Greets! - Vel here

Good morning/afternoon/evening, all. I'm Velociryx, which is horrible to have to spell, so please, just Vel for short. In the "real world" (whatever that is), I'm Chris(topher) Hartpence - freelance writer, author, game designer.

I'm 47, as of the day of this writing, and I found these forums while doing research for my current project. Without mentioning any particulars or posting links, I'll simply say that two years ago, a dear friend of mine asked me a question that literally changed the arc of my life. His question was this:

Chris - do you think it's possible to create a (computer) game that, when played, the simple act of playing the game could cause one or more variables to change in the real/physical world?

My first instinct was, of course, to ask for some of whatever he was drinking or smoking, but the question would not leave me alone, so I spent the next six months beating my head against the wall that the question represented.

Turns out that the answer to that question, is yes.

So - I grew my freelance writing from hobby to full time thing, and recently moved to rural Virginia, where I'm currently saving for about ten acres of land, so I can build prototypes for my new "game."

Okay - guess I'll stop for now.

-=Vel=-

Welcome, Chris!

Have fun on the boards.

Peace.

Thank ya, Charlie! Looking forward to exploring this big, expansive place.

-=Vel=-
a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Hello and welcome to the looney bin. Nice to meet you I'm sure.

a reply to: Velociryx

That sounds badass. good luck with your future project (sounds like heaps of fun)

Thank you both, for the welcome! And although I am admittedly biased, I think the game ("Play the Planet") is pretty badass. =D

The first question I asked myself once I had the basic mechanism worked out is, "okay - so it looks like this works...what exactly do you want to change?"

I figured that since nothing else we've tried re: fixing longstanding social problems (poverty, hunger, etc) - why not give game theory a go? So my first task, once the land is purchased, and the first prototypes online, will be to get the USDA's hunger stats for the county I buy in, and start reducing that number toward zero.

Hello and welcome!

a reply to: Velociryx

Welcome!

Grab a chair, beer and enjoy the deep conversations

Look forward to your input with your experience,

also you have me intrigued about your gaming theory,

Phat!

Welcome to the Rabbit Hole...
More about this game!

Thanks for the welcomes, NightStar, Phat!, and DogMeat! And I'm glad you guys are intrigued by the game. Hmm...I don't wanna break the rules and post a link to my blog, so I'll do it old school and reproduce some of the "explanation" essays here? If that would be a good workaround that honors the board rules?

So here goes....here's

PtP Explanation, Part One

“Is it possible to make a (computer) game, such that the simple act of playing it can ‘change stuff’ in the real, physical world?”

That was the question Daniel asked me. That was the question I almost drove myself mad trying to answer, and ultimately, that was the question I answered in the affirmative.

I know what you’re thinking, and believe me, I’ve been down the road you’re staring at right now. Of course it’s not possible, right? Because the digital world is digital, and the physical world is physical, and the two just don’t intersect, so there’s no way….

Except that isn’t exactly true, is it?

Think about MMORPG’s…say World of Warcraft, since most everybody is familiar with that. It definitely has a point of intersection between the two worlds. It’s you. You the player. You exist as an avatar in the game, and of course, you exist in the physical world, sitting there at your computer PLAYING the game, and once you understand that the player IS the point of intersection…the bridge between the two worlds, everything else gets easier.

At the root then, Play the Planet is a role playing game that’s set in both the real and digital worlds. The two worlds interact with each other, and can modify each other, through the player.

As with every role playing game, PtP revolves around quests. In World Of Warcraft, you may be tasked with invading the Temple of Pure Evil Badassery to rescue Princess Kumonawannalaya or something, but of course, games have tempo and pacing. There’s a story, so it’s not like you can just walk up to the temple’s front door and knock. No! You’ve got sub-quests to complete first. You have to recruit allies. Then you may have to go on a quest to find the Dagger of Badass Killingry, which is the only artifact known that can hurt the boss villain who’s guarding the Princess. Then maybe you have to climb to the top of Mount Flatulence to receive a smelly blessing from the Grand High Farter, and on and on.

Eventually, at some point, you get to approach the Temple of Ultimate Badassery and fight your way to the Princess, where, if you’ve been careful in your planning, and maybe get a bit lucky here and there, you will emerge victorious and gain your rewards (gold, magic items, etc).

Same thing here, with PtP, except that we’ve made our “Quests” a bit more relevant and timely, is all.

In Play the Planet, the game, and the quests that drive it, are divided into seven functional areas. These areas are:

Archival
Agronomy
Commerce
Energy
Production
Social
Transport

Each functional area has an assortment of quests associated with it. The quest structure is open ended. You can start where you wish. You don’t have to, for example, start with Archival and slowly work your way through to other areas. If you could give a # about archival, fine. Just ignore those quests and start somewhere else.

Let’s say you’re interested in food, so you start with the Agronomy area.

In that area, you’ll find a single quest to start the show. It’s called ‘Green Thumb.’ To complete the quest, you read the summary and instructions. You are to:

Build or buy a window planter box
Fill said box with dirt
Put seeds in the dirt. Doesn’t matter what. Up to you. Basil. Tomatoes. Peppers. Just something you can eat or cook with that you’ll enjoy
Water the seeds and nurture them to seedlings, then to full grown plants
Harvest your crop
Take selfies of your progress along the way
Upload the selfies to the quest admin and await confirmation

That’s it. It’s a simple quest that gives you hands on experience with planting seeds in the dirt and getting food back from it.

Completing that quest though, unlocks other, more advanced quests. One of the quests it unlocks is called “Home Grown.” The “Home Grown” quest builds on the things you learned and demonstrated in “Green Thumb,” and takes them to the next level. Here, you’ll either build or buy a green house, or, if you don’t have the space for that, you’ll build grow towers out of recycled materials. Blueprints and parts manifests are available, for free, for a wide variety of greenhouses (13 as of the time this piece was written, but more being added all the time).

Your objective: Grow some percentage of your own food. Note that you don’t have to grow all your own food, but you WILL gain at least a measure of food independence. I’ve invented my own high yield, micro-farming hybrid technique by studying the methods of others. It’s called by the rather unfortunate acronym HYNA (‘Hyena’), which stands for High Yield, Natural Agronomy.

Again, you’ll be photo documenting the greenhouse build, the raised bed build and/or placement, your garden plan, and selfies at every step.

There’s a story arc here. The early quests see you learning and gaining mastery over a skill, then ultimately, later quests see you applying this knowledge in the service of others. The “Helping Hands” quest, for example, is just like the “Home Grown” quest, except that you’re assisting another player complete THEIR “Home Grown” quest, and getting credit for doing so.

Any quest that involves helping another human being has rewards beyond achievement badges and experience points (which cause you to level up and gain powers on the site). You also earn the in-game currency, Ghost Net Credits.

Ghost Net Credits can be spent on real world goods and services – whatever other players are selling. Ebooks, craft items, services, etc. You can even pay your monthly membership fee in Gc if you wish.

What you’ve read so far has probably left you with as many questions as answers, but I’ll stop here on purpose because I don't want to rattle on too long.

-=Vel=-

omg i love it . its frinkin hilarious too aww I am so glad i saw your intro .. I wished you made a full thread.. this is such an awesome idea

Whooohoooo! I'm glad you like the idea! As to making a distinct thread for it - I think I read that I need 20 posts in total before I can do that, but once I get to that point, I can certainly make one in the appropriate section and we can kick the idea around...that would be fantastic!

-=Vel=-

a reply to: Layaly

a reply to: Velociryx

Welcome, Vel! That's quite a project you have going! Good luck!

Hey there, and thank you, Tweetie! (made me smile when I typed that!). It's been a long road to get here, but I knew pretty early on that I wanted to start the project and build the first prototypes in Appalachia, because it's the most economically depressed region in the country, and my thinking is that if it can work HERE....well, it can probably work just about anywhere.

-=Vel=-

a reply to: tweetie

Just to update you - I have created a proper thread on the topic here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: Velociryx