World of Fourcraft is a new GPS check-in game has been developed using a combination of Risk and Foursquare, where players are required to capture areas to achieve ‘world domination.’
The game relies on Google Maps APIs and Foursquare to convert New York City into a game of Risk. A player can decide which team he will be on by joining one of New Yourk City’s boroughs. Once the player uses Foursquare to check in on a neighborhood, it equals placing a plastic man in the board game. Then, an algorithm adds up the total check-ins at the end of the week to see which team owns the land.
During a weekend hackaton at New York’s General Assembly, Ricky Robinett, a member of the seven-man World of Fourcraft development team, said “We wanted to make foursquare more compelling for long-term use.” “[On Foursquare] you have a weekly total that gets swiped at the end of the week. This keeps adding up.”
Currently, the game has just 100 players, all divided into different teams. After three days, the Manhattan team seems to take the top spot, grabbing the ‘Best Location Hack’ award. According to the rules on the World of Fourcraft website, “There are no prizes. There are no celebrations. The only reward is the feeling of pride you normally only get from being re-tweeted.”
Robinett said that they want to borrow a ‘level up’ system from the World of Warcraft, which would increase the effectiveness of more-frequent users’ check-ins.
You can visit World of Fourcraft’s official website for additional information.
