• Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
  • Search Site

Polari Magazine

  • Home
  • Up Front
    • Editorial
    • Clementine: The Living Fashion Doll
    • Polari Safari
    • WTF? Friday
    • Bulletin Board
    • Polari Facts
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Features
    • Gallery
    • Opinion
    • Heroes & Villains
  • Community
    • Oral Histories
    • Coming Out Stories
    • Relationships
    • IDAHO
    • LGBT History Month
    • Blogs
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Film and Television
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Visual Arts
    • Classics: Books
    • Classics: Film and Television
    • Classics: Music
  • About
    • About Polari Magazine
    • Contributors
    • Contact

You are here: Polari Magazine / Visual Arts / Draw Something

Draw Something

25 Apr 2012 / Comments Off / in Visual Arts/by Bryon Fear

Draw Something ★★★★★
OMGPOP
App • Available from iTunes • 0.69p
………………………………………………………………………………………….

Not since Angry Birds has there been a games app that has had such an impact on the app market place (50 million downloads) as Draw Something. It has been the key icon on the iTunes app store for weeks – not even the much anticipated Angry Birds Space managed to shunt it off the #1 slot, a fact that must have Angry Bird creators, Rovio spitting digital feathers!

Despite its strong presence at the app store, I had been resisting even downloading the free version of the game, particularly when I discovered that it wanted to access my Facebook account in order to function properly. At that time, I cancelled the download for fear of yet another programme with access to my information. I realise now that this was a foolish reservation, because the genius (and joy) of Draw Something is rooted in that functionality. Let me explain…

For those of you that have not played Draw Something, nor know how it works, the basic premise is a hi-tech version of the board game favourite Pictionary. Draw Something enables you to play the game remotely with your friends from Facebook. Once a game has been begun with a friend, the player chooses to draw one of 3 proffered word options, each of which has a different coin value (more on that later), and must set about trying to communicate that word pictorially. The drawing when complete is then sent to your friend’s mobile device who watches your artistic effort recreated, exactly as you drew it, stroke by stroke, in real time… It’s fascinating watching someone’s thought process unfold, observing them erase their mistakes or even start over from scratch when things descend a little too far into the indiscernable realms of the expressionistic.

The aim is of course to provide your gaming partner with an illustration from which (s)he can discern the correct word, formed from some (not all) of 12 letters beneath the ‘drawing’ zone. For each correct guess, you both win the coin value of the word and these coins can be cashed in, when amassed, to buy colour palettes to extend your options and further your creativity.

The game is seriously addictive, sometimes challenging, and often funny. I am frequently surprised by the ways in which my friends interpret words and the way they bring them to life. It offers an insight to the way their minds work and how they perceive the world around them. Asides from the fact it can be played by all ages, I’m in no doubt that this is the key to Draw Something‘s great success, in that it connects you with your friends in a totally unique way. In a world that is increasingly digital and often alienating, OMGPOP the game’s creators have developed an app which utilises the world’s biggest social network infrastructure to bring people together in a surprisingly revealing and altogether human way.

And on that final esoteric note, I leave you with a drawing I prepared earlier… to quote the legendary Rolf Harris, “Can you guess what it is yet?”

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
Tags: draw something, iphone, omgpop, pictionary, rolf harris

Search Polari

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

Twitter

Tweets by @PolariMagazine

Archive

  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
© Copyright - Polari Magazine - Wordpress Theme by Kriesi.at
  • scroll to top
  • Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Website Privacy & Cookies