Ever wanted to be part of the horrific, impoverished, post-apocalyptic, ruthlessly controlled country of Panem? Well you’re in luck! There’s a new Hunger Games viral site up by the catchy URL of “http://thecapitol.pn/,”
What’s this “districts” mumbo-jumbo about? Well, person-who-hasn’t-read-the-Hunger-Games-trilogy, in The Hunger Games, Panem (North America) is split up into twelve different “Districts”. Each district specializes in a different economical commodity and each serves the Capitol (probably located somewhere in/near Colorado). There. Explained. Now go check out your district, my followers! GO! FLY! Katniss and Peeta are from District 12. It’s hard to get an exact idea where the districts would be located with respect to North America’s current geography because Panem exists in a post-apocalyptic future which Suzanne Collins has said is at least a thousand years in the future. In fact, from the books it sounds as if parts of the US have been completely obliterated and some parts perhaps are now in the ocean. If we do take North America’s current geography as a basis, District 12 is probably in the northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York area. So… right around where I live. Represent!
However, when I registered at thecapitol.pn/ I was assigned to District 2. District 2 specializes in masonry. And my assigned occupation? “Concrete finisher”. Yeah. Well… not what I would have expected given my amazing strength and dashing good looks. In fact, if this is thousands of years in the future, why don’t we have robots to do that sort of menial labor by now? Ah well, I will be a good citizen and play along. Once you’re registered you can “Like” your district on Facebook to receive news and updates about the ARG. Plus it just looks cool to have on your profile. Side note: keep an eye out for some funny quips about the country of Panem on the site during the process of registration.
It looks like from the website there is a Reaping coming up and people will be chosen from the districts to take part in a sort of viral Hunger Games in preparation for the upcoming movie! I’ve been a fan of Alternate Reality Games ever since LOST got me into them between seasons two and three. I hope this Hunger Games one lives up the source material. A Hunger Games ARG would be amazing, and a perfect lead in to the movie! I hope you all go sign up and get ready for whatever is in store here…
May the odds be ever in your favor,
Sam.
