Category Archives: Digital

Kanye Quest

Nationality: American
Age: 23 and 22
Occupation: Students

Description: A video game created in the RPG maker game engine. On the surface, it seems to be a regular role playing game centered around the musical artist Kanye West. However, there is a secret terminal within the game that eventually leads to the implication of cult recruitment and activity.

Background: Both informants received the information through internet videos.

Transcript:

TS: But basically there was an arg thing in it that people aren’t sure is like an Easter egg or actual cult recruitment (like 90% chance it’s the former but still)

BD: there’s a few video essays on it on youtube

BD: it was an rpg maker game. like the base game was kanye quest but there was a terminal you could enter a password into and it’d go into a weird pseudo game where you had to keep entering passwords and then if you got to the end there’d be a thing saying “congrats you ascended” and would ask if you wanted to move into the next step and if you selected yes it’d ask for your info but the version of the game that was playable didn’t have internet capabilities however original version is lost i believe bc the creator locked it

Me: How does Kanye tie into all that?

BD: Honestly it(Kanye) doesn’t, that’s just what the game was. If you didn’t know about the terminal there was a whole full-ledged game about kanye basically.

TS: Yeah like it was a meme rpg game totally unrelated to anything. That’s why the ARG cult stuff was such a surreal thing.

BD: Also because the cult(referenced in the game) is a real cult.

Me: Is there actual indication that it was real cult stuff?

BD: That’s where it gets murky, like since the game didn’t have internet capabilities people think it was just a thing to spook. There’s also rumors that that’s because it’s the second released version of the game if i remember.

My thoughts:

Cult recruitments through the medium of the internet is certainly not something that is unthinkable. I think what is interesting is how under the surface it is. A seemingly innocent game having cult implications if someone digs deep enough. It is a popular genre when it comes to internet mysteries. One example would be the popularity of the iceberg, where obscure knowledge and rumors about a specific topic is placed within an iceberg image, separated by how obscure the rumor or fact is. This kind of thing tends to be a recurring theme when it comes to the internet. As everything on the internet is somewhat public and monitored, people start to devise methods to encrypt their actions and the information that they want to spread. I think it’s the feeling of secrecy that makes these tales so compelling, the feeling that you are within a secret club for a specific hidden knowledge. Also the hidden sense of excitement and fear when something digital begins to affect the real world. In this sense that hook also applies to many ARGs that have existed. As for what I believe, I think that there is a good chance that the cult elements were real. It is not unthinkable for cults to recruit people through these obscure means, and having Kanye fans as a target does make sense in some ways (some fans worship him like a god).

Polybius

Nationality: American/Greek
Age: 22
Occupation: Student

Description: Poybius is a possibly fictional arcade game that was created during the 90s. There are people who recalled that such a game cabinet existed but no physical copies exist. There are those that believe the cabinets were a part of the MK ULTRA secret experiments 

Background: The informant obtained the information through internet videos.

Transcript:

DT: The supposed creation of an arcade cabinet during the 90s called Polybius. Someone thought it existed, and it spread from there like a Mandela effect, of people remembering something that didn’t actually exist but potentially vaguely similar to it. It’s an urban legend that lasted for a while, and even got assumed it was a part of the MK ULTRA secret experiments. With conspiracy theories coming up that the cabinet was created by the government to give people nightmares as a way to test stuff that leaked from MK ULTRA.

Me: So it(the cabinet) didn’t really exist?

DT: It’s still kinda unclear if a cabinet of the like actually existed or not, but the video I saw concluded that it most likely wasn’t real. I forget the specific evidence to prove this but it’s still kinda up in the air. But regardless of its existence, the crazy effect it had on if people remembered it or not was what really got people involved with it.

My thoughts:

The 90s were a time where rumors about digital media were abundant. Things that come to mind were numerous video game rumors such as the Mew under the truck in pokemon. At the time, the internet was still in its infancy and information was not easily accessible nor entirely accurate. The coupled with the introduction of new technology gave rise to many rumors and theories. Polybius is an example of a product of that time, when people didn’t have ready access to information and when any kind of information can be spoken from anywhere.

Sad Satan

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student

Description: Sad Satan is a video game that resides inside the deep web. It is said that the game contains numerous real images of gore, violence, and other illegal content. The existence of the actual game is undetermined.

Background: The informant obtained the information from a youtube channel.

Transcript:

BD: I have another video game one in mind, it was another retro style “indie” game called Sad Satan that made the rounds a few years ago. Essentially a youtube channel that focused on obscure horror games released a multipart playthrough of the series

Me: Is it a real game?

BD: Yes, but it’s also one of those situations where the “true” version is murky. Basically the guy that played it heard about it from a subscriber, and the subscriber said he found the game on a deep web forum board that was unrelated. I don’t know too much about the gameplay because I didn’t watch the gameplay videos myself, but from the looks of it everything looks very dark/surreal. The guy who made the original playthrough started posting his video around online asking for help on finding info about it, and as more people got involved the more the rumor developed. The rumor being that the game also contained images of gore, violence, and other extremely illegal images. Basically, the reason why this gets murky is bc of this:

-the guy “linked” a downloadable version in his youtube video but the link was broken

-said guy does an interview saying it did not contain those kind of images but later recants and says it did

-right before said guy publicly recants, someone going by the same name as the person who posted the game on the deep-web(who’s believed to be the developer) says that the rumors were true, and provides a downloadable link

-link does not work for many people, with some saying it went so far as to break their computers (but keep in mind this is happening on 4chan), but for those who do manage to open it, they say it does contain said images. It’s kind of complicated and confusing to explain. I was trying to think how to summarize it best. But yeah essentially it’s a creepy retro indie game that someone recorded in hopes of having people help him figure out the meaning of the game, which blew up into a bigger thing as more eyes found it.

My thoughts:

The deep web is often a source of illegal and unsettling activities. An example would be the red rooms. Because of this, there are many scary tales that come from the deep web, real or not. These kinds of tales, real or not, serve to entice our morbid curiosities. Of course, it’s entirely possible that such a game or multiple such games existed. The internet, with minimum security, is a place where anything can exist. The game itself existed but its the rumors of the gory and dark imagery that keeps it going around communities.

Ballroom/Queer Slang

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/26/2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: 

The informant provided examples of ballroom slang which are all used in situations with positive connotations:

“the category is”

“fierce”

“werk

“that was a serve”
“boots”

“the house down”

“sissy that walk”

“work that pussy out”

“slay”

“queen”


“And like another slang trend is assigning everyone feminine pronouns, and even assigning feminine identify to inanimate objects. For example, like how we call our Roomba ‘miss Roomba’ or say, ‘oh that plant, she is everything.’” 

How did you get connected to this slang?

“Initially, through gay pop culture, like musical artists, friends, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Pose, documentaries and stuff.”

Do you use these words in your day-to-day life?

“Absolutely! I have to not use ‘miss’ or ‘she’ for everything because people don’t understand what I mean, and like my parents aren’t going to understand queer slang because they’re straight older people (laughs).”

Background/Context:

My informant is my roommate. She identifies as queer and sees herself in queer culture. These slang terms were recorded during a dinner conversation about queer media and culture.

Analysis:

Most general queer slang has been lifted straight out of queer subcultures, such as ballroom and drag. Most queer people who live in accepting environments understand the meaning of all the phrases listed above. In general, these phrases aim to empower the receiver through the emphasis of feminine characteristics (like making “pussy” a positive word), while some others come directly from ballroom culture, like how “the category is” and “the house down” reference competition categories and Dance Houses. As society has become more accepting and queer culture has taken over digital media (through shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race), these terms have become well known to the general public. It was definitely a shock when I heard my 10-year-old cousin shout “Yaaaaas queen” when I showed her an outfit, but that really illustrates how mainstream some of these terms have become.

Memes of the Previous Generation: Spurdo

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 26
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/14/21
Primary Language: English

Main Performance:

AK: Remember Pedo-bear from the 2000s?

YJ: Yeah what about it?

AK: You don’t really see much of him these days right?

YJ: Yeah not even the Chris Hansen memes survived

AK: Have you seen the Finnish version of it?

YJ: The what?

AK: Finland mutated Pedo-Bear into something completely random, but it’s still a bear or something

YJ: What for?

AK: I think they wanted to gatekeep and make fun of new people on their image board sites, I think he’s called Spurdo

YJ: Does it work? I’m not sure really how to describe it, like what sort of posts do you even attach the image to? How does gatekeeping with a character even work?

AK: It’s like stylized broken english but you replace the hard-sounding consonants with lots of G’s and D’s. So the most common example would be “f*ck being” turned into the more soft sounding “fug”.

Take any phrase, long quote, or even a song and start making edits for it. It’s like an overly specific cultural mutation of mad libs. You can basically apply it to anything you want.

Background:

The informant, AK, is longtime friend of mine who I bonded with over videogames and other entertainment mediums. He is well versed in image board culture after having spent over a decade on multiple forums when the internet was starting to burgeon out into a more curated environment. Spurdo to AK is one of his favorites for being absolutely nonsensical and how it can universally applied to franchises and jokes he already enjoys.

Context:

When memes were on the table for the project, I pondered with my friend over which were the ones that were most relevant to our own experiences and these were the results of our brainstorming.

My Thoughts:

https://i.imgur.com/OeB9OTx.jpg
An example of Practical Jokes and liminal experiences showcased in Example 4 where those in the In-Group get to mess around with the new recruits who have yet to go through the same bonding experience.

The Spurdo meme is one of the more esoteric and absurdist memes to come out of early image board culture and it provides a digital version of the historic-geographic method of studying how folklore travels and Spurdo has mutated no less than three times in its lifespan across different internet environments. The original Finnish mutation of pedo-bear used by the Finnish has since been carried over to the western “American” context and been turned into either a commercial retail worker, a stereotypical fat American addicted to fast food, or a highly conservative-nationalistic spokesperson for gun violence. The Finnish context remains as it is but has become adopted by the people who served in the military over their shared experiences. Somewhere in between, Spurdo further mutates from absurdity into the abstract, losing its legs and becoming what is known as a “Gondola”. Instead of speaking the way it usually does, it doesn’t speak at all and only observes its surroundings peacefully, and this descriptor has made it photoshopped in many pieces of classic artwork in the background simply observing its surroundings.

Where’s Gondola?