SFZero
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SFZero or SF0 is a web-based community game invented in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. It is a type of
alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...
. SFZero players earn points by completing a wide variety of different tasks, often with a focus on creativity, exploration, community, or performance. Although the game was originally intended for San Francisco residents, its player base has expanded to include many other locales both in and outside of America. SFZero is the creation of Ian Kizu-Blair, Sam Lavigne and Sean Mahan of Playtime Antiboredom, a "nonprofit organization dedicated to producing free immersive art games that use new technologies in significant ways."


Gameplay


Groups

In the early game, players were required to align with a group upon starting the game. This requirement was later lifted. Currently, players can complete tasks from any group, and can choose to be listed as a member of any group from which they have completed tasks. Each group has its own goals, interests, and an archive of group tasks. Although SFZero encourages collaboration amongst all players, and many tasks require it as such, it also allows for competition amongst individuals, locales, teams, and groups. It is possible to declare other players both as 'friend' and as 'foe'.


Tasks

Tasks are created by the players, then performed by other players or groups of players, such as
tip Tip commonly refers to: * Tip (gambling) * Tip (gratuity) * Tip (law enforcement) * another term for Advice (opinion), Advice Tip or TIP may also refer to: Science and technology * Tank phone, a device allowing infantry to communicate with the oc ...
ping in a non-tipping industry or creating a local urban legend. Players are assigned points based on votes from the community. SF0 features over 130 active tasks, with more than 1200 having been retired, and some 2500 suggested.


Events

The game also features Events in which players from all SF0 groups are invited to participate in a mass task. For example, the description for the event "The Sweet Cheat Gone" reads:


See also

*
Cacophony Society The Cacophony Society is "a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society." It was started in 1986 by surviving members of the now defunct Suicide Club of San Francisco. C ...
* Psychogeography *
Dérive The ''dérive'' (, "drift") is a revolutionary strategy originally put forward in the "Theory of the Dérive" (1956) by Guy Debord, a member at the time of the Letterist International. Debord defines the ''dérive'' as "a mode of experimental ...


Additional Coverage

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External links

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References

{{Reflist Alternate reality games Culture of San Francisco Psychogeography