I get a lot of traffic on this blog from the search string "lying down game". In case, you're not here on that search, lying down game involves taking a picture of yourself lying down... okay, lying down in unusual places I blogged about this internet meme in July as part of a post on generating user content and eliciting participation. Since then, I get a handful of hits every day from people looking for this subject.
I'm not quite sure what these visitors are looking for. Just an explanation of a wacky web phenom? Instructions on how to play? Pictures of people lying down? If you're here on that search, would you mind dropping me a comment to tell me your interest in the topic?
I can only imagine what the traffic is like on lyingdowngame.net, the "official" site of the game. Here you can read about the creators of the game (oh your mothers must be so proud), Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon. There is also a map that shows locations where a "lie down was done." (I believe that's official terminology.) What I love about this map is that it appears that many of the lie downs were done in mid-Atlantic Oceans and the only Canadian lie down was done by someone named Chad about 150 km west of Kapuskasing.
The Lying Down community is actually way more active on Facebook than on the stand alone site. The fan page has over 75,000 members and 16,000 photos... of people lying down. Some are more interesting than others. Quite a few are taken on railroad tracks, roads and bridges.
What's the attraction? Why are so many people participating in what seems like a pointless activity? To be part of something, I believe. The community of lier downers is massive and a lot of people want to be part of that.
The bar to entry is set extremely low. Not everyone can think of a funny lolspeak caption to put on a picture of a cat, but pretty much anyone can lie down and get a mate to snap a picture of it. It's also an excellent activity for when to pursue you're drunk.
(I didn't really mean that about lolspeak, of course everyone can do it which is why the lolcat site is incredibly popular. I only wrote that because I thought it sounded good and sometimes a turn of phrase is more important that accuracy and truth.)
It's funny. I can imagine people killing themselves laughing while they're lying down... especially if they're drunk. And the pictures definitely make other people laugh judging by how frequently hahaha, lol and lmfao appear in the comments.
I think a couple of other factors may be at play as well.
- There's nothing cynical to the lying down game. No one's profiting, no one's pushing product, it isn't intended to build anyone's brand.
- There's a creativity to it. You have to think of some place unusual to lie down in order to make your lie down worth documenting.
- Everyone wants to be a star and here's a great way to get other people to look at you.
- There's a competitive factor to it. Maybe my lying down picture will be the coolest ever, the definitive lying down picture. Perhaps that's why it's called the lying down game.
One lesson is clear. The days of passive media are gone. People want to participate. Give them a way to participate that's easy, funny and has room for creativity, they are there in vast numbers.
The more I write and think about this, the more I want to take a lying down picture of my own. Actually I don't want to take the picture, I want someone else to take a picture of me -- lying down. Watch this space. When I think of a good spot to lie, I'll post the pic. ;D
