Categories
Digital Culture

CITIZEN! STATE YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE!

“Mongoose Publishing of Swindon, Wilts., UK (www.mongoosepublishing.com) announced today agreement with the creators of the fondly remembered tabletop roleplaying game Paranoia, to develop and publish a new edition of the game, Paranoia XP. ”

Troubleshooter: PDC!
PDC: Yes, Citizen user?
Troubleshooter: Please add citizen Rachel-R-BLT-2 to my address book.
PDC: Accessing. I’m sorry, citizen user. There is no such citizen.
Troubleshooter: But I left her in cubicle ZXY-12 in BLT sector just ten minutes ago!
PDC: Accessing. Cubicle ZXY-12 is currently undergoing cleaning and renovation by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Mind Control prior to new occupancy.
Troubleshooter: But…. Please access cloning records for Rachel-R-BLT.
PDC: Accessing. There is no citizen Rachel-R-BLT. There has never been a citizen Rachel-R-BLT.
Troubleshooter: But…
PDC: You are mistaken.
Troubleshooter: But…
PDC: You seem distraught and possibly delusional, citizen. Please be calm, and remain in the area. Assistance is on the way.

Ah, the memories. Me…My Clone…The Commies…The Computer. Such fun. For those of you not familiar with the game, it was one of the best RPG’s ever. Wacky, crazy, and completely insane, but fun as hell. If anyone is interested, I’ve got the original book, along with Send in the Clones and a handful of supplements. I’d love to run a one-night game of this.

Check the Paranoia Blog.

By griffey

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.

Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.

One reply on “CITIZEN! STATE YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE!”

Hoody-hoo! Mongoose is going crazy with license acquisitions. Conan, Bab5, Slaine, Starship Troopers and now Paranoia. I’ll be curious to see how they handle Paranoia, as the last edition was, well, crap.

Tra-V-BRY

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *