6 ms·

GoCrossCampus

13 points by jakewolf 19y ago

ajkirwin 19y ago
There are a lot of social games like these being played in colleges. It's nice to see them being talked about!
- jakewolf 19y ago
  All we need now are some games for the working stiffs. Anyone know of something out there?
  - edw519 19y ago
    You're on it now.
Prrometheus 19y ago
This relates to a recent idea I had - "true social software" or perhaps "locally social software". Many people comment on the irony of how the modern world makes people feel isolated despite giving them more means of communication than ever before. For example, I don't know anyone that lives in my neighborhood, and I think this is common. Social software doesn't help with this, typing "A/S/L" into an AOL chat room doesn't really enhance my social life, neither does posting a pic on Myspace. Now think of the appeal of geographically local communication tools. For example, maybe a chat room would be localized so as to only cover a local coffee shop. People in the chat room could leave away messages about what they're reading, and others would comment on it. After a good IM conversation, people might walk a few feet and have a conversation in real life. I might meet someone everytime I go to the coffee shop, whereas now I might meet a new person every few months. "True social" software facilitates socialization in meat space and helps to break down the social barriers that prevent us from knowing our neighbors. Another example, I would like to have a bulletin board that only covered the community where I live. Then I could post messages about the barbecues we have and I would finally be able to meet people that live around me. Craigslist is "true social", and so are dating sites today. I would like to see the genre expanded.
jimbokun 19y ago
Good summary of politics on the Internets: "Could such a game augur the outcome of the next presidential election? Probably not. The armies of John McCain and Barack Obama have already been routed, and Hillary Clinton’s forces are trapped in New England. Jockeying for control of the rest of the country are the armies of Representative Ron Paul of Texas and the comedian Stephen Colbert."
wumi 19y ago
how does this compare to Kirkland North?
- pg 19y ago
  This is the ConnectU of Kirkand North. Except apparently they know someone at the Times.
  - jakewolf 19y ago
    How about a few emails from us to Brad Stone about Kirkland? Here's his page with a link to email him directly. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/brad_stone/index.html?inline=nyt-per http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s...
    - pg 19y ago
      Good idea. I just did. The NYT has been completely pwned in this case. Either Stone didn't ask whether there was anyone else doing this (unlike a NYT reporter) or the GCC founders lied to him, because they certainly know about Kirkland North. After all, KN's founders include the original author of the game at Yale.
      - jakewolf 19y ago
        I did too. Stupid autoreply, "Thank you for writing to us. Your message has been received and will be forwarded to the reporter you contacted. Please note that messages are delivered once per day, at 8 a.m. (EST). Because of the high volume of responses we get from readers, not all communications can be responded to personally. But be assured that we want to hear your thoughts. (Please do not reply to this e-mail as this address is not monitored for incoming messages.)" So much for getting leads to reporters easily in a timely manner.
        bootload 19y ago
        "... I did too. Stupid autoreply, "Thank you for writing to us. Your message has been received and will be forwarded to the reporter you contacted. ..." Wait for the reply. The NYT is pretty good in this respect. I've managed to nail them down to admit an advert for google jobs was dressed up as an article ~ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1685662827/ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1685662827/ from this hackernews article ~ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70827 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70827
LogicHoleFlaw 19y ago
Oh, this is very clever. I've been an officer in a club that runs online (and offline!) games such as Werewolf, Diplomacy, and Assassin. The appeal of many of our games tends to be restricted to people who, well, take their game-playing seriously. These new games seem to have broken out into the greater population and that really opens up new possibilities. One aspect I love of online games is that they eliminate many of the social barriers of age, profession, race, and financial status. If a game like this can bring together a local community across those boundaries I think the entire society will be enriched.
joshwa 19y ago
c.f. ze frank's twitter color war 2008: http://tailrank.com/5494270/colorwar-2008 http://tailrank.com/5494270/colorwar-2008
aston 19y ago
This game is currently in full effect at MIT. I really assumed no one would have time to play it, what with all the psets, but no. Lots of people are into, and they're even trying to pull alums (read: me) in. Not sure how big a deal this sort of thing will be, but it's certainly taking off.

GoCrossCampus

13 points by jakewolf 19y ago

ajkirwin 19y ago

There are a lot of social games like these being played in colleges. It's nice to see them being talked about!

jakewolf 19y ago
All we need now are some games for the working stiffs. Anyone know of something out there?
- edw519 19y ago
  You're on it now.

Prrometheus 19y ago

This relates to a recent idea I had - "true social software" or perhaps "locally social software". Many people comment on the irony of how the modern world makes people feel isolated despite giving them more means of communication than ever before. For example, I don't know anyone that lives in my neighborhood, and I think this is common. Social software doesn't help with this, typing "A/S/L" into an AOL chat room doesn't really enhance my social life, neither does posting a pic on Myspace. Now think of the appeal of geographically local communication tools. For example, maybe a chat room would be localized so as to only cover a local coffee shop. People in the chat room could leave away messages about what they're reading, and others would comment on it. After a good IM conversation, people might walk a few feet and have a conversation in real life. I might meet someone everytime I go to the coffee shop, whereas now I might meet a new person every few months. "True social" software facilitates socialization in meat space and helps to break down the social barriers that prevent us from knowing our neighbors. Another example, I would like to have a bulletin board that only covered the community where I live. Then I could post messages about the barbecues we have and I would finally be able to meet people that live around me. Craigslist is "true social", and so are dating sites today. I would like to see the genre expanded.

jimbokun 19y ago

Good summary of politics on the Internets: "Could such a game augur the outcome of the next presidential election? Probably not. The armies of John McCain and Barack Obama have already been routed, and Hillary Clinton’s forces are trapped in New England. Jockeying for control of the rest of the country are the armies of Representative Ron Paul of Texas and the comedian Stephen Colbert."

wumi 19y ago

how does this compare to Kirkland North?

pg 19y ago
This is the ConnectU of Kirkand North. Except apparently they know someone at the Times.
- jakewolf 19y ago
  How about a few emails from us to Brad Stone about Kirkland? Here's his page with a link to email him directly. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/brad_stone/index.html?inline=nyt-per http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s...
  - pg 19y ago
    Good idea. I just did. The NYT has been completely pwned in this case. Either Stone didn't ask whether there was anyone else doing this (unlike a NYT reporter) or the GCC founders lied to him, because they certainly know about Kirkland North. After all, KN's founders include the original author of the game at Yale.
    - jakewolf 19y ago
      I did too. Stupid autoreply, "Thank you for writing to us. Your message has been received and will be forwarded to the reporter you contacted. Please note that messages are delivered once per day, at 8 a.m. (EST). Because of the high volume of responses we get from readers, not all communications can be responded to personally. But be assured that we want to hear your thoughts. (Please do not reply to this e-mail as this address is not monitored for incoming messages.)" So much for getting leads to reporters easily in a timely manner.
      - bootload 19y ago
        "... I did too. Stupid autoreply, "Thank you for writing to us. Your message has been received and will be forwarded to the reporter you contacted. ..." Wait for the reply. The NYT is pretty good in this respect. I've managed to nail them down to admit an advert for google jobs was dressed up as an article ~ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1685662827/ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1685662827/ from this hackernews article ~ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70827 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70827

LogicHoleFlaw 19y ago

Oh, this is very clever. I've been an officer in a club that runs online (and offline!) games such as Werewolf, Diplomacy, and Assassin. The appeal of many of our games tends to be restricted to people who, well, take their game-playing seriously. These new games seem to have broken out into the greater population and that really opens up new possibilities. One aspect I love of online games is that they eliminate many of the social barriers of age, profession, race, and financial status. If a game like this can bring together a local community across those boundaries I think the entire society will be enriched.

joshwa 19y ago

c.f. ze frank's twitter color war 2008: http://tailrank.com/5494270/colorwar-2008 http://tailrank.com/5494270/colorwar-2008

aston 19y ago

This game is currently in full effect at MIT. I really assumed no one would have time to play it, what with all the psets, but no. Lots of people are into, and they're even trying to pull alums (read: me) in. Not sure how big a deal this sort of thing will be, but it's certainly taking off.