Passively Multiplayer Gaming

errorjustin writes "In a recent Mobile Games Conference keynote speech, Justin Hall had the audience imagine their life as a videogame: 'You gain 'experience points' by using MSWord or by sending emails. Every item you cross off a 'to do' list gives you an experience bonus, until eventually you 'level up' your life. You become U+1.' So what can be done with all this user-generated data? That's where the idea gets exciting: 'Imagine a mobile game that alerts you that a bomb is going to go off in 24 hours. To defuse it you need to assemble 16 levels of chemistry expertise, and 22 levels of physics expertise. The friends on your friends list all have levels for both skills - levels that have been determined by their real-life expertise and activities. You'll need to pull enough people together, either friends or friends of friends, to defuse the bomb.'" Would certainly make your average Monday a little easier to handle. The winner of this year's Game Design Challenge had an interesting idea that was somewhat similar.

Comments

Gee I'm not sure

[zoloback]

This is a very personal POV.
When I play a Game, I want to be doing something else for a while, like, not working. I play games for the purpose of entertainment, but not to the extreme that the author proposes.
That said, I can easily see how many gamers out there could have a wet dream about a totally submersive game experience, and with the utmost respect I must decline on such a life.
My Life is a considerably full one and I enjoy a lot of it, but I honestly don't want to be in the middle of a meeting and "Level Up".
I guess what I'm trying to say is: It will be a dark day for humankind when the percentage of people living on a real life game overpasses the people just living a real life.

Besides... my favorite games are First Person Shooters, and that's just a bad idea to bring to the real world.