| Sissyfight 2000 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Word Magazine |
| Publisher(s) | Word Magazine |
| Platform(s) | Macromedia Shockwave |
| Release | 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Sissyfight 2000 (stylised as SiSSYFiGHT 2000) is a turn-based strategy online game developed by the Word online magazine staff, including executive producer Marisa Bowe, producer Naomi Clark, lead programmer Ranjit Bhatnagar, and art director Yoshi Sodeoka, with game designer Eric Zimmerman. The original Shockwave version launched in 2000 but went offline in early 2009. A successful crowdfunding campaign was launched in early 2013 on Kickstarter by some members of the original development team, who announced the re-release of the game as open-source in HTML5. The original date for the game's relaunch was September 2013, but was delayed. An open beta test, started on 30 July 2014, is currently underway.
The gameplay is simple on its surface, but requires solid strategy to win consistently. The graphics are also simple, and were inspired by the work of "outsider artist" Henry Darger, illustrator Edward Gorey, Japanese anime, and early, 8-bit video games of the 1980s.[1] The game, which was inspired in part by Lucasfilm's pioneering online role-playing game, Habitat, was designed to ignite community-building through chat both in the game and on its associate message boards.
In a departure from the androcentric norm in video games, all of the players in Sissyfight were rendered female and nonsexual. Sissyfight is often cited as an early example of a web-based MMOG in gaming development and academic circles.[2] Although each game session only contained three to six players at a time, the mechanics of "brownie points" and the robust community surrounding Sissyfight created a much more "massive" experience than most small-scale web games.