I just finished reading a sci-fi/fantasy novel by Sam Landstrom, a technical writer for Microsoft, called MetaGame. The book is available for free on the iTunes bookstore and similar retailers. MetaGame describes a future society where people are continuously involved in “The Game,” a way of life where people earn points for their actions, use said points as currency, and worship an advanced Artificial Intelligence entity known as the OverSoul.
The Game is comprised of two major game classifications: grinder and spanker games. The unfortunately named “spanker” games are similar to the games that we play today: for entertainment. These games are controlled in a different manner, however. Players are required to jack into the game with their Mind Interface Chips, allowing their senses of sight, sound, and smell to experience a virtual world. By physically moving about in the real world, the player experiences moving about in a dungeon of a MMORPG or taking cover in a massive firefight of a shooter game. Mostly, points cannot be earned in these games, only spent.
On the flip side, grinder games are the way people earn points while doing something productive for society. Then name is taken from the term “grinding” in RPG’s, as in grinding for gold, loot, or experience. Grinder games provide an incentive for doing actual work, the idea behind this being that accomplishing goals and earning points immediately will increase productivity, efficiency, and more people will want to do it. Points earned in the grinder game are used to make purchases for conveniences and for use in the spanker games.
In today’s society, grinder games don’t quite exist yet. Microsoft has made a game using Office’s Ribbon bar, called Ribbon Hero, as a way to teach how to use it efficiently. A game called EpicWin is coming out soon on the iPhone that is basically a to-do list. Players create tasks for them to accomplish. Completing these menial to complicated tasks reward the player’s character with gold, experience, loot, and titles. With Facebook integration, people are allowed to gloat about their winnings and completed tasks with their friends. This can spur on competition among friends to see who can complete the most tasks (as long as they are honest about it). Hopefully, this will increase productivity in a person’s life as well as reduce laziness!
MetaGame briefly describes the evolution of gaming to involve common tasks and development of said games. With interfaces as simple and efficient as the iPhone and Android phones and with Facebook to share our accomplishments, we are heading in a direction where games similar to the ones in MetaGame can actually help improve our ability to accomplish work. While a future similar to the one in the book may be many years off, we seem to be heading into that direction.
One note: MetaGame has been picked up by Amazon’s publishing house. It is receiving an edit and a hard copy release. I did notice some errors in the free copy of the book which I imagine will be fixed in the final release, along with some small clarifications. All in all, though, I felt that MetaGame was a good read and worth the time.
