USA: New Yorkers "stalk" victims as part of a city-wide "StreetWars" game

The two young "assassins" prepare to "stalk" their target, readying their "guns" and hiding them in a hand bag and back pack respectively. Then, they leave their office in lower Manhattan through a back exit so that they are able to escape any assassins that might be waiting for them. But all is not what it seems. Agent Nina (not her real name), 26, along with her boyfriend, Agent Jacques Bauer (also not his real name), 27, are team-members playing "StreetWars," a version of a popular high school and college game "Assassins" that kicked off in New York on Monday (September 25), with around 240 players. All players are given a photo, name, home and work addresses and phone number of a target whom they must pursue and "kill" with a water pistol, water balloon or other water-based soaking, while eluding in turn the player who is coming after them. On a recent evening in the first week of October, Agent Nina and her "partner-in-assassination" Agent Jacques Bauer, leave the office where they both work together, to go after their target. They prepare their water guns, hide them in their bags and make sure to use the rear exit to leave their office building, so as to avoid being "killed" themselves by their assassins. While heading downtown to their target's office, the team changes cars in the subway as a precautionary move to throw off any possible assassins following them. Their plan is to wait for their target outside his office building in Wall Street and then follow and "kill" him. They've never seen their target before but going by the photograph they've been given, they land up following a person who looks like their target but turns out not to be the right person. Agent Nina even takes out her gun and tries "killing" her "target", only to apologize profoundly later, while trying to explain about the game that she's taking part in. Later, Agent Nina is upbeat despite the wrong move. Her plan is to wait with her partner outside their target's home next time. This is Agent Nina's first time playing StreetWars and it is she who roped in her boyfriend to be her partner in the game. "The draw to this game is being able to use skills that you don't get to use on a regular basis. Or may be you do use them but you're not really aware of how far you can take them, this observing and being kind of manipulative and devious," said Agent Nina. Her boyfriend is now hooked onto the game and thinks it's far more fun than watching mindless television at home, or seeing films. He appreciates the fact that he is able to explore different parts of New York because of the game and that it's more socially interactive than playing video games at home. And while the game can get quite tiring over the course of three weeks as players follow their targets at odd hours, change their routines and run around the city, Agent Bauer thinks the competitive spirit keeps the energy up. "I think it attracts a lot of people that are really competitive, so I think just that competitive nature is what keeps people going for three weeks, wanting to beat everyone else in New York. And even though the price is 500 dollars and a trophy, I think most people are doing it for bragging rights, to be the best assassin in New York, that's something," said Agent Bauer. Contestants pay 40 U.S. dollars to enter and in order to pick up their "assignments", they had to venture into a dark, "crackhead" alley in Queens the weekend before the game started. They trooped into a parked truck where the co-founders of the game gave out orders on who their first targets would be. The winner gets 500 U.S. dollars, a bottle of Jack Daniels and a water gun mounted on a trophy. The game was co-founded by 31-year-old Franz Aliquo, known as "Supreme Commander" and 31-year-old Yutai Liao, aka Mustache Commander. Dressed in a vintage suit and aviator glasses, Supreme Commander said the game was born largely out of boredom. "As a little kid we used to go around and play in parks, and use the city as a playground. Then, as I was getting older, it got to the point where the city was just a place to live in, and getting inspired off of that, I kind of wanted to make it a place to play in again, particularly as an adult. So, hence, this - crackhead alley and liquor and so on and so forth," said Aliquo. Others agree. After making its debut in New York in 2004, "StreetWars" has been played in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, London and Vienna, Austria, with games also planned for Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and Reykjavik, Iceland. Aliquo also plans to develop the game into a reality TV show. Part of the fun, say players, is avoiding the daily grind by living as though they are in an action movie for three weeks, in which they are unable to have any routine. And they have to follow rules like the fact that bars, subway stations, bus stops and the insides of offices and homes of the targets are off-limits in the game. In preparation for the game, many players devised secret means of entering and exiting their homes, while others have stocked up on an arsenal of water-based weaponry and practised surveillance techniques. 26-year-old Alex Young said he had taken a lot of defence measures, such as taking off all his pictures from his MySpace profile and changing his details on the social networking website. But there has been some criticism of the game, with apprehension of the suspicious activities that the game involves and the police attention it might attract. In the past, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg too has voiced his concerns about the game. One of the players, Richard Dunkin, dismissed the safety issue though as well as the fact that the weapons used by assassins might attract unwarranted attention from the police. "I think because of the weapon that I chose, I'm not very worried about police. It's pretty obvious that it's nothing like a real gun. So, I think that will keep me out of trouble with the police. As far as other people on the street, well, it's New York you see strange people on the street every day," said Dunkin. Typically around 25 to 30 percent of players are women. But about half the players in the last New York game were women, and a 76-year-old grandmother played in Los Angeles. The game also has a social aspect, and has led to at least one marriage. In a recent London game, some male players also disguised themselves by dressing as women for the month, according to Aliquo. If more than one person is left standing at the end of three weeks the game goes into sudden death where the remaining players chase after Aliquo. This won't be easy since Aliquo has a wardrobe full of disguises, and a posse of bodyguards.

ITN Source | October 14, 2006

Tags:. .pursue. .rear. .defence. .aspect. .apologize