New FaceBook game gets users to judge how well they know one another (03/08/2011)
What can people know about you from looking at your face? Just how good a judge of others do you think you are? Sheffield Indie Rattle is pleased to announce the launch of their Facebook game Mr Fante’s Games of Judgement – which taps into our compulsion to judge others with a look and feel of Victoriana freak show fair ground.
Mr Fante’s Games of Judgement gets players judging one another to see how well they think they know someone from first impressions, it's both a game and an experiment into how we project ourselves to others. Funded by Channel 4’s digital investment fund and Screen Yorkshire, and with support from Facebook, Mr Fante’s Games of Judgement is a series of mini games, which test how good your first impressions are and unveil what first impressions people have of you. 
Age-O-Matic, Game Unlocked Screen, Sexual Barometer, Singleometer
Now out of a two month beta phase Mr Fante launches with eight different ways for players to assess themselves and others; from looking at someone’s age, whether someone is in a relationship or not, whether someone has a tattoo, what their sexuality is, likes and dislikes and whether someone is a smoker or not. Intimate things that maybe a friend would know, but how well can a stranger know them from glancing at a profile picture?
At the start of the game the player is taken to the first of the four games. They must unlock these to pass Mr Fante's test to get their results displayed via a range of O-Meters, which can be shared on Facebook.
Go to Mr Fante’s Games of Judgement on facebook here: apps.facebook.com/games-of-judgement/
"This is our very first game,” says Rattle’s Head of Research, James Boardwell, “it brings together two of our core strands: building brilliant things with data and creating experiences to engage people. We've done heaps of cutting edge stuff for the BBC, Channel 4, Umbro, INQ Mobile and the Science Museum and now this our chance to take some of that learning and put it into a fun game."
Experimental psychologist and advisor on the game Tom Stafford says; "Although this is not an experiment, the game has the potential to reveal surprising psychological facts. We're all exquisitely tuned to the social information available in people's faces, and have learnt by experience of the thousands of people we've met to have certain expectations of them. This game will show us exactly how sensitive we are, and whether we have any blindspots for particular kinds of people or groups".
Read more about Mr Fantes Games of Judgement on the Guardian Games Blog
Find out more about Rattle at: www.rattlecentral.com
