Casablancathegame.com - The Mafia/Facebook Hybrid

If you adored childhood games that involved elements of infiltration and/or spying (think: Capture the Flag or Mafia, you might also enjoy Casablanca. Casablanca is best described as a duel designed to serve as an icebreaker between two social networks, one called the Occupation and the other the Resistance. The object of the game is straightforward; logically the former tries to occupy the latter's territory (located in a fictitious city) while they attempt to resist. The game is played through the internet or by SMS-enabled cell phones. Winning the game depends on which side you're on; if you're a Resistance player you must build up the largest social network possible without having any infiltration from the Occupation. In turn, the Occupation must invade as many Resistance networks as possible. If you want to play, you'll need to email the Casablanca team who will give you a password to log into the site and start your own game. Copy and paste the email addresses of anyone else you want to play with you, specify a starting time and date, and you're ready to go.

"It's a race against time, as the agents of the Occupation try to infiltrate and undermine the growing Resistance networks, while the Resistance work together to identify the spies hidden in their midst.

Compete for both your team and personal glory!

The more people that you meet, the more powerful you become ."

This game has got some good things going on here. One of the finalists in MTVu and Cisco's Digital Incubator grant competition, Casablanca already has received funding from the organizations to develop and improve the initiative. Casablanca played their cards well by touting their project as an icebreaker to be used or the facilitation of new social interaction; there are certainly no lack of business mixers, college orientations, and conventions that could use this game as a warm-up activity.

The interface and demo videos, along with some of the site's jargon, creepily resemble real-life propaganda from some urban death squad; could the site maybe rethink its design? It could really deter some of the more sensitive potential users. It would be better if the site could offer the game via Facebook and then it would be easy and convenient for pre-existing social networks like a fraternity or a sorority could go against each other. Also, it's not made explicitly clear how one wins the game; how can a Resistance win be determined? Is it some ratio of social networks formed to social networks infiltrated? And how are the numbers of infiltrating Occupation forces factored in to the determination of victory?