The Road

[rowyn]

I've been waking up able to remember more of my dreams lately. I stopped recording dreams because for the most part I don't find the record of them interesting later, but there was one bit of a dream I had on Sunday night that I thought was neat.

In this dream I had a mobile Internet device similar to Google Glass, and an app for it called "The Road". The Road was a game where you scored points for visiting specific real-world locations. When you started it up, it'd show a heads-up display of how to get to the next location, MMO-style, by laying virtual white bars over the ground that formed a path for you to follow and telling you how far away it was. At the early levels, it gave you places near where you happened to be when you launched it. Eventually, it'd give you places farther away. The locations weren't arbitrary; there'd be something interesting to see or do when you got there, like a park or a museum. Gamification of tourism.

The whole concept seems so obvious now that I'm wondering if I actually heard of an app like this somewhere and forgot about it except for the subconscious impression.

Comments

[argonel.livejournal.com]

The general concept sounds similar to Ingress from Niantic labs (a google project). This augmented reality game lets you join the enlightened or the resistance and claim territory by interacting with the game at points of interest. Typically these points are public buildings or landmarks like libraries, post offices, and parks. It doesn't give you the guidance though so you have to check your phone and see if there is anything nearby.

[rowyn]

That sounds pretty neat! My dream was an exploration game, where you wouldn't go to the same location twice, with a built-in GPS.

... I really like the idea of enhanced reality making directions work by following a path iRL just the way you do in games that do pathing well. :D

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Once you were in the habit of going great distances, it starts giving you places to go that aren't technically legal for you to be. The first few are innocuous -- a copse of trees on some farmer's land, or the 'employees only' area of a park on a day when all the employees are home.

But it gets harder.

Eventually, the top players become unwitting spy drones for a foreign power.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

That brought a welcome giggle into my morning. Thank you.

[rowyn]

*giggles too*

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a pretty fascinating idea. Of course, I can imagine various businesses wanting to get in on this and hoping that the "interesting place" you're steered to might just happen to take you by them (or even right to them). ;)

[rowyn]

I was thinking exactly that when I was writing this up! That you'd end up with "promoted" locations that had you visiting a Starbucks or something. XD