Thanks for the great feedback on the presentation & a pretty comprehensive review of the talk.

A couple of corrections & points:

-60% of cards not showing up in system, is actually the reverse. Approx. 65% of all played missions get confirmed by recipients. This stat may be skewed because we are learning that some players distribute missions cards, replay them and then don’t register their hop on the site. Just pointing out that some of our stats are evolving since we are still learning about modes that players our using Akoha in the real world.

-One point I passed over that I should have spent more time on (maybe cut one of the videos :) was the conflict model that does exist with inside Akoha. While there is no negative mode of play or PK, the conflict model is internal to the players own sense of social boundaries. Some players are bold & outgoing and find it easy to play with strangers. Others are timid and only play with friends, then find themselves experimenting by pushing themselves to play with strangers. I think this is only at its infancy, but I believe that the game (and other reality games) allow players to fight their own fears / apprehensions which is where some of the conflict and resulting sense of empowerment can come from.

-On your point re: classic mistakes, some of feedback mechanisms, the lack of depth on what points get you and other items are things that we’ve tackled in design but have not pushed out to the community. Other elements are like you said, simply stuff that we should have considered but took the ‘get it out the door & improve it later’ approach. Hopefully once we get our currency, badges & powerups/buffs systems rolled out we will see some of the more strategic & goal orientated play take off.

Thanks for the positive feedback & treating the VC part of me with kids gloves :)

If all the kinks can get worked out, I think the potential for this game is pretty awesome. I’m as hardcore as they come when it comes to gaming and I’m very diverse. From Go to Chess to Xbox 360 to Soccer to Settlers of Catan to Connect Four to Uno to… :)

I also don’t blame them for the “classic mistakes made, obvious stuff” because launching a start-up of that magnitude is a TOTALLY different kind of game than actually creating a game (if you know what I mean). To expect someone to have a deep knowledge of gaming and the skills necessary to put something like that together would be… having rather high hopes. I think what they have put together as a start is pretty good.

What I think needs to be done more than adding more bells and whistles is focus on the core gaming elements of the “game.”

There is currently an arbitrary leveling up that happens (I think I’m at level 9 and I have no idea what that means… lol). Also, the points don’t really have any significance. The “game” as it is is far to open ended. There needs to be some actual tasks. I’ll give you an example on one:

A card where the mission was to get to every state capitol, then it’s done.

Or here’s an idea (that’s in rough draft form) for how the platform could create real change:

Working with a “Boys and Girls Club” type place that has a computer lab, there could be a card that encouraged youth there to teach another youth some computer skill (Twitter, Window Movie Maker, How to Put Pictures on Flickr). When the task is completed one of the volunteers signs off on it and records it with a picture or video. Then there are some kind of prizes offered to the kids who help the most people (directly or from the ripple effect) in a month or whatever.

This could be something that just uses the platform and doesn’t even have to run through the actual Akoha game.

I don’t know. Seems like there are a lot of possibilities with it especially as things get sorted out better.