Play Foursquare, An Interactive Nightlife Game
Written by Nic Hernandez Tuesday, August 18 2009 18:00
Enter Foursquare. Developed by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in New York City, Foursquare plays out as an interactive game that spans the particular urban locale that the user happens to be in. Players "check-in" via mobile phone when they visit various spots around town, earning points and eventually badges to show off for their efforts. Go to a spot more than any other Foursquare users? Well, then you are the Mayor of that location, earning a virtual crown for your persistence.
Legend of Zelda, according to Crowley. But the 21st century version replaces Hyrule's caves and crannies with dipping into and out of bars, clubs, museums and restaurants to collect the game's booty.
Think of this as a social form of open-source software, with a person or group's relationship with a city and its attractions growing exponentially along with those of like-minded players. The collective conscious of Foursquare users in a particular city has the chance to improve based on the input of each individual user. The most interesting things will get noticed because people will mention them as such. And who knows, maybe an interactive game such as this may even encourage people to venture outside of their regular stomping grounds and go discover some new stuff?
Many Foursquare users have complained that the stats the service compiles simply don't do enough. While it may be satisfying to look at the weekly leaderboard and see your score towering over those of your friends, Foursquare does not keep stats for individual places. Or stats before the current week. SocialGreat solves this problem, though, providing the hottest local spots over the past hour, day, week or all-time.
Want to check in to a place to earn the points or make strides toward unlocking a badge, but don't want to broadcast to the world exactly where you are? No sweat — you can go "off the grid," getting all the benefits of a check-in without letting anyone know where you are. Kinda sneaky.
Badges are meant to be created by the local players. NYC players who have over 30 check-ins within the Kings County borough earn the "Brooklyn 4 Life" badge. Regular SF taco truck patrons will earn the tasty-looking badge seen at right. The possibilities for these in each own particular city are limited only by the imaginations of the players.
Have fun. Get competitive with it. Discover new things and encourage those around you to do the same. Play Foursquare. It's the next big thing.
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