Neilson Koerner-Safrata^CA

Koerner-Safrata’s work focuses on play and the engines that make it possible. Previously, he has created a multiplayer memorial for the Counter-Strike map Dust II, a chatroom for larping as the animals of Age of Empires II, and an interactive album named Two Half Words released with musician Sam Tudor.

Along with his twin brother Milan, Koerner-Safrata runs the interactive studios SCRNPRNT and Engine. Their work has been exhibited at Now Play This, A MAZE., MUTEK, Independent Games Festival, VIFF, and IndieCade.

The website engine.study is a multiplayer video game connected to inflows and outflows of players, scams, art objects, role-playing, lore, and community building. Built around the nascent engines of art and play seen through the blockchain moment, the game is a spawning ground for the utopian communities that have arisen from within the scam.

Players and (nonplayable characters) NPCs in the game have their identities connected to their individual wallets. The agency of the player is dependent on what is outside the game as much as what is in the game and the slippage between the two. Wallets and tokens might grant access to areas or do just the opposite. As players collect and explore, they can leave marks on the world. And as more communities join and grow, so will the play, between simulation, spectacle, and speculation.

Controls are ‘W’,’A’,’S’,’D’, to move, ‘T’ to chat, and left/right mouse buttons.