You have to give props to young gamers—they want to play a Squid Game video game, and rather than wait around for it to appear, they’re making it on their own.
Squid Game: The Video Game?
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There is no official Squid Game game, but every gamer wants to play it. Enter the modding community. Thanks to these talented hobbyist game designers, Squid Game rip-0ffs have appeared in every major moddable platform. You can play a version in Roblox, Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, and even Animal Crossing.
I haven’t had a chance to try any, but judging from the videos, each has something to recommend it. GTA has the requisite blood and violence. I really like Minecraft’s idea of letting players act as Managers. And anything in Animal Crossing is adorable.
When the official games comes out—it’s inevitable—I predict it won’t be as popular as these fan-made knockoffs.
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The fake ‘Slap a Teacher challenge’ gains steam
Last week, I told you about the “Slap a Teacher challenge”, a supposed viral trend of kids posting videos of themselves slapping teachers. This week, the trend is gathering steam.
Not the trend of students hitting teachers, but the trend of adults getting hysterical about the fear of students slapping their teachers. The California Teachers Association issued a warning for administrators and parent across the state, in Connecticut, the Attorney General wants to talk to TikTok’s manager, and educators continue to post vaguely threatening videos daring kids to smack them.
A few sources are pointing out the obvious: That the whole thing is bogus, but they’re being drown out by the larger voices who don’t fact-check. Seriously, people: You’re making yourself look dumb.
Squid Game’s telephone trouble
Netflix is doing some emergency editing of its everyone-is-streaming-it series Squid Game. It’s not the content; it’s the phone numbers. The series didn’t use those phony 555 numbers, so fans are calling actual people who are unlucky enough to share numbers with this show. This South Korean woman says she’s received thousands of calls and text messages from Squid Game fans, and this fellow says he’s received over 4,000 messages a day, many from kids who say they want to be in the game. Netflix announced they are going to edit the numbers out, which seems like a lost opportunity me. They could set up an actual Squid Game and have an even bigger hit.
This week on TikTok: Who is Couch Guy?
When TikTok user @laurenzarras decided to surprise her boyfriend Robbie at his college, she had no idea the video would become a whole thing. Lauren walked in, and Robbie was sitting on the couch with two other girls. That’s basically all that happened, but TikTok’s commenters smelled a rat and went all Sherlock Holmes on the video, noting a sly phone pass and analyzing everyone’s expressions for clues of infidelity. According to Lauren there was nothing going on, but that hasn’t stop a flood of memes and parody videos from hitting TikTok, asking “Is couch guy innocent?” “Is Lauren being played?” and “Why does anyone even care?”
Viral video of the week: iPhone 13 A Repair Nightmare – Teardown and Repair Assessment
This week’s viral video features a look deep inside the new iPhone. While the teardown of a couple of iPhone 13s to look at their guts is interesting in itself, the video’s real purpose it to demonstrate Apple’s insidious strategies to prevent people from repairing broken phones. YouTuber Hugh Jefferys is a big advocate of repairing electronics, but Apple’s newest models will not allow replacements of the most frequently swapped out bits without seriously hindering performance. You can’t even replace the screen, the most easily broken part, without a trip to the Apple Store—if you switch out the display, face recognition won’t work, even if you replace the glass with the front of another iPhone 13.