Chapter 037 - 1999.01.12
This is a story of an idea that started in the analog world -
back in the late 90s -
and then kept morphing -
as digital technology evolved.
I found this old starting place project image.
It had this chapters date.
Slants was a three (1) in one (1) toy-game-collectible concept:
1) a stress relief toy
2) a playground game
3) a collectibles set of items
It never found a producer group.
In the early 2000s -
slants morphed into globehoppers.
We even got the interest of Hasbro for a bit.
Globehoppers added a barcode to the pieces.
Using GPS technology -
scanning would virtualize the analog piece -
and give it a birth location stamp.
Then the piece would be ready to hop around the globe -
within a virtual hopper against hopper online gaming venue.
I won a contest and $1000 for this concept at the time.
But Hasbro was doing a similar type of electronic game -
with a virus theme -
and though they saw Globehoppers had some improvements -
they passed.
Fast forward another decade...
Globehoppers morphs into Webhoppers -
and the whole concept becomes more about -
a new way to do storytelling -
'automatic story generation'.
Webhoppers was all about following the emergent stories -
of 'your' hopper creations -
as they move about the real world.
Where with even competition challenge -
a new chapter would be added to a hoppers story.
The collectibles concept becomes virtual too -
where players are now challenged to -
'win' a hopper:
born in various:
continents
countries
states-provinces-regions
cities
presently positioned in these same places
traveled thru these same places
Webhoppers included that incredibly important -
revenue model.
Each hopper's story included:
creator person
sponsor 3rd party -
with links to sponsor -
products
services
experiences
Webhoppers included automatic:
language translation
pre-approved 'positive-only' chat messaging
The latter would allow real-time or other -
back-n-forth comm -
between gaming opponents -
but prevent bullying -
or other negative comm.
So many things to do with webhoppers -
on 'your' schedule.
Even challenges need NOT be played out in real time.
Predefined process sequencing -
being the key that allows everything to happen -
when the player finds the time -
to interact with the game and story.
Within the last year or so -
Webhoppers was given the new name -
Talepets
Like ALL discoveries and creations -
Talepets is immediately available for commercialization.
[more coming - if asked]