The Future of Everything (Where the Whole World's a Video Game)

If you think gaming has taken over your life now, just wait until the future gets here. Carnegie Mellon professor (and former Disney Imagineer) Jesse Schell foresees a world where just about everything's a video game, from brushing your teeth to drinking an Internet-connected can of soda that has a miniature screen on it.

He's basing this seemingly far-out vision on the recent phenomena of Achievements, Farmville, Mafia Wars, Webkins, Club Penguin, and more. This isn't, however, some obvious "casual games are taking over!" prediction. At the recent DICE 2010 Summit in Las Vegas, NV, Schell broke down the fundamentals of why certain aspects of gaming have done so well, and how those will help shape the future of what's to come in our everyday lives.

To show the trend has started already, Schell brings up a contest on Fox where viewers hunt for Simpsons references in other TV shows, cars with virtual plants, and a University of Indiana class using experience points instead of grades -- all changing the way normal people watch television, drive, or attend school.

His presentation is pretty eye-opening and fascinating. Check it out, courtesy of G4:

Hmm...maybe those Booyah people are onto something?

Tags: Guitar Hero, Booyah, FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Club Penguin

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Philip Boosey

February 19, 2010

I agree, achievements have changed the way I play games. Next they could change the way I live my life? That thought is kind of scary.

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Richard Moss

I must admit that Jesse Schell is a bit different to what I expected after reading his fantastic book The Art of Game Design. His argument is right on the money, though. [url=http://www.officelabs.com/ribbonhero]Ribbon Hero[/url] is another example of how this is already happening. Also, check out Raph Koster's thought-provoking write-up on Schell's speech. And there's a (relatively) new blog on the [url=http://www.psychologyofgames.com/]Psychology of Games[/url] that has already talked about the psychology behind much of what Schell said will happen.

oops, missed the Raph Koster [url=http://www.raphkoster.com/2010/02/18/gameifying-everything/]link[/url].

Evan Campbell

Scary stuff. If there is one thing we know about the future (which Jesse kind of addressed at the very beginning) it's that somewhere along the way there will be some unexpected turns that none of us could have predicted.

Nick Giunta

There's only one way to stop it. We have to stop the casual gamer, asap.

Chris Whitehead

Metagaming is revolutionary. But I think a critical mass might exist before we reach the level of monitoring and synchronizing that Schell predicts. At any rate, getting achievement points for brushing my teeth would be excellent.

Jeff Grubb

February 20, 2010

Whoa, seriously... How haven't achievements taken over more aspects of life? This is going to get out of hand.

Tom Heistuman

February 24, 2010

The Booyah link doesn't do anything when I click on it. If ALL colleges used experience points instead of grades I might not have dropped out three seperate times.