Is there a way to harness the popularity of multiplayer online gamers to save energy in the real world ? Professor Byron Reeves, a media expert at Stanford University, thinks there is. The scenario that Reeves imagines is that a player would get in-game feedback from a smart meter which tracks energy usage throughout the player’s house in order to reward the player online. For example, if you turn off a light in an unused room, your house’s smart meter recognizes this and your online player is rewarded accordingly.
The trick is making sure that the game designers find a fun way to align the incentives of the gamers with the social cause. With over 12 million players of World of Warcraft, the social impact could be tremendous.
[via Popsci]
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Does this mean that if I dim the lights and only use ONE monitor that I will get +2 luck and an extra saving throw against critical hits?
February 26th, 2009 at 11:29 am
That is a great idea! We hope that the reward would be wow gold. The 12 million players will definitely do everything to save energy.
March 5th, 2009 at 5:21 pm