THERE IS AN AUGMENTED REALITY GAME THAT LETS YOU CONTROL PEOPLE

Watching the video below makes one think about that hardcore movie, where the guy fights robots, and bad guys, and eventually, he takes back his life – but it's not really his life, is it? Hardcore Henry is the name of that movie, and this game makes me feel like I'm reliving that moment of staring through the guy's eyes, living his action-filled-life.

Now, before we get all too hardcore, the following BeeMe game is not something that's quite 'ripped from a Black Mirror episode' nor is it a 'half-human, half-robotic hybrid' Russian action. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will soon be conducting an experiment of sorts, a "reality augmented game" that will see the Internet in control of a single person.

Even though it sounds super scary and it's probably freaking you out, (I know it's freaking me out, like Buttered Side Down's mental first-person stories). But BeeMe is a game helmed by Niccolò Pescetelli of MIT’s Media Lab and will see a single anonymous real-world protagonist "…guided by a large crowd of users through an epic quest to defeat an evil AI."

One person will be giving up their autonomy for a day in order to complete the BeeMe game, sent on their way by the commands of users from the wonderful world we call the Internet. There are some terms and conditions, obviously, we do not want people to die, and the folks behind this game have actually been on the Internet before. Commands for the protagonist will be submitted and then voted for by remote participants. Those with the most votes – think Reddit’s upvote system – will be carried out. Kind of like that 'Truth or Dare', where that chick's every move starts to become manipulated by an anonymous community of "watchers."

However this is reality, and we live in a messed up society so… there will obviously be some limits. If it’s illegal, dangerous to the actor, or threatens to expose the nameless person's identity, it'll be ruled off-limits. Sensible precautions, we reckon.

The whole thing seems innocent enough. The idea is to "…redefine the way in which we understand social interactions online and in real life. BeeMe will push crowdsourcing and collective intelligence to the extreme to see where it breaks down", according to the game's description. And if you think that this is going to be a massive mess, remember that there is a Twitch channel dedicated to letting viewers play Pokemon remotely via the in-video chat. Those folks seem to get there. Eventually.

The BeeMe experiment will take place on Halloween, which we’re pretty sure is 31 October every year. If you’re keen on playing, or at least seeing how things play out, it’ll start at 23:00 ET, or 05:00 on 1 November here in South Africa.

Trick or treat? pic.twitter.com/1Dr2Z0JGis

— BeeMe (@beeme_mit) October 15, 2018