Calling TahoeLife a game doesn’t mean it is one

So, I’ve been hunting through localized sustainability sites lately for another project I’m working on. In the process, I ran across OurTahoe.org. Designed by Reynolds School of Journalism grad students, this site does a lot well when it comes to clean design and web 2.0 feel. The mission is noble as well: help Lake Tahoe residents collaborate to improve the lake’s declining ecosystem.

However, I have a big qualm and it comes from a “game” on the site called TahoeLife. The problem is that this interactive flash piece really isn’t a game in its current execution. Upon starting, the player is told to that their job is to get the score as close to 50 as possible (which seems like a decent game-like goal). However, the following screens direct the player to select homes, energy uses, and transportation that match their real lifestyle. After selecting these, the player is given a final score out of 50 and then told how good they are at helping Lake Tahoe. So, rather than a game, the result is more like one of those 1-page quizzes from a checkout-lane woman’s magazine. This isn’t necessarily bad, but the fact that the site calls this a “game” multiple times is annoying at best.

Here’s the thing though. TahoeLife could become a decent game if the makers spent a bit more time tinkering with it. It could actually turn out a lot like Persuasive Games’ Points of Entry. Say the player was paired off against a computer and his job was to change his home, car, habits to get a better score than his opponent. This would provide a great chance for the player to see the relationships between different environmental factors and which ones had the greatest weight on the score. This exploration could also harness the strengths of interactive media. As is, TahoeLife is no more effective than if it were printed in a magazine. With a few tweaks, it could become a much more effective piece of multimedia.