A playful and demented send-up of playground social politics, SiSSYFiGHT 2000 plunges players into a bizarre and sinister childhood world. SiSSYFiGHT's visuals are a mix of Hello Kitty and Edward Gorey, blending a candy-coated Japanimation sensibility with a darkly wicked sense of humor, while the musical score combines frenetic video game sounds and innocent music-box tunes with the noises of a busy schoolyard.

Unlike online games which focus solely on action or mechanical gameplay, SiSSYFiGHT capitalizes on the Internet's capacity for communication to deliver a game that revolves around social strategy and manipulation. The 3 to 6 players in a SiSSYFiGHT 2000 game must chat or die, threatening and taunting opponents and making tenuous alliances and bitter rivalries. Game actions include grabbing, scratching, teasing, cowering, tattling, and lollipop-licking. When only two girls are left standing, they become best friends and win the game together.

Because of SiSSYFiGHT's easy-to-learn social gameplay and unique sensibility, it appeals to a far broader audience than most computer games, online or off. It's not just for girls, however--male and female players of all ages have already become addicted to the SiSSYFiGHT 2000 experience.

SiSSYFiGHT 2000 is played over the Web using Macromedia's Shockwave plug-in, and represents one of the first-ever uses of Shockwave's online multiplayer capabilities. Players first create their own schoolgirl avatar with a customized name, face, and hairstyle, then go on to the "Homeroom," where they can join a game or sit back and talk trash. Game winners receive points that earn them a place in the school-wide rankings.

SiSSYFiGHT 2000 launched on February 25, 2000. In the first couple months after the game opened to the public, over 100,000 SiSSYFiGHTers registered to play. In addition to a growing crowd of enthusiastic fans, SiSSYFiGHT has received accolades from the mainstream press and the game industry. Reviews of SiSSYFiGHT have appeared in the New York Times, Details, Seventeen, Time Digital, Newsweek, Wired, Time Out New York, Entertainment Weekly, the Toronto Globe and Mail, Salon, and I.D. Magazine, among others.

If you'd like to get in on the fun, just follow the instructions below. If you have questions about the game or want to interview one of the creators, please contact Eric Zimmerman at eric@gmlb.com.

Step 2: Do Your Homework!
Everything you need to know about the world of SiSSYFiGHT 2000 is online in the help section at www.sissyfight.com/sissyfight/help.html. You can learn how to play, read up on strategy, see who's the current queen of the playground, or just click the big green PLAY button to start Sissyfighting!

Step 3: Who The Hell are You?
After the game loads you'll see a screen asking for your Sissyfighter's name. Since you're a new player, click the button at the top, where it says "Click HERE to create your Sissyfighter." Then you'll be taken to the Dressing Room, where you can choose a hairstyle, face, and name. You can also register for a permanent account or leave that for later.

Step 4: Waiting For Recess...
After you register or skip registration by clicking LATER, your Sissyfighter will arrive in the Homeroom. This is where the available games of SiSSYFiGHT are listed on the blackboard. You can also chat with any other players who are hanging out in the Homeroom. Click a blue JOIN button to enter a game, or create your own game. Keep in mind that you need at least three people to play--if you don't see anyone in an open game or in the Homeroom, you might try bushwhacking one of your friends into logging on to play with you.

Step 5: Let's Rumble!
Ready to fight? Once you and at least two other Sissyfighters are on the playground, all you have to do is click the big green START button. The game will begin when all the players have pressed START. (You might want to wait for five or six players--mass humiliation is definitely the best way to play.) Once the music plays and the game begins, you can click on one of your opponents to terrorize her in a number of different ways, or you can click yourself to choose a defensive action. Keep in mind that you can only pick one action every turn! You can change your action until the timer runs out and the buzzer sounds--then you can click through the pictures that pop up to see if your fiendish action succeeded. After that, the next round begins, and the next, and the next, until the playground is dominated by only one or two girls!

Eric Zimmerman: Game Design & Project Management - Zimmerman is an accomplished game designer, artist, and academic exploring the emerging field of game design. Zimmerman's diverse activities led Interview Magazine to name him one of "30 To Watch" in October 1999 and I.D. Magazine to name him one of 40 influential designers in 2000. Recent projects include the award-winning computer game BLiX (www.stationblix.com), the interactive paper book Life in the Garden (published by Razorfish Studios 1999), and game installations in Artists Space and the Rotunda Gallery. Zimmerman is the Director of RE:PLAY, a conference and book about digital gaming (www.eyebeam.org/replay). Zimmerman teaches at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program and the Digital Design program at Parsons School of Design. He has published and lectured extensively on the design and culture of play and games.

Ranjit Bhatnagar: Lead Programmer - Bhatnagar was Technology Director of Word. He has been working on collaborative art projects on the net since before the World Wide Web. Before Word he created interactive news features for Philadelphia Inquirer's award-winning web site, educational multimedia for the University of Pennsylvania, and occasional installations for the Franklin Institute Science Museum.

Yoshi Sodeoka: Art Director - Sodeoka was the founding Art Director of Word. Sodeoka's inventive design for the webzine has won awards ranging from the top I.D. Magazine multimedia award to Print magazine accolades. Equipped with a degree in computer graphics from Brooklyn's Pratt Institute, artistic training in his native Japan, and experience in CD-ROM design, Sodeoka was one of the first designers for Viacom's New Media department, where he worked on experimental interactive music projects for MTV. Sodeoka has established himself as an innovator in the audio realm as well; he oversaw the audio selections for Word's Junk Radio (in addition to designing its interface), and his own Codename 404 (http://www.c404.com/), where he experiments with audio and visuals along with an electronic music project.

Jason A. Mohr: Art & Interface Design - Mohr earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic and Packaging Design, with an emphasis on interactive media, from Pasadena Art Center in California. After working as a freelance web designer, he came to Word, where he was a staff designer for over three years. Mohr's designs and concepts have earned recognition from organizations such as the New York Art Director's Club and I.D. Magazine. He has also designed for National Geographic Online.

Tomas Clark: Producer, Writer & Assistant Game Designer - A graduate of Columbia University, Clark is a veteran builder of websites and online communities. He managed a local dial-up BBS in the early 90s, and began to design websites and virtual worlds in 1993. Before coming to Word in October 1995, he put together a website for the Seattle Times, worked as a freelance print designer, and wrote entertainment site listings for an early competitor of Yahoo's. He formerly served as Associate Editor at Word and is now a Producer with the online division of LEGO.

Wade Tinney: Additional Programming - Tinney (MFA Parsons School of Design) is the President of Zesty Interactive and the creator of blockcorner.com. Other websites include nyphilkids.org, playmusic.org, photobooth.org, and gutterball.com.

Lem Jay Ignacio: Sound and Music - A regular contributor to Word, Ignacio composes music and does sound design for commercials, theater, CD-ROMs & the web. He's most recently lent his talents to Braingirl, an animated series on the Razorfish Subnetwork, as well as numerous on-line games and multimedia projects for clients like Teen magazine, Movieline, Ocean Pacific & Gravity Games. The sweet and fuzzy pop tunes of his alter-ego, Philip Eno, have been featured on the popular KCRW radio programs "Morning become Eclectic" and "Man on the Moon."

Lucas Gonze: Communication Engine - Gonze got his start working on the user interface for Xywrite. Since then he has coded a multiplexing socket proxy, an ultralight Java web server, a web based protocol able to punch through firewalls, a server for local web applications, as well as sites for two banks, three bookstores, a railroad, a shopping club and a lawyer.