I have been thinking about this from time to time...
In real world there are different kind of running competitions but little other than how fast runner runs the distance. Orienteering has bit of game elements, but it's still on the who is fastest -category. Different kind of sports include bit of running, but in them running is usually just a short sprint, like in football.
So, I'm wondering if in some way interesting game mechanics could be used for running so that there could be single player running games, technology has developed a bit so you can run with computer/cell phone that can track your running performance with GPS.. There is one app I know that does exactly this - zombies! run! But I'm not really into escaping from zombies scenario, and as far as I know, game mechanics of Z!R! are quite simple.. Although, running scared is probably very natural thing to do, and really running scared could be a great boost to exercise, like in form of adrenaline..
Anyways. simulating running competition could be interesting, kinda like garmin's virtual partner or racer, but with more simulated game mechanics. I have never raced, so I don't know exactly how it works, but when you run behind someone, there's less drag and when you bypass him, you probably want to get rid of him so that he can't use you to push through headwind, so there's point of sprinting a bit, that could be easily simulated.. And garmin supports just one competitor, if you get rid of him, there's just point of keeping ahead. What if there were like twenty virtual runners with different skillsets and strong areas (like trails, short distances and such stuff) so that they wouldn't run with just stable pace, there could be bit of randomization.. And single run would be just a single tournament in series of tournaments, you would get points that would add to the total points. That is something that makes watching formula ones interesting, it's not one off -competition.
Now I just got second idea.. When I realized that computer games can be absolute bullshit, I was playing this bad online roleplaying game, lineage. It's just about leveling up with really simple and boring game mechanics, but still I was addicted for quite a while in leveling up. How about a game of leveling up as a runner? It would be done by getting experience points from training runs.. Like 10 MAF pace 5 miles run to level one, 20 to level two and so on. And different kind of runs would give different amounts of experience. All experience would be based on experts' estimation how running skills develop, you could develop your character to be more slow distance type or faster sprinter. But instead of just abstract feeling that you have gotten better, you would see your character's development in your computer screen in concrete numbers..
Building a runner character would surely be more interesting this way. Then you could probably use that character to take part in virtual running competitions, and see how your character manages in different races.
BTW, My friend lasted longer playing that lineage... Last time I saw him playing that game, he had counted that it takes some hundred hours of monotonous killing of monsters to level up to next level. And what is reward of leveling up in that game? When you go up the level, some stats get little better, but there's very little change, leveling up is kind of it's own reward.. If you play a wizard character, you use same spells that you used on level one, because they are most cost effective... Now, that's some f****d up game mechanics. But the point is, if people are persistent to work hundreds of hours on monotonous point and clicking to see rarely a message "you have gained a level of experience!", it can be said that that leveling up stuff is really addictive. And it would be a lot more enjoyable and better use of time to run for level up of virtual runner character.
Now, these two ideas has something to do with running, but what if running itself had very little to do with game mechanics, but it would still be used as controlling elment of the game.. Think about worms/scorched earth type game where you use mostly ballistic shooting to kill your opponents.. Running could be way to go from worm to another to command/control it. It could be fixed amount of distance (adjustable from hundreds of meters to like tens of kilometers for really slow paced game) to reach next worm to command or they could probably even have map locations. This all would be done with cell phone with gps tracking, against AI or live opponents.
Now, there's certainly the old argument that isn't running enough by itself... I would say that it's bit irrelevant argument. Because I like running, it makes me more interested about different variations of running. Like using running as a method of playing a game. I even started orienteering because I like trail running although I wasn't really interested about map and compass stuff... There just isn't wrong reasons to get motivated and in games there are lot's of motivational or even addicting stuff. And you can still run without any gaming.
Here's good article of gamifying.. http://yukaichou.com/gamification-research/gamification/
In real world there are different kind of running competitions but little other than how fast runner runs the distance. Orienteering has bit of game elements, but it's still on the who is fastest -category. Different kind of sports include bit of running, but in them running is usually just a short sprint, like in football.
So, I'm wondering if in some way interesting game mechanics could be used for running so that there could be single player running games, technology has developed a bit so you can run with computer/cell phone that can track your running performance with GPS.. There is one app I know that does exactly this - zombies! run! But I'm not really into escaping from zombies scenario, and as far as I know, game mechanics of Z!R! are quite simple.. Although, running scared is probably very natural thing to do, and really running scared could be a great boost to exercise, like in form of adrenaline..
Anyways. simulating running competition could be interesting, kinda like garmin's virtual partner or racer, but with more simulated game mechanics. I have never raced, so I don't know exactly how it works, but when you run behind someone, there's less drag and when you bypass him, you probably want to get rid of him so that he can't use you to push through headwind, so there's point of sprinting a bit, that could be easily simulated.. And garmin supports just one competitor, if you get rid of him, there's just point of keeping ahead. What if there were like twenty virtual runners with different skillsets and strong areas (like trails, short distances and such stuff) so that they wouldn't run with just stable pace, there could be bit of randomization.. And single run would be just a single tournament in series of tournaments, you would get points that would add to the total points. That is something that makes watching formula ones interesting, it's not one off -competition.
Now I just got second idea.. When I realized that computer games can be absolute bullshit, I was playing this bad online roleplaying game, lineage. It's just about leveling up with really simple and boring game mechanics, but still I was addicted for quite a while in leveling up. How about a game of leveling up as a runner? It would be done by getting experience points from training runs.. Like 10 MAF pace 5 miles run to level one, 20 to level two and so on. And different kind of runs would give different amounts of experience. All experience would be based on experts' estimation how running skills develop, you could develop your character to be more slow distance type or faster sprinter. But instead of just abstract feeling that you have gotten better, you would see your character's development in your computer screen in concrete numbers..
Building a runner character would surely be more interesting this way. Then you could probably use that character to take part in virtual running competitions, and see how your character manages in different races.BTW, My friend lasted longer playing that lineage... Last time I saw him playing that game, he had counted that it takes some hundred hours of monotonous killing of monsters to level up to next level. And what is reward of leveling up in that game? When you go up the level, some stats get little better, but there's very little change, leveling up is kind of it's own reward.. If you play a wizard character, you use same spells that you used on level one, because they are most cost effective... Now, that's some f****d up game mechanics. But the point is, if people are persistent to work hundreds of hours on monotonous point and clicking to see rarely a message "you have gained a level of experience!", it can be said that that leveling up stuff is really addictive. And it would be a lot more enjoyable and better use of time to run for level up of virtual runner character.
Now, these two ideas has something to do with running, but what if running itself had very little to do with game mechanics, but it would still be used as controlling elment of the game.. Think about worms/scorched earth type game where you use mostly ballistic shooting to kill your opponents.. Running could be way to go from worm to another to command/control it. It could be fixed amount of distance (adjustable from hundreds of meters to like tens of kilometers for really slow paced game) to reach next worm to command or they could probably even have map locations. This all would be done with cell phone with gps tracking, against AI or live opponents.
Now, there's certainly the old argument that isn't running enough by itself... I would say that it's bit irrelevant argument. Because I like running, it makes me more interested about different variations of running. Like using running as a method of playing a game. I even started orienteering because I like trail running although I wasn't really interested about map and compass stuff... There just isn't wrong reasons to get motivated and in games there are lot's of motivational or even addicting stuff. And you can still run without any gaming.
Here's good article of gamifying.. http://yukaichou.com/gamification-research/gamification/
