Alternate Reality

a game designer’s perspective on the future of collaboration – and

10 ways to save the real world

Jane McGonigal, Ph.D. Institute for

the Future

Alternate Reality

'Play will be to the 21st century what work was to the last 300

years of industrial society -- our dominant way of knowing, doing

and creating value.'--Pat Kane, author of

The Play Ethic

“We are witnessing what amounts to no less than a global mass exodus to virtual worlds and other online gaming environments.” – economist Edward Castranova

As a perceived source of value, is virtuality beating reality?

“We are witnessing what amounts to no less than a global mass exodus to virtual worlds and other online gaming environments.” – economist Edward Castranova An exodus of time (16+ hours/week)

… of attention … of money ($1.5 B) … and of

passion.

As a perceived source of value, is virtuality beating reality?

User Hours per Month

US $ Exchanged on Lindex (in Millions)

Premium Residents – the serious investment

This exodus to virtual worlds and games is an extremely important signal –

Not (as some think) that we will or should abandon reality, but rather a signal that we need to make our reality work better.

We need an alternate reality… one that works more like a networked game.

As a perceived source of value, is virtuality beating reality?

How do networked games work?

~ clear goals and specific avenues for advancement

~ dynamic feedback and focused attention

~ highly responsive environments

~ a rich, world (re)building mythology

~ intense community

~ a shared context for action

~ a sense of heroic purpose

Alternate Reality Game designers are a new breed of hackers.…. hacking everyday, real-life spaces, habits, and social institutions to be more like a networked game.

Why? Because ARG designers believe games

work better than reality.

How do Alternate Realities “work better”? they better meet the gamers’ new

standards for happiness

they better harness the gamers’ talents for collaboration

“The opposite of play isn't work, it's depression. To play is to act out and be willful, exultant and committed -- as if one is assured of one's prospects.” -- Brian Sutton Smith, anthropologist

A Global Future Forecast:

In the next decade, we will see more businesses and organizations developing and adopting customized alternate realities, in order to reach gamers and to create a radically better way of doing business, engaging the public, and innovating in the real world.

A Future Forecast for AMP:

In the next decade, the new gamer majority represents a challenging and increasingly significant market for financial services.

Meanwhile, gamers join the work force prepared to be engaged and harnessed for innovation by real-world gaming mechanics.

The New Gamer Majority 79 percent of Australians report

having “gamer households.”*

Sales of games in Australia topped $1 Billion in 2006*

*From a comprehensive 2007 study conducted by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) in conjunction with Bond University's Centre for New Media Research.

The New Gamer Majority

The average age of gamers in Australia now is 28 years old, up from 24 years old in 2005.*

But by 2014 the average age of gamers will be 42 years old -- the overall average age of Australians.**From a comprehensive 2007 study

conducted by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) in conjunction with Bond University's Centre for New Media Research.

41 percent of all Australian gamers are now female, up from 38 percent in 2005.*

By 2012 the number of female gamers will be the same as male gamers.*

*From a comprehensive 2007 study conducted by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) in conjunction with Bond University's Centre for New Media Research.

The New Gamer Majority

1. What do gamers want from their real lives?

2. How can gamers best be harnessed for real-world business and innovation?

What AMP needs to know about The New Gamer Majority:

What AMP needs to know about The New Gamer Majority:Foresight insight:

Leading-edge Alternate Realities currently provide the strongest evidence for what gamers really want –

and the best blueprint for how to engage them in the real-world.

The concept “alternate reality” comes from science fiction.

“a hybrid of Fantasy and Alternate History

that alters this world's dynamics.”

In an AR, a game becomes an alternative framework for

experiencing everyday life.

“An alternate reality is another way of experiencing existence.”- G. S. ELRICK, 1978

World Without Oil, 2007 alternate reality game(www.worldwithoutoil.org)

“This was a blog for an ARG. But I am real.  My game profile is accurate. The people I wrote about in-game have RL identities. My husband really is too smart for his own good. My dog really is sick – but he’s going to be fine. Some of the events I wrote about in-game really did occur, others were my own musings. But the rest is entirely possible and that’s what matters.” –WWO player manicHalo via blog

real play, not role play.

Massively networked media constructs and confirms the alternate

reality

When the game ends, the alternate reality continues.

“When they returned, they discovered that … their excursion had created a new alternate reality.” - G. A. EFFINGER, 1989

“I really mean it when I say WWO changed my life. I really have been walking more/driving less, using my cloth bags at the stores, turning off lights, and yes, recycling. My friends, family and coworkers have all noticed the difference. In all seriousness, this entire thing has made me a different person.”

-player Falling Sin, via email

When the game ends, the alternate reality continues.

How do Alternate Realities “work better”? they better meet the gamers’ new

standards for happiness

In the future, how important is financial wealth?

“Money really cannot buy happiness.”

--The New York Times.

“Money, amazingly, is losing its power.”

– Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness

In the future, how important is financial wealth?

“Our economy is rapidly changing from a money economy to a. Beyond the safety net, more money adds little satisfaction economy or nothing to subjective well-being. We are about to witness a politics that goes beyond the safety net and takes the pursuit of happiness very seriously indeed.”

– Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness

Stated values of gamers vs. non-gamers

Well-Being Inventory “I am optimistic about

the future.”

“I feel close to most people, even if I do not know them well.”

“My existence makes the world a better place.”

“So what did this game accomplish? I'll tell you what I got out of it - we're dealing with a hard set of problems! … All of those people, thinking about the worst-case scenarios, brainstorming community solutions! That's a very promising thought…. The game has left the game, but a great community has been built. We've only just begun!”

-player OrangeForaHead, via blog

Reality + optimism for the future.

“I end this game with HOPE.  Because, that is what I'm filled with in this moment. I have HOPE for our future. And what a powerful feeling that is.”

– player Falling Sin

Reality + optimism for the future.

"This is the first time in my life where I felt I had the power to change the course of history.”

-player Peak Prophet, via blog

Reality + makes the world better

“We have the potential to create community on a scale never before imagined on this planet, and I think only by creating that community, by working together despite race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability status, religion, or anything like that… the world will end up a little more united after this.”

-player Juiceman1, via blog

Reality + close to other people

3 Tiers of Happiness:

1. pleasure

– feeling good

2. engagement

– doing good

3. meaning

– discovering good

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to things.”

–Albert Einstein

Insight: It’s not the sum of things - the score.

It’s the engagement and the meaning.

In the future, how important is financial wealth?

Attent, 2007 beta alternate reality enterprise software

How do Alternate Realities “work better”? they better harness the gamers’ talents

for collaboration

Institute of Play, 2009 opening Alternate Reality Public School

Collective Intelligence

- Pierre Levy, 1994

Cogito, ergo sum Cogitamus, ergo sumus

3 Collective Intelligence Hallmarks:

1. Massively multiple users connected via networks

2. Social data-gathering, sharing, and analysis

3. Surprising, or “emergent”, results

I Love Bees, 2004 alternate reality game www.ilovebees.com

“Why I Love Bees: A Case Study in Collective Intelligence Gaming” (2008, forthcoming)

What AMP needs to know about The New Gamer Majority:Foresight insight:

Leading-edge Alternate Realities currently provide the strongest evidence for what gamers really want –

and the best blueprint for how to engage them in the real-world.

Invitation Graphic Goes Here

Superimposin

g

Supersizing

Supercomputi

ng

Superheroic

We are witnessing the evolution of everyday, real-world superheroes.

10 Powers of Super–Collaboration, or,

10 Ways to Save the Real World

Mobbability Open Authorship

InfluencyEmergensight

Ping Quotient Longbroading

Multi-Capitalism Cooperation Radar

Protovation Signal/Noise Management

Mobbability the ability to perform

real-time work in large groups

a talent for organizing and collaborating with many people simultaneously

Influency the ability to be

persuasive in multiple social contexts and media spaces

an understanding that each context and space requires a different persuasive strategy and technique

Ping Quotient measures your

responsiveness to other people’s requests for engagement, your propensity and ability to reach out to others in a network

Multi-Capitalism fluency in working with

and negotiating alternate capitals

natural, intellectual, social, financial, human, e.g.

Protovation fearless

experimentation in rapid, iterative cycles

an understanding that the costs of short-term failure have been dramatically lowered

Open Authorship ease and savvy in

creating content for “open consumption” – through peer 2 peer circulation, citation, and modification

Emergensight ability to prepare

for and handle the surprising results and complexity that occur at larger scales

Longbroading thinking in terms of

higher level systems, massively multiple cycles, and a much bigger picture

Cooperation Radar the ability to sense,

almost intuitively, who would make the best collaborators on a particular task

Signal/Noise Management filtering meaningful

info, patterns, and commonalities from massively-multiple streams of data

10 Powers of Super–Collaboration, or,

10 Ways to Save the Real World

Mobbability Open Authorship

InfluencyEmergensight

Ping Quotient Longbroading

Multi-Capitalism Cooperation Radar

Protovation Signal/Noise Management

Super-Collaborative SCRABBLETM

A 10 minute experiment to harness your 10 collective superpowers

Super-Collaborative SCRABBLETM

A 10-minute experiment to harness your 10 collective superpowers

You have 2 minutes each round to join with other players and form as high-scoring a word as possible.

If you are not in a word when time is up, you don’t get any points for the round!

Super-Collaborative SCRABBLETM

A 10-minute experiment to harness your 10 collective superpowers

The Question Team has 3 minutes to write a question engaging as many team members as possible.

Then, the Answer Team has 2 minutes to write an answer.

10 Powers of Super–Collaboration, or,

10 Ways to Save the Real World

Mobbability Open Authorship

InfluencyEmergensight

Ping Quotient Longbroading

Multi-Capitalism Cooperation Radar

Protovation Signal/Noise Management

“You've opened our eyes and infected our minds with realities and

possibilities.” – ARG gamer

www.slideshare.net/avantgame

Can AMP come out and play?