jane mcgonigal on the future of mobile gaming

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Connecting Games + Reality

Jane McGonigal, PhDInstitute for the Future

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Context

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For many gamers today, reality is

broken.

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Networked games work better than reality.

1) Better Instructions

2) Better Feedback

3) Better Community

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I’m not the first to notice this.

“We are witnessing what amounts to no less than a

global mass exodus to virtual worlds and other online gaming environments.”

– economist Edward Castranova

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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.

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For many gamers today, in terms of perceived quality of

life, virtuality is beating reality.

So what are we, the mobile content community, going to do about it?

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The way I see it, we have two options:

1) Learn from the success of immersive gaming –and keep helping people escape reality.

2) Learn from the success of immersive gaming – and make reality more engaging.

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The way I see it, we have two options:

1) Learn from the success of immersive gaming –and keep helping people escape reality.

2) Learn from the success of immersive gaming – and make reality more engaging.

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Signals

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Signal #1:“Life Hacking” Games

Mobile Content: Foresight

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Signal #2:Content is

Increasingly 360

Mobile Content: Foresight

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“Life Hacking” Games

+Abundant 360

Content =

A new kind of mobile experience:

reality-based gaming

Mobile Content: Foresight

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Forecast

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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

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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

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A new wave of immersive, reality-based mobile games will be developed to meet this rising

demand.

Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

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Drivers

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1) Social “shared reality” technologies:

• Bluetooth• Mobile social network applications • Mobile augmented reality displays

Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

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2) Physical “embodied reality” technologies:

• Accelerometers• Proximity sensors: RFID, e.g.• Geotracking and compass

Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

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3) Local “environmental reality” technologies:

• Shot codes• GPS + Geocoded data• Reality dashboards

Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

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Social + Physical + Local =a persistent and pervasive web of

play that constantly intersects with and enhances the everyday world

around us

Mobile Content in 2012: A Future Forecast

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Foresight

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Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble®: Today

Pass + Play!

Or…

Wait + Play!

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Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble®: Tomorrow

Can we better connect this game with

reality?

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Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble®: Tomorrow

FUTURE MOBILE SCRABBLE

We need future play testers.

If you are game, please stand up now!

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Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble®: Tomorrow

COLLECT AND TRADE

You have 60 seconds to make sure every player has a tile.

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Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble®: Tomorrow

COLLABORATE

You have 60 seconds to join forces with other players to spell the highest scoring word possible.

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Multiplayer Mobile Scrabble®: Tomorrow

COMPETE

Which team earned the most points?

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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!)

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Foresight Insight

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Foresight Insight

FUTURE PLAY

1)Multi-player becomes Massively MP

(connecting games + social reality)

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Foresight Insight

FUTURE PLAY

2) Mobile will meet Motion

(connecting games + physical reality)

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Foresight Insight

FUTURE PLAY

3) Escape turns to Engagement

(connecting games + local reality)

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Insight Action

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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

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Find your own signals -- Watch the leading-edge experimental 360

gaming space:

argn.comcomeoutandplay.orgplayareacode.comavantgame.com

seriousgames.org

Insight Action

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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

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The opportunity to create innovative, life-changing

mobile games.

Insight Action

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Connecting Games + Reality

Jane McGonigal, PhDInstitute for the Future

jmcgonigal@iftf.org