This is an interactive post today. After reading an article in the Edmonton Journal "Playing Games can Make a Difference in the Real World" about Jane McGonigal who wrote, "Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World", I decided I needed to create a game that would help conquer those "spring that is still winter blues".
Jane McGonigal suffered a brain injury when she was writing her book "that left her depressed and unable to write". She created her own game called "SuperBetter", where she became her own super hero and enlisted family and friends to participate in the game to help her cope with the depression. What a great idea and why can't we do the same to overcome the blues that accompany the long winters we have in Northern Alberta (and elsewhere in Canada this year).
So here's the plan. I want to enlist all my readers to come up with an element(s) for the game. The game will be called "Winter Slayers". It will be set in a fictional town called "Wintersville" where "Old Man Winter" has settled in for a long fight. Old Man Winter is the epitome of evil blasting away at Wintersville with his complete arsenal. His weaponry consists of Arctic Chills (blasts of wind that freeze souls upon contact), Pelting SnowIce (a combination of wind and rain that has frozen into stinging ice crystals), Hell has Frozen Over Cold (dropping temperature to -30 and below, where exposed skin freezes in 1 minute or less) and more......this is where you all come in.
We need the following for the game - lots of creativity and HUMOUR. Make as many contributions as you want. I have a list with things I think we need to create a truly epic game.
- Old Man Winter arsenal - he needs a full complement of weapons and tricks to deploy. Come up with a name for the weapon or trick with a description of what it can do
- A super hero or two or more.... need a name, costume and set of weaponry that the super heros can use to battle with Old Man Winter
- A budding romance amidst the chaos and any other storylines that will make this a "real" world
- Other supporting characters for the heros OR the villain(s)
- A map of the town, a setting for the game - this can grow and develop as we go along - are there hideouts? concealed places to hide weapons? neutral zones? surrounding/forbidden landscapes? You name it, let's create it!
- Background on the characters - why they are so good/evil or a mixture of the two (like real-life where there is more gray than black & white)
- Rules/guidelines - but remember, as the ultimate creator of the game, I reserve the right to "change" the rules of the game (Oh, do I love playing God!)
- Names for the characters/town/game that you think are better than the ones I have come up with so far -- everything is up for grabs!
What else am I missing to make this game complete? Let's have some fun and chase away those "crappy weather blues" at the same time. Each week I will update the game with the developing story lines, characters, location, etc. Together we will see what we can create and if this goes well - I have some ideas for other games that might even tackle some issues our world is facing. As Jane McGonigal talks about in "Gaming Can Make a Better World", the potential is infinite if we all work together. Get "gaming"!
Here is the Ted Talk that Jane McGonigal did on "Gaming Can Make a Better World".