Column: 'The Esoteric Beat: Virtual Sex and Make-Believe Places'

In this week's 'The Esoteric Beat,' a look at the latest goings-on in esoteric game topics, regular columnist Jim Rossignol and Gamasutra assistant editor Frank Cifaldi take a look at an odd way to refurbish a phone booth, sex in games, Virtual Pinball, and more. In this extract, Rossignol explains and responds to the Racismomaton, a machine he describes as "half personality test, half refurbished photo-booth": "The five minute sequence is derived from the Implicit Association Test developed by psychologists at Washington and Princeton universities. Such tests examine the unconscious bias of individuals allegedly found in stereotypes and prejudices that could, potentially, be the basis for racist behaviour. The Racismomaton is entirely autonomous and has already been installed in several Spanish cities. It’s hard to see whether such a device is a useful educational tool, or simply a device for inducing the kind of controversy favoured by contemporary artists. Whether the device will really help people to change their attitudes, and not simply become paranoid, remains to be seen." You can now read the full Gamasutra column on the subject, including a look at dynamically mapping the imaginary worlds of MMOs (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).