Best Link Ever! 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness

Screencapture AFC

A riff on John Cage’s, 4’33,” a three-movement composition consisting of the ambient noise listeners hear while an orchestra remains silent, Petri Purho’s video game 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness induces a similar kind of audience anticipation.  The concept is simple: download the game and watch a black status bar for 4’33.” If you’re the only one playing the game during that time, the block pictured above will complete a single turn without quitting. The moment you’re not, the game, which checks the Internet for other players, quits and you have to begin again. You have to play the game for the full 4 minutes and 33 seconds.

Editors note: Don’t miss the comments section on game designer Petri Purho’s blog. It’s full of people complaining about getting kicked off just before they made it to 4:33!  My favorite thus far:

I like to restart the game about 4 mins after I get shut out of it. That way I know I'm shutting out the jerk who shut me out. Well, if he even lasted that long.

Of course, he then considers writing a program that will run the game every 30 seconds to 3 minutes, thus ruining the game for every one.

Via: Joe McKay