Before video games, there was another way of gamifying your life… IN REAL LIFE!

The Dice Man

A 1971 novel by American novelist George Cockcroft, writing under the pen name “Luke Rhinehart” was, for a while, all I heard adults talk about, in hushed tones, not for the ears of children.

Even my older brother was deferential to its legend. Its powerful and dangerous central idea. The idea of giving up free will, to the Dice.

The book and idea took on mythical proportions in my young brain. It was (so they said) a true story involving sex, rape, murder, ‘dice parties’, breakouts by psychiatric patients, various corporate and governmental machines breaking down and a cult.

Heady stuff for an 8-year-old.

By the time I read it a few years later, the story had lost its power, the book was ok, but didn’t live up to the promise. The first time a story’s legend outweighed the actual story, and not the last.

But the ideas of ultimate freedom – or nihilism – making decisions using dice, offering the dice options, and they choose for you. That’s bigger than books, stories and video games isn’t it?

Don’t Psychoanalyse Me

 I have my own therapist, thank you.

These ideas of free will, choice and chance are ever more present in our lives today, making it fertile subject matter for any type of interactive media. (See this article about social media and choice.) And in the development of our interactive story game Clive is a Good Guy, choice is especially interesting.

So when it came to make a trailer for the game we wanted to make something interactive, fun and functional – a coin flipping app, featuring our game characters, that you put your major question of the day into – and the app takes the decision for you!

The app is getting a soft launch any day now!

Find out more over at the Live by the Spin website.