Conspiracy for Good: More Than Just a Game?
By Stephen Ebert on June 22,
 2010 at 00:00,

Why Conspiracy for Good is more than just a gameNokia has just announced Conspiracy For Good - an interactive story developed by Heroes creator Tim Kring taking place in real-world London and on multiple platforms to promote positive social change. Still confused by it all? We sat down with Nokia to have a chat about it and discovering some pretty amazing and exciting stuff. Read on to find out why Conspiracy For Good is more than just another Nokia game.

"As part of the Conspiracy For Good you will join a collective of thinkers, artists, musicians and causes, creating a unified voice to fight the forces of social and environmental injustice" Tim Kring says on the Conspiracy For Good website.

"To achieve this, I need you to participate. Reality and fiction have to blur."

Both Nokia and Tim Kring hope Conspiracy For Good will be a game-changing model for what can be done with interactive storytelling and promoting positive messages by bringing people together. The aim is to help worthy causes such as charities by getting participants involved in events in the city of London.

Last week we caught up with Conspiracy For Good partner, Mat Osman to talk about how players will take to the streets of London armed with the Nokia Point & Find augmented reality app to engage in this new method of interactive storytelling. Osman has been working closely with both Nokia and Tim Kring to deliver what he hopes will be a revolution in narrative and participant-led social change for good in a fictional story against the negative things in this world, such as greed and unscrupulous corporations.

Telling us about Conspiracy For Good Osman revealed to us the first time he heard of plans to play several games using various locations around London for the basis of a "new kind of narrative" and "doing something for good."

The more he heard, the more he became intrigued. Expressing his bold enthusiasm for the project, Osman was keen to point out that he isn't being paid by Nokia to promote the project, but was genuinely passionate about getting involved in what he described as a game were "game players do good". Participants are not being sold anything he said, it's "genuinely an attempt to tell a story in a complex way" while benefiting causes close to his heart.

We can't say too much about what will happen during the stories, or disclose the exact locations the story will take place in, but the sheer scale of if will blow peoples minds said Osman.

Players will be asked to suspend their sense of reality and engage in events as if they're an actor in a film. The story takes place in London and will feature actors hidden throughout the city. You could be walking around the West End of London taking part, before someone you thought was a passer by approaches you to deliver your next instructions. Players will feel as if they're being watched. Actors will follow participants without them knowing, writers will even rewrite the narrative according to participants actions. It's a constantly evolving experience with a "TV series worth of story."

It's just one of the levels of engagement players will feel. Another is from using Nokia Point & Find. Point & Find is an augmented reality browser that lets users grab information from tagged items. You can use it to scan barcodes for pricing information and other tagged items such as film posters to grab film times.

For Conspiracy For Good Nokia has tagged lots of items around the city for players to point their Point & Find equipped handset at to search for clues and items in order to progress. One example Osman gave us is that players might be asked to locate, or meet at an ice cream van. Pointing your Nokia at it might reveal your next step. There are plenty of tagged items, buildings and sights scattered throughout London. "There's plenty of stuff to do" we were told. The game is "amazing" Osman added, having previously experienced it himself during a trial of Conspiracy For Good in Sweden.

As with any game there will be rewards for those that part in the story. The biggest one, Osman hopes, will be the gratification players will feel from participating in something that is both fun and morally rewarding by creating awareness for positive social change. "It's why I'm still involved in this this project" Osman revealed. It's about "pushing innovation" in storytelling and "making sure it's real" by "turning ordinary people into heroes."

Want to take part? Simply register your interest at the Conspiracy For Good website, then from mid-July you'll be able to download the Conspiracy For Good: DeadDrop app from the Ovi Store to use with Nokia Point & Find to discover clues when going to the designated story events in London. Participation is completely free.