MTV ME
Open the game- Brand
- MTV
- Year
- 2007
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Preloaded
Objective
MTV's Staying Alive campaign aimed to promote condom use and sexual tolerance among a young audience without lecturing them — a tone that turns internet users off. The game also served as a data-and-engagement play: instead of a simple share button, it closed with a survey that could be compared against friends' answers, feeding CRM.
Solution
The player first builds their own avatar, then picks the gender of the date they're about to meet. From there they click through a single evening in first person: getting ready at home, riding the bus across town, arriving at the party, and finally sharing a drink with their date. Along the way, a pager on screen buzzes with short notes from friends dropping safe-sex tips into the middle of the date. The evening ends with a short survey, and the player's answers get compared against friends' own answers.
- 1
The player opens the game and builds a personal avatar, customizing its look so the character stands in for the player.
- 2
The game frames the story as a blind date and has the player choose the gender of the date the avatar will meet, setting the evening's premise.
- 3
In the first scene, the player clicks through objects around the home to get the avatar ready before heading out.
- 4
A second scene has the player get the avatar through a bus ride to the meeting place without incident, playing out as a short travel challenge.
- 5
Through the evening's scenes, short pager messages arrive from the avatar's (fictional) friends, carrying safe-sex advice woven into the ordinary action.
- 6
The party forms the main scene, where the player clicks through a sequence of moments trying to keep the avatar from embarrassing itself over the night.
- 7
At one point the avatar ends up too drunk, and the player addresses it by giving the avatar coffee.
- 8
The evening ends on a final scene of the avatar sharing a last drink with the date, the point the date's plot builds toward.
- 9
Instead of a plain send-to-a-friend button, the game closes with a short questionnaire whose anonymous answers the player can compare against friends' answers.
