Monday 15 March 2010

SHARKRUNNERS: The Future of Social Media

Tired of the same user-generated content (UGC) campaigns?  We completely understand, as much of the karaoke that passes for creative these days is repetitive uninspiring.  That’s specifically why we love area/code.   Area/code is based in NYC and develop campaigns that leverage today's environment of pervasive technologies and overlapping media to create new kinds of entertainment.  

Area/Code is one of the few agencies that highlight and integrate the connections between imaginary spaces and the world around them.  Whether urban environments transformed into
spaces for public play, online games that respond to
broadcast TV in real time, simulated characters and virtual worlds
that occupy real-world geography, game events driven by real-world data, or situated media that corresponds to
specific locations and contexts. These connections can take many forms.

Our favorite example du jour is Sharkrunners.  Designed by area/code for Discovery Channel's 20th Anniversary Shark Week, Sharkrunners is a persistent game of oceanic exploration and high stakes shark research.  Players take on the role of marine biologists who seek to learn as much as possible about sharks through advanced observation techniques.  Sharkrunners is a game of oceanic exploration and high stakes shark research. 

Players take on the role of sharkrunners: daring and adventurous marine biologists who seek to learn as much as possible about sharks through advanced observation techniques.

In the game, players control their ships, but the sharks are controlled by real-world white sharks with GPS units attached to their fins. Real-world telemetry data provides the position and movement of actual great white sharks in the game, so every shark that players encounter corresponds to a real shark in the real world.  

It get’s better. Ships in the game also move in real-time, so players receive email and/or SMS alerts during the day when their boat is within range of an encounter. Players login, choose crewmembers and an approach technique, and then collect various data from the nearby sharks.