

Swarm casts humans as ants in the first Google Glass MMO game - djestrada
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-08/06/google-glass-game-swarm

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djestrada
Our app is based in research we've published, which we've made available here:
[http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.6376](http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.6376)

We're also actively seeking developers and game designers for the project, and
we're accepting donations =)

I'm watching this thread, and I'm happy to talk about anything related to
Swarm!

edit: send any inquiries to swarm.over.glass@gmail

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ciferkey
Love the concept, but

    
    
      Using GPS data collected by Glass, the game generates a record of each player's daily routine.
    

Scares me a bit. Do you have more details on it?

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djestrada
I left the following comment in a reddit thread:

Hi Thorse! I'm one of the developers for Swarm. You comments are well taken,
and deserve a response. Our strategy for collecting and presenting data about
collective action abstracts away from individual habits. We're interested in
features of collective action (at the 'caste' and 'colony' level), not your
personal daily routine. The data we collect will be groomed to remove
individual data in such a way that, I hope, would allow people who are as
concerned about privacy as you and I both are to confidently use the app.

The other thing to make clear is that not everyone needs to play Swarm in
order to build useful models for everyone. Consider Yelp!: maybe you don't
want people to know your eating habits, but some people love leaving reviews.
That record potentially helps anyone looking for a restaurant, whether or not
they contribute their own opinions to the record. Similarly, Swarm trails
might be useful to you whether or not you contribute to the trails yourself. I
would also (humbly) object to the claim that Swarm! treats your life habits as
a game mechanic. Your life is your life. Swarm doesn't intrude on that process
to give you 100 points for buying chips at the store, or anything so cheap.
The game aspects of Swarm interact with trails at an abstracted level, in
order to reveal patterns about collective human behavior; but it won't be
possible on a system like ours to watch, mess or interact with, or otherwise
represent the activity of individual players directly.

Its not about you, this is about us. For instance, which are the most scenic
trails in Inwood Park? A populated Swarm! map instantly tells me how the
populations that have traversed these trails before have distributed their
walking patterns along the park. From passive players I see their aggregated
preferences, and from the active players I may have incentive (both in game
and out) to respond to the attractions they’ve built in the course of their
travels. From that information I might choose to trust the reliability of the
crowd, or contribute to the inspection of a road less traveled, or blaze a new
trail altogether. In other words, you can live your life however you want;
Swarm! just lets you do it with the ant superpower of instant access to
collective memory. As long as enough people have that superpower, we'll all be
a little smarter.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1jysa5/our_first_loo...](http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1jysa5/our_first_look_at_the_only_mmo_currently_being/cbjw1sp)

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crashoverdrive
I'm torn between oculus and glass games on who's going to win the war with
gamers. Opinions?

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ilyanep
I don't know that either has to "win." Oculus games clearly replace the
hardcore FPS/Computer game sort of market, whereas Glass games are more a
replacement for cell phone games, more casual things, or real-life MMOs/ARGs
(which there hasn't really been a market for before, except maybe Ingress and
a few others). I see both being pretty popular with gamers (although I guess
the stereotypical ones who just sit at home all the time won't necessarily
enjoy ARGs).

