The Game of Life

We’ve established that phone tapping is bad, right?

Not if you’re playing HiveMind: a soon-to-be-created game from The Sims creator Will Wright.

HiveMind won’t force you to sit in front of your computer for hours, playing a game about imaginary people; it will, in fact, do the opposite: make your real life into a game.

Though Wright is keeping mum on a lot of details, he says HiveMind will build a “very high-level map of the world,” full of unique experiences and happenings. When you log into the game, you allow it to access your personal information through your phones, tablets, and social networks. HiveMind can then build a situational awareness about you, providing you with information about the world around you: activities taking place, events you might want to attend.

See, that sounds much more interesting/pleasant than News of the World scandals and scary Michael Douglas movies.

Will Wright likes to talk about crossing platforms, mixing media, creating synergy, hybrids, and interactivity. He is thinking about how to integrate games into our lives and our lives into games. For him, HiveMind is the logical next step in Alternate Reality Gaming: real reality gaming.