Will Wright, the man behind the gaming behemoth that is The Sims, has announced a new project called ‘HiveMind.’
In an extremely vague and somewhat worrying interview with VentureBeat, Wright described a concept he calls ‘personal gaming.’ The concept is one that involves games that can customize themselves to suit the player and even use real-life factors to influence the game.
“Rather than craft a game like FarmVille for players to learn and play, we learn about you and your routines and incorporate that into a form of game play.” Wright remarked. He then goes on to explain that there are 50 different ‘dimensions’ to a person that can be learned through data collection, including where you and your friends are, and even how much money you have in your wallet.
While this does sound a bit creepy at first, Wright insists that that people will want to share their information willingly, citing the entertainment value of sharing. For example, google maps could be used to show you the location of things that could interest you, such as cosplay meets or art galleries.
The interview and concept itself is rather interesting, and worth a read. For all it’s worth, Wright does have a point about people handing over personal information if they can be guaranteed entertainment in return, and if anyone can make real life into a game, it's the man who made a game out of real life.