Can you see me now?

The concept for CYSMN is a chase game. Three runners, who are professional performers, run through actual city streets equipped with handheld computers, wireless networking (using 802.11b), and GPS receivers. They chase up to 15 online players through a virtual model of a city.

Online players are dropped into a 3D model of the hosting city. They can move through this model with a fixed maximum speed, access a city map view, see themselves represented as running avatars, see other players' and runners' positions, and exchange text messages with them. They also hear the runners' walkie-talkie communication as a live audio stream. They must avoid the runners; if a runner gets within five virtual meters of an online player, the player is seen and out of the game.

The online player's interface

The online player's interface in map mode

The runners move through the streets and can see online players' and other runners' positions on a handheld map, see the players' text messages, and communicate with one another using walkie-talkies. A GPS receiver plugged into the computer's serial port registers a runner's position, which is sent back to the server over the wireless network. This equipment is built into a robust outer jacket.

Runner

A runner in their jacketGiven the iPAQ's small screen size, the runners' map lets them zoom between a global view and a close-up local view centred on their current position. The runners used walkie-talkies with earpieces and a head-mounted microphone. They carried digital cameras so that they could photograph the physical location where they caught each player. These pictures appeared on CYSMN's archive Web sites after the event.

The runner's interface close up view

Can You See Me Now? was staged in Sheffield in December 2001, in Rotterdam in February 2003 and in Oldenberg in July 2003 and received over 1500 online plays across all three. Studies drawing on ethnographic observation, feedback from players and analysis of system, identified four different strategies for dealing with the uncertainties in GPS and Wifi: removing them, hiding them, revealing them and exploiting them. Can You See Me Now? has also contributed to the development of a mixed reality game engine based on Equator's Equip platform.

[CYSMN two minute overview 10MB] CYSMN full 8 minute video (3 parts) [Part 1 15MB]/ [Part 2 11MB]/ [Part 3 10MB]

Can You See Me Now was awarded the 2003 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica award for Interactive Art (for the Rotterdam performance) and was nominated for a BAFTA in Interactive Entertainment ion 2002 (for the initial Sheffield performance).

Can You See Me Now? was reviewed in the French national newspaper Libération and the video was shown in full on Dutch national television. The presentation of the Ars Electronica Prize was live on Austrian National Television.

www.canyouseemenow.v2.nl
www.blasttheory.co.uk