Der Papierkrieg zur Einbürgerung
A malicious quiz game about getting Swiss citizenship
Full Name: Der Papierkrieg zur Einbürgerung
Made By: Blindflug Studios
Made For: Blindflug Studios with Dschoint Venture
Plattforms: iOS
Roles in Project: Concept & Pitch, Game Director, Researcher
Idea
Background
“Die Wundersame Verwandlung der Arbeiterklasse in Ausländer" is a movie from Dschoint Venture Productions directed by Swiss Filmmaker Samir. Its main focus is the change of perception of migrant workers into “dirty foreigners” during the 70ies in Switzerland. Blindflug Studios helped Dschoint Venture in creating 3D Scenes from the Life of Samir interspersed in the documentary. As part of this cooperation we asked ourselves how we could also make a game out of the artefacts from that movie. The result was “Der Papierkrieg zur Einbürgerung” (or "The Red Tape to Citizenship”). The concept was supported by the Migros Story Lab grant for exploring new ways of storytelling in interactive media, awarding it with its Stage 1 and Stage 2 grants.
Gameplay:
Red Tape to Citizenship a fun quiz game that asks your ludicrous questions about Switzerland, from knowing the date of female voting rights to assembling a correct fondue. You will be tasked to identify famous Swiss car and tractor manufacturers. You will need to rapidly decide whether a Swiss term is an alpine pass or a DJ. Or you might need to accurately draw the route of the national Highway A2. These questions are interspersed with even more ridiculous minigames. All of this is happening in an office where you have 5 minutes to pass your citizenship test.
Design:
When you play the game you might think it's practically impossible to answer these questions. But only 30 percent of the questions are not from the real citizenship exams, and you will have a hard time telling which. The questions were carefully researched using hundreds of sources from citizenship tests and press articles. With every municipality having a say what their citizenship should entail, the swiss citizenship test is a mine field that can drastically change in every village. To be even meaner: halfway through the game you are asked whether you would accept another user's performance, and most of our players definitely denied virtual citizenship to players who, in the end, were even better than them. The game raises both the questions of would you qualify as a citizen as well as what truly makes a swiss citizen.
Impressions
