Peter Molyneux's Curiosity spawns $80,000 DLC

Peter Molyneux unveiled the first of his new company 22Cans' social media experiments at E3, Curiosity, which is about tapping away at a giant block with other players. Oh, and you can pay $78,000 to buy a one-off diamond chisel. It's science, see.

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Video gaming's favourite uncle Peter Molyneux unveiled the first fruit of his new company, 22Cans, at E3, and it's about strange as you'd expect. Curiosity is the first of 22 experiments into the psychology of players, based around chiselling away at a massive cube--and part of the experiment is selling a unique in-game chisel for £50,000 (around $78,000). Oh, Uncle Petey!

Curiosity is a simple game for "PC, iPhone, all that stuff" where players tap away at a giant black cube in a white room, chiselling smaller cubes off with each touch, Molyneux explained to GameTrailers (which is also where we got that snazzy image of the cube).

"Curiosity: what is inside the black cube?" it will ask. Every player in the world is working on the same cube, until one--and only one--will remove the final block and discover what's inside. This, Molyneux told New Scientist, is the crux of the experiment: how will this news spread across social network, will people work together, and how will they prove they opened it?

22Cans is also running an experiment in monetisation, selling chisels of increasing strength. An iron chisel for 59p (a buck) is 10 times more powerful than tapping, and it runs all the way up to a unique, one-off diamond chisel costing £50,000 (about $78,000). Will one player buy the diamond chisel outright, or a group, or no one?

Whatever happens, Molyneux insists, "This is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation."

Curiosity should launch in a few weeks.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 7, 2012 8:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Peter Molyneux's Curiosity spawns $80,000 DLC.

    Peter Molyneux unveiled the first of his new company 22Cans' social media experiments at E3, Curiosity, which is about tapping away at a giant block with other players. Oh, and you can pay $78,000 to buy a one-off diamond chisel. It's science, see.

    • reply
      June 7, 2012 8:57 AM

      wha....what?

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      June 7, 2012 9:07 AM

      "This is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation."
      *cough* bullshit You don't sell an ingame model for the price of a nice BMW and have the right to claim it's not a money-making exercise. It's both a money making exercise and the BS drivel about 'testing the psychology of monetisation'

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        June 7, 2012 9:09 AM

        i mean if it isn't a money making exercise then he'll refund everyone who spends money unlocking these chisels at the end, right? right?

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          June 7, 2012 11:01 AM

          He might refund the money but if it is a test then telling people you're going to refund them invalidates the test.

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            June 7, 2012 11:03 AM

            Also I assume we're talking about just the super expensive chisel - I wouldn't expect a refund on the cheap ones because those are funding the game.

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        June 7, 2012 12:02 PM

        Next: "Molyneux studio 22Cans files for bankruptcy"

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      June 7, 2012 9:10 AM

      [deleted]

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      June 7, 2012 9:12 AM

      [deleted]

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      June 7, 2012 9:13 AM

      This man is insane.

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      June 7, 2012 11:48 AM

      So what's in the cube? I think a big dog sitting in a wheelbarrow smoking a pipe.

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      June 7, 2012 11:53 AM

      That is some Molyneux as Molyneux right there

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      June 7, 2012 11:58 AM

      YES! This is the ultimate Molyneux. I will buy a $5 chisel just support this man's meds.

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      June 7, 2012 12:00 PM

      This is bloody brilliant. They say games can't be art but this is conceptual art at its finest. Yoko Ono would be proud.

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      June 7, 2012 12:05 PM

      It's so insane it's brilliant and hilarious.

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      June 7, 2012 12:16 PM

      I'm so glad he has 21 more ideas like this come up

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      June 7, 2012 12:22 PM

      He's obviously trying to troll Notch into buying it.

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      June 7, 2012 12:43 PM

      How do you "break the last cube" to see what's inside? Either the last cube is hollow, or the center would be a box made out of 26 cubes, with a hollow center. You wouldn't need to break the last cube to see what is inside.

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      June 7, 2012 12:48 PM

      I'd tap that. xD

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      June 7, 2012 1:14 PM

      Why would I play this for more than 2 minutes?

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      June 7, 2012 1:27 PM

      This is what happens when you become so rich and famous that you don't have a filter anymore.

      Why filter any crazy shit you might think of or say? You're rich and famous - everything you think of is gold.

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        June 7, 2012 3:17 PM

        [deleted]

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        June 11, 2012 12:20 AM

        You're rich and famous, and so in a better position to pull off a large-scale social experiment like this one that a small studio, think-tank, or what-have-you, wouldn't.

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      June 7, 2012 1:34 PM

      I got an experiment too, it's called Peter Molyneux is a fucking lunatic.

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      June 7, 2012 1:40 PM

      I bet if the center of the cube dropped a +190 dex, +130 vit, +30% attack. +30 all resists item then people will deem this GOTY and defend it to the grave.

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      June 7, 2012 3:21 PM

      This game would be a lot better if he'd let us shoot the cube

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      June 7, 2012 3:40 PM

      I SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING THERE!!!

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      June 7, 2012 4:08 PM

      Inside the cube is $40,000

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        June 7, 2012 4:11 PM

        My guess is inside the cube is a USB stick containing an audio file of Ryan Davis saying, "I'M PETER MOLYNEUX, BITCHES!!! A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAA!!!"

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      June 8, 2012 4:24 PM

      Inside the cube there is a Dungeon Keeper HD announcement.

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