Archive for April, 2011

Begone, you heavy curtains upon the windows of Baxter HQ! Let our pale skin bathe in sunlight once again! Lo, the beachgoers love it!

Just one in a series of monster launches over the next few weeks, we’re proud to point a link to the iPhone mobile app of AOK, a “social game for social good” more accurately described thusly:

“AOK is a fun and challenging way to get recognized for contributing to, sharing, and becoming aware of the millions of Acts of Kindness already happening somewhere on this planet every day.”

Many moons ago, we were contacted by the talented, enthusiastic producers of AOK to help them sculpt a game-inspired experience that increased mindfulness of acts of kindness while maintaining the intrinsic value of Doing Good. We tucked into our game mechanics bag o’ tricks and designed a system that sat thoughtfully in the background, monitoring and nudging the little behaviors that make a social hero. With the help of many outstanding hands, we’re proud to see that collaborative vision spring to life.

A comprehensive web component and mobile iterations are stirring in the soil. In the meantime, you can read more from the producers of AOK on the Gameful blog, here, and ask yourself: “Can we make the world kinder by playing a game?”

As the boys of summer look confusedly at the slushy drifts obscuring second base, it’s high time to recall the humble origins of our national pasttime, as documented firsthand by one Cyril P. Hooker, the 19th century wharfman many historians now assert to be the true father of modern baseball. From Hooker’s own journal, rescued from the wall of a Cleveland T.G.I.Fridays, he recalls his epiphany of gameplay — and perhaps reveals another invention for which we owe him thanks:

“Gregor and One Ear slouched across the field, braying and chortling in the misty stupor of the previous evening’s drink. Gregor had filled his hat what with handfuls of tall grass and proceeded to chase One Ear with a switch, striking him mercilessly on his ear pudding. One Ear, in turn, collected rocks and debris from the occasional bare patch of earth, and these he used what as projectiles to slow the pursuit of this his slobering [sic] assailant. Were two idiots at play, those, and it warmed my very heart.

I, for my part, avoided the melee at this safe distance, having recently violated the crypt of a man who were buried in freshly pressed trousers. I watched with amusement, tho, and surely began counting the effect of their tussle, what scoring the number of times Gregor agitated the ear pudding. One Ear must have scored the same, for soon his rock throwing increased in haste. It was all Gregor could do to bat away the relentless barrage of pipes, stones, and rodent bones! Enthused as I was by this new development, I began shouting to my beloved oran-utans so as to share in the revelry: “One strike! Two strikes! Three strikes!” And this, I found, increased the fervor still!

Late into the afternoon Gregor and One Ear scrapped, until finally the cruel grip of sobriety indeed suffocated them both. And I, along, bellowed scores and heaped accolades upon these giggling dolts, amused as I was at this game-o-fication of fooles [sic] horseplay, and with my humble aim to increase the engagement of these two besotted employees of the Devil’s workshop.”

So eat sh*t and die, Abner Doubleday.