“Keep It Dry.” That's the motto of Austin multimedia imprint Monofonus Press' latest cultural experiment, an interactive game called Dry Hump. It's perfect timing too, as August brings with it longer, hotter days where the brain tends to wander into libidinous territory. Everybody's sweating and wearing next to nothing, but you've got to keep it dry. How's that for a mind-fuck?

And mind-fuck is the operative word here. Set to the music of Monofonus bands Soft Healer, Diagonals, John Wesley Coleman, Ralph White, Soft Encounters, Duncan Malashock and more, Dry Hump plays out as a series of linked YouTube videos that either take you to the next “level”or offer another chance to get your hump on, essentially stretching the boundaries of what a YouTube video can be, involving the viewer more intimately.

At first glance, it resembles a more psychedelic Choose Your Own Adventure novel, complete with gender-blurring avatars (Ross Radford and Michelle Devereux) and local artistes Paul Soileau and Jesse May. Its PG-13 premises (depending on where you work, it may not be suitable) ask you to choose between two different scenarios of longing; choose poorly, and you'll be gently prompted to “Keep It Dry.” Get to the final level, and you “transform.”

“It's lowest common denominator in terms of sexual content, but radical in that no matter if you choose the man or woman [avatar], if you want to win, you're going to end up in an awkward situation where you're dry humping someone of the same sex,” explains Monofonus founder and Dry Hump director Morgan Coy.

He took a larger idea and simplified it for the game, and the shooting of different scenes took place pretty quickly, in segments, across six days. Keeping in mind modern attention spans, Coy scripted something that's tongue-in-cheek while still kicking the hive of sexual politics; transformative but also strangely pure.

“We decided under a minute for people to get to the choice, because attention spans are so short,” he says. “Those Choose Your Own Adventure books—I was never really a fan … you could always cheat. I read one recently, after shooting this, and it's all a Vermont company, which is interesting. There's definitely a Libertarian feel to some of the books: 'Don't mess with my story, I get to choose.'”

Dry Hump, however, places its politics more squarely on home turf, subtly poking fun at Rick Perry's prehistoric abstinence-only education via a virtual reality game of chance.

“It's definitely an alternate reality,” Coy affirms. “I personally don't have a history with dry humping, but after shooting, a documentary aspect came out, in talking to people about their relationships and their history with it. In high school especially, it was a reality; people had whole relationships based on dry humping.

“One woman called it the 'cotton condom,' and I guess for women it is, but men, maybe not so much. I mean, you'll rub yourself raw if you don't dress appropriately. I guess if you're in a dry hump relationship, though, you're wearing sweatpants a lot.”

---

Play the game here: