Icky or not, I signed up just to check it out. I couldn't agree more about the metaphor, but to throw myself into the spirit of it, I chose the handle "GeorgeMetesky" when I registered. Those who were sentient in the 50s will recognize the name.
A lot of games have drama and danger and violence. What makes Turf Bombing "icky" is that it steps out of the usual self-contained game world and into our neighborhoods. Maybe the middle ground is to add a fantasy layer on top of the real world maps so that we distance it from clearly from reality. For example, we're ghostbusters laying down anti-ghost roach motels. The traps have a limited effective life and the ghosts will try to come back near the edges of our territory. The game could use its Google Map underpinnings to create notices like: "The ghosts have just infected the Starbucks at 17 Maple Street, causing customers to spit out their scones. " To bring the game back to reality, it might be fun to drive past a place and remember the virtual damage that occurred there. Bottom line: Turf Bombing is technically cool and conceptually problematic. I hope version 2 takes a different turn. ::: Bernie ::: -- Bernie Dodge, PhD - Professor of Educational Technology San Diego State University. 619.594.7401 Blog - http://webquest.org/bdodge/ The WebQuest Page - http://webquest.org "Hell is other people's ringtones." - Jean Paul Sartre On Nov 15, 2008, at 11:50 AM, Dan Brickley wrote: > P Kishor wrote: >> On 11/15/08, Che-Wei Wang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> http://turfbombing.com/ >>> >>> Turf Bombing is a location-based war game which rewards and >>> encourages >>> traveling and learning about different neighborhoods. >>> >>> This game requires a laptop and works anywhere in the world where >>> there's a >>> wifi connection. Your laptop's wifi connection is used to >>> triangulate your >>> position. >>> >>> Teams are assigned by the zip code of your home address. The goal >>> of each >>> team is to gain as much territory as possible. >>> >>> Territories are acquired as players plant time bombs at different >>> locations >>> in physical space. If the bomb is not diffused by a local team >>> member in >>> time, the bomb will explode and the territory will be turned over >>> to the >>> team that planted the bomb. >> >> >> I wish some other metaphor were used here. I can imagine sitting down >> in an airport, and starting to "plant time bombs at different >> locations in physical space" to while away the layover, and then... >> >> >> ...being led away in handcuffs. > > Yeah, this was my reaction too. The game sounds great, and encouraging > exploration of neighbourhoods is a very very worthy goal. But the bomb > planting bit kind of kills the mood. Shoot-em-up games are all very > well > when confined to fantasy land, but when brought into reality it's a > bit > more erm, icky... > > Dan > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
