Web Forum: Web news

Sep 25 2009 by Andrew Jackson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THERE’S a new game sweeping through the White Smoke online community. It’s called Rumour Mill and it lets you make scurrilous comments about your mates – just for a laugh.

But wait a second, the White Smoke administrators have noticed something odd. The Rumour Mill appears to be grabbing people’s passwords. It’s more than a game, it’s a Trojan Horse virus.

So begins Smokescreen, a fantastic online game from Channel 4 and Six To Start (www.sixtostart.com).

You play as a new White Smoke user, trusted by the moderators to run simple errands for them. As you navigate the site you’ll encounter all sorts of people and it’s up to you to ask the right questions and click on the right things to find out what’s going on.

And the mystery is much deeper than you think. Smokescreen itself is more than a game, it’s an education. The aim is to teach people to think more carefully about how much they reveal about themselves online and also to be less trusting of what other people say.

As you work your way through the Smokescreen levels, you’ll gradually uncover more and more layers of deception. Who is telling the truth and who is lying? And what have the liars got to hide?

Smokescreen is aimed at teenagers but anyone can play. If you’ve ever felt a little freaked out by the goings-on at sites like Facebook, Bebo or MySpace, you’ll feel right at home inside the mysterious world of White Smoke.

The first few missions are playable right now and the game continues for weeks yet. Get started at www.smokescreengame.com.

BROWSING AROUND... SCIENCE-FICTION BLOGS

Kasterborous, an online magazine about Doctor Who: www.kasterborous.com

And not forgetting the spin-off Sarah Jane show: sarahjanetv.blogspot.com

Star Wars officially: starwarsblog.starwars.com

The UK Sci-Fi review: scifi.uk.com

Buffy and Serenity fans will know this one: whedonesque.com

FIVE-MINUTE WONDER

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...: animalswithlightsabers.com