Keyboard Warrior

In this self playing game, pre-programmed bots recall a story taken from the civil conflict in Northern Ireland, as told via on-screen text.

The non-linear nature of the narrative is told each time one of the bots dies, inviting the viewer to spend some time learning the full story, but also in some way trying to indicate how such stories can be augmented and twisted over time and situation.

In this game, real life topography is blended with an actual story, recounted by the child of someone who directly experienced the ethno-social conflict in Northern Ireland.

The use of the game as a medium perhaps draws parallels with the violent nature of game, real life experiences, online keyboard warriors and the hyper masculinity that still drives sectarian problems with children in these communities. The narrative tells of how two brothers were talked out of initiating an attack on an RUC police station by a nun, the original location replicated in the virtual world.