Playing video games is nothing new. Playing video games with other players is pretty common too. But doing it in real life, as a seven-hour group experience that’s meant to be a theatrical endurance game, well, that’s where the unemployed donkeys trot in.
Asses.masses, a long-running theatrical video game project that lets audiences use a single controller to play the game as a collective, is coming to CAP UCLA’s Nimoy Theater on Feb. 7 when about 300 people will gather to play the seven-hour-long — yes, seven hours — video game.
But it’s not just a game, it’s also a thought provoking social experiment that looks at issues of labor, technophobia and collective resistance with cute donkeys.
“The game itself is to self organize this group of donkeys that the audience characterizes in coming together for a revolution,” said Edgar Miramontes, executive and artistic director for CAP UCLA.
“It’s based on the idea of solidarity among workers. They created a game that has donkeys where you name them and you give them characteristics as the game unfolds over 10 chapters,” he added.
Described as “Animal Farm” meets Pokémon meets Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda, the game was created by a team of conceptual artists. It has been performed in more than 14 countries across South America, North America, Asia and Europe, and translated into 10 languages.
Asses.masses, a long-running theatrical video game project that lets audiences use a single controller to play the game as a collective, is coming to CAP UCLA’s Nimoy Theater on Feb. 7. (Photo courtesy CAP UCLA)The game revolves around unemployed donkeys who have lost their jobs to technological advances, and they asses want their jobs back. So playing as the donkeys, people guide the animals through a series of questions and decisions that will get them off unemployment. Any player can grab the controller, and the audience will yell out answers to questions in order to navigate the game as they touch on issues like organized labor, technophobia, and collective resistance, Miramontes said.
The result is an audience full of people shouting advice while working together as the experience becomes a piece of collective performance art.
“It’s essentially a console and once the lights go on to that console it is up to the audience themselves to walk up and start the game. It is unconventional in the way that it activates the audience because it is self organized,” Miramontes said.
“And once that person has the controller it’s such a magical moment when they look back at the audience to answer the questions of how to characterize the donkeys,” he said.
The event includes food breaks, which is when Miramontes said things can get even more interesting.
“In between two to three chapters there are breaks for communal gathering where we also feed you and there’s an ongoing engagement with each other outside of the actual theater experience,” he said.
“To me it’s also an experiment in how one invests in organizing and democracy,” Miramontes added.
And yes, there will likely be a lot of donkey-related puns. And no, no previous gaming or donkey experience is required.
‘Asses.masses’
When: 1 p.m. Feb. 7
Where: UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles
Tickets: $48.67, includes breaks with food
Information: cap.ucla.edu/event/assesmasses
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