Celebrity Complex



Celebrity Complex  is a game about forming an identity and building a public image. I find it fascinating how celebrity personas help us structure our own identities in the world. For example, my mother never forgot the day she saw the raw energy in Thriller and decided to name her first son (me) after Michael Jackson. That small connection often prompts me think about my own identity in relation to the King of Pop. As a short Filipino kid, I relate to the hard work and talent it took for Jackson to break racial barriers and preconceived notions of masculinity in his early career, so I blast Beat It as my anthem whenever I feel like overcoming great obstacles in my life. However, I don’t relate to his later addiction to plastic surgery and accusations of child molestation, so my appreciation for his music (and image) stops just after his third album.

I designed Celebrity Complex to replicate the issue of building an identity around celebrities. When thinking about our own identities in relation to a star, we tend to cherry pick. If we want to feel sexy, we may channel our inner Marilyn Monroe. If we want to feel strong, we may let out our inner governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. As such, players in Celebrity Complex take on the role of a unique persona based on a famous star. These personas battle each other to become the dominant identity within the mind of a budding celebrity.


Battles take place in a modified ruleset based on the board game Risk (1957) with personas fighting to conquer different territories of the celebrity’s brain. The catch is that this particular celebrity is constantly trying to reinvent themselves, and their attempts to do so affect the viability of each of their inner personas. For example, if the celebrity decides to run for governor, it may not be the best idea to flaunt the sex appeal of Marilyn Monroe, and may instead want to highlight the political tact of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thus, players must cope with an ever-changing social mindset as triggered by our young celebrity’s spontaneous reinvention. I want players to understand how celebrity personas can sometimes be affected by social events, which may explain why some celebrities experience varying degrees of fluidity and exposure based on cultural shifts.

An example of a Territory Card.

Control over whole cortices of the brain (a set of territories) grants players unit bonuses at the beginning of their turn.

Players may trade Territory Cards for a set number of extra units.


Speaking of fluidity, I wanted persona traits to be strategically malleable to show how ideas of gender and sexuality are much more abstract than society suggests. Each persona is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 for masculinity, femininity, talent, politics, and sex appeal. Personas with high values for certain traits will receive advantages based on the Reinvention Cards in play. For example, the card “Hit the Gym & Bulk-Up” will favor personas with a high masculinity rating. However, it is possible for female personas to benefit from this card as well. For example, the persona based on Madonna (the Pop Star) has a rating of 3 for both masculinity and femininity. These two gender traits are tied because of Madonna’s frequent gender bending. She can appear as masculine because she closely controls her image and professional profile while appears as feminine for her desire and willingness to be objectified.


Celebrity Complex was designed for USC's Gender & Sexuality in Media course (Spring 2015).