Comments on: Candyland labyrinth game

By: Volume 2 update and recent reactions elsewhere | Significant Objects

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:13:18 +0000

[...] In a SnarkMarket post, Robin Sloan writes about “story shadows,” and observes: “Probably the best example of story-shadow engineering today is the super-awesome Significant Objects.” Nice! (Although the next sentence is: “I feel like you ought to be able to take what they’re doing and move it up the food chain—imagine a future for new objects, as well as a past for old ones.” Hm. A move “up” what food chain? Anyway, a discussion ensues in that site’s comments, with highlights coming from S.O. contributor Matthew Battles.) [...]

By: Hilobrow | Middlebrow is not the solution

Hilobrow | Middlebrow is not the solution — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:47:59 +0000

[...] have written about Candyland in another connection. But until yesterday I hadn’t played it in ages. While we waited for the button on the turkey [...]

By: Rob Walker

Rob Walker — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:41:21 +0000

I’ve had a few exchanges with buyers, though nothing quite this direct. It’s a little tricky — I wouldn’t want to discourage bidders by making them think that they’d have to give us an explanation.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that all these items are selling for way above their “market value” purely as objects, so there must be some story element to it.

In a few cases we might be able to share winning bidders’ answers, and that might prove interesting. Keep an eye on the site and maybe we’ll be able to come up with something to satisfy the curious mind..

By: Sandy Q

Sandy Q — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:27:25 +0000

What I want to know is if you plan to ask the auction winners what made them pay more? Was it the story or did they really just want the item to begin with? Curious mind want to know!

By: Josh Glenn

Josh Glenn — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:48:55 +0000

Only a few hours left to bid on the Candyland labyrinth game!

By: Josh Glenn

Josh Glenn — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:21:21 +0000

With just under 3 days left to go, this item is now selling for $11.50 — starting price $0.29. So Matthew Battles’ story has multiplied the item’s value by a factor of one billion, or something like that. Bid!

By: Peggy

Peggy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:44:11 +0000

This I wanted the minute I saw it. All those colors. Little guys. Pathways. A quest!! The visual details started lining themselves up in my head before they had even resolved to ideas, let alone words. Then I read the story. And inexorably, the possibilities submitted themselves to the plastic ouroboros and the narrative became a vortex and the present became the future, and the past, at once.

See basically I don’t like old stuff so much. I mean sometimes. Especially if it has an interesting history. But new stuff is better. It’s not that it doesn’t have a story – it has the future! The story of the future: progress and possibilities and science fiction which just might be almost real by next month, I can check on the computer in my phone. And optimism! I’m not an optimist. But this object is. This is a seriously dangerous object. Maybe you think it’s silly: go ahead. *You’re the lightweight. I need it.