Jan Freeman writes The Word column for Ideas.
Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based writer, editor, and multimedia
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« How a child changes | Main | The latest Ideas » Monday, May 7, 2007World Without Oil gameI've written about "alternate reality event" designer/puppetmaster Jane McGonigal for Ideas, and also for Brainiac. (NB: McGonigal, currently a fellow at Institute for the Future, calls herself a "games researcher who specializes in networked experiences for real-world spaces.") Now that she's tackling a potential real-world crisis, I'm even more fascinated with her work.  On April 30, McGonigal's latest project, the month-long alternate reality event World Without Oil, kicked off; its website describes WWO as "a serious game for the public good." Players -- there are nearly 1,200 as of this writing -- help simulate a global oil crisis by blogging, creating videos, uploading photos or audio, and/or participating in real-world, fun-serious "missions," which can include creating a geocache, posting flyers, hosting a fuel-free cooking night, or throwing a "Ped Party." The idea is to imagine that the oil crisis is really happening, then react accordingly and record your actions. (Here's a blog by a Bostonian WWO-er.) Players are ranked according to their contributions to the game's realistic portrayal of the oil shock; player-created communities, collaborative stories, and collective efforts get extra credit. What's the point? The WWO website explains: As people everywhere grapple with the problem of growing global demand for petroleum, no one has a clear picture of oil availability in the future, nor is there a clear picture of what will happen when demand inevitably outstrips supply. That will depend in large part upon how well people prepare, cooperate, and collectively create solutions. By playing it out in a serious way, the game aims to apply collective intelligence and imagination to the problem in advance, and to create a record that has value for educators, policymakers, and the common people to help anticipate the future and prevent its worst outcomes. "Play it, before you live it." The game is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and ITVS. You can still join; the game runs though the first week of June.  Posted by Joshua Glenn at 10:00 AM
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