All the world’s a stage….
They say if want to understand someone’s point of view, you should walk a mile in their shoes. Yesterday, a couple of internet game enthusiasts started a journey that will clock up quite a few more as they attempt to find somewhere to park their caravan in London.
The online game Drom (which means 'road' in Romany) coincides with the three-week run of Shraddha at the Soho Theatre, a love story between a Gypsy girl and a council-estate boy, set against the displacement of a Hackney Romany community in East London as their camping grounds are redeveloped for the London Olympics. See Travellers Times Online's events section for more details on the play.
Over the next three weeks the Drom’s creators will be caravanning through London's streets, searching nightly for a safe place to park guided only by recommendations from the games' online players, who can make suggestions via email, Twitter or by text messaging. Players must provide a location and a justification for their submission, but otherwise the Drom’s temporary travellers will utterly at the whim of the players.
Every Friday and Saturday during the Shraddha run, the travellers will choose a site recommended by a stranger, set up camp and document the results. The caravan's progress can be tracked live via GPS, and the travellers themselves will be keeping video blogs of their experiences. Should they be 'moved on' by authorities or unsavoury characters, there are cameras hidden around the caravan to record the run-in. As the weeks wear on the journey will spiral inwards towards the Soho Theatre, and the winning player is the one who locates an overnight stay closest to the venue.
Simon Johnson, co-founder of Simon Games and one of Drom's designers, explains that the goal is to use social networking tools to create empathy between the players and the travellers, and through that experience raise awareness of Romani history and culture:
"We wanted Drom to highlight some of the themes of Shraddha, to move them out of the theatre and engage with them through play," says Evans, who will be one of travellers in the caravan. "We've mainly focused on one aspect – the destructive effect of site closures on the lives of Traveller and Gypsy communities. We want people to consider what they would do in a similar situation."
You can take part in the game and follow Drom’s progress online at: http://play.simongames.co.uk/