All The World's A Game...

And all the men and women merely players

William Shakespeare, "As You Like It," Act II, Scene VII  

OK, so that may not have been The Bard's exact line, but the sentiment is identical.

Today, the world is rapidly turning into one huge game board. 

I am neither celebrating nor lamenting this transformation, merely describing one of the most profound disruptions (in Christensen's sense) we've seen in the last fifty years. 

Overstatement? I don't think so.

Jesse Schell, the brilliant, insightful game designer/psychologist, offered an over-the-horizon glimpse of the brave-new-gamed-world this past February in a talk at DICE. Watch the video here. In it, Schell presented a vision of what he's calling "the gamepocalypse," a time when the dynamics of everyday life will be completely supersaturated and inextricably intertwined with game elements. Schell gave an updated (audio only for now) version of the talk at the Long Now Foundation last week. 

So, what will this mean?

Wake up on time in the morning? Your iPhone sleep app will record the exact moment you first touch it and award you points for not oversleeping. 

Brush your teeth for the requisite three minutes? Your sensor-equipped toothbrush will memorialize that healthy behavior and allocate today's allotted points for doing so; a week's worth of good brushing earns you a bonus.

Drive to work? Use up points for single-passenger transport but earn some for efficient driving.

And so on.

All those points will add up and you'll be able to redeem them for all sorts of valuable merchandise. 

We're gonna love it!

What's fascinating is that the gamepocalypse will entail both a change of quantity and of mindset when compared with our present behavior.

We are all used to frequent flyer/buyer/user clubs that reward us for our product/service/experience loyalty. So, quantitatively extending this expectation to unfamiliar domains, e.g., taking the bus in exchange for energy saving points (what Schell calls new "nooks and crannies" for games) won't be all that much of a stretch.

It's the sensors that passively capture our behavior as a default condition that will take a bit of getting used to. After all, while we might be accustomed to our Nike running shoes recording and sharing our daily workouts, we haven't yet gotten our minds wrapped around our cereal boxes automatically reporting our Wheaties intake. 

But we will. 

As sensors become ubiquitous and their interconnectedness commonplace, we will devise increasingly clever methods for capturing, measuring, rewarding and competing on "desired" behaviors. 

It's inevitable. We're wired for it.

And, as the consequences of our advancing technological capabilities become more evident, each of us will come face-to-face with a set of choices that was the stuff of fiction just a few years ago. You'll probably go along with most of it.

Doubt it?

Five years ago, who'd have predicted scores of millions of people attending to virtual vegetables on Facebook? Not me, that's for sure.

And, Shakespeare's poignant insights will once again prove prescient. Only, this time, when we step out onto the game stage, our lives will be broadcast to the whole world, not just the few people in our local audiences. 

But, think of it this way: you'll get lots of points as your audience grows!

Comments

[Syd]

Interesting

and scary, considering how every aspect of our lives will be "on the grid" at that point and how that data could be "gamed" on a whole other level.

[Tom Guarriello]

Hey, Syd!

Schell is fantastic at describing this transformative gamepocalypse. I think the scary part is going to get swept up in the pervasiveness of most of what's going to happen. It's not going to feel that scary and, for the most part, it won't be. But every now and then...

[Ken G.]

I'm sure I'll go along with most of it - even as I bemoan the loss of privacy, and recognize that each time my shoes report my exercise habits I'll be receiving an email from Nike telling me it's time to check my tread. But I'll go along with it anyway. Just for fun.

[Tom Guarriello]

You got it, mr. rg. Just for fun.