This article appeared in February 28th, 2011, on the Wired Magazine website. In brief, the UK Guardian newspaper wanted to process an enormous number of receipts, to investigate potential government fraud or misuse of funds. They turned it into a simple online game that was open to the public... and were able to process a massive amount of data very quickly. The game was simple and competitive.
Further into the article, they discuss Jane McGonigal (not the Hogwarts Professor, but still awesome) and her book, "Reality is Broken." She has developed a game called World Without Oil that pushes users/gamers to explore alternative energy solutions. A similar game, Lost Joules, is another environment-friendly game by Adaptive Meter.
Some of you may also be familiar with Fold It, a game where people "contribute to science" by helping solve protein-folding problems. Turns out, humans are much better than computers at making intuitive leaps involving dramatic or unlikely folds - then computers can take over from there to work out the kinks (pun intended).
I think that the addition of a pro-social or "change the world for the better" aspect to games is an interesting way to attract and motivate players.
I think that the addition of a pro-social or "change the world for the better" aspect to games is an interesting way to attract and motivate players.
Great post! I think it brings up an interesting question about "What Makes Game" as well. A lot of the examples they use involve the implementation of rewards in the form of badges or points that you then use to compete with others. Does that really make it a game? Is competition the big factor here?
ReplyDeleteThen there's the "Make Facts Fun" or "I'll tell you something that you might find boring if I didn't present it in a fun/interactive way" mentality.
Fate of the World (http://store.steampowered.com/app/26800/) is an interesting "environmental consequences" game that was just released along the lines of "World Without Oil".
Lots of cool things to think about...