On the Web, you are someone else’s infrastructure

World of Fourcraft takes Foursquare’s check-in service and Google Maps to bond individuals into groups who compete for virtually owning neighborhoods in New York [via Adverblog]. Can you dig it?

On the Web, every bit of information, application, software or whatever you want to call it has the potential to become the raw materials for somebody else’s project or business. Everything is reassemble-able, if you choose to allow it. Most organizations facilitate it, and reap the rewards in the form of attention and traffic. But is there a more direct way to monetize this?

In the case of World of Fourcraft, let’s take the idea and tweak it. What if instead of organizing conquering teams by neighborhood, they were organized by a business you choose? And the map can be a virtual one organized however we want. For example, let’s say Eastern Mountain Sports told me I could get a 20% discount on my next pair of rock climbing shoes if I joined its “team” and checked in at various climbing routes at different points around New York. The goal would be for EMS to “own” all of these locations when people search for them.

World of Fourcraft’s role would be to assemble a number of businesses into a group competing to brand this virtual space. Or perhaps it would be to assemble a virtual map that is useful to climbers that climbing gear outfitters would then want to brand.

If you do sign up, here’s the message you get when you sign in through Foursquare:

Congrats!
Welcome to the World of Fourcraft

The World of Fourcraft is an adventure of Social Conquest™

The object of the game is to join forces with your Borough Buddies™ and swarm over and conquer the entirety of New York City.

There are no prizes. There are no celebrations. The only reward is the feeling of pride you normally only get from being re-tweeted.

How do you play?

1. Login into the World of Fourcraft site

2. Swear your allegiance to your favorite Borough

3. Incessantly check in on Foursquare, as you are want to do

4. Use our Battle Map to get the latest news on The Social Wars™

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.