I have never been sexually harassed. Walking down the street, I have never had a stranger say anything suggestive or complimentary about my appearance (though one night last summer a homeless man in Midtown Manhattan did sneer “Nice get-up” as I passed by in yellow shorts and a bright blue polyester shirt with a huge collar).

So when I first tried Hey Baby, a new Web game that takes aim at catcalling and its practitioners, I thought it was not meant for me. Developed by the New York artist and producer Suyin Looui, Hey Baby at first appears to be a self-consciously ridiculous revenge fantasy for women who have felt oppressed or threatened by sexual attention or commentary from men. Think of “Death Wish” with a woman walking home from work in the role of Charles Bronson.

Yet over several hours my initial alienation and annoyance gave way to a swelling appreciation of Hey Baby, not as a game but as a provocative, important work of interactive art as social commentary. The people who should really play Hey Baby are men, even if you have never said a word to a woman you didn’t know on the street.

The game, playable free at heybabygame.com, is quite simple. As in any first-person shooter game, you use the mouse to look around your surroundings, and the keyboard to move, while holding a big gun. In this case your surroundings are a small cityscape that appears intended to be generically American (though several of the storefronts are drawn directly from small businesses on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which happens to be my neighborhood).