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| Gaming Planet Earth | | By Gareth Branwyn for Screenager Central |
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When you think of computer games, what do you imagine? Maybe you're sitting on your living room sofa with a handheld, or at your desk in front of a computer monitor clicking away. As you play, you inhabit a virtual world and while there's a lot going on inside your computer, the physical part of you isn't really moving around all that much. Most of the time, digital technologies keep us indoors, chained to a desk or otherwise removed from the wonders of nature. |
Well now there's a new way to play with your tech toys and get outside every once in a while too. It's called geographical gaming, or geogaming. Basically it is a modern twist on the classic sport of treasure hunting. Geogaming taps into two sides of your personality -- your sense of adventure and your addiction to tech toys. All you need is access to a computer, a handheld GPS devise, and your own two feet. (GPS, by the way, stands for global positioning system, which is a satellite technology that is able to identify your exact physical location, anywhere on the planet. GPS units come in all shapes and sizes, from small handhelds to expensive in-car navigation systems that include a map display.)
And for anyone out there who is under the mistaken impression that geogaming is for geeks, check this out: This summer, Coca-Cola is sponsoring a geogaming give-away sweepstakes. They have loaded 100 Coke cans with a built-in cell phone and GPS unit. Hit the big red call button and the GPS unit will fix your location and a deliver a big prize to you, wherever you are on Earth! In the TV ad, an SUV is delivered to a winner by helicopter. (Now that would impress your friends!)
Here are just a few types of geogames to try:
GEOCACHING
As you know, in an old fashioned treasure hunt, you would be given a map that would lead you to a hidden bounty. In the geogame called Geocaching, things work a little differently. Each player is given nothing more than a list of latitude and longitude coordinates which you plug into a handheld GPS receiver. Once you find the specific location, you physically go to the site and search around for the hidden treasure -- called a cache (pronounced cash).
If you're ready to play, go to The Geocaching Website where you'll find coordinates for many geogames in your area, game instructions, safety tips, info on cheap GPS units and ways to chat with other geogamers. Anyone can start a game -- including you - and what's hidden in a cache is entirely up to the players. Usually the contents are placed in a waterproof container (to protect against weather conditions). You might find a cool reward, or clues and coordinates for the next cache to hunt. You may even discover something known as a "travel bug" which is a pair of dog tags (or some other cool trinket) stamped with a serial number and a URL. Upon returning home, go to a Web address, enter the serial number, and up pops the bug's home page. Here you get to see a travel journal for the bug and learn about the gamers who found it before you. After you add an entry telling about how you discovered this travel bug, then it's your turn to hide it for someone else to uncover.
LETTERBOXING
A related adventure game call Letterboxing is a treasure hunt game that involves a bit of writing and art work. Each player sets out to find a box hidden in a park, the woods or another public place. Inside each letterbox expect to find a logbook, a pen or pencil, a rubber stamp, an inkpad and some goodies. Upon locating the box, you would write an entry into the logbook to describe your journey. Using the inkpad and your own personal stamp (which you brought with you), commemorate this discovery by posting your own stamp on the page next to your written entry. If you brought your own logbook with you, stamp your book using the rubber stamp from the box. The final step: return the box to its hiding place.
In this geogame, you don't necessarily use a GPS device, but you do use the Internet. Start at a site such as the main game portal Letterboxing, and search for clues to find buried letterboxes in your area.
FINDING A CONFLUENCE
If you've ever looked at a globe, you see the Earth is covered by a vast imaginary grid of latitude and longitude lines. The points where these lines intersect are called confluences. There are 13,055 such confluences, not counting the ones in the ocean and the most inhospitable areas near the Earth's poles. In this game, it's your mission to find one.
The Confluence Project helps volunteers locate and visit all 13,055 of these intersections. At this Web site, you can post a picture and write an account of the visit. So far, 3,109 confluences have been logged in. You don't have to get too crazy with hiking gear, compasses, and a GPS unit to visit one of these Earthly intersections. Wherever you happen to live, there is a confluence within 49 miles. Who knows, you may even have one close by that hasn't been discovered yet.
"If a GPS unit told you to drive off a cliff, would you do it?" That should be the modern version of the old saying you've likely heard before. This allegedly happened in Japan, when a driver, slavishly following his GPS map navigation system, drove into a river because the spoken computerized directions told him to (the map the system used was obviously out of date). In geogaming, you want to be careful where you go. It's easy to get caught up in the game and to really want to find the treasure. Don't ever go anyplace dangerous, don't go onto private property without permission, and don't deface or damage any property. Luckily, most geogamers are very environmentally conscious. Follow the motto "Cache in, trash out," and clean up any trash you might find on your way to and from a cache site.
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