Exactly ten years ago today, I had planned to publish my media art mid-degree project 1378(km) – a computer game modification about the inner-German border. The artistic serious game is based on the multiplayer first-person shooter Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. Shortly after its announcement in September 2010, 1378(km) triggered a worldwide media scandal. Fueled by false reporting from BILD (later officially admonished by the German Press Council) which headlined: 'Revolting! DDR death strip as a SHOOT-EM-UP,' the scandal reached proportions that no one saw coming. The result: indictments for incitement, police protection due to serious death threats, and international media interest – for me, a life-changing and uniquely bizarre experience. VICE wrote a comprehensive article about it last year.
In 1378(km), border guards and refugees face off. Shooting is possible – but: WHO SHOOTS, LOSES! A simple concept, really. 1378(km) offers highly atypical gameplay for a first-person shooter. If a border guard executes the order to shoot, they are instantly teleported into the future to stand trial before a court in the year 2000, taking them out of the game. 1378(km) is an 'anti-shooter' that provokes reflection, confronting shooting-focused players with moral consequences, and aiming to open up access to recent German history for a younger audience. Unfortunately, these core aspects of the serious game were completely drowned out in the emotionally charged scandal. The fact that I, as a media artist, make art with computer games and that 1378(km) is a game art project sparked further debates on whether games can even be art. Even today in 2020, this discussion remains open, although games are now recognized as cultural assets.
For the tabloid press and unfortunately also large parts of society and politics, the art project was an easy target to inflame emotions. It was loudly criticized without anyone actually looking at or playing the game. Trotting out the 'killer game' cliché was easier than seriously engaging with the serious game 1378(km), getting informed, or actually playing it. BILD representatives were neither at the press conference in September nor at the release and panel discussion in December 2010.
In 2013, WELT and ComputerBILD Spiele named 1378(km) the best German game of 2010. While this honored me, it also left me highly confused, given that both are outlets of the Axel Springer group.
Since its release in December 2010, 1378(km) has been downloaded over 750,000 times, reaching a vast number of players. Concurrently, it found its way into exhibitions and museums worldwide, including ZKM Karlsruhe (DE), Computerspielemuseum Berlin (DE), Nam June Paik Art Center (Sout Korea), DOX Prague (Czech Republic), MIT Gamelab (USA), Harvard University (USA), and various Goethe-Instituts globally.
After the turmoil surrounding 1378(km), I retreated and worked extensively with early Virtual Reality (VR) technology (long before the Oculus Rift hype) and created experimental game art using the Cryengine, 3D projectors, and head-trackers. In mid-2012, I completed my media arts degree with distinction. My diploma work was called 'shade', a stereoscopic real-time 3D multi-projector installation based on the Cryengine. I later pursued my PhD on hacking as a playful game design strategy for experimental brain-computer interface (BCI) games at the GEElab of RMIT University in Melbourne, researching the future of games controlled via neurofeedback. In 2017, I co-founded Cloudwalker GmbH with my wife, fellow media artist Carola Stober, where we combine our passions for Realtime 3D, Extended Reality (XR/AR/VR/MR), BCI, and hacking as a creative strategy.