Like Minnesotans, people in Japan do appear to have more mobile fun, as evidenced by Mogi, a game where:
Players move outside, pick up virtual items through their mobile phone interface then trade with other players to complete collections. The goal is to get the maximum points completing collections.
Paul Baron has a good explanation of what makes this game so interesting:
- It uses the GPS in my phone, and that's so cool.
- It maps a virtual data layer onto Japan and brings a fresh new way to look at my map of Tokyo.
- All the trips I make in the city are now randomized, as I will often divert a few hundred meters to go and collect an object around me. I get a chance to discover parts of the city that I ignored, a motivation to check out that parallel street I never took.
- It has a community dimension to it, I chat with other players, I also know how far I am from them and finding out some are less than a few hundred meters to me is really exciting. Over the past month, I bumped into a player who turned out to be the creator of the game, I had to race to pick up a flag that had been put on the map at equal distance between me and another player to encourage us to meet.
- The web interface of the game is pretty impressive, with nationwide 3D map with cool visual effects, detailing where all the objects are, along with special items and shops.
- The game offers a few different scenarii to accumulate points, for instance you can pick up scrolls along the way, which when activated in those shops can produce new objects.
Paul Baron is an expat Brit in Tokyo. Mike Liebhold posted a link to his blog on geowanking....and here we are.
Mogi is moving towards Matt Walsh's plan for a MM(offline)RPG played by people on city streets. I always had a soft spot for the idea of joining together with fellow guild members to slay a dragon underneath Times Square. Just imagine the kind of carnage we could create in the Meatpacking District.
