Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence (MAVAV) www.mavav.org
by David Yoo

* December 23, 2006: MAVAV was re-launched as a social satire blog. View the original version here.
* December 23, 2002: MAVAV goes live.

Assignment:
Your final project is going to be making a fully functional hoax. The work must:
- exist in the public realm
- be advertised, exposed or introduced to strangers
- be fully documented, strategies include images, movies, sound recording, and interviews
- employ the element of craft (they will be judged on both ambition & effort)
- be fully functional. For example, if the project is a website, you must register the domain name. There should be no connection to this class or to Parsons.

Think hard about why people make hoaxes. I want you not to just have "fun" tricking people, but think about a message or idea you want to convey. What are the strategies for bringing people in? What is your overall message? Your aim should be to create work which is subtle and effective.

Proposal: As an avid gamer, I was aware of the current media attention surrounding violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto. With this knowledge, I proposed to parody a mother's organization against video game addiction and violence.

Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence (MAVAV) claims it is "dedicated to educating parents of the world's fastest growing addiction and the most reckless endangerment of children today" against video games. MAVAV also suggests video games influence violent behavior, as proclaimed by video game critics Joe Lieberman and Jack Thompson.

I believe video game addiction and violent behavior are a result of poor parenting skills and a personal lack of self-control by individuals. There are far worse things going on in this world than video games, and that is why I believed MAVAV could become successful.

Design: MAVAV is composed of four pages: Homepage, Articles, Resources, and Awareness. The layout was intentionally designed to look like an educational pamphlet with amateurish web design using simple color layouts and low-res .gif's.

The Homepage was used to shock viewers with absurd facts, hard satire, and an explanation as to what the MAVAV is about. Lower on the page included a News In Brief section which included confusing headlines about video game addiction and violence with links to outside web sources.

The Articles section was never intended to be completed. Viewers were left with satirical article titles and an apology for them being offline.

The Resources were the focus point of the MAVAV web site. It contained horribly stereotypical misconceptions of gamers and false facts about violence in video games. With worries that this page may not seem satirical enough, I included giveaways like the exaggerated Report Card portraying gamers as being bad in physical education and very good in computer class.

The Awareness section’s primary purpose was to promote itself with image banners which served its purpose well. In a time when community bookmarking sites, such as Digg, did not exist, internet virals and memes depended on the word of mouth to travel, particularly in e-mails, instant messages, and internet forums. Viewers used my banners on their personal sites and as signature pictures in forums. Others defaced them.

Launch: MAVAV was launched on December 23, 2002, followed by some carefully planned leaks to several gaming forums.

From that point on, MAVAV was completely viral.

Response: MAVAV was a success with over 30,000 visitors in its first week.

I received over 1,500 e-mail responses and numerous hack attempts on the web server. Few suspected it was a hoax. The message was clear in the e-mails, video games are not to blame, and bad parenting is.

The Secret is Out: On December 30th, MAVAV made the front page and comic on the popular web comic Penny Arcade. They were the first to suspect a hoax. That evening, MAVAV made the news on Slashdot.

MAVAV received over 60,000 additional hits and over 1,000 more e-mails.

Closing: The MAVAV hoax is a prime example of how easily contagious media can be propagated on the Internet, as well as how easily consumers will take in that which they read, without first questioning it.

Media & Press:
CNN, "What's Real on the Internet Not Always Clear"
Electronic Gaming Monthly, May 2003
Penny Arcade commentary
Penny Arcade comic mentioning MAVAV
PvP rant, "Everything in Moderation"
Slashdot, “The Joystick Is The Root of All Evil"
Edge Magazine (UK), FoxTrot Comics, TechTV