Journalism - the video game!

Yes, this exciting and challenging game is out now!

The goals are clear – get as many readers as you can, try to write what you want and try to change the world. Now - if only it was that simple… because as we know, each level has its own challenges and the goals and the goal posts keep changing.

This is a game that will take more than 150 hours to master with over 21 different levels carefully tailored to keep you on the edge of your seat wanting more. Let me tell you about the first few levels and the challenges to expect…

Level 1 – your aim is to get an online presence where you write your first blog and get your first readers. You get points based on the number of people who read what you write. There is a bit of technology to master but you have a game mentor who can help and if you tune into the game network you will find plenty of other players who can be a guide. (of course they get extra points for helping). Your biggest challenges might be overcoming a fear of making your writing public, finding something worth writing about, or interviewing someone you don’t know.

Level 2 – it is now not just enough to get reader numbers, points are awarded on how many comments you get and the type of comments. If you are writing articles which are biased, poorly informed, derogatory, hard to read then you will get some pretty negative comments and this is not good for your score. But don’t worry, your game mentor can guide you to a toolkit of journalistic writing and research skills which you will continue to master up the levels. You can use your readership numbers and comments to experiment in finding what works and what doesn’t, how to generate conversations with your readers and how to keep them coming back. You will be searching for interesting ways to present your ideas using technologies such as podcasting, photostories and flash.

Level 3 – At this level you now get greater points for beginning to make a difference to the world around you… how does your writing and graphics change readers opinions and actions? You will probably now find yourself writing about more sensitive social issues – things which you believe are important to you and your readers. And as a result you will have stirred up the censorship police - a major obstacle to overcome before you can move to level 4.

You can choose many different ways to beat the police – ignore them, kill them (they get resurrected) – but these won’t work. I don’t want to give the game away, but the key here is finding allies, collaborating with other players and coming up with a solid group presence which you can use to negotiate with the censorship police. You will have to understand their deep issues and the system constraints and come up with solutions. You might have to find compromises where you can’t write exactly what you want – but you get extra points for creatively finding ways of doing so within the agreed codes of practice.

Level 4 – now you are part of a journalism team, you have to come up with agreed team goals – you are not just writing what you want, but your writing is informed by a team vision. You are working under team guidelines and ethical codes of practice. You get points for acting responsibly, helping others, and meeting team targets. The whole team gets bonuses when reader numbers and satisfaction go up. You get bonus points if any of your published articles create a difference. Your biggest challenges are staying motivated now you are part of an organization, finding out the rules, trying on different team roles and working your way to the top.

Level 5 – to move to level five you have to take on a team leadership role. Here you get points for co-ordinating aspects of the whole magazine, ensuring a common team vision, and balancing a cohesive team vision with individual visions so that the team is functioning well and happily. Your aim is to help the whole team grow as people as well as journalists. Your own leadership vision of what the magazine is and what it is for can now infuse others and you will get points for the impact the whole magazine has on your social environment. Your major challenges are to tactfully and ethically manage people – dealing with slackness, inappropriate writing, incompetence…

Level 6 upwards – this is where you are deliberately shaping the social world that you are in as a result of your magazine, or growing media conglomerate – influencing policy, changing perceptions and people’s actions. You are a considerable influence in your immediate and global sphere. You are being challenged now to develop a big picture view of social structures, political structures and major issues. Now that you are a big player in world decision making you need to find strategies to deal with so much information, so many different people, so many different perspectives and find ways of complexity management.

You also need to predict the consequences of what you publish and how it might impact on the global situation. So while now you have more and more power to publish what you want, you are faced with the challenges of the ethical implications … good intentions are not enough and you have to learn to deal with the complex ethical minefields – it isn’t just “right versus wrong”, but “right versus right.” You get points for positive transformation of the world… helping all its citizens to evolve appropriately.

Level 21 – jumping right ahead – who can you expect to be when you reach level 21, one of the higher levels of the game? You now have a global and cosmic consciousness – you are so in tune with the world, spiritually and ethically that intuitively you know what to say and do for the most positive transformation of the whole system. You can work on any level in the system to do what is needed using all the skills at hand. What you want to say is what the system needs to say and what the system needs to hear. It is no longer about getting readership numbers; it is about impact, time-lineness and deep listening. At this level the good player knows that in listening to what is needed to change in self, they will have the key to changing the world.

So that is a little taste of Journalism – the video game. Want to play?