Risque German Game Phenomenon Tries To Repeat Success In English
Most of our readers have probably never heard of Pennergame, a controversial German game that asks players to rise from virtual homelessness to great wealth, by any means necessary. The text-based game has proven immensely popular in Germany, where it sees 1.8 million unique visitors a month and 1.5 billion page impressions, and is the third fasting growing website according to Comscore (falling just behind Facebook). With subject matter like animal-fights, tramps, and a "blood alcohol level management system", the game has also raised the ire of a number of activist groups and politicans for its deragotory portrail of the homeless.
Today the two young men behind the game are launching an English version called Dossergame, which retains the same gameplay as the original with a London-themed slant (the creators may released localized US versions in the future). Once again gamers are asked to "beg, collect junk and to form gangs with other players" in the quest to rise from tramp to "castle owner". So will Dossergame be able to capture the huge success of the original?
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