Italian version
.hacktivism
22.06.04 Vigilance 1.0, playing the watcher.
The psychology of surveillance implies a call to arms against a common enemy (whatever it is) whose bad actions could be 'prevented' thanks to total control. The watchers are thus given the responsibility of this control, increasing their frenzy of power and freeing it from the feelings of guilt. However, the conditions of a watcher, after the first period of exaltation, aren't that great, and Vigilance 1.0, by Martin Le Chevalier, proves it by means of a videogame aimed at provoking the opposite reaction. Big mistakes, boredom and the need to continuously maintain a high level of attention, after a while start to frustrate the player, who receives no praise for his work, being confined in a dark room in front of a monitor. The simulated 4x4 matrix of screens watches streets, supermarkets, parking lots, stores, schools and other usually surveilled places. The player's critical sense lacks the time needed to kick in, while the hope of becoming the hero of the city slows down his reactions, giving rise to mistakes which decrease the final score. After a while, the suspects multiply and become indistinct, confusing the watcher, who's forced to judge everybody only by their pixeled image, lost in the delusion that it's enough to tell apart a criminal from a normal person.