Sleepless and Klueless
Every year, during the festive
season, thousands wait for the launch of an online game that has gained a cult
following in the eight years of its existence. Called Klueless, it has been
developed by the students of IIM Indore. But its popularity has transcended the
campus and even the B-school circuit - more than 95, 000 people from over 110
different countries, including the US, Australia and the Gulf nations, logged
in to play last year's edition which went online in November.
The rules are simple - the player must advance to the next level using any means possible. This includes Google searches and looking for clues in the internet code of a page. Hints can also be hidden in the website address, a file name or the page title. Naturally, it requires a certain degree of knowledge, wit and intelligence - and an ability to think radically out of the box.
One of the easier levels in last year's edition had an image of Batman looking out of the window of a skyscraper. The clue, in the source code of the page, read: "As all else goes dark, one rises through the light. "
"The player had to copy the image and increase its brightness with the help of a pictureediting software. The right answer - 'Killer Croc' - became visible on one of the buildings when the picture was made brighter, " says Aparajit S, the student co-ordinator for this year.
Kevin Sam is a young Pune-based management consultant who played Klueless during his days as an engineering student. "We usually played as a group and it came at the expense of sleep, food and a social life. In fact, it became an excuse for us to stay back and not go out, " he says. Sam has now quit playing because he believes it took a toll on his professional life. "Even when I was at work, I used to be thinking about the answers. "
The game is a part of the institute's management fest, Ahvan, and it is running into its eighth year now. Launched annually, it is always put up online on a Friday. "Launching the game on a Friday gives those who have jobs the entire weekend to solve the puzzle, " says Aparajit.
Behind the game is a team of 8-10 IIM Indore students who create the levels every year. They design as many levels as possible individually, which are then solved by other members of the team who vet them and see if they can be implemented. The final levels are chosen after a discussion among the members.
The squad itself is chosen with care. "We look for people who have played the game before, those who have lateral thinking skills and those who are passionate about Klueless, " says Aparajit. "We need them to think out of the box to create levels that are not too easy, but not unsolvable either. "
The first version of the game came up in 2005 in order to fill an empty slot in the schedule of a website set up to promote IIM Indore's management fest. The idea drew inspiration from a game that was then becoming popular internationally, called Notpron. "We thought that we could do something like Notpron, but with original content. Within 3-4 months of the game going online, we had three million hits, " says Amit Sharma, whose brainchild it was.
Sharma is now an online marketing consultant based in Pune. "I still meet people who say I have messed up their lives by creating the game, " he laughs. He believes one of the factors that led to the popularity of the game was that it gave a player a sense of self-worth. "Once one solves a level, there is an urge to share it with others, " he says.
He believes the IIM brand also helped, with people wanting to play the game because of its association with the premier institute.
A third factor that led to its popularity was an impression that if one could solve the puzzle, one stood a good chance of cracking the CAT. "There was this feeling that one needed to be super intelligent to finish all the levels. So the impression spread that those who could complete the puzzle stood a good chance of passing the test, " says Sharma.
For people like Ahmed Ahazeb Azgar, though, the reason they play the game is simple : it becomes an addiction. "It is the ultimate test of the player's intelligence, " says the Delhibased lawyer who has been playing the game for many years now. "You can make use of any means to solve the puzzle. Once you solve a level, it stimulates you to go to the next. "
The eighth edition of Klueless went online on October 26
The rules are simple - the player must advance to the next level using any means possible. This includes Google searches and looking for clues in the internet code of a page. Hints can also be hidden in the website address, a file name or the page title. Naturally, it requires a certain degree of knowledge, wit and intelligence - and an ability to think radically out of the box.
One of the easier levels in last year's edition had an image of Batman looking out of the window of a skyscraper. The clue, in the source code of the page, read: "As all else goes dark, one rises through the light. "
"The player had to copy the image and increase its brightness with the help of a pictureediting software. The right answer - 'Killer Croc' - became visible on one of the buildings when the picture was made brighter, " says Aparajit S, the student co-ordinator for this year.
Kevin Sam is a young Pune-based management consultant who played Klueless during his days as an engineering student. "We usually played as a group and it came at the expense of sleep, food and a social life. In fact, it became an excuse for us to stay back and not go out, " he says. Sam has now quit playing because he believes it took a toll on his professional life. "Even when I was at work, I used to be thinking about the answers. "
The game is a part of the institute's management fest, Ahvan, and it is running into its eighth year now. Launched annually, it is always put up online on a Friday. "Launching the game on a Friday gives those who have jobs the entire weekend to solve the puzzle, " says Aparajit.
Behind the game is a team of 8-10 IIM Indore students who create the levels every year. They design as many levels as possible individually, which are then solved by other members of the team who vet them and see if they can be implemented. The final levels are chosen after a discussion among the members.
The squad itself is chosen with care. "We look for people who have played the game before, those who have lateral thinking skills and those who are passionate about Klueless, " says Aparajit. "We need them to think out of the box to create levels that are not too easy, but not unsolvable either. "
The first version of the game came up in 2005 in order to fill an empty slot in the schedule of a website set up to promote IIM Indore's management fest. The idea drew inspiration from a game that was then becoming popular internationally, called Notpron. "We thought that we could do something like Notpron, but with original content. Within 3-4 months of the game going online, we had three million hits, " says Amit Sharma, whose brainchild it was.
Sharma is now an online marketing consultant based in Pune. "I still meet people who say I have messed up their lives by creating the game, " he laughs. He believes one of the factors that led to the popularity of the game was that it gave a player a sense of self-worth. "Once one solves a level, there is an urge to share it with others, " he says.
He believes the IIM brand also helped, with people wanting to play the game because of its association with the premier institute.
A third factor that led to its popularity was an impression that if one could solve the puzzle, one stood a good chance of cracking the CAT. "There was this feeling that one needed to be super intelligent to finish all the levels. So the impression spread that those who could complete the puzzle stood a good chance of passing the test, " says Sharma.
For people like Ahmed Ahazeb Azgar, though, the reason they play the game is simple : it becomes an addiction. "It is the ultimate test of the player's intelligence, " says the Delhibased lawyer who has been playing the game for many years now. "You can make use of any means to solve the puzzle. Once you solve a level, it stimulates you to go to the next. "
The eighth edition of Klueless went online on October 26
Amardeep Banerjee |TCR121027
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