Reality is broken. Can a new kind of mobile game fix it?

1. Connecting Games + Reality Jane McGonigal, PhD Institute for the Future

2. Context

3. For many gamers today, reality is broken.

7. It’s an exodus of time (16+ hrs/wk) … of attention (10 hrs/wk} … of money ($1.5 B) … and of passion . Believe it or not, this is perfectly rational behavior .

11. Signals

12. Signal #1: “ Life Hacking” Games Mobile Content: Foresight

24. Signal #2: Content is Increasingly 360 Mobile Content: Foresight

29. “ Life Hacking” Games + Abundant 360 Content = A new kind of mobile experience: reality-based gaming Mobile Content: Foresight

30. Forecast

31. One of the most important technology trends over the next 3-5 years will be the effort to embed the dynamics of networked gaming in everyday life. Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

32. Instead of demanding games that are more and more realistic, players will demand that ordinary reality start working more and more like their favorite games. Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

33. A new wave of immersive, reality-based mobile games will be developed to meet this rising demand. Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

34. Drivers

39. Foresight

40. Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble ® : Today Pass + Play! Or… Wait + Play!

41. Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble ® : Tomorrow Can we better connect this game with reality?

42. Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble ® : Tomorrow FUTURE MOBILE SCRABBLE We need future play testers . If you are game, please stand up now !

43. Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble ® : Tomorrow COLLECT AND TRADE You have 60 seconds to make sure every player has a tile.

44. Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble ® : Tomorrow COLLABORATE You have 60 seconds to join forces with other players to spell the highest scoring word possible.

45. Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble ® : Tomorrow COMPETE Which team earned the most points?

46. Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble ® : Tomorrow RULE THE WORLD You have 60 seconds to spell out a command that the rest of the audience will have to immediately follow. (Surprise!)

47. Foresight  Insight

49. Foresight  Insight FUTURE PLAY 2) Mobile will meet Motion (connecting games + physical reality)

50. Foresight  Insight FUTURE PLAY 3) Escape turns to Engagement (connecting games + local reality)

51. Insight  Action

52. As a design exercise, repeat the “Future Scrabble” experiment. Imagine a future version of your most popular or promising content, enhanced by emerging mobile network technologies. How is it more social? How is it more physical? How is it more local? Insight  Action

53. Find your own signals -- Watch the leading-edge experimental 360 gaming space: argn.com comeoutandplay.org playareacode.com avantgame.com seriousgames.org Insight  Action

54. Finally, commit now to paying closer attention to current “ happiness gaps ” between virtual worlds and the real-world. These gaps, and the growing desire among gamers to fill them, present an extraordinary and not yet widely understood opportunity: Insight  Action

55. The opportunity to create innovative, life-changing mobile games. Insight  Action

56. Connecting Games + Reality Jane McGonigal, PhD Institute for the Future [email_address]