Ready, set... DRAW!

September 13, 2011 9:07 PM

Doodle Or Die! A massively multiplayer Pictionary-style game. Your drawings are used as fuel for the next player's guesses, which are then used as suggestions for the next player's drawings, which are then used for the next player's guesses, and so on.

Doodle Or Die was created as part of the Node Knockout competition, where teams competed to build the best web applications using the node.js server-side javascript technology.

posted by Magnakai (73 comments total)

Ooo like Broken Picture Telephone only not broken!
posted by yellowbinder at 9:22 PM on September 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

Just for reference, my favourite (small) chain so far.

For what it's worth, I was trying to draw a knockout punch.
posted by Magnakai at 9:26 PM on September 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

yay!!! In college we used to play this while hanging out on my back porch! the analog version I mean.
posted by jrb223 at 9:39 PM on September 13, 2011

Heh, it's just as slow as BPT was. But just as fun! Thanks for posting, I hope they manage to get it running smoothly!
posted by yellowbinder at 9:40 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

It seems pretty fun, but it loads incredibly slow for me.
posted by Deflagro at 9:40 PM on September 13, 2011

Yeah, it's very slow for me too, but hopefully they'll get it smoothed out eventually. In the meantime, it's fun to leave in a tab and come back to every now and then.
posted by Magnakai at 9:42 PM on September 13, 2011

...am I the only person who knows this game (in the analog) as Eat Poop You Cat?

hm, google confirms I'm not alone, phew!
posted by heyforfour at 9:42 PM on September 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

Hmm can't find a way to share quickly, but lets just say that a lightsaber turns into a dildosaber far too easily.
posted by yellowbinder at 9:48 PM on September 13, 2011

I'm getting a lot of 'we need a new picture!' and I'm not quite that creative; if this keeps up, I'll have drawn everything on my desk.
posted by cobaltnine at 9:55 PM on September 13, 2011

I predict every game will eventually devolve into one of 3 guess/answer cycles:
1) repetitions of square/box variants
2) repetitions of circle and variants
3) dicks
posted by BurnChao at 9:55 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hmm can't find a way to share quickly, but lets just say that a lightsaber turns into a dildosaber far too easily.

Yep, BPT. There was what I have to assume were 10-year-olds trolling that thing, it was really annoying. One guy kept suggesting stupid shit like "Batman fucks Robin", and another one that pissed me off to no end would be in like 10 games at a time and always drew a tree. No matter what. A tree.
posted by Hoopo at 9:55 PM on September 13, 2011

oh man. so slow. but I'm still going to be up all night playing this. I have yet to see any penises, but must confess, when confronted with a blank canvas was compelled to doodle a cat shitting a few minutes ago.
posted by jrb223 at 10:00 PM on September 13, 2011

another one that pissed me off to no end would be in like 10 games at a time and always drew a tree. No matter what. A tree.

He can't forget that tree.
posted by threeants at 10:00 PM on September 13, 2011

I was at first told to draw "fucking a chick in spot-light to music." I then later saw it started with "Stick people running around in a park" to "two dancing sticks" and then "fucking a chick in a spot light to music." And I could then agree that the picture before mine did kinda look like it if you didn't know those were supposed to be sticks.
posted by Deflagro at 10:02 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I remember people would troll by putting in "tree" or "pencil" randomly. I did see some sweet drawings of pissed off pencils though.
posted by yellowbinder at 10:02 PM on September 13, 2011

Wow, I used to play this game with my ESL kindergarteners back in Ko-rea, using ::GASP:: paper! All I had to do was secretly supply some drawable nouns to the first "player" and they were off! Pencils and paper flying everywhere, kids chatting in English (I have come to view teaching ESL abroad to tater tots to be an act of unspeakable hubris), edutainment targets achieved!

This is great fun for learning a language, but I contend that the biggest fun in this activity lies in the real-time unfolding of the paper and reading the sentences aloud to classmates, who knowingly obscured the original subjects. Dare I say, this is not for adults...

what I have to assume were 10-year-olds trolling that thing.
Point proven...anonymity doesn't do this game justice!
posted by obscurator at 10:07 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

So fun!

I started one with a parasaurolophus. I am very pleased with the direction it has taken. Very, very pleased.
posted by phunniemee at 10:07 PM on September 13, 2011 [7 favorites]

this is so fun!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:08 PM on September 13, 2011

Or, maybe I just really really want to play but can't draw.
posted by obscurator at 10:09 PM on September 13, 2011

I wanted to sleep tonight. I guess I am shitouttaluck.
posted by not_on_display at 10:10 PM on September 13, 2011

daw did we just kill it?
posted by Hoopo at 10:28 PM on September 13, 2011

I think we did
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:30 PM on September 13, 2011

Man I just drew the most epic alien eating a popsicle and the sun who are also best friends and I submitted and got an internal server error. Boo!
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:30 PM on September 13, 2011

I was on this picture of big-headed robot playing with a rocket ship
posted by Hoopo at 10:31 PM on September 13, 2011

I drew a picture of an internal server error and the world imploded.
posted by not_on_display at 10:32 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hee hee fun! Dammit! That was the best thing I ever drew!
posted by trip and a half at 10:32 PM on September 13, 2011

This will slay on touch devices. This + Facebook connect (or another way of playing w/ your friends) will DOUBLE slay.
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:33 PM on September 13, 2011

Already slain, apparently. Sigh.
posted by trip and a half at 10:34 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

We've got a real Lenny and the puppy situation going on here.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.
posted by phunniemee at 10:35 PM on September 13, 2011

Link is dead.
posted by zardoz at 10:35 PM on September 13, 2011

This is amazing. They need to fix their server problem so my amazing portraits ("FIELD OF GNOMES" and "UNDERSEA MONSTER WITH GLOWING APPENDAGE") can be seen across the land.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 10:35 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

yeah it's fun, I'll try it again when it's back up. Drawing with a mouse sucks though. I was supposed to draw an ewok getting thrown in jail, but the next person thought it was Chewbacca for some reason. First, if you don't recognize it as an ewok, what are the odds you'd go Star Wars? Second, Chewbacca doesn't wear a hood and he's tall and skinny, not stocky.
posted by Hoopo at 10:37 PM on September 13, 2011

Yeah, someone's got some problems with Star Wars. In one of my chains there's a picture of a guy in a brown jacket (Jedi, obvs) holding a lightsaber. Which resulted in...what else..."giant turd with lightsaber."

But out of ten chains, there's only one random penis. So I guess it's not too bad.
posted by phunniemee at 10:42 PM on September 13, 2011

Link is dead.

GAME OVER

RETURN OF GANON
posted by Hoopo at 10:51 PM on September 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

saved for later, as the site is dead... we called our analog version "writey-drawy". huh, that seems to be a well-recognized name for it, according to The Google. interested to know any other names people had for this
posted by architactor at 10:53 PM on September 13, 2011

Link is dead.

GAME OVER

RETURN OF GANON

HA HA HA HA HA


"Start Training Make A Comeback!"
posted by architactor at 11:21 PM on September 13, 2011

Aw.... I miss out on everything.
posted by brundlefly at 11:36 PM on September 13, 2011

What's wrong with the name Eat Poop You Cat?
posted by Anything at 12:57 AM on September 14, 2011

I take this game very seriously.

My golden rule of EPYC: The humor comes from errors in honest attempts at interpretation. The more you try to inject funny things into the chain, the less funny the outcome will be.

Those who do not follow the rule are playing it wrong.
posted by Anything at 1:09 AM on September 14, 2011 [5 favorites]

It's back up, but I've lost all my chains :(
posted by Magnakai at 3:14 AM on September 14, 2011

Psht. I've been playing (and evangelizing for) Eat Poop You Cat on Facebook for years.
posted by Jonathan Harford at 5:03 AM on September 14, 2011

I played about five rounds before it displayed poorly-drawn goatse and then crashed. But it was fun for those five rounds.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 6:01 AM on September 14, 2011

We have hit critical mass with regard to cocks, poo logs, "lol" as a description, [things] fucking, and blatant racism. I'm done.

It was fun while it lasted, though! I hold out hope that there will one day be a functional (non-facebook) mass EPYC community.
posted by phunniemee at 6:04 AM on September 14, 2011

It seems to be working OK for me. Been playing about 15 and almost cried laughing about three time.

My favourite chain so far has gone from bee -> software tester -> soccer net -> Steven Gerrard diving in the box -> Pavlov's dog.
posted by afx237vi at 7:02 AM on September 14, 2011

Yeah, a game like this needs moderators, flags, favorites... hey waiiiit.

The new interface (since yesterday) seems much quicker, too.
posted by not_on_display at 10:12 AM on September 14, 2011

Fun. Does need mods though, which is a bit of a shame.
posted by howfar at 10:32 AM on September 14, 2011

I'm taking all of the cock/poop trolls as a challenge. It's pretty easy to derail their trolling by creatively reinterpreting their pictures as something more interesting.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:34 AM on September 14, 2011

I find I'm most annoyed by the folks who are very specific. There are two types: those who misunderstand the premise of the game and douchenozzles.

The ones who (I charitably assume) misunderstand the game see a picture of a roasted turkey on a platter and write "brown thanksgiving turkey dinner on a plate --- turkey has a black/yellow leg, and is accompanied by red and green side-dish-bubbles." (Direct quote.) Dude. It's just a turkey with trimmings. Interpret the picture, don't beat me over the head with it.

The douchenozzles see a generic stick figure holding a stick and say "black man masturbating" or "black man holding a turd." *facepalm*
posted by phunniemee at 10:40 AM on September 14, 2011

aaaaand it's down again.
posted by not_on_display at 12:36 PM on September 14, 2011

The douchenozzles see a generic stick figure holding a stick and say "black man masturbating" or "black man holding a turd."

That's odd actually; I only ever make a comment about color if the stick figure is a color other than black, like purple or something. I kinda thought black was the default line color; I mean are you going to draw a white man with white on white?
posted by Hoopo at 12:36 PM on September 14, 2011

This probably kicks ass because the analog version kicks ass. I've always known the game as exquisite corpse, but Wikipedia puts the lie to that. Instead, I'll now think of it as a cross between exquisite corpse and consequences.
posted by that's candlepin at 12:45 PM on September 14, 2011

Man, this game is SUPERB. Even with all the penises that are now showing up, things seem to be self-policing for greatness. In one of my chains, people keep trying to draw naked chicks, but someone described it as "inflatable ho", which made the next person draw an inflatable hoe.

YAY THE INTERNET.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 2:39 PM on September 14, 2011

The trolling in my chains seems to be mostly pokemon related. As in everything ends up being descriptions of pokemon doing various human activities. Kinda cool, actually. "Lapras surfing" from my interpretation of "Swan Lake: yellow sun, lily-pads." Other chains have also devolved into pokemon.
posted by kittensofthenight at 4:38 PM on September 14, 2011

THIS IS SO GREAT. It's so slow thought and it keeps timing out or something though :(
posted by capnsue at 5:15 PM on September 14, 2011

Ugh trolls. I had a bit of a sustained chain of octopi pushing strollers, and then someone drops in "Go visit Reddit.com!". Awesome bro!

Interface has improved since last night, yay!

Things that Broken Picture Telephone had that this needs:

1) Accounts
2) Moderation / user reporting tools
3) Private games
4) Ability to share links to awesome chains.
posted by yellowbinder at 5:16 PM on September 14, 2011

Also ability to pass.
posted by yellowbinder at 5:33 PM on September 14, 2011

And the ability to vote things up/down, to choose whether you want to draw or caption, having predetermined lengths-of-games, and so on. However, when there is no BPT, this'll do. Between this and the Mefite-driven internet radio thing today, I am surprised I got any at-work work done at all!
posted by not_on_display at 6:11 PM on September 14, 2011

I have probably spent 50% of my non-sleeping hours playing this thing since it was posted. Swiftly scrolling past swastikas, genitals and racist stereotypes in the office was a bit of a hassle, but I have no regrets!
posted by jrb223 at 10:16 PM on September 14, 2011

This is terrible. I am an addict. I strained my trackpad thumb sketching "crab with sunglasses about to jump into pool", etc.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 10:26 PM on September 14, 2011

I'm taking all of the cock/poop trolls as a challenge. It's pretty easy to derail their trolling by creatively reinterpreting their pictures as something more interesting.

I've been having fun doing the same thing, but so far mine have all been cock/poop descriptions that I've turned into less obvious drawings. I was particularly proud of being able to redirect "dicktree" and "bowl of poop".
posted by bethnull at 12:03 AM on September 15, 2011

totally addicted. I keep going in hopes of getting a chance to mock the jerk that keeps drawing swasticas
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:26 AM on September 15, 2011

Not as fun as Broken Picture Telephone, since there seems to be a lot less effort from drawers, and a lot more griefing. But that can be kind of fun, in it's own way. My favorite inversion so far.
posted by team lowkey at 2:04 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

This game is ace. Hopefully they make it so you can collapse chains, I've been playing for hours and there's a lot to ignore.
posted by ironjelly at 2:28 PM on September 15, 2011

You know, I worry about some of those trolls on there. They must all have horribly misshapen penises, as that seems to be the only kind they're familiar with enough to draw. We need to get on this universal healthcare thing and get these poor gentlemen some medical attention, stat!
posted by phunniemee at 2:47 PM on September 15, 2011

The penises are pretty weird. But it leads to wondrous people inverting dumb people (unfortunately I didn't capture it before it crashed) like the person who drew a giant penis speeding toward the WTC and then someone described it as "an unmentionable hurtling toward two rectangles" and then someone wonderful drew a pair of ladies underpants hurtling toward two startled rectangles, one of which was shouting "What the fuck?!?"
posted by thehmsbeagle at 2:51 PM on September 15, 2011

Yeah, it can be fun to turn things around. It does start to get tiring, though. Maybe after a few days the griefers will get bored.
posted by team lowkey at 4:05 PM on September 15, 2011

They appear to be doing something with their interface to thwart spammers. I assume I happened to catch them in the middle of their tweaks, because it keeps telling me my description's not good enough. I've tried:

dog running fast
smiling dog running fast
dog standing next to water
red dog running fast
dinosaur running fast
dinosaur standing next to water
etc, etc, etc...

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, DOODLE GAME?
posted by phunniemee at 5:51 PM on September 16, 2011

Props to y'all for getting it upper and runninger! This is really fun. One striking thing to me is how creepily similar, formally speaking, the drawings tend to be when people are playing it non-spammily.
posted by threeants at 11:45 PM on September 18, 2011

Like, I was involved in a chain that was about a hand reaching for a balloon, and though the hands and the balloons looked very different, every picture had the exact same composition. Crazy.
posted by threeants at 11:45 PM on September 18, 2011

Wish there was some way to flag the submitter of a step, though. It hurts my soul that there are people out there putting in the effort to both ruin a fun game and propagate racist caricatures from the 1920s. Like, seriously, every other chain I have going now has been derailed by some sort of horrifying Black Sambo mockup. Sometimes I think it would be awesome to have internet omnipotence for like ten seconds and hold people accountable across the veil of anonymity.
posted by threeants at 12:07 AM on September 19, 2011

It's being trolled more than ever right now. Been playing for about 15 minutes and virtually every single chain is being polluted by penises, racism and watermelons (no, I don't know either).

A shame, but hopefully the developers come up with a solution, because it's a lot of fun.
posted by afx237vi at 6:12 AM on September 19, 2011

Hey desjardins, you must draw:
vegetable waving to masturbating man while vegetables watch

Um, no. Is there a way to skip?
posted by desjardins at 11:22 AM on September 19, 2011

I was playing along and having fun and I ran into the racist trolls, too. Ugh, so dispiriting.
posted by ms.codex at 4:49 PM on September 19, 2011