City Becomes Interactive Gaming Experience

Karloff

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Oct 19, 2009
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City Becomes Interactive Gaming Experience



You can talk to your lamppost, your park bench, your storm drain, and they all talk back to you.

Bristol's Hello Lamp Post! invites you to participate in the city's secret conversation. Talk to your lamp post by texting it Hello; it could say almost anything in reply, but those who participate in the city's latest game will be told Bristol's secrets.

The rules are simple. Each object has a code, which the city normally uses to identify individual items, for repair and upkeep purposes. That code is posted directly on the object, be it bollard, storm drain, bench, or whatever. You send a text with Hello, plus the name of the object, and its code, to that object, and it will send a text right back to you. Maybe it will just complain about the weather - always a popular British pastime - or maybe it will say, well, whatever else is on its mind. Long term players learn secrets about Bristol, sent in texts written by the city direct to them.

The game will play out during summer 2013 in this historic UK seaport first, before going on an international tour. It was put together by design studio PAN [http://panstudio.co.uk/] - inventors of, among other things, a zombie defense laser trap - as part of a competition in which 93 contestants took part. To the winner goes £30,000, to help it put the game together.

"Hello Lamp Post! stood out with a potential for both art and play using existing urban furniture," says competition judge and Google Creative Director Tom Uglow. "It points to a future made up of the physical objects already around us, the 'internet of things', and the underlying complexity is made simple and easy for people by just using SMS for this project."

Bristol, eh? Could be nice in the summer, and I'm told it has very friendly bus shelters.

Source: Watershed [http://www.watershed.co.uk/playablecity/about/the-winner/]


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VanQ

Casual Plebeian
Oct 23, 2009
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Are these text messages costing money? Could be a few angry parents around when their kids go haywire talking to their good friend, Mr. Rubbish Bin.
 

AdamxD

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Mar 5, 2012
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This truly makes me proud to be British. What a nonsensical yet excellent idea.
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Hmmm, sounds like your typical ARG scavenger hunt, albiet for more casual folks.

It's an interesting idea, and I could see it having potential if someone ran with the idea.

That said, the cost of texting also entered my mind. Truthfully until they remove a lot of the greed from mobile communications networks it's always going to limit this kind of thing. A more interactive infrastructure could be used for a lot of things, but not if it costs you money every time you try and use it.

Consider also that while the project has a budget of 30k pounds if I read that correctly, there is also the question of how much the town is going to pay for the automated texting. If people pay to send the messages, and the town pays to send them back... well that could potentially go well over budget, with the only winners being telecommunications providers.
 

Quaxar

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Sep 21, 2009
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Bristol's text message rates just shot through the roof.

Karloff said:
Bristol, eh? Could be nice in the summer, and I'm told it has very friendly bus shelters.
I wonder if you can talk to those as well. Oh the horrors they could tell!
 

neonsword13-ops

~ Struck by a Smooth Criminal ~
Mar 28, 2011
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Ah man...

I wish the U.S. had talking lamp posts and mail boxes.

The British get all of the cool stuff. :(
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

books, Books, BOOKS
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Jan 19, 2011
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That is the weirdest thing ever, but I love it.

If there was a talking lamp post and mailbox near where I live I would use that constantly. Just imagine all the stories it could tell, and the unspeakable horrors it had to endure!

It would be glorious! :D
 

Scorched_Cascade

Innocence proves nothing
Sep 26, 2008
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Can you imagine the dystopian future possibilities if this becomes a widespread thing (smart objects)?

Graffiti spray painted on the floor near a lamppost "This one LIES!"

Chalk markings in neat rows down the wall "Always watching, always watching, always watching, always watching, etc"

Painted on a nearby alley wall "You are not safe! They are listening, they see you, run!"

Slightly hidden, peeling, stickers on nearby surfaces saying talk to X postbox and ask for "Dave" for all your non-prescription pharmaceutical needs.

Underground clubs with directions given to those saying a certain code phrase to a smart object.
 

eladkitty

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Jan 14, 2009
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As a resident of a Bristol suburb, I can tell you those bus shelters would be saying " OH MY GOD! STOP BURNING ME! "
 

ShindoL Shill

Truely we are the Our Avatars XI
Jul 11, 2011
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AdamxD said:
This truly makes me proud to be British. What a nonsensical yet excellent idea.
Ooh, this is the perfect opportunity for me to finally use

This has been sitting on my bookmarks bar for ages.
I'm pretty sure it sums up basically any reaction you can possibly have to this.

neonsword13-ops said:
I wish the U.S. had talking lamp posts and mail boxes.

The British get all of the cool stuff. :(
You decided you didn't want to be in our Empire, so now you don't get to play with our toys.
 

CriticalMiss

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Jan 18, 2013
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TrilbyWill said:
AdamxD said:
This truly makes me proud to be British. What a nonsensical yet excellent idea.
Ooh, this is the perfect opportunity for me to finally use

This has been sitting on my bookmarks bar for ages.
I'm pretty sure it sums up basically any reaction you can possibly have to this.

neonsword13-ops said:
I wish the U.S. had talking lamp posts and mail boxes.

The British get all of the cool stuff. :(
You decided you didn't want to be in our Empire, so now you don't get to play with our toys.
Are those martini glasses full of gravy? That's super british, especially if they came with mini yorkshire puddings on a cocktail stick instead of an olive...

Back on topic, it seems like a pretty weird idea but I wouldn't call it a game. More a great excuse to get people sectioned by accident and get some cash from text message charges.
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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HOw exactly does one text a lamppost? they have a numbers for lampposts listed or something?

Also, WTFBBQ idea. now i realize there are some people obsessed with seeing robots everywhere, but seriously?
 

IckleMissMayhem

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Oct 18, 2009
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TrilbyWill said:
neonsword13-ops said:
I wish the U.S. had talking lamp posts and mail boxes.

The British get all of the cool stuff. :(
You decided you didn't want to be in our Empire, so now you don't get to play with our toys.
Best. Response. Ever.

Sounds like a fun idea, but being able to talk to letterboxes doesn't make me want to visit Bristol...