Occurrence 2: Istanbul’s Water Heritage
March 14, 2025
Salt Beyoğlu

Annotators: Fan Mussel (Yusuf Huysal), Aslıhan Demirtaş

They killed the Bonito. That wasn’t enough — they went after the Fan Mussel too. And yet, these were newly introduced characters — brought into a game originally set in Istanbul’s freshwater cycle to support its mucilage-thickened salty waters. Onur had also added a marine biologist character, inspired by our friend from the Sea Snotting Circle who was one of the navigators in the fishing expedition. All in all, characters with “good” powers joined those with “bad” powers—because why not? I might be taking this thing we call a “game”—this medium of social interaction—a bit too seriously, but I am still astonished. More than that, I find myself oddly content and grateful: the game unsettled the romantic notion of collective production and reminded us that every form of organization also carries the potential for exclusion and the exercise of oppressive force.

As the game’s developer—our Dungeon Master—Onur Atay puts it: “Istanbul’s Water Heritage emerged from an attempt to rework a mechanic driven by competition, individual goals, and the element of chance within the context of Istanbul and the Marmara region, through characters drawn from different historical fragments. In doing so, it opened up a space not only for conflict, but also for cooperation—and for envisioning possible futures of water heritage. Once this framework is left to the initiative of the players, it becomes clear that relationships between characters can give rise to both alliances and conflicts and that the game mechanic can be as provocative as it is instructive. Yet, it is precisely this provocative quality that allows for a more immediate connection between the player and the knowledge the game seeks to convey. While we may accept that ideal learning environments are rooted in collective engagement, it is equally important to recognize that conflictual or controversial situations within a community can also contribute to processes of learning and knowledge transfer.”

A beautiful conclusion also emerged from our post-game exchange with Onur: we need to reconfigure the powers and possibilities of our Bonito and our Fan Mussel, both within the game and in Istanbul itself.