Link: Wired Science - Wired Blogs.
Disaster preparedness is about as sexy as flossing regularly, but a new alternate reality game could put the fun into contemplating the destruction of Los Angeles.
Aftershock, run by the Institute for the Future and Art Center College of Design, (((Hey, whaddya know, way to go designer futurists))) is based on a 300-page U.S. Geological Survey scenario report that details the extensive damage that Southern California could experience in the aftermath of a 7.8-magnitude quake on the San Andreas Fault. The game began on Thursday and will run for three weeks, prompting users to complete real-world missions — and submit content based on them to the gaming community.
"Disaster preparedness was at the point where the messaging had hit the limit. You can give people this really elegantly designed flyer, and they stick it in a drawer and it hits them in the head during the earthquake," said Jason Tester, the lead game designer at the IFTF. "[The game] says, 'You are experiencing a real earthquake.' We're trying to make it feel visceral."
The new game is part of the largest earthquake preparedness drill ever attempted, the USGS-run Great Southern Californian Shakeout. At 10 a.m. local time Thursday, millions of Californians crawled under their desks in response to an imaginary major earthquake.
Aftershock will begin where the earthquake drill ends. It's not so much about what to do during an earthquake, but how to survive the fallout of the disaster. By providing an intellectual exercise to imagine how bad an earthquake could be, Tester and his co-gamemasters hope that they'll be able to not just increase awareness, but change people's behavior....
