Akoha and playing it forward

Akoha is a cross between a collectible card game (for that viral factor since you hand the cards on once completed to a friend who I imagine can then “play it forward” to gain points themselves) and a site where you gain points for each mission card you complete. Additionally, by adding better storytelling material to each mission you complete when you’ve completed it, you can gain bonus points as well.

It’s an interesting idea. I ordered a pack for research as part of the work we’re doing in online activism to see how well it would work (and fact I had been looking at alternative reality games for another reason the other day).

Will it work ? I’m not sure. I lurv the idea though it seems a bit geeky and I do love the cartoony cards you get. Wondering whether it has enough hook to actually catch on though. Many of the missions I do anyway even though no one awards them karma points for it (hmmm… do I ever get to turn karma points in for anything or is it just a form of Akoha-specific whuffie ?).

My pack is inspired by TED so has a bunch of TED-esque themes (let’s face it, hard to go wrong there).

I’m quite impressed with the site (Rails, I think? Anyone know ?) and like the social nature of the design, especially when you see missions that you’re on for particular cards, as well as things like integration with google maps to show where people have performed actions, which they call a “karma trail” (in fact, it’s not far off what I’d like our activism centre to be like). Well done with good usability.

My favourite but, which I think they need to surface a bit more, is the ability to search through other missions and give them to yourself. For example, just for this example (ok, and since I was doing it anyway), I’m grabbing the “Give Someone a Book” mission as well as the “Invite Someone to Coffee” mission (OK, I’m starting off slow and checking it out, alright ?).

Will start playing a few cards in the next week or so and let you know how the experience goes. I’m user “Daryl” in case you want to friend me on the network. You don’t have to order a pack in order to join the site and start doing missions, though I imagine they need to offset costs somehow unless they’re a non-profit.

Would be interested in other peoples’ thoughts on this and what you think.

(First mission : Holy crap ! I need to offset 17.30 tonnes CO₂ per year ? Damn airline flights).

And before anyone thinks this is a factor, I didn’t know they were Canadian before I signed up. Though always good to see Montréalers up to something good !

(via Barsoom Core’s twitter.)