Creating Alternate Realities

gaming the real world in order to innovate

Jane McGonigal, PhD

Creating an alternate reality is a kind of hacking.

AR designers are hacking reality to be more like a game.

Why? Because they believe games work

better than reality.

The global mass exodus to virtual worlds and gaming environments … of time … of attention … of money … of passion is an extremely important signal –

not that we will abandon reality, but that we need to

make our reality work better.

The concept “alternate reality” comes from science fiction.

“a hybrid of Fantasy and Alternate History that

alters this world's dynamics.”

In an AR, a game becomes an alternative framework for experiencing everyday life.

“An alternate reality is another way of experiencing existence.”- G. S. ELRICK, 1978

ARs embed game dynamics into everyday life.

~ clear goals~ specific avenues ~ dynamic feedback~ highly responsive environments~ a rich, world (re)building mythology

~ intense community ~ a shared context for

action ~ a sense of heroic

purpose… to create a more engaging reality.

A Future Forecast:

In the next decade, we will see more businesses and organizations developing and adopting customized alternate realities, in order to create a radically better way of doing, being, acting and innovating in the real world.

Reality:Oil is broken.

Alternate Reality # 2: World Without Oil

Massively networked media constructs and confirms

the alternate reality

“This was a blog for an ARG. But I am real.  My game profile is accurate. The people I wrote about in-game have RL identities. My husband really is too smart for his own good. My dog really is sick – but he’s going to be fine. Some of the events I wrote about in-game really did occur, others were my own musings. But the rest is entirely possible and that’s what matters.”

-player manicHalo via blog

It’s real play, not role play.

ARs bind many people together with new, better-

designed limitations.

“If we're not bound by the same limitations, we can become aware of alternate realities.” - L. TUTTLE, 1992

Well-Being Inventory

• “I am optimistic about the future.”

• “I feel close to most people, even if I do not know them well.”

• “My existence makes the world a better place.”

“So what did this game accomplish? I'll tell you what I got out of it - we're dealing with a hard set of problems! … All of those people, thinking about the worst-case scenarios, brainstorming community solutions! That's a very promising thought…. The game has left the game, but a great community has been built. We've only just begun!”

-player OrangeForaHead, via blog

Reality + optimism for the future.

“I end this game with HOPE.  Because, that is what I'm filled with in this moment. I have HOPE for our future. And what a powerful feeling that is.”

– player Falling Sin

Reality + optimism for the future.

"This is the first time in my life where I felt games had a visceral power to change the course of history.”

-player Peak Prophet, via blog

Reality + my existence makes the world a

better place.

“We have the potential to create community on a scale never before imagined on this planet, and I think only by creating that community, by working together despite race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability status, religion, or anything like that… the world will end up a little more united after this.”

-player Juiceman1, via blog

Reality + I feel close to other people even if I

don’t know them well.

When the game ends, the alternate reality continues.

“When they returned, they discovered that … their excursion had created a new alternate reality.” - G. A. EFFINGER, 1989

“I really mean it when I say WWO changed my life. I really have been walking more/driving less, using my cloth bags at the stores, turning off lights, and yes, recycling. My friends, family and coworkers have all noticed the difference. In all seriousness, this entire thing has made me a different person.”

-player Falling Sin, via email

When the game ends, the alternate reality continues.

Designing for 3 Kinds of Happiness:• pleasure

– feeling good

• engagement

– doing good

• meaning

– discovering good

[show demo at http://www.seriosity.com/]

A “long zoom” of

virtual worldness:

Virtual Reality (1990s) …sensory immersion

Virtual Worlds (2000s) …social, algorithmic immersion

Alternate Realities (2010s) … data, network immersion

• Non-graphical virtual worlds

– example: World Without Oil

• Virtual economies and guilds without the mythology

– example: Seriosity’s Attent

A third wave of virtual worldness:

Invitation Graphic Goes Here

Supersized – working at a new scaleSuperimposed – managing a hybrid environment with both real and virtual elements

the evolution of everyday superheroes:

Supercomputing – massively parallel effortsSuperheroic – pursuing goals defined by the collective good

Virtual World Powers for Real-World Business

Mobability Open Authorship

Influency Emergensight

Ping Quotient Longbroading

Multi-Capitalism Cooperation Radar

Protovation Signal/Noise Management

Mobability• the ability to perform real-

time work in large groups

• a talent for organizing and collaborating with many people simultaneously

Influency

• the ability to be persuasive in multiple social contexts and media spaces

• an understanding that each context and space requires a different persuasive strategy and technique

Ping Quotient• measures your

responsiveness to other people’s requests for engagement, your propensity and ability to reach out to others in a network

Multi-Capitalism

• fluency in working with different capitals

• natural, intellectual, social, financial, human, e.g.

Protovation

• fearless innovation in rapid, iterative cycles

• an understanding that the cost of short-term failure has been lowered

Open Authorship

• ease and savvy in creating content for “open, consumption” – through peer 2 peer circulation, citation, and modification

Emergensight

• ability to prepare for and handle surprising results and complexity

Longbroading

• thinking in terms of higher level systems, massively multiple cycles, and a much bigger picture

Cooperation Radar

• the ability to sense, almost intuitively, who would make the best collaborators on a particular task

Signal/Noise Management

• filtering meaningful info, patterns, and commonalities from the massively-multiple streams of data

Virtual World Powers for Real-World Business

Mobability Open Authorship

Influency Emergensight

Ping Quotient Longbroading

Multi-Capitalism Cooperation Radar

Protovation Signal/Noise Management

“You've opened our eyes and infected our minds with realities and possibilities.”

-player Youporkchop06, via email