Geocaching Video Game - FEEDBACK APPRECIATED

[+Shaner316]

The following is a concept that has been sent to Groundspeak that I have recently come up with. I have listed just the basic idea here.

 

I have been asked to post it here to try and get some feedback about it, so please share your thoughts and ideas! I am still trying to fine tune it, so all feedback is appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

I had an interesting idea today while shoveling the mountain of snow we just got here in Ontario, Canada. I am not sure if it has been thought of before, but decided to forward my idea to you anyway.

 

After cursing under my breath that all this snow is really going to set my Geocaching back a few weeks, I wondered how I could possibly get some caching in without having to dig through the snow......then it hit me!

 

GEOCACHING THE VIDEO GAME.!!

 

Here are my ideas:

 

You start off the game by logging on to the "geocaching" website (Not the actual one, but an in-game version, maybe called "VIDEOCACHING" or something) and creating your user account. After which you are awarded X number of "geodollars" which you use towards purchasing equipment* (GPS, backpack, trackable items etc) all of which can be upgraded as you progress through the game.

 

* Equipment is discussed later in this message

 

EXAMPLE: You start the game with only enough money to purchase a GEOMATE JR. (Or some other real or made up basic unit) and a small back pack with 2-3 storage slots in it. Eventually you are able to upgrade to a Garmin, or some other unit and a medium or large pack.

 

From the "videocaching" website, you can search for geocaches in the area you wish, print them, place the print out in one of your backpack slots, and head out on the road. (Possibly just have the option of printing out 1 or 2 caches until you have earned enough "geodollars" to upgrade to a premium membership)

 

After arriving at the area of the cache (depending on where/how you start your search) you follow your GPS through the terrain specified (forest, in a tunnel, across a lake etc.) to GZ. (Your GPS unit can be affected by weather, cloud cover etc, just like real life caching)

 

From here you can start your "search" by walking around, looking up or down, picking up and/or moving objects until (hopefully) you find the cache. If found, you sign the log and have the option to "trade items"** in the cache if available. You can then be awarded "geodollars" based on time it takes to find after reaching GZ, difficulty of hide and terrain.

 

There could also be some variables that come into play during the game.

 

- You are caching deep in the forest and a sudden storm brews up (Hopefully you brought your rain gear or a tent)

 

- You accidently drop your GPS down the side of a cliff (Again, hopefully brought your tent in case you get lost trying to find your way out, or some climbing gear)

 

- You run across various animals ( fox, snake, bear) YIKES!! RUN AWAY......LOL

 

There are more variables than I could possibly list here.

 

* EQUIPMENT:

 

Possible equipment can include:

 

- Variety of GPS units

 

- Small, Medium, Large packs with increasing number of slots for items.

 

- Geocaching essentials (I.E. Tweezers for those hard to retrieve micro logs. First aid kit for bandaging up cuts acquired walking through thick brush. Flashlight. Hiking stick. Food. Water. Tent and camping supplies for those overnighters etc) The list is endless.

 

- Specialized equipment (climbing gear, SCUBA gear for those underwater caches, etc)

 

- Cache containers for placing your own caches (I think this would only work well if the game was available for online play, but neat idea)

 

- CITO bags (Could possibly award bonus "geodollars" for collecting garbage on your hike and disposing of it)

 

The possibilities are almost endless for this list.

 

 

** TRACKABLE AND TRADE ITEMS:

 

These items could possibly be purchased separately from an actual online store for a few dollars each. Increasing revenue sales

 

- Various geoswag (Again, endless possibilities from plastic army men, to gold chains.) Could be purchased separately or in a "bag" of 10, 25, 50 etc)

 

- Geocoins

 

- Travel Bugs ( Could possibly add the option of uploading a picture to attach to the TB so others can see the traveler as well as the bug???)

 

I though that this game may be excellent for many types of people:

 

1) Geocachers in general

 

2) People like me who can't cache due to the snow!

 

3) People with mobility issues (Gets those people who can't get around very well a chance to log those 3/3 caches!)

 

4) Younger children (They can't always come caching with us, due to terrain etc. Can also be helpful in teaching problem solving)

 

5) Geoaddicts (There is nothing worse than being at home at 1am and want to go caching, but knowing that your wife will kill you if you go out for "Just One "cache)

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to actually read this. I hope you love the idea as much as I do.

[+Chrysalides]

My feeling regarding this:

 

Video games are generally for things I could not / would not do in real life. Examples include shooting monsters, enemy soldiers, or other more homicidal tendencies, extreme sport, flying planes, etc. Yes, there are bowling and tennis games, which as you pointed out, could be of interest to people with mobility issues. But they're generally not as popular.

 

Part of the fun in geocaching is actually getting out and participating in a shared experience. Someone hides a cache. A bunch of other people go out to look for it. This is missing in a video game, unless you intend to make it a MORPG. By the way, I came across virtual geocaching in Second Life a month ago. The group was dying then, not sure if it is still around.

 

While the concept itself doesn't reach out and grab me, I suppose gameplay could still attract me. God knows I've played tons of strange games just because the gameplay itself is addictive.

 

Your biggest difficulty I think would be to model the searching in your game. If it is simply "click until you hit the cache" it's going to get old really fast.

 

Anyway, I wish you luck in your game, and hope to see something come out of it. Give that virtual geocaching thing a look. I wasn't motivated enough to check it out, but in your case it would fall under research.

[+abcdmCachers]

I've often thought of making something like this as an adventure-style game (i.e. text only, or limited graphics) as part of a puzzle cache, but have never found the time to put it together.

 

You might be interested to know that Jeep made a game a couple of years ago to help promote their brand:

http://www.jeep.com/games/geocaching.html

 

As I recall, you navigate to the cache sites (in your Jeep) and find as many as you can in the time alloted. Didn't really capture the finer points that you are proposing.

[daveindeal]

wow that sounds so cool, ill reseve my copy now for when its produced.

[CoyoteRed]

The wife got me into letterboxing and geocaching to get me out from in front of the computer.

 

Just sayin'.

[+chachi44089]

I think it sounds cool.I have mobility issues."disabled".geocaching can be very difficult for me,some days impossible.I still try like heck.A game would be fun for rainy,snowy day,or when life just wont let us go out.I say.."Build it and they will come".

[knowschad]

About 25 years ago (probably more) I wrote a flyfishing game for the Timex-Sinclair computer. Since that time, I've seen about a dozen or so similar games come around... trout fishing, bass fishing, deer hunting... etc. A few have managed to survive, but none have really flourished. That is because trout fishermen, bass fishermen, deer hunters, and so-on, at least in part do what they do because of where they do it, and that is not in front of a computer.

[ao318]

I make fun of my friends who waste their time in front of their computer playing Farmville and Mafia Wars. They make fun of me doing my geocaching but at least I am outside and enjoying things and visiting places that I could pretend to see on a computer like they do.

 

I for one wouldn't play it. I got into this game to get outside and have fun not sit inside and get lost in a made up world.

 

Good luck in your endeavor though.

 

Edited to correct my point of view

Edited March 4, 2010 by ao318

[+buddhistmonk]

No disrespect but this goes against what geocaching is all about, which is just being outside and enjoying the great outdoors! Geocaching is a great tool to get kids back outside and away from the T.V and the last thing we need to be doing is promoting it as a video game!

 

On day's that there is to much snow for me to go caching I grab my GPS unit and hit the trails and scout out new places to drop caches when the weather is a little more forgiving, and that is exactly what we need to be teaching our children. Not "The weather is bad so here's a video game, go babysit yourself for a few hours"

 

I will grant you, it is a neat idea. However it goes against everything I believe in as a geocacher and wouldn't support the game.....And I'm just guessing but I bet there are plenty of other people that feel the same way.

[+Shaner316]

Thank you to all who have left feedback. It is appreciated.

 

I do think that some are missing the point to the game though. (Or perhaps I just did not state it clearly?)

 

This game is not intended to REPLACE geocaching. I love being outdoors and hunting for actual caches myself. That's what the game is all about right?

 

The idea came from staring out my window while 30cm of snow fell. (That's about a foot for you not metric types) It was intended to be a "fix" so to speak, during those times that it is not possible to go out caching, or for those sho simply cannot do it at all. Especially for some of the older guys out there who love caching, but due to health, etc, just simply can't get around very well anymore.

 

I was never intended as a "Here, sit around in the house on this bright sunny day and do some fake caching instead of getting your fat, lazy butt off the couch" kind of thing.

 

Now having said that, I HAVE been guilty of perhaps playing video games on nice days myself, so I guess I'm just as bad LOL

 

If you have any more feedback, I would still love to hear what you all think. Good or bad.

 

Again, many thanks.