< sloperator > is an experiment in generative, programmable swarm behavior.

Designed both as a game and a social intervention, this workshop is a way to test in real time, how groups organize, pretend, hide, and move with intention - not as individuals, but as collective entities. This afternoon session, combining lecture, LARP, and strategy, is for anyone who’s made of parts, who’s tired of performing their own identity, and who’s wondered how to exist without becoming content.

Activities will be facilitated by Nephila, a collective that builds experimental worlding tools, and deployed through their new social OS. Participants will be the first public users to test this tool and will leave the workshop with practical and playful methods for reclaiming agency in the era of slop.

• Participants will develop skills in online coordination, collective decision-making, and algorithmic deception.
• Participants will enhance their skills in roleplay and group improvisation.
• Participants will learn techniques for understanding, mapping, forecasting chaotic parts of internet culture.

Part 1 – Identity in Sloppy Times

(Lecture & Discussion)

What is identity in the age of slop? In this lecture we will scroll through recent AI glitches and internet signals that demonstrate how the way we perform personhood online is changing. How is identity pieced together, deformed, or hallucinated? As we witness convincing AI personas being deployed at scale while human behavior becomes increasingly mimetic of bots, we will try to locate meaningful instances of collective identity formation.

Part 2 – How to Vanish

(Micro-LARP)

An introduction to hiding in plain sight - infiltrate fandoms, craft executables, and satirically game metrics using a new social OS.

Part 3 – How to Summon

(Macro-LARP)

Crash course in collective slop manipulation - seed rumors, avoid shadowbans, coordinate collective actions as financial systems move in real-time.

Nephila is a studio that builds experimental worlding tools. We are interested in adversarial play, shared fictions, and anomalous forms of cognition.

We get that things come up, but we rely on headcounts in our programs to survive as a business. If you request a refund...

More than 4 weeks before offering begins → 100% refund

More than 2 weeks before offering begins → 50% refund

Fewer than 2 weeks before offering begins → No refund

Thanks for understanding and for supporting our ability to provide cool offerings through your purchase.

Index scholarships are designed to benefit underrepresented groups, BIPOC members of our community, and those for whom the class price is not accessible. These need-based scholarships will go to the candidates who best demonstrate why they should be chosen for the free spot to our class based on the following criteria:

• Belong to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the graphic design and creative industries
• Do not have jobs that would pay for these courses as professional development
• Cannot independently afford the class at list price
• Share our value of intentional community

The number of selected applicants chosen is subject to the discretion of Index and the instructor, but every course will select at least one. Apply for a scholarship here. Applications close August 11th.