I'm not really sure which forum to post this in. Here is the article I'm reacting to:
Play an online game, win a ride in space?
Two firms prepare to offer skill games with suborbital trip as top prizeThere are several things that interest me about this. First of all, the likelyhood that this will go nowhere, and perhaps even give us some amusing trainwreck appeals to my love of pratfalls.
Then there is this:
Online skill games pit players against each other in a challenge that involves something more than mere chance — in contrast with Internet gambling, which is illegal in the United States. On the Virgin Skill Web site, as on many other "casual gaming" portals, participants can pay as little as a half-dollar to compete against each other for high scores in Solitaire, Bejeweled, trivia quizzes or other games of not-totally-chance. Payoffs are deposited into winners' accounts, and can be withdrawn as real money.
I don't know what gambling is, clearly.* Fortunately, the writers called in an academic to clarify things:
"It's hard to do a skill game that is really, truly a game of skill and is fun to play," the professor observed. "That is a very practical problem. If it's too easy, then it might become a form of gambling. And if it's too hard, it becomes a form of gambling."
And since Virgin is involved in one of the games, we get double en tendres free with the discussion:
Virgin's spaceship-themed game, called Virgin Galactic Quest, is being fine-tuned for a debut later this month, said Stephen Attenborough, vice president of astronaut relations at Virgin Galactic. "I've had a look at it," he told MSNBC.com. "It's a very compulsive game."
He said the game would put you "in control of your spaceship's progress," with different levels posing an escalating series of challenges. "It will consist of a tournament which will lead to a finale, and there will be a Virgin space seat for the lucky winner — or the skillful winner, I should say," Attenborough said.
'Virgin space seat' sounds like something out of an SF porno with a title like 'Cabin Boys in Space', but I suppose you'd rather I hadn't gone there. Oh well, too late.
The other company using the same idea is named Spaceshot. Their game is a Sekrit:
"It's a nondexterity skill game," he said. "It's not a shoot-'em-up. It doesn't have anything to do with Virgin Galactic's game, and I'll go further to say it's not a game where people have to play for a while, like checkers or chess or Reversi."
Gosh, I sure want to play that game.
If it weren't for Virgin's actually having a spaceship, and a billionaire, I'd figure the game here was Pyramid Scheme. But even if it flops, it's good to see people exploring new ways to use the Internet to separate a fool and his money. That's a game that never gets old.
* Actually, I do know what gambling is, and I'm impressed with our ability to make the fine distinctions that divide gambling from games with a purse funded by an entrance fee. But it flows better that way, and I really don't understand how purse games are different than a game of pool for a cash stake. Mostly, I'm feeling very cynical just now.
Also, I'm jealous because I don't have a job with a name like Vice President of Astronaut Relations.
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