Toxic Monster
- Year
- 2023
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Finance
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Installation
Objective
Techniker Krankenkasse, Germany's largest statutory health insurer, has spent years building a platform in esports and media literacy, and in 2023 it turned that platform toward cyberbullying and hate speech in online games. At a gamescom booth with nothing to sell, TK needed a way to make toxic behavior visible and give Gen Z visitors a reason to stop, play, and talk about mental health, with crisis counselors from krisenchat on hand to continue the conversation.
Solution
Four players walk up to physical buzzers facing a giant LED wall, where a monster called Malice fires toxic comments down four lanes, one per player. A staff member starts the round from an iPad, so there's no character select and no sign-up. Each player watches their own lane and times a buzzer hit to unleash one of four powers: an empathy strike, a harmony shield, a justice wave, or a team-spirit fog, and no single player can bring the monster down alone. As the round runs, Malice shrinks, its attacks speed up, and a toxic haze creeps over the screen until the group's synced hits burn it away. Clearing it shrinks Malice into a small, friendly creature, posts the team's time to a leaderboard on the wall, and wins the players merch. Since 2024 the fight has continued off-site too, on a browser and mobile version at toxic-monster.tk.de with touch controls, prizes, and a direct link into krisenchat support.
Results
Over 4,000 visitors played the game at gamescom 2023, completing 1,149 rounds, for an average of 230 players per day.
- 1
At the TK (Techniker Krankenkasse) booth at gamescom, visitors see a giant monster called Malice glaring down from an LED wall — a spiky, scaled, red-eyed creature resembling a mix of Godzilla and a fantasy dragon.
- 2
A separate screen near the installation shows real hateful messages pulled from Twitch chats, priming players on the theme before a round starts.
- 3
Up to four strangers step up to physical buzzers lined up in front of the wall and become a team for the round; no sign-up or install is needed, as a staff member starts and pauses rounds from an iPad.
- 4
The premise: Malice roams online games harvesting toxic, hateful comments from chats and forums, storing them in a weapon that, once charged, fires a deadly beam of negative energy, and the team's job is to stop it.
- 5
Each round, the monster fires toxic energy down four lanes, one per player, in a rhythm-game format akin to Guitar Hero where the incoming shot is visible ahead of time; hitting the buzzer at the right moment turns into one of four named "superpowers" (an empathy lightning bolt, a harmony shield, a justice wave, a team-spirit fog) built from positive, friendly comments, which deflects the attack.
- 6
No single player can clear it alone — beating the monster requires the team to watch each other and land hits in a shared rhythm rather than acting individually.
- 7
As more attacks are deflected, Malice visibly shrinks, but its attacks get faster and harder to read; near the end a toxic cloud partially obscures the view, and the visuals shift from a dark, tense palette to lighter, harmonious scenes.
- 8
A successful run ends with Malice transforming into a small, cute monster freed of its toxic energy, shown as the round's final screen.
- 9
Completion time places the team on a leaderboard displayed on the same LED wall, and players are rewarded with merch — T-shirts or anti-stress balls based on score, and a plush Malice toy for finishing under 1:05.
- 10
After playing, visitors move into a conversation area with information on cyberbullying and TK's support services, on-site krisenchat counselors (free psychosocial help for under-25s via SMS/WhatsApp), and talks with esports players; those who miss the booth can instead play a browser/mobile version at toxic-monster.tk.de, using the same four-superpower mechanic adapted to touch controls, with a direct link to krisenchat and a prize draw for T-shirts and a plush monster.
