Playing Computer Games with… Bacteria?
A Peculiar World of Biotic Gaming
Picture yourself completely absorbed in a computer game: where you are darting through crumbling urban landscapes, pursued by cordyceps-infected zombies, zapping them with plasma rifles, or engaging in cerebral battles of chess and intricate strategy games. Now, envision this gaming experience where your opponent aren’t merely humans or virtual characters, but rather unconventional (yet very much real and living) entities — such as microscopic bacteria , yeasts and fungi — adding an entirely different dimension to your gameplay.
Biotic Games, also referred to as hybrid bio-digital games, offer precisely such kind of experiences. The emerging game genre blends actual biological elements and processes into digital gameplay. Typically featuring living micro-organisms, these games task players with manipulating bacterial behaviour using various stimuli such as electrical fields, chemicals, light, and so forth. These kinds of interactions are then translated into virtual characters, and displayed (and often live-streamed) on video gaming displays. Their accessible nature has made biotic games a favoured choice among diverse groups, including biology students, artists, and designers seeking to delve into the playful interactions between humans and the microbial world.
