A bit of background
If you’ve never heard of EMF Camp, it stands for Electromagnetic Fields and is the largest outdoor gathering of hackers, tinkerers, and all-around tech enthusiasts in the UK. Picture a sprawling campsite filled with workshops, talks, blinking lights, and people building all sorts of weird and wonderful projects—everything from DIY satellite dishes to interactive art installations. It’s a unique blend of summer camp and tech festival, where the unofficial motto is: “If you can dream it, you can probably make it—just bring some duct tape and a Raspberry Pi.”
EMF is part of a trio of rotating European summer hacker festivals, alongside CCCamp near Berlin and “The Dutch Camp” (which is never content with just one name—past versions include SHA, “Still Hacking Anyway,” and MCH, “May Contain Hackers”). These camps fill the summers between the more serious, wintertime gatherings like the Chaos Communication Congress (CCC) in Germany—a massive event hosted by the Chaos Computer Club, Europe’s largest hacker association.
The CCC itself has deep roots, founded back in 1981 at the height of the Cold War. It started as a response to the vulnerabilities in the West German government’s new tech, but it quickly grew into a cultural institution—a place where democracy and digital rights meet tech wizardry and hacktivism. Fast forward a few decades, and it’s the beating heart behind a whole ecosystem of hacker camps, where EMF has carved out its own space.
All this alphabet soup boils down to one thing: a place where hackers, makers, and dreamers come together to share knowledge, build cool stuff, and push the boundaries of what’s possible. And that’s exactly why we keep coming back.
EMF '24
So, this brings us to EMF this summer. There are plenty of reasons we attend these camps—it’s the community some of us grew up in, and Off Grid as a game is, in part, a love letter to this side of hacker culture. Beyond catching up with old friends and sharing stories around the campfire, this year we had a mission: to do some structured research for Off Grid: Red Team (OG:RT), our new sub-game of OFF GRID that dives deep into teaching precise cybersecurity skills.
We did a teaser announcement about OG:RT a few weeks ago [link to previous post], sharing the exciting news of our partnership and support from Ufi, and now we can finally share more about what we got up to at EMF and why we were there. OG:RT aims to build practical skills and extend the base premise of Off Grid into a companion experience, allowing players to explore infosec concepts. Right now, we’re focusing on a proof of concept (POC) to test whether practical infosec skills can be effectively taught through a video game. Our long-term vision is to offer a foundational learning platform with potential pathways to industry opportunities, but for now, this POC is all about refining the core experience and gathering feedback.
EMF was the ideal place to start gathering feedback about the idea, pick the brains of experts, and get a sense of where current cybersecurity training is missing the mark. We’ll do a proper write-up about what OG:RT is in detail soon, so stay tuned!
In the meantime here’s what we did last summer:
Highlights from EMF ’24
Workshop Fun: We ran a workshop where we played the latest iteration of the intro scene and first tutorials of the core game. It was a great chance to see what’s readable, what’s confusing, and what sparks curiosity. Plus, it was a blast to show off the game to a room full of friendly faces, sharing a few laughs and geeking out over the details.
Lofi Mocap: Ever seen a DIY motion capture suit in action? We brought ours along and captured custom idle animations from our hacker friends who cameo in the game—like Darren, who’s always got that signature, laid-back swagger. These little touches will make Off Grid feel even more like it’s part of the hacker world, blending real and virtual in all the best ways.
Feeding the Community: Rich also brought along his famous smoker, a beast of welded metal he first put together for EMF ’18. It’s become something of a tradition now—smoking meats while sharing stories and knowledge. This year, we joined forces with the Milliways crew to keep the smoker going for four days straight, feeding hackers from dawn till dusk. Friends brought pre-marinated cuts of meat, and we kept the smoky magic alive. (You can read more about the Milliways ethos here.)
Whiskyleaks: Always a crowd-pleaser, Whiskyleaks is our tradition of bringing a bottle and pouring a little liquor on the ground for our fallen and jailed hacker comrades. It’s a moment of solemn reflection, but also a reminder of the resilience and solidarity that runs through this community.
Insights from the Community
We sat down with friends and experts—folks managing security in all sorts of places, from harbours and local councils to tech giants, scrappy startups, and even nuclear facilities (yes, really). Our conversations ranged from the state of infosec to the gaps in current cybersecurity training. One theme kept cropping up over and over again: the importance of an “attacker mindset.” These insights were pure gold, helping us refine our questionnaires and shape the remote and more official interviews for OG:RT that followed as part of our development process.
Getting to know the folks from different camps really helped us build this mod with them. C-Base for example has a ton of interesting lore and background to their community, so we know it is important to include as much of this as possible, and although the C-base village wasn’t there in person this year, we brought them there in spirit.
C-Base in Mod / IRL (note this is an image from CCC-Camp not EMF):
Our intern Elias scripted a section of gameplay about Chaos Post, and we were able to show it to some of the Chaos post team and get their feedback on how to make it better.
Jean’s take on EMF
Going to EMF, I discovered all the things I’d always dreamed about building were all here in full effect: using networks and Arduino’s to build interactable games and installations. It was amazing to see them being realised. It helped me see what is possible and that there is a part of me that wishes to learn these skills.
It’s not just games and tech, but also food, ethics, and diversity—this brings a wholesome vibe to the place. Everyone is massively willing to discuss ideas freely with each other, and that is the essence that bubbles together a melting pot of daring and integrity.
There really is a Goldilocks sweet spot at EMF whereby everyone is engaged enough to bring something; take something away; share with others; reach outside of comfort zones, all because they are interested enough in the first place to being there and thus realise everyone here is approachable and ultimately, my (your) kind of people.
That being said, I took my kids, who loved it more than me! - from coding in the tent, to being free ranged and free to run a muck and take part in as much as the adults. As a parent, who worries about the onslaught of social and gaming (aka mobile gambling) kids via mobile phones, this was a great place to put the point of digital social and creativity to work! For them to see the why this stuff exists and why its fun, and what *you can do* when they grow up is just mind blowing for me. Their favourites were the *physical digital* games (see video below)
So wrapping up with some more highlights:
- Lots of play and workshops
- Highly accessible
- Great ethos (sharing | swapping culture | educational)
- The BBQ smoke
- A 'choir' room (crying, screaming, shouting, whatever your melody.)
Stef
EMF, was awesome. I’d been to CCC in Germany, so I knew I was going to like EMF, but being surrounded by so much tech and crafting in one place, it was actually like being in my own nerdy heaven. There’s a lot of creative and weird things to see, with artists expressing themselves in ways I’d never encountered before. I was obsessed with this Tesla coil that played music. Another big highlight for me was playing Duck Hunt on a hillside… using LASERS (thanks SebLee!) We camped with our good buddies in the Millyways village, such a solid group of geniuses, where I got my hands on a Millyways challenge coin, which is a reminder of just how special this community is, and I can’t wait to go back!
Off Grid:Red Team
If you’re intrigued by all this and want to see how the spirit of IRL hacker culture and knowledge-sharing folds into the game, we’d love for you to get involved! Fill out the form here, and we’ll add you to the OG:RT mailing list. You might even be selected to take part in beta testing and provide feedback as we work towards creating a complete end-to-end prototype.
Even if testing isn’t for you, you can still join this mailing list to stay up to date on all the latest developments. We’ll be back soon with more updates about the game!