The players have taken their places, the pieces are set, the cards dealt, the dice tossed. It's time to see who will win, and lose, in this version of the game of life.
Jesse Schell, the 40-year-old game designer and Carnegie Mellon professor had sketched out something radically different, something he titled "Beyond Facebook." His premise is that a real-life game could be stacked on top of reality. You'd get points for, well, just about everything you normally do in the course of 24 hours. This was already happening, he explained, and the games were altering human behavior. What were American Express points and frequent-flier miles but games that reward loyalty? Weight Watchers? A game. Fantasy football? A game stacked on top of a game that influences the way you watch a game. In the Ford Fusion, a virtual tree is embedded in the dash. The more gas you save, the more the tree grows. They put a virtual pet in your car, he marveled, and it actually changes the way people drive!
Jesse Schell: "Advances in technology will soon make all of life a game. Or has it happened already?"
Sensors have gotten so cheap that they are being embedded in all sorts of products. Pretty soon, every soda can and cereal box could have a built-in CPU, screen, and camera, along with Wi-Fi connectivity. And at that point, the gaming of life takes off. You'll get up in the morning to brush your teeth and the toothbrush can sense that you're brushing. "Hey, good job for you! Ten points" from the toothpaste maker. You sit down to breakfast and get 10 points from Kellogg's for eating your Corn Flakes, then grab the bus because you get enviro-points from the government, which can be used as a tax deduction. Get to work on time, your employer gives you points. Drink Dr Pepper at lunch, points from the soda maker. Walk to a meeting instead of grabbing the shuttle, points from your health-insurance provider. Who knows how far this might run? Schell offered psychedelic scenarios, like the one in which you recall a dream from the previous night where your mother was dancing with a giant Pepsi can: "You remember the REM-tertainment system, which is this thing you put in your ear that can sense when you enter REM sleep, and then [it] starts putting little advertisements out there to try and influence your dreams." If the ads take hold, you win big points for discounts at your local grocery store. Then there's your office mate, and he's like, "Check out this new digital tattoo" that he got from Tatoogle AdSense, and when you show him yours, you realize you're both wearing Pop-Tart ads. You get paid for the ads, plus 30 additional points just for noticing.
After work, you go shopping. Points. Your daughter gets good grades in school and practices the piano? More points. You plop down on your sofa for some television, and "it's just points, points, points, points," because eye sensors ensure that you actually watch the ads. In the meantime, you chat with other viewers, play games designed around the ads, and tally more points. Sure, it's crass commercialization run amok, Schell conceded, but "this stuff is coming. Man, it's gotta come. What's going to stop it?"
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