Want to play a MOG (multiplayer online game) passively while surfing the web all day? Then you’ll like PMOG, the first game developed by California and UK-based GameLayers.
PMOG, which is currently in private beta with 150 or so users, is a Firefox add-on that lets you interact with other users asynchronously on websites you visit. In some ways it is like Stumbleupon – users can create “missions” which are groups of websites under a theme (one is called “Laugh, Hard” and is a group of humor sites; another is called “Tech News Tour” and includes links to Engadget, Gizmodo, Digg and Slashdot). When you go on a mission a controller appears in the bottom right of your screen, letting you move from site to site.
Users can also be more mischievous, leaving mines on websites that other users stumble onto and cause them to explode. Points are deducted unless you’re wearing armor. Other users can also attach “St Nicks” to users who leave a lot of mines, which causes their next mine not to work. Finally, a user can add a “portal” to any page, which is a link to a new website. Click it if you want, although there very well may be a mine waiting for you at the other end.
All in all it’s a lot of fun. While on the phone with CEO Justin Hall, I asked him to go to Google, where I had a mine waiting for him. He tripped it, causing damage to his armor. I thought it was hilarious.
You have to rack up points to buy mines and all the other stuff that makes the site fun. Every unique domain that you visit gives you two points, so you get points just from surfing the web. You can also give gifts of mines and other tools to others by leaving “crates” around. Justin’s fiance, Merci Hammon (the company’s CCO), gave me a gift of ten mines while I was testing the service, all of which I am aiming at Justin.
Gathering points and completing missions leads you to higher levels, where you eventually choose a character type. There are six characters in all – two are “chaotic” and leave a lot of mines and portals. The rest follow the “torch of order” and focus on protecting others or creating useful missions.
All those user created missions create page views for the sites covered, so it gives an incentive for people to add them. And here is one possible business model for the game – having advertisers create sponsored missions that give users some reward for completing them. A badge, for example, or points. Hall says they’ll look at other ways to eventually make money once the community is more mature and they see how people use the service.
The game is easy to play because you gain points in the background while surfing the web, and interact with others only when you want to (or when you stumble on a mine). What makes it compelling is the inspired design and storylines that they’ve created as well. When and if you join the service, watch out. I’ve left mines all over TechCrunch to trip you up.
Gamelayers raised a small round of funding – $500k – in September 2007 from OATV, Joichi Ito and Richard Wolpert. For now the site is in private beta. Sign up for an invitation on the home page.
Update: Get an invitation to PMOG here.
You should convince them to give you 50 invites.
Then I need to convince you to give me 1 of the 50.
Deal?
Sounds interesting but I have a life to live… social networks are already a huge time waster… I don’t see this as being anymore productive. There is no such thing as “passive” anything, if it requires input, it becomes “active” no matter how minimal it is.
Jon
http://buzvia.com – Share Influence
I agree, it comes down to whether people will want to be permanently passively playing a game in the background while browsing or if when you want to play a game to go to a game site.
I’m sure there probably is a market for this as Facebook has shown us that people seem to have no upper limit on how much time they’re able to “waste” online, but my guess is they’ll get lots of sign ups, but retention will be harder.
Justin Hall has been talking about this topic for a long, long time, and it’s super-exciting to finally see it coming to fruition. You can see how his ideas have evolved from their original state to where they’ve ended up (as a browser plug-in) when you pay attention to a keynote address he gave in mid 2006 at a mobile games conference. I was at the show, and wrote up a story on his speech:
http://www.modo...s/20060718/732/
Some highlights:
“‘Spyware’ is software that users unknowingly have on their computers that gathers information about your browsing or computing habits and sells them to a third party,” Hall said. “But there is also myware software, which allows you to spy on yourself. Examining our own data about ourselves and how we spend our time in any given day can greatly increase self-awareness, and therefore, our productivity.”
All that data also, Hall explained, makes for a fantastic videogame playfield.
“You gain ‘experience points’ by using MSWord or by sending emails. Every item you cross off a ‘to do’ list gives you an experience bonus, until eventually you ‘level up’ your life,” Hall said with a grin. “You become U+1.”
…
“Imagine the game that runs on top of Jaiku alerts you that a bomb is going to go off in 24 hours. To defuse it you need to assemble 16 levels of chemistry expertise, and 22 levels of physics expertise. The friends on your friends list all have levels for both skills – levels that have been determined by their real-life expertise and activities. You’ll need to pull enough people together, either friends or friends of friends, to defuse the bomb,” Hall said.
“The game is just an extension of what we’re already doing. How we’re already connecting with one another. When a friend has relationship problems they know they can call me. Financial problems? They better call someone else,” Hall explained. “This game is how we learn that we can aggregate our friends to solve the real problems in our life, and not just the fictional ones.”
Justin’s a brilliant guy and the PMOG is an excellent example of Funware principles being put to good use. Funware is the use of game design and game mechanics to improve non-gaming applications, in this case, browsing.
I’m a big fan, philosophically, of both the product and the approach – and kudos to Justin and the team for getting it off the ground.
He’ll be talking about PMOG, btw, at the Game Developers Conference in a few weeks in SF – http://www.gdconf.com
Every Fuckin thing nowadays has to involve virtual violent death
What is so enjoyable about slaughtering people. Can there possibly be any competitive fun at all that does not involve virtual destruction or mutilation of other humans.
Digg this story!
http://digg.com...Surfing_The_Web
The “Tech News Tour” sounds like fun.
@Cap- you got my Digg.
I wonder if sites that become notorious for having mines everywhere will end up loosing page views. Perhaps competitors will even start loading each other’s sites with mines
Annoying…
i think porno sites are gonna have alot of mines
Pretty cool and innovative. I can see a lot niche versions of this PMOG in the near future.
Great idea – if you get invites I want one!
A lot of potential here.
Playing MMORPG while surfing the internet can be done with a dual monitor display setup. Game on one monitor and your web browser on the second one.
I play woW on main monitor and have IE open on second.
Been doing it for around 9 years now.
http://www.tazw...ig/P1010078.JPG
this is in my Ultima Online Days playing 2 accounts on the same machine, each one on a different monitor.
I’m not sure you’re fully grasping the point of this game Taz. It’s intended to be super casual. Like you’re playing the game without even realizing it.
Playing WoW while browsing still requires a lot of attention on WoW. PMOG seems like it can be played while absolutely no focus is taken off browsing.
“I play WoW on main monitor and have IE open on second.”
I think you’ve said enough right there.
sweet! excellent idea! go justin!
I am looking to nab one of those invites. If anyone would be so generous as to hit me up with one…
I have been playing for 4 days now, and I must say PMOG is a great concept and the execution is coming along as well.
So far there are no blatant porn based missions and no obnoxious SEO sales people although when beta ends I can foresee this coming because it would serve the purpose well.
It’s a great game to check out and it really doesn’t require a whole lot of extra time or effort to play. As long as you’re on the internet already you’re basically playing. It’s a great way to share some of your favourite sites with a more creative method.
As for the violence, this game doesn’t have any. It’s more about people being nuisances than actual harm.
Cheers.
There should be a game about making games
i like pancakes