Weird Cyberspace Wanderings With Im Null
Strange sculptures and sounds
"You might like this," my flatmate tells me, sending me a link to Im null with no explanation. The free browser-based game's site won't explain what it is either, simply asking you to define yourself with a number then dropping you into a void with a few white wireframe models. Ah, yes, this is something I might like: a weird little cyberworld to explore, and multiplayer at that. I think. Probably.
Go on, hop in and have a poke around yourself and then we can have a chat. I didn't really want to give away it's multiplayer, but I suspect not everyone is as keen to leap in and poke at a mysterious thing as I am. Well go on.
Ah, I give up. You lousy bum. Im null, then, is a small cyberworld filled with . A pair of court shoes surrounded by empty shopping trolleys. The Eye of Providence spinning atop a howling, grinding pyramid. Giant flowers. A circle of drills. Strange sounds and strange scultpures. These objects are far enough apart that they vanish out the draw distance into the black void, and the narrow view is constricting, so you need to wander, keep looking around, follow your ears, or follow other players.
They appear from further away, and a group buzzing about is a fair indicator they've found something to look at. Or maybe they're simply trying to play with each other. I'm interested in people communicating with limited ways to express themselves, and being a white line one pixel thick with a number floating above your head is pretty limited. I'm pretty sure I've seen folks chasing each other, and have come back from making tea to find someone ramming their line into mine as I stood still near the funeral/intervention/thing.
It's a pleasant few minutes of exploring and gawping, made by Zak Ayles, Devin Horsman, and Robin Arnott. Go on, have a wander.