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Playing The Escape
erich666 writes "Wired reports on 'La Fuga' (The Escape), a real-world game. You overcome physical and mental challenges to escape a prison. Not just any live-action role playing game, this one is run in a $20 million facility in Madrid. A networked PDA and RFID tag keep you in touch while you play. The company is now building a 30,000-square-foot game center at 49th and Broadway in New York City." From the article: "The screen goes static and then switches to a view of a sweaty prisoner with a 5 o'clock shadow who tells me that I can liberate myself and all the other drones stuck in the prison. Those who have escaped before me will contact me to assist in my quest. The door opens, and I enter a sort of closet before another door opens to reveal a metal air duct. I try to step in, but I slip, fall hard on my ass, and slide down the chute into a room containing a baggage carousel surrounded by screens."
I wonder how fast someone will hack this! Does padding on your rear count?
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
sounds like a step closer to 'Dreampark', as in the novels by Steven Barnes and Larry Niven. Immersive real-life roleplaying games. If you haven't read the series yet, go do it. A neat idea, well-executed on paper.
It reminds me of trying to find my way out of the club the other night after six boilermakers five shots of tequilla and something called a New York nipple twister...
From the Article:
...and burrowed through a mass of grapefruit-sized plastic spheres.
What, he went to Chuck E. Cheese?
This sounds like a solid design effort, worthy of most video game levels.
After all, I see prisons with baggage carousels _all the time_.
And we thought Flight Sim was bad for the Terrorists.. Now virtual training for prison escapees!
"Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
You should look into Airsoft then. It's military simulation with pellet guns, and some games run entire weekends. There are different goals (depending on the organizers - some are just basic CTF) and all are encouraged to make the game as realistic as possible (i.e. smoke bombs, uniforms, unit-style tactics/movement). It's also based on honor, so if you get hit, you call yourself out. There is usually a regeneration period of some length and then you're back in the game. Check www.airsoftplayers.com or www.cimmerians.com for more information.