The following video from TED.com is the second really good video I have seen on the concept of merging game theory with the real world – link – I have also read a few science fiction novels where there is a heavy game in the real world component, for example, check out Fortuna by Michael R. Stevens if you get a chance. At this point, I have been thinking about this topic for about six months now and wanted to share a few thoughts.
There are a few key thoughts around how games and the real world will merge. One is that young people are spending so much time playing online (and offline) computer games that they are conditioned to respond to game creation theories. Or, that so much brainpower is being spent in games, we could change the world if we would harness it for good. There is also a thought that as games become more realistic, it becomes hard to separate some of their components from the real world. In other words they have their own economies, their own political systems, and societies and all either mirror, or can be connected to the real world. All of these are intriguing concepts, and I have no doubt that we will continue to see gaming and real life collide in the future.

I also agree with the people that are saying that it might make sense to apply game theory to the workplace and use what the young generation is already comfortable with as a model for how they can grow through their careers. Lord knows we need to do something because the corporate world does not seem to have much attraction to Gen Y outside of a paycheck in most cases. I also can clearly see that games are becoming more realistic all the time and it makes sense to start incorporating more real world things into them to further this concept. For instance, you might as well imbed real locations into games, and give check in capabilities like we have in the real world with Foursquare and Facebook Places so people can do ecommerce within the games and get credit for it as they would in the real world.

I have a few new ideas to add to this line of thinking… With all respect to Seth Priebatsch and his very interesting TED talk, I wonder if he has it backwards. He talks about taking game concepts and applying them in the real world. As he listed his four game concepts, I started thinking that those are actually real world concepts that are just being used in games. The concept of an appointment that has to be kept, levels of attainment, or a special acknowledgement of skill are all very basic things we have been doing in humanity for centuries. I suspect that the reverse is actually true, that gaming is simply a reflection of what drives people in the real world.

I do think that there are a few unique skills that are being taught in gaming – for example the use of a heads up display. I think getting well practiced with a HUD sets up users to be very good with the Augmented Reality applications we are now seeing on mobile devices, and that we will one day see on our own HUD’s built into glasses or retinal display. I also think that games that force users to build ad hoc teams, strategize missions, and make decisions very quickly will translate straight into many things they will face in their careers.
So maybe in the end it is not the incentives in games that will be leveraged as much as much as the skills that will become innate over thousands of repetitions. Or said a different way, maybe we should study the overall success rate in life of the gamer that can achieve a level 80 and have a chance to face the Lich King…

Scott Klososky
Scott@klososky.com