The Game

Bite Me was a massively multiplayer real-world game event designed for the 2001 Game Developers' Conference. A combination social game experiment and publicity stunt, gameLab distributed cards throughout the conference and let the game spread. With its clean card design, elegant game mechanic, and unexpected humor, Bite Me was gameLab’s viral contribution to GDC.

The Design

We distributed the Bite Me cards to as many people as we could in the early part of the conference, and watched them spread like a social virus. By the end of the GDC, it was very hard to get rid of those cards, with triumphant shouts of “Bite Me!” echoing through the conference halls. One of the most voracious players that year was Raph Koster, well-known MMORPG game designer.