Using World of Warcraft to Save Energy
Stanford Professor Byron Reeves wants to set up a new system that would reward World of Warcraft (or other games) players for saving electricity. Through a smart metering system, Reeves idea would be to give those conserving resources in their real life extra in game benefits and rewards. Considering World of Warcraft has something like 11 million players all over the world, it could be a very beneficial program. Of course, all it makes me think of is some gamer, sitting in the dark, shivering because they want to get more points. You have to wonder if they might take those long, hot showers at the gym or take the laundry to Mom's house just to keep the points going up, in which case they aren't conserving more, they're just being more creative.
The spirit of competition can be a good thing though. At our house we compare each month's electric bills to the same month in previous years and count it a victory if it is significantly lower. It will be interesting to see if game developers go for the idea.
[Via PlanetSave]
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