtech® doesn't exist. We can laugh about it. When we (as in everyone but me) play Mass Effect 3, we have the option to leave or see it through to a conclusion. Reality never permits such a luxury. Our ultimate conclusion in reality is uncertain, but remains defined as death.

Had I been able to take this project further, I would have tried to find a better means to synthesize the metaverse information with a continuing mythos. I wrote an entire other part to this project and realized that it is too far from relevance. I also imagine that the Agon Division actually creates games and I would like to explore what those would be.

I hope to continue using Claxtech® Agon Division™ in the future to explore gamic action, gamespace, allegorithm, and various other critical aspects in gaming to help both gamers and nongamers appreciate and understand what games can and can't do. Therein lies the pantheon.

Actually making Samsara happen would be neat-o, too.

------------------

Special thanks go to Suzanne A. and Lisa G. for their excellent talent, as well as to David C. for letting the Claxtech® legacy live on. And special thanks to Keven, the life of the party.