As I was exploring the alternate reality game, EVOKE, I happened upon its creator’s web site. Jane McGonigal is an accomplished game designer, and as you might guess by the high-flying nature of EVOKE, she’s got quite lofty goals. “I’m trying to make sure that a game developer wins a Nobel Prize by the year 2032,” she said in her blog. I started exploring her web site and stumbled upon her ART page, which has the page title “Cookie Rolling”.
At first I thought she was just making words out of cookies (which is cool), until I read the description. This game designer is taking on the ironically unconventional task of creating a game that exists outside of a computer. Granted, the display of the game is online, but she plays it herself in the real world. The game rules are outlined a the top of the page: She must write all 1406 words in Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus with cookies, one by one, in separate cities anywhere in the world. People tend to consider a game to be something you either play on court, a board, or a playing field of some sort. This game takes aspects of each common game type and creates a world-wide adventure and puzzle game, which is displayed with accessible layers of detail on this web page. I can see the similarities between this game and EVOKE, and it definitely fits into McGonigal’s style.
I think this is AMAZING. What a creative way to connect places and concepts, and she does it with a sense of humor! EVOKE was a bit off-putting to me at first, simply because it seemed unapproachable as a concept. There was almost an overhaul of information and I felt overwhelmed trying to begin. Of course, it sort of reveals itself to you as you go, but this…this is epic. And timely – after all, isn’t Sisyphus about a never-ending search for meaning in a world so cluttered that meaning seems impossible? Isn’t that sort of the feeling of creating or interpreting art, sometimes?
After reading Greg Costikyan’s “I Have No Words & I Must Design,” I’m struck by the way that structure enhances gameplay. It amazes me that one can take a truly absurd pursuit like cookie-spelling, and immediately make it engaging and exciting by adding rules. Instead of laughing at McGonigal, we’re rooting for her. Well, some may still be laughing at her.
I think back to my time working in a bookstore. Every year the new Guinness Book of World Records would be released, and people really seemed to care. Here is a book full of competition. Each category is rigidly structured, with specific goals. And the winners aren’t just crazy people. They’re WINNERS.
I just checked out that site, and I am afraid to say it doesn’t seem to be doing to well. Intriguing concept, yes. Lofty expectations, yes. I believe only 33 words have been completed since 2005. Not exactly a blistering rate. Although I think it is interesting, I think art that is based on crowd-sourcing is only successful if you give the contributors incentive. The only incentive here is to have your cookies in the picture, which is not monetary. And let’s face it, people like money.
Russell, I would slightly disagree; I think if the people could be provided with the cookies, that might make up for a lack of monetary compensation.
I understand the “game” concept that she’s going with, and I really like what she’s trying to do. However I think it’s exceptionally ambitious, possibly to her detriment. Isn’t the whole concept of a grass-roots campaign to start small and work your way up? She seems to be starting big and trying to work her way to huge.
McGonigal might want to take it one step at a time.
This makes me think a lot about “ambitious projects,” and how we could all do better at engaging people. What do you do when you’ve spent months, or even years, working on this great idea, but no one participates?
I know that this is getting into marketing and advertising and all that, but there must be something inherent in the project that leaves people uninspired. The creator of EVOKE seems to have a lot of energy and great ideas, but I am concerned that this site may be just another “cookie project.”
There is some lacking intangible quality or incentive that doesn’t get me charged up to involve myself and my circle of influence. This is not a criticism, but I do wonder what it is I’m trying to put my finger on, because I find some of the projects I have done in the past lack the same ______-ness.
Actually, Russell, the concept of crowd-sourcing and “wikinomics” is based on the phenomenon that people are NOT simply motivated by money but by prestige, community, etc. On the other hand, I work for cookies too, as Jesse pointed out…
At one point I dug in to her biography a bit and read about how she had experienced serious after-effects from a concussion (see http://blog.avantgame.com/2009/09/super-better-or-how-to-turn-recovery.html) and turned it into a game, to deal with depression. This cookie game looks like it’s along the same lines to some extent. She turns getting better into a game…
And there’s something to the game thing… See this poem I wrote for my friend who was struggling with a serious diagnosis of cancer. I think she’s on to something.