I find video games to be a big incentive when it comes to getting things done and receiving instant gratification in some way or another. If school were based on experience points rather than letter grades it would count in a way more towards our future lives and how qualified we really are for our intended careers. A great deal of what Jesse Schell argues about disposable technology is true; we are moving towards lighter more biodegradable technology but some of that is outright ridiculous like that of the soda cans with built in computers.In a way that technology already exists thanks to QR codes that can be scanned by smart phones or even a 3DS and immediately display large amounts of information. I feel that if certain game designers were in charge of creating the game system and the point system we would be in for amazing rewards. Personally I would love to have Gabe Newell in charge because we would have a great deal of hats around. Everyone would wear dapper hats. Everyone. No more bad hair days. Just hats.
Adorable.
The world would be a better, more stylish place. Gaming seems to provide entertainment for doing mundane tasks such as cleaning or even talking to people you wouldn’t normally talk to. I have spent many hours playing Terraria. Terraria is a more visually appealing form of minecraft. Easiest way to explain it. It consists of creating your own world, which is randomly generated, and changing it to your liking by removing blocks of dirt, stone, etc. and placing them to your liking. There are NPCs to talk to and monsters to defeat. Every world has a zone that is considered ‘corrupted’ and it’s made up of weeds and thorns equipped with scary monsters. This zone must be contained if you don’t wish for your whole world to look like the depressed dark recesses of Tim Burton’s nightmares. Hours upon hours of my time have gone into trying to clean the corruption and not nearly as much time ever goes into trying to keep my desk from being covered in miscellaneous papers. There is a rewarding godlike feeling to cleaning up this virtual world from the corruption. The same can rarely be said about cleaning up my desk. Now and then when I pretend cleaning is a game I get more of it done and sometimes I find old items making the game feel more like a quest to find lost toys and trinkets. There should be more occasions in life where things feel like a video game rather than a chore. Experience points and reward points are helping make that a reality.
The choices we make would be more permanent because our descendants would have access to that data. I realize that at this point my future children and grandchildren might someday see what I post to my social networks now. It makes me want to be more careful and really think over my choices in life. Knowing that someone in the future will ponder and judge your character based on who you are now should push you into being a better person. As a society this can be extremely encouraging to being tolerant and more intelligent about what we do and say.
On my last trip to Six Flags I encountered an interesting billboard. I cannot remember the exact advertisement but I do remember the button and that button when pressed released a cool wet breeze. This was the most amazing thing to find on a hot summer day when everyone was toasting like marshmallows and even I looked like a lobster. The concept was genius and not only did it refresh but it also advertised coke. It refreshed you and told you to buy a coke to be more refreshed because it was too hot outside. Interactive advertisement is an ingenious concept because by getting the consumer engaged they are more likely to remember the ad and be driven by it.
Living architecture scares me in a sense because it makes me feel like I’m walking inside the belly of a great beast. The part that intrigues me is that of the CO2 windows. It’s as if the building is caring for those inside not to get sick or uncomfortable. If we can make architecture more adaptable to our changing moods and progressive nature then we would eliminate the need to tear down buildings and build stone giants that hold no sentimental value compared to long standing landmarks. It would create a great living organism we could waltz in and out of. Like a whale, only it wouldn’t try to digest us.
