Water Cooler Games
Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.
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Busy: Games & Painting
by Ian Bogost June 28, 2004
categories: Advergames , Game Design , General

Some of you may have noticed that it's been a bit slow here on WCG of late, and here's why: I'm trying to get my new game done for a launch this week, AND I've been moving into my new house in Atlanta. So, I've been making games and painting.

In fact, I've painted just about every room in my new place. When I do just about anything, I try to rustle up a game design based on it, just to see where it goes. I think a house painting game has a lot of promise. You have to lay your dropcloths, tape off your trip, maneuver your ladder around, choose the right tool for the current area and task (the roller works well on large areas, but not well on trim. The little wheeled trim brush works well on trim for a while, but then it gets paint on the wheels and sullies up the ceiling. Using painters tape helps protect trim more precisely, but it takes much longer to put in place. In the game, you would have to balance speed of completion with the quality of your paint job. You could learn a lot about housepaining technique as well as the pros and cons of various painting products.

Home Depot should sponsor it. Anybody listening out there?

Anyway, stay tuned this week for the launch of my new game.