Do you suck at video games? If you answered yes, you’d have been the perfect candidate for a game called Blood Sport. Described as the ultimate in immersive gaming, the non-defunct Kickstarter campaign aimed to raise $250,000 CAD to build a multi-player gaming system in which blood would be drawn intravenously from your arm each time you took damage in the game.
You’re probably thinking this is the most ridiculous / deranged / dangerous idea for a game ever. While you’re probably still right, the team behind the campaign at least had good intentions.
The idea was pretty simple. Remember the Nintendo 64’s Rumble Pak? You know, the device that plugged into your N64 controller that gave games haptic feedback. That’s now built into most gamepads and uses a simple electrical signal to determine when you’ve taken damage in a game.
The team behind the Kickstarter simply rerouted that same electrical signal and used it to turn on a blood collection system using an Arduino board.
The goal was to fund a multi-player unit that could be taken across Canada to help encourage people to donate blood. That’s noble enough, eh?
Apparently Kickstarter didn’t think so. The campaign launched on November 18 and managed to raise $3,390 CAD before being shut down on November 24. Kickstarter didn’t specifically say why the campaign was suspended but I think we can all figure that one out.
What do you think? Was Blood Sport a good idea to raise awareness for blood donation or was it all a bit too creepy?
