If you must use Foursquare
I’m a big Foursquare player - a year ago I didn’t know if I’d for sure still be playing, or using Twitter, and I do both multiple times every day, so I think that’s great. I’m very eager to get in the habit of playing Revel and SuperGoing (see more of which below). But for now, I am a habitual Foursquare player (it is a game, though not a great one, so that makes me a player). And I have some thoughts on the game.
I still use Foursquare in part because I tend not to be the kind to get tired of things easily, especially if it something I’ve made up my mind I would enjoy: for example, see my experience trying out a QR-code ARG in Echo Park, and the creators’ response. Another example of me not getting tired of things: next year I will celebrate my 10th year doing shows at ComedySportz LA. In fact, I have some special shows coming up on Fri 16 September and Fri 21 Oct, so you should come and check those out!
But all of this is build-up to my request to Foursquare players and opinion about its play: Don’t check into your place of work! It means customers can never become mayor, and it’s not really what the game is for. It’s originally a nightlife game: that’s why you get bigger points for things after 5 PM and the first categories were all bars and restaurants. You’re really not supposed to be checking in to your home and the place you go to work every day. It’s a game about going places and doing things, not about going to the same place every day. Come up with another game for that, but don’t use this one.
Despite what may seem, I’m all for using the game for off-brand purposes: I remember when President Obama came to LA and there were traffic jams. I lived closer to the freeway then and I saw somebody had created a place called “Obama Traffic Jam” and 37 people had checked in. I do not approve of playing games on your mobile device while driving a car, but that was pretty funny, and besides it seems like nobody was moving.
I have used Foursquare for off-brand purposes myself, trying to leave bread crumbs for an ARG in Los Feliz Village. So far almost nobody has found it! There are also clues on Yelp; the game starts in Barnsdall Art Park.
Previously I mentioned Revel and Supergoing. This was a blog post I wrote but had not published, and it is on the topic of those games, so I am appending it:
—-
Me and my iPhone - we’re pals. We travel pretty much everywhere together. I’ve got a whole folder of geo games and now, thanks to some amazing friends of mine - some here in LA, some in northern California - there are now 2 new ways to go out and engage in the city around you. Reclaiming public space as play space is one of my favorite things to do, and these 2 tools, both in very early stages, provide great opportunities for all kinds of mischief, creativity, appreciation, and engagement. I’m a game guy (primarily) and not an app guy (I’m a civilian user only) but frankly after seeing these two games I think FourSquare and SCVNGR should go hang their heads and cry.
Here are the games: Revel, introduced to me by PEG-LA doyenne Sarah Brin, and SuperGoing, brought to you by Ian and Sam, the Situate guys (creators of Journey to the End of the Night). What are you going to use these games for?
