• Games and the .nyc TLD

last modified August 11, 2009 by tomlowenhaupt

­­If we're to entice more people to become engaged with civic affairs, we need to make the experience more competitive with traditional pastimes - 'as much fun as baseball.' This page looks at ways a TLD might facilitate the creation of games. And while this page's focus is civic benefit, its lessons should be applicable to the development of games of all types.

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 Traditional, electronic, physical...

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 (Commons photo courtesy pf moriza.) 

Background

Tom Lowenhaupt had been a member of Queens Community Board 3 for 10 years when a dream that old seemed within reach in 2002: the Board's website was finally to be fired up.

As he waited for his community to engage in the governance process through this new technological wonder, days, weeks, months, and years went by with minuscule public participation.

Eventually, the dark realization of how dull and tedious 99% of the public found local governance issues led him first to SecondLife’s virtual world and then to other explorations of ways to make “governance as much fun as baseball” as he puts it.

When the prospect of the .nyc TLD's arrival moved closer to reality in 2005, and he turned his attention to its development, he wondered anew: might cell phones, RFIDs, the Net... be stirred with some "game think" to make the city more civically engaging?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wikipedia on Games - One of the many Wikipedia definition is: an interactive, goal-oriented activity, active agents to play against, in which players (including active agents) can interfere with each other.
An early prospect for a "civic" game, one that meets the need to identify important domain names, is Civic Hero.

Civic Hero uses an environmental sustainability metaphor for categorizing New York City’s domain names. Its premise is that certain civic domain names are vital to the effective operation of our city. Some of these can be easily identified – gov.nyc, soho.nyc, mayor.nyc, schools.nyc. Others are more difficult – street names, community events, and addresses.

Civic Hero seeks to create a game that transforms the process of uncovering civic domain names into a contest, with the winner being the individual uncovering the most. A successful game will establish a mechanism for suggesting a name, and require the concurrence of others to set it aside as a civic name and thus to score. Two games to draw upon for inspiration and example are:

Virtual.nyc

A virtual map of the city is being discussed, one that might be as accessible as Second Life, but linked into real life sensors – video cameras, cell phones, RFIDs (where’s Orwell?). Such a virtual city will provide the foundation for games that cross pollinate the real and the virtual worlds.

What civicly positive games might be developed using virtual.nyc as the foundation?

Mobility

What games might arise from our increasingly pervasive cell phones. See the mobility page for some thoughts on this and imagine the cell phone in our virtual.nyc.

Games.nyc

Games are a huge and growing industry. It is big on the coast, in Austin, and Atlanta. New York is a distant 4th.  The money invested in games development here is primarily in advertising, and these are one-offs, of little long term value. A May 2008 report by the Center for the Urban Future "Getting in the Game" presents the best overview of the city's game industry.

Is there a games community in New York City? How might the games.nyc name be used as an organizing force for growing this industry? Who will take the lead?

Games and Democracy

One of great possibilities for .nyc is that, through the Net's refocusing on local needs, it provides a new platform for our society's organizational arrangements. The 'games for governance' effort seeks to uncover ways a TLD might be imagined as a technology for civic good. With governance a key determinant of what gets addressed and by whom, might civic engagement be enhanced by the more localized Internet?

This is new territory. Little had been accomplished. Some budget games, a few park design efforts, and in early 2008, Justice Sandra O'Connor's effort to develop a "judiciary" game. From the New york Times:

"Yet there she was, a notable figure in modern history, at once engaging and imposing as she explained why she had embraced the Internet and interactive digital media as an essential tool for preserving American democracy. In cooperation with Georgetown University Law Center and Arizona State University, Justice O’Connor is helping develop a Web site and interactive civics curriculum for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students called Our Courts. See (www.ourcourts.org)."

 What type of legislative and executive games might compliment this judicial effort?

Related Links

Key .nyc Pages

  • The TLD Acquisition Campaign - The .nyc TLD's acquisition effort requires that we develop support here in New York City and convincingly present our goals and capabilities to the organization that issues new TLDs, the ICANN. 
  • Advantages of the .nyc TLD - Marketing city resources, creating a more livable city, economic development, community awareness, Internet access and training, and more.
  • Mission & Objectives - Why we exist and what we hope to accomplish.
  • The Operating Environment - Issuing names, operating the registry, maintaining a directory, and creating a safe communications environment that benefits all New Yorkers is our key mission.
  • The Development Environment - Here we will explore personal, family, civic, community, and business networking applications that might help create a more livable city. Should security and privacy be our highest development priority? Where should education, training, and access be on our priority list? Help decide.
  • Governance - Like the air, water, streets and schools the .nyc TLD is commons and will serve residents best when operated transparently and with the public engaged in its governance.
  • FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about the .nyc TLD.
  • Connecting.nyc Inc.'s Home Page.
  • Our Blog