What do you do to get people excited about projects that you think deserve participation? 

What projects are you interested in? (So far, I have gotten many of the year’s coolest recommendations from this site. I’m hungry for more.)

Do you ever avoid seeking someone’s participation because you think they won’t be interested, or do you try not to make that assumption? 

I want to answer this too, and thanks for reading this. I promise that I’ll be extremely excited to get the email that tells me someone has commented. 

What fun
I had today at the second in the world ever Hug Ur Gameful Monsters (HUGM) party today in the virtual world of Second Life.  I am so sorry that the computer requirements to run Second Life prohibit some from joining in and am looking at alternatives for future web-based participation.

Thank you so much
QuantumChaos – @quantumchaos USA; Mika Oja – enkwolf FINLAND; Andres Fredes – @amdresf AUSTRALIA; and Betsy Pool – @Imaginebp ITALY, for coming to the party and I could tell you were enjoying yourselves, such interesting conversation and connecting, I love it!  The HUGM group hug was a smashing success, a hug felt around the world from my heart to yours.  Betsy I’m soo sorry you had to leave before the photo, but next time

Using the virtual world
is a different experience, it’s the immersive experience and I can only say I’m a believer having tried it.  I feel different when I hug an avatar rather than chat it out in a message even though I’m as sincere for one as I am for the other.  All you WoW type gamers know what I’m talking about I’m sure.  My time as an avatar has really made me understand what Jane talks about with the fiero factor.

The next HUGM
mix and mingle party and group hug photo op will be on May 28, time to be determined so follow our group, I’ll post the details in a short while.  Until then, hug lots and dance often

~*

Second in the world ever HUGM Group Hug Representing Australia, Canada, Finland and USA

Longshot of the HUGM Group Hug

HUGMs Do The Bunny Hop hop hop-hop-hop

Well, I must say
I have been doing the happy dance lately.  I am so fortunate to have such a good life.  It wasn’t always so and I had to scramble as many do, but I’m now reaping my rewards of the long hard road to get here.  And it’s spring to boot, my favourite time of year.

New beginnings
always take time to mature I guess.  Much the same as all the game seedlings being planted here, some wilt and some blossom, or my guess with the brilliance and enthusiasm I’ve seen here, all will bloom and do their work.  Players will have fun while learning and change will happen for the social good.

This is the eve
of the final sign-up for the Gameful Urgent Evoke Monsters (GUEM) team, as of 1 PM Pacific Time the gate will close and we’ll be off and running.  Learning how to be a Social Innovator and coming out heroes.  We are made up from people all over the world, 14 countries so far.  I am so excited for my team just imagine even one seemingly small action they take will make a difference in the world, for one or for many it doesn’t matter it all counts.  They are my heroes.  The GUEM team is going to rock the Network and I’m very pleased at the team prizes I’ve been rounding up for each member with a few extra dazzlers to keep it fun.

Last week
was the first ever in the world Hug Ur Gameful Monster (HUGM) group hug and it was a success to build on.  I’m thinking April 30th just have to pick a good time, not an easy task when inviting people from around the world so I’ll change it up for each group hug.

I had to laugh
one person had heard of both groups and wasn’t sure which one was which “do I join the GUEM or the HUGM group?”.  I of course said join both and gave them a hug across the wires in advance.

My mentor
one of them at least, Jane McGonigal herself, launched a new game this week, and this one looks to be exciting so of course I signed up.  Only 500 get to play and I want to be part of this movement for games to change the world.  Here’s the link to sign up I’m not afraid of competition, if you get in I still win, as you will be the one to make a change in life however small for the good in life for all. http://game.nypl.org/#/menu

I’ve done what I call
throwing my hat over the fence.  Now I have to go get it.  I live 3,500 miles away but if I am selected I’ll get there somehow and find a place to stay and have naps ahead of time so I can pull an all-nighter again… oh those were the days.

I am
doing the happy dance but I never forget how lucky I am to even be here to connect with so many lovely people, like-minded people who want to make a difference in the world as I do.  Love it.

Hugs
across the wires to you all whoever and wherever you are, you’re my heroes too.

~*

the title says it all, We(Overclock Industries) are just about ready to start Development of our 3D Monster Collection and Battle Game for iOS devices. We need a bit more financial backing from a few more seed investors and we will be ready to go. We plan to have a playable early version of the game ready by early to mid Summer if we can start soon, From there we will post our project on Kickstarter.com for some final version & Web Systems funding which they were kind enough to Pre-Approve for us.  Im going to give a brief description of everything the Game is about below, some things still need to be left out however due to legal risk with Intellectual Property protection of our game.

This game is a 3D Monster collection and battle game unlike any other, All monsters will be Animated and rendered in 3D, We are aiming to give a good game like this geared for an older age group, we are staying away from the pokemon look and feel, most of our our monsters will be grittier and a nice medium between realistic and cartoon in coloration and texture. You will be able to care for and battle/train these monsters Online or Offline, We will offer competitive online play in the form of rankings and tournaments as well. Our battle-system will be a Live-Action battle-system which has never before been used or seen in a game.This is unfortunately one of those things I can’t go into great detail about, How you aquire the monsters is another one of those things you will just have to wait and see for =P, However I will say that the game is played in a 1st person perspective in the sense of play style *it isnt some weird FPS/Monster collection mash up lol, although that might be cool, it would’nt work on iOS*, We want this to feel real, Like YOU are the player and they are YOUR monsters, not like you are the puppet master of a character in a game where you only get to watch them be awesome and have all these cool monsters. Anyways, thats the basic idea of the game, I hope you guys like it and now onto what it will take to make this happen.

We are looking at needing about $25,000 to $50,000 more before we will start development. The reason such a large range is there is because $25,000 is the minimum before we will start and $50,000 will bring us to our investment cap we have set and will allow us to speed the process a bit and put out a more refined version much closer to the final stage before we place the project on kickstarter.com, and all that money will all be used to develop the Game and help promote it to a few communities so we can get a large public community involved during the development process.

Anyone who is interested in Investing in the game or anyone who may want to point us in the direction of someone who may be interested please email me at the contact below, All Investors will be granted shares in our company or  a return on investment agreement will be worked out and we will have legal papers written up for anyone involved, for the most part we will take any amount of investment that is realistic, We don’t mind writing up deals for smaller investments but it does cost us a little bit to have all the legal papers written up by our lawyer so unfortunately we cant accept investments of less then $250, HOWEVER, we can and will accept donations of ANY dollar amount and as a thank you we will give All donators a special monster in-game that we will be custom made just for seed donators and seed investors. we will also include your name in the credits of the game . All investors will have the option to sign a Non-Disclosure agreement with us, If they do they will be granted detailed information on our development as we progress and I will personally keep you up to date. Your name will also be included in our credits as an investor and finally you will receive the donator/Investor Monster, and for anyone who is generous enough to invest $250 you will get all prior mentioned benefits and a Second Collectors Monster that will Only be available to Seed investors. Investments of $500 or more will receive the All previously mention benefits and Early Beta access to the Game where you will be a huge part of aiding us in Game refinement while being able to see the game grow and develop first hand. Finally, The first 5 people to invest $2,500 or more will receive all previously mentioned benefits. PLUS you will get the opportunity to work with our game developers and myself to Design your very own monster that you will receive in game, this monster will be based entirely off of your own design, you will then be given 2 options,
1) You and ONLY you will receive the one of a kind custom monster or
2) If you want we will allow others to get the monster in-game as a very rare monster and it will state on its description that you discovered it, and you will receive it as well being the first to have it.

We decided to offer these perks as an added thank you to all contributors big and small, We hope you like the idea of the perks and we are open to any ideas anyone may have. We hope we can build up our final funding requirments so that we may bring this game to you and allow everyone to enjoy playing the game as much as we will enjoy making it.

You can Contact Me & Overclock Industries at

Overclock.Industries@gmail.com

It is a day
to remember, February 11, 2011, a day of joy for the Egyptian people, and one that already had it’s own significance with the 21th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela, another great victory for peace and equality.

What is most amazing to me
I’ve bolded in this excerpt from the CBC site:
“It was the biggest day of protests yet in the upheaval that began Jan. 25, growing from youth activists working on the internet into a mass movement that tapped into widespread discontent with Mubarak’s authoritarian lock on power, corruption, economic woes and widespread disparities between rich and poor.”
(http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/02/11/egypt-mubarak-future.html)

Don’t ever think
that the games we make here will not bring change for the good in the world so that others may have a better life.

Don’t ever forget
just how lucky we are that we have that opportunity to connect and join the growing voice of many causes for the goodness in life for all.

Happyful
is how I’m feeling today, and I wish the same for you.

~*

Lots of talk about Jane’s book since it was released, a few reviews I’ve found bring up some interesting points.  I say, at least it got people talking about it, there has been a surge in online games these past few years, for instance here’s a great chart, fairly recent, from KZero showing the number of virtual worlds/MMOs either active, underdevelopment or not active.  Boggles my mind.  http://www.kzero.co.uk/radar.php  Games are here to stay that is for certain.

So, will keep this short now that there’s more people posting, wouldn’t want to bore you  Game On as one of my friends said.

~*