FOMO: The Game

FOMO: The Game

Best played with a group of strangers meeting for the first time.

FOMO stands for "fear of missing out."  FOMO: The Game is about the anxieties and insecurities proffered by social media.

To play: each player needs a cell phone and an Instagram account.

Designate one player as the "Homebody."  They will briefly describe a reason why they couldn't make it out last night and then give the rest of the players a brief prompt in the following format:

"I hope I didn't miss _____________." 

All other players have 1 minute to search Instagram for an image related to that prompt (interpreted as widely or narrowly as they wish).  They will then use the image to tell a story to the Homebody about the epic experience they missed. 

The Homebody awards a point to the player whose story inspires the most FOMO.  That player gets a bonus point if their photo came from their own personal Instagram account.

Play continues with every player rotating into the role of the Homebody at least twice. 

The player who has the most points at the end of the game wins.  Everyone else must now follow their account for at least one month.

***

This is my entry into the 200 Word RPG Challenge 2018.

I wanted to make a game about how the pleasures of social media can transform into a feeling of anxiety about the self that we are presenting to others. The joy that we feel in sharing our lives with our friends is transforming into a need to curate an online persona. Our desire to have fun experiences is becoming dwarfed by our desire to create images of ourselves having experience that look fun. FOMO: The Game is an opportunity for players to think about the image that they present to others, the assumptions that they make about what images others want to see, and the compromises that they make on behalf of these anonymous observers.

If you want to chat about the game, have any suggestions for additional rules, or want to play with me online, you can find me on Instagram at megancondis or hit me up on Twitter @MeganCondis. Enjoy!

***