San Francisco artist Chris Basmajian has created Attention Hog, A casual game about attention-driven social network culture. In Basmajian's words, "the game reflects some of the social and psychological trends present in social-networking communities. Eating its own hog feed, the game also offers extensive (almost 20) automated social network integrations, from Bebo to Xanga.

In the game, the player pilots a cute pig toward people wandering around. If they face you for enough time, a heart fills up and turns gold, earning points. Each level has a target, and failing to meet it ends the game. Power-ups that improve your attention-getting powers are offered each level. There is also bacon, something that should find its way into more games.

I feel like the "hog" metaphor is apt, and the game does partly capture the process of looking for people to look at you as rapidly and thoughtlessly as possible, which I think the author wanted to capture most. What's missing is the sense of needing to continue to tend to, or be subjected by, these so-called "relationships" constantly. It's a cute, simple account, and I'm happy to see a game that critiques today's attention culture, but I'm not sure Attention Hog reaches the level promised in the description, to address "self-promotion, social anxiety, obsessive need for peer validation, and distraction as entertainment."

(thanks to Jason, and to Chris for additional discussion)

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