Monday, April 5, 2010

ArmRev: Hollywood Games The Web For Social Good

armrev_rww_8.jpgImagine if the tens of millions who give time and money to tending their Farmville game were instead working for social change. A team of Hollywood's elite talent has been working for six years to create a game building infrastructure that will make it so.



Armchair Revolutionary is a social gaming and strategic crowdsourcing concept that's based on real life social needs. The games are designed to connect the real-time Web to real-time social change.


Sponsor



Social Change Innovators is a non-profit that wholly-owns Armchair Revolutionary LLC, which is funded by $0.99 gifts for charities as well as investment equity in for-profit startups. The gifting concept is true to the recent sea change in online gaming, which is driven by virtual currency. This micro-transaction model is helping to build a trust fund, as well as maximizing it's value in the for profit market.



In a few years ArmRev will scale up to 250 games annually. These games aim to use augmented reality and Internet of Things in a way that's more fun, more popular and more real than Farmville could ever be. The first three games to be introduced are: Make Waves, End of Darkness and Hack Your Body. Hack Your Body includes quizzes about genetic research, as well as software tools to track your bodies health. End of Darkness also has quizzes and learning activities, but this program is unique in that it fund for profit startups who will sell low cost solar kits to poor people in India. Make Waves is similar to an adopt a rainforest campaigns where you adopt a specific patch of the planet, but what's about this game is that the player will be connected to real-time ocean sensors.



Your ArmRev account will be run through a dashboard that's similar to a personal stock market portfolio dashboard, but it's called a Social Change Portfolio. The games themselves are created by the Play4Change Lab, which is a: "...collaboration between USC's Game Institute and The Hollywood Hill. The lab specializes in games that integrate new technologies such as sensor networks, augmented reality, simulation, and virtual goods."



To set up your ArmRev Profile go here.

To submit your photos and art to benefit social good go here.


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