Smithsonian offers largest mission-based game ever | The Adrenaline Vault

A new mission-based, alternate reality or big game, called Pheon, will debut September 18 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A variation of Capture the Flag, Pheon is a competition to obtain the game’s virtual talisman, the pheon, which will occur online and at live events during the course of a year. Like other mission-based games, it revolves around the completion of tasks, the making of objects, discovery and documentation. Pheon follows the successful run of the museum’s first alternate reality game, Ghosts of a Chance. Pheon is innovative in that the narrative of the game will be written as it is played. The adventure takes place in Terra Tectus, a virtual world in which two warring factions, Staves and Knaves, struggle to restore balance after the intrusion of Seers, people from the real world. Players will interact with scripted characters, and each player’s performance will help shape the storyline. To begin, individual players and teams must first determine whether they are Staves or Knaves, then complete various missions focused on the museum’s art collections, exhibitions and programs to earn points and propel the game. Missions exist on three levels (Neophyte, Acolyte and Lamplight Council) through which players must advance, reaching the final stage in which elite players write missions for those at lower levels. The ultimate goal is to attain the pheon, which promises to restore balance to Terra Tectus. via avault.com Posted via email from anthrotechnologist's posterous