The Way We Play

Night Bandits of Graffiti

"We went out for bagels and saw a stencil of a bear," he says, and that's when it clicked. "Let's say you have a children's book. The text is on the bottom and the city is the backdrop." A perfect representation, he said, of what it might be like painting words on the sidewalk. The city then becomes the backdrop for the story they've created.

Once they'd decided what story they wanted to tell, the Strangers then had to decide how to tell it, or more precisely, where. "We'd walk around the area - look at a Google map, pick intersections and kind of bring it down into a screenplay, like a storyboard," he said. "It takes six months to do one of these."

He said that although they tried to avoid detection while installing the stencils, they also tried to avoid looking out of place. In a busy city like San Francisco, that can be harder than it seems. Especially when you're carrying a bag full of stencils and spray paint.

"I really would rather not talk about the time [we made the stencils]," he said, "but we were not wearing black masks. We weren't conspicuous. Not night bandits of graffiti."

In spite of the hard work planning and installing the stencils, and the constant threat of prosecution, the Strangers said they're glad they went to the effort. "It was such a neat idea; no one had done it before," Stranger One said. "This is something we had to give to people."

And the people apparently appreciate it.

"A woman drove by and saw us putting one down," he said. "We were [re-doing a stencil] - she pulled down the window of her car and said 'I love you, I love you, I love you.'"

New York Magazine calls the stencils "an intriguing mash-up of short story, video game, and street art," but the mysterious creators of "She Loves the Moon" never intended it to be a game.

"We were shocked when we saw that. I'm sure people like Jane McGonigal took an interest in it," said Stranger One, referring to the renowned game designer and philosopher whose work on the alternate reality game "I Love Bees" earned her worldwide recognition in the game industry, "but we sure never intended that. We thought of it as more of an experiment than a game. There was no winning. We looked at it much more as a story."

The Strangers have attempted to maintain the stencils, but recently declared an end to the project, vowing to leave it to fate to preserve it - or not. They say they may try something new, something much, much bigger, but any plans underway for such a project can't safely be discussed. In other words, they could tell me, but they might have to kill me.

Adventurers who successfully make their way through the story's tricks and turns, headed toward the "happy" ending, where the two strangers of the story resolve their personal issues and open themselves to love, will find themselves at the top of a hill, overlooking the city. One imagines this part of the experience is best enjoyed at night, when the vista of the cityscape before you seems bright and full of promise - the perfect illustration for the happy ending of a love story.

"It's harder to get to the happy ending because it's more of a walking experience," said Stranger One, but, as with all happy endings, the hard work pays off.

Russ Pitts is an Associate Editor for The Escapist. His blog can be found at www.falsegravity.com.