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 World (as in Real) Games
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World Games (Telepresence for fun and virtue!)

World games are constructive games that work via telepresence (aka tekerobotics).  For the uninitiated, telepresence is a "link at a distance" to a robot.  Virtual reality technologies, for example, were created to permit remote operation of robots in hostile environments.  The astronaut could stay in the base, and the telepresence connected robot could do the cold and heavy lifting on the moon.

I am particularly interested in telerobotic constructive games.  I call them world games because they provide a bridge from the mediated problem domain to the real world.   I don't think world games exist yet, but I think they can and should. 

On some level there's an effort here to "de-virtualize" - to co-opt the propensity towards mediated reality and bring communities of people that would just as likely burn hours in World of Warcraft to a real world problem.

World games would bring a group of players to a physical real world problem using telepresence robotic systems.  I-Robot, the folks that brought us are preparing a tele-operated bot to let traveling parents interact with their children while traveling.  Similar technology could be brought to bear on a host of the world's problems.  Consider swarms of inexpensive, tele-operated "bots":
  • clearing land mines in a mine blighted region
  • shepherding free-floating ocean garbage to waiting barges
  • "nit-picking" invasive species from lake-beds
The point isn't that these are the specific problems such "games" could solve, but my hope here is to spark the imagination. 

What real-world problems can you envision being mitigated by cohorts of telepresence bots - not autonomous or reliant on brittle machine intelligence, but manned by real people donating their time (and probably the bot) to improve the world?

World Games (Telepresence for fun and virtue!)

World games are constructive games that work via telepresence (aka tekerobotics).  For the uninitiated, telepresence is a "link at a distance" to a robot.  Virtual reality technologies, for example, were created to permit remote operation of robots in hostile environments.  The astronaut could stay in the base, and the telepresence connected robot could do the cold and heavy lifting on the moon.

I am particularly interested in telerobotic constructive games.  I call them world games because they provide a bridge from the mediated problem domain to the real world.   I don't think world games exist yet, but I think they can and should. 

On some level there's an effort here to "de-virtualize" - to co-opt the propensity towards mediated reality and bring communities of people that would just as likely burn hours in World of Warcraft to a real world problem.

World games would bring a group of players to a physical real world problem using telepresence robotic systems.  I-Robot, the folks that brought us are preparing a tele-operated bot to let traveling parents interact with their children while traveling.  Similar technology could be brought to bear on a host of the world's problems.  Consider swarms of inexpensive, tele-operated "bots":
  • clearing land mines in a mine blighted region
  • shepherding free-floating ocean garbage to waiting barges
  • "nit-picking" invasive species from lake-beds
The point isn't that these are the specific problems such "games" could solve, but my hope here is to spark the imagination. 

What real-world problems can you envision being mitigated by cohorts of telepresence bots - not autonomous or reliant on brittle machine intelligence, but manned by real people donating their time (and probably the bot) to improve the world?
 The Robo-Game: Minesweeper Gets Constructive
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What is a "World Game"?

A robo-game would bring human players to a phyiscal, real-world problem using "tele-presence" - the operation of robots at a distance... most likely over the Internet.

The robo-game concept becomes increasingly plausible in part due to a number of social and technological trends. 

Demographics

The growing population of wealthy (concentration of said wealth, aside), globally, means there are:

  • More "middle/upper middle class" households
  • More leisure hours
  • More disposable income
Technology
  • Forrester Research predicted their would be 1 Billion broadband by the end of 2008. 
  • Consumer-oriented, tele-presence robotics will soon hit the sub-$500 price point

Scenario: Mine Sweeper Gets Real

Imagine swarms of compartively inexpensive "bots" or "rigs", tele-operated over the Internet by real people, clearing land mines in a region blighted by war.

To put it in pictures, imagine:



Instead of this:

How?  Consider this scenario:

1. An Organization Defines A Need

Open-source designs for tele-operated mine sweepers are developed in an open forum here at ConstructiveGames.org at the behest of a controlling NGO or group of NGO's that have identified a problem that might be remediated by a tele-operated game.

2. Patron/Donors Buy the Bots


Once a common hardware platform and firmware have been developed, contributor patron players can kit-build or purchase a bot. The rig, perhaps bearing the decal or insignia of a the patrons, is shipped along with hundreds of others sponsored rigs to a cleanup site.

3. Bots Delivered "On the Ground"

A regional NGO/NPO, licensed by a controlling government/political entity provides the bots for inspection and or validates that all the bots meet requirements and are running the same firmware... perhaps loading the firmware themselves for safe measure. These measures provide assurances to the regional government that the bots will do only what they are supposed to do.

The NGO erects a WiMax network in the cleanup region, connecting it to a terrestrial pipe or creating the appropriate daisy chain of wireless networks to support the required bandwidth of the cohort of bots.

4. Players Operating Bots Compete / Everybody Wins

The cohort of bots are operated remotely by their patron/sponsors.  Bots of this type could even be "time-shared" by donors in different time-zones, permitting nearly continuous operation of the bots.

The NGO serves as the on the ground representative of the bot cohort, providing maintenance, refueling, etc... presumably charging the bot sponsor at cost for these services and acting as referee for competing teams trying to win the prize: most mines cleared award.

 Everybody wins.
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