Play the Planet is a real-time, real-world game where people earn rewards for doing useful things — like trading goods and services, helping their community, or solving local problems.

• Players form teams (Holons) and complete missions that reflect real-world action:
• Bartering skills
• Hosting community events
• Running micro-businesses
• Cleaning up parks
• Growing food, etc.
• Everything is tracked by a system (the Virtue Engine) that scores activity based on real-world impact, not just screen time or digital points.
• The game turns everyday doing — buying, selling, trading, fixing, growing — into progress inside a shared, meaningful world.

It’s a game, but the outcomes are real: food gets grown, needs get met, stuff gets reused, and communities get stronger.

I’ve almost never heard a nonprofit manager or director say, “Wow – we’ve got so many volunteers we don’t have anything for them to do!” There are never enough people to do everything you’d like to be doing. Here are some fun facts though:

• Gamers represent a HUGE pool of mostly untapped talent. Last year, there were an estimated 3.2 BILLION active gamers, worldwide, and they do a lot more than just play games. As a group, they’ve got a staggeringly diverse skill set.
• If gamers were their own country, they would be the largest country on the planet by a wide margin.
• Gamers tend to skew younger, and many of the most popular online games see large, diverse groups of players from all over the world working tirelessly and cooperatively toward highly complex long term goals.
• Specifically, about half of all gamers fall into the 18-30 age bracket, with another one third being 30+. The age group Nonprofits have the hardest time attracting? 18-35. This is the answer to that problem.
• By gamifying the act of making things better, and by tracking our efforts using real world data, we attract legions of young, energetic, talented people to the task, opening up worlds of new possibilities for you, a manager or director of a nonprofit. Simply put, this is how you get the people you need to take your efforts to the next level.
• This system “pays” people for doing many of the tasks your volunteers are ALREADY doing. Granted, they get paid in Ghost Net Credits (Gc, which is the ‘in-game currency,’ but…Gc can be used to buy real world goods (including food), so spending Gc on groceries and such will make a player’s real world dollars stretch further. From your perspective as a nonprofit manager or director, since your volunteers are now getting some form of indirect compensation that doesn’t violate your charter, they’re likely to stay with you longer, which means less turnover and more expertise among your volunteer staff.
• Finally, it makes communication easier and more efficient, it makes it easier to chart the progress you’re making, and it makes it easier to identify newly emerging issues that may require your expertise and involvement.

In short, although it requires doing things a bit differently than you may be used to, Play the Planet can be an invaluable addition to your arsenal.

If you read the section above, you might be thinking, yeah, I’m a gamer and that…sounds like you want to put me to work. Why should I care about this stuff? And you know what? That’s a totally fair question. Here’s what Play the Planet offers you, as a gamer.

• It’s Quest driven. Take Quests, earn XP, and level yourself up (since YOU are both the player and your character).
• As you gain levels, you’ll gain more access to stuff on the network, more network powers, and of significance, you can invoke something on the network and see it have a real world impact! You can also earn 3d Printed “Relics” that have embedded network power and “do stuff” in the real world -not kidding!
• You’ll have the opportunity to be both a leader and a follower. The general rule is, if you undertake a Quest, then you’re the Quest leader. If, in the course of completing that Quest, you have to Summon a Flash Mob to get something done–say, build a greenhouse–then you’re in charge of that effort. If you help out on someone else’s Quest, they’re in charge.
• A Holon in the USA is a county (they go by different names in other parts of the world but every country has an equivalent structure), so you’ll be working with other players near you. Meeting face to face is virtually a given. This game takes place as much in the real world as it does online.
• There are a vast number of Quests that cover seven different aspects of creating a resilient, sustainable Holon, so if being outside isn’t really for you, there are PLENTY of Research, Reporting, and Archival Quests you can sink your teeth into. You get to pick the Quests you undertake. Just skip any that don’t sound like they’re a good fit for you.
• While there are a number of skill building Quests, there are TONS of Acts of Service Quests, and those pay you in the in-game currency, Ghost Net Credits (Gc). You can use Gc to buy real world goods and services, including access to any FabLab on the network, so…
• You can earn without having to “get a job.” Getting a job sucks. It’s hit or miss. How many times have you sent out a resume and you NEVER hear anything back? You don’t even know if anybody looked at it. Here, you can make money by simply seeing a problem that needs fixing and then fixing it. You don’t need anybody’s permission. There are no forms to fill out. You fix stuff and you get rewarded for it. Period.
• You can earn even if you’ve already got a job. It doesn’t matter. You can Play the Planet in your spare time or on the weekend. If you want overtime at your job, you’ve got to get it approved by the boss and it’s (usually) a big hassle. Here, none of that applies. You log on. You find a problem to fix, and you go do it.

Bottom line: It’s fun. It’s social, and it’s gaming that makes a real world difference. And that’s pretty damned cool.

The main reason is this: The stuff you’re already doing for free, volunteering for an established nonprofit? There’s probably an in-game Quest that will give you credit (and pay you in Ghost Net Credits (Gc)), which you can then use to buy real world goods and services.

Even if there’s not a Quest that covers what you’re currently doing as a volunteer, it is entirely possible that you can either create one or have one created, and even if that’s not true, you’ll still be plugged into a growing pool of like-minded people who can help you work more efficiently and effectively, and you may discover other Quests that dovetail with the work you’re currently doing.

You absolutely can, yes! Although Play the Planet was designed to appeal to gamers (of all ages), anybody can jump in and play, though if you’re not a gamer, it may take a bit of time to get used to how things work once you’re logged in. Don’t let that dissuade you, however! You’ve got this, and more importantly, you bring with you an incredible depth of experience that other people in your Holon will find invaluable.

Applying for a job can be nerve wracking and time-consuming. Oftentimes, you’ll submit an application or resume and just…never hear anything back. You’re often not even sure if anybody looked at it.

Play the Planet is different. You don’t need to apply anywhere. There isn’t an interview process because “Playing the Planet” isn’t really a job, even though there’s compensation to be had.

You don’t need anyone’s permission. You just find something that needs to be done and…you go do it. Try working overtime at your current job without clearing it with your boss first.

So you perform Act of Service Quests, you get paid Ghost Net Credits (Gc) on approval, and you can use that Gc to buy real world goods and services, from among the goods and services being offered for sale in Gc in your area–see the section called “What is a Ghost Net Credit” for full details).

Every Gc you spend on say, food, means fewer dollars you have to spend on food, making your budget go further than it otherwise would. And that’s how doing this helps.

Holon comes to us from the ancient Greek. It describes a thing that is entirely self sufficient, and yet, part of a larger, interconnected whole, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to build – a system of interconnected sustainable, resilient communities.

In the United States, a Holon = a county. In other countries, it may be named something different (vales, districts, or whatever), but it amounts to the same thing, and in rare cases where there are no such administrative districts, then a Holon defaults to this definition: “A circle, one hundred miles in radius, emanating from the middle of the largest population center in a given region.”

Ghost Net Credits (Gc for short) are the currency that exists inside Play the Planet. They’re like gold pieces in World of Warcraft. You can earn them by simply playing the game. What makes a Gc different from a gold piece, however, is that in WoW, you can only spend your gold on in-game stuff. You can buy better gear for your character, for example.

Here, in Play the Planet, Gc can be spent on real world goods and services. Players decide what to sell for Gc. Some might grow surplus food and sell that for Gc. Others might create a FabLab (Fabrication Laboratory) and charge a monthly fee for access. You can pay for a premium membership with Gc if you like.

Note that Gc were designed based on an amazing experiment that took place in a sleepy German village. The mayor of a town called Worgl (a man with the most amazing last name EVER, Michael Unterguggenberger), desperate to do something to stimulate local demand in the face of the Great Depression, introduced a local currency which was designed to encourage consumption by way of demurrage (a negative interest rate which decreased its value over time).

Given this feature, it made no sense to hoard the local currency. When you got it, you were inclined to spend it, which jumpstarted demand, exactly as intended.

So, once you start earning Gc, you’ve got a vested interest in offering something for SALE in Gc (as does everyone else in your Holon), thus facilitating the creation of a “companion economy” that exists in parallel with the dollar economy.

Once you’re logged in, hit the “Start Here” button and do a quick search to see if a Holon already exists in your area. If it does, joining is as simple as clicking the “Join my Holon” button.

If it doesn’t, you’ll be guided through a tutorial Quest that will earn you some XP and get your Holon up and running. That’s it.

Network Powers are real-world actions you earn through gameplay — from publishing, mentoring, and activating support across the planet. Remember, large swathes of this project are modeled using game theory, so the process of fixing stuff in the real world has been designed much like an MMORPG (think: World of Warcraft). In WoW, certain characters can cast “spells” like Gandalf, from the Lord of the Rings movies. Non-gamers might shrink away from this, assuming that there’s something satanic going on here – there isn’t. This is merely the expression of a well known, well understood game mechanic.

Here, everyone has that option, but of course, there are differences. Most notably, the network powers (spells, abilities, whatever you choose to call them) have effects that ripple into the real world. Here’s an example

Let’s say you encounter a homeless person. There are a couple of different ways you can respond. You can walk by and ignore that individual. You can open your wallet and give them some money or, you can “Bless” them. Drawing on your network power to make a gift of some Gc (not drawn from your own wallet, but rather, generated on the fly, on the basis of your network reputation).

So blessed, you can accompany that individual to the nearest location where food is traded in Gc in your Holon, and see to it that their needs are met.

Here’s another example. You have accepted a Quest that sees you assisting an elderly couple build a greenhouse. You could simply go do it yourself but – if you have the network power, you could also “summon a flash mob” to bring people to you and get it done that much more quickly.

This is another feature of Play the Planet’s design that might raise eyebrows among non-gamers and at first glance, it may sound impossible. As with network powers, there’s nothing evil or satanic going on here. Call them magic items, relics, network artifacts or something else, by whatever name, these are custom-built items that are imbued with certain network abilities and have real world impacts.

In gaming parlance, they’re magic items that actually “do stuff” in the real world.

Does that sound impossible? It’s not, but before we give an example, let’s first define what a Play the Planet Relic actually is:

A relic may not be purchased. It must be won by a specific player and it only works for that player. It must also have some real world functionality.

With that in mind, here’s an example: The Horn of Plenty.

Upon completing a number of Agronomy Quests, and having maintained a social ranking of at least 4.5 stars out of five, you get a cryptic email from one of the Quest Administrators.

It invites you to participate in a special Quest. As part of that quest, you are instructed to gather a specific list of materials and take them to your nearest FabLab.

When you do, a Master Craftsman will assemble your Relic and imbue it with the appropriate power. In this case, the horn is fitted with a biometric scanner. When you touch it, you imprint your biometric signature on it, slaving the Relic’s account to your own.

The Relic generates a small number of Gc each week, giving you a small stream of resources you can use to buy things you need, thus fulfilling the real world impact. There are many other designs you may stumble across during the course of play.