World without oil, is a web based alternative reality game, I have referred to recently. It is underway now, so I thought I would ask the creators a question or two about the game to find a context to put it into.
To begin with I was uncertain about the idea, though successfully used to create both entertainment and marketing opportunities would it work for more serious outcomes, indeed were there outcomes more serious than entertainment.
If you haven’t and won’t check out the site the game centres on an oil crisis (I think easily mistaken for Peak oil -though more on that later), and asks players to create the new life they are being forced to lead in a world of expensive oil. The obvious suggestion is that as the game develops the expensive fuel will become scarce.
Players have to write about their new lives in the game reality, what changes they see around them and how they deal with those changes. More on the things people imagine next time. I was interested in the motivations of the creators, where they saw the game fitting into society? What outcomes they wanted? Why they did it? So I went to the horses mouth.
Here is an email interview with Ken Eklund creative director of www.worldwithoutoil.org
FR: World Without Oil uses quite a controversial idea – peak oil – as a basis, is that just for entertainment or do you believe this is a topic that people are ignoring?
Ken:
Correction: WWO is based on the idea of an oil shock, not on peak oil. Oil shocks are not a controversial idea, as they happen regularly.
We do believe that this is a possible future occurrence that people are ignoring.
Entertainment (as commonly understood) is not the primary goal of WWO. It is a serious game.
FR: Why oil, not sea level rising?
Ken:
We were looking for an issue that directly affected nearly everyone, and had immediacy.
FR: Following on from that how do you think the response has been so far – as expected, more or less? What do you think of the scenarios people are creating?
Ken:
Response has been very good. I think in general people are expressing what they honestly see as the developments that would happen in the situation we describe.
FR: Do you hope for a “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast response?
Ken:
It’s apples and oranges. WOTW was not interactive, nor did it allude to a real present-day problem. WOTW tricked people into believing something fictitious was real; we are not doing that. WOTW did become memorable, a watershed moment for its medium, and we are striving to be that watershed moment for the collaborative online game.
FR: How do you suspect that the game nature of WWO will effect its ability to speak to the population at large?
Ken:
Not very much. It’s a very accessible game. It’s very easy to play. People can participate by phone or email. The barrier to participation is deliberately very low.
FR: Is WWO just a Game or your effort at activism?
Ken:
Hmmm. Not all games are “just a game,” as any true football fan will tell you, or a soldier participating in a war game. False dichotomy: a game might also be an effort at activism. WWO is not “just a game,” nor is it an “effort at activism.” It has no point of view or message that it pushes. It establishes a way for people to engage with the possibility of an oil shock, gives them a forum where they can express their thoughts and interact with the thoughts of others on the many, many interconnected issues of an oil shock, and if they perceive problems encourages them to come up with solutions to those problems. It is an exercise in collective imagination.
Ken goes on to mention Australian participants in the game; if you are one such Australian maybe you could let us know you motivation for taking part? How are you finding the experience? What problems/solutions are you tackling in the game at present?
My experience with the game so far – not being an experienced ARGer, is that it takes a lot of time to get a handle on what people are talking about – following threads of discussions – sifting the wheat from the chaff, but that I guess is the internet. I am going to persist and will continue to report because I like the idea of community as the way to solve these problems.
A final word from Ken;
Ken:
Also, I want to make sure you know about our “teach” section:
http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/teachIt’s modest, but we hope that players will come forward and expand it before long.
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