Lemming

Lemming.ca is a held domain with a game on it. The domain was available, which was most of the reason to register it. The landing page says the site is reserved for social dynamics and decision-making tools; the puzzle game is the only part that exists so far.

The game

Three levels, drawn on a canvas. A line of lemmings walks toward the goal, following whatever path is in front of them, and blockades stand in the way. Removing a blockade is your only move — click it — and enough of the group has to arrive for the level to count. R restarts. The levels are called The Path of Least Resistance, To Lead or To Follow, and Consensus Through Divergence, which gives away both the theme and the difficulty curve.

The cliff, for the record

Lemmings do not throw themselves into the sea. The footage everyone remembers comes from White Wilderness, a 1958 Disney film shot in landlocked Alberta with lemmings bought in Manitoba, driven around on a turntable, and then pushed off a riverbank by the crew. The CBC took the sequence apart in 1983. The myth has comfortably outlived the correction, which is roughly the behaviour the domain is named after.

Alaska Fish and Wildlife News has the full account of the faked footage.

What might go here

Following the crowd is often the right call, and telling the two cases apart is the interesting part. Anything beyond the game is still an intention rather than a project.