Game Models

It had started as a college assignment. We had to come up with an idea for our final project, two years from that point. I was always full of ideas and initially had trouble settling on just one to actually write about. This time though I knew the perfect project, an augmented reality game that used you and your current situation to give you quests, dailies, and achievements that forced you to learn, keep in shape and progress in life.

The idea was entrancing right from the start and my proposal flew together as point after point flowed with an ease I hadn't felt since High School. It would encourage you to keep your home clean and minimalist spartan. Nearly everyone I knew had one of those projectors that mapped your room and augmented it with whatever you wanted. Mine currently had a realistic-looking alien planet motif with purple skies, double moons and flying crazy forms looking as if we were just inside of a glass box, watching it all flow by.

I would have it determine my every purchase, cleaning routine, daily activities, etc. There were already tons of apps that did all of these things separately, but none that had them all together as a single cohesive augmented reality. My grocery trips would be part of my weekly quests and provide not only interesting variety by having me get the best value, while also taking advantage of sales to have at least one new meal a week. Being able to upgrade my cooking skills will look good for my upgrade bonuses.

Banking basically disappeared as the system would automatically take care of your finances and provide you with options for available necessities within your budget. Retirement, tax withholdings, savings and the like were all taken care of by my game choices. I linked to my credit union without even worrying since these kinds of connections were standard for the past decade or so. People reviewed their product often and positive reviews lead to massive revenue increases as people flooded their life savings over to the latest “perfect” banking place.

Education was everywhere and linking to the best free option was a no brainer. It already had deep tracking abilities to let you see your scores and percentages of tests, grades and everything else for your year, as well as every previous year. It made education more fun and let us compare our progress to our friends.

Working out was also a no brainer. Several free apps were available that let you keep track of every calorie burned and muscle group utilized. You could turn your shopping routine into a workout in surprisingly easy ways with the right augmentation. I enjoyed hiking and have been through numerous real and augmented places near my home that I never would have found without the random hike feature I had become so fond of.

Encouraging home gardening and aquaculture where possible would be great features that would benefit the users as well as their friends and neighbors. Having lots of potential hobbies and home businesses available to learn and benefit from would help the mental and financial well being enough to make users want to keep using it.


It should have a section for selecting housing within your budget. Places that meet your needs will automatically be sorted based on your physical fitness needs, current employment location and numerous other factors that you wouldn’t even think of to bring a top three or four to your attention. Any of them would be perfect for you as long as you maintain your dailies and keep yourself and your home in shape.


Allowing users to contribute suggestions and add-ons would be encouraged of course. A crowd created gaming environment would benefit everyone who uses it. Fans have always made works greater by creating and adding to the existing foundations. This should be encouraged because without the fans, there is no game. Give credit to the creators, always.


The professor read the Title, then the first paragraph and was grinning ear to ear. He motioned for me to come closer and said:
"See me after class. I think we need to talk about making this a reality."

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