World Without Oil Launches

The PBS-funded World Without Oil "alternate reality event" has launched. The goal is to get people thinking about what a real oil crisis would actually feel like. Content from YouTube videos, blogs (LiveJournal, Blogger, Vox, WordPress), podcasts (Box.net), and MySpace profiles is being used to chronicle World Without Oil.
What's the nightmare scenario? Gasoline prices have jumped by over a dollar, oil delivery contracts were renegotiated upwards, and nations like China and India are rushing to secure the remaining contracts. And this is only week one.

This blog excerpt encapsulates the chillingly real feel of the game:

Back in early 2003, I read something that changed my life. It was a site called "Life after the Oil Crash" and it told in chilling detail the problem that our society faces in terms on an impending peak in oil production. I knew long before this that eventually the day of reckoning would come, but I had no idea it was literally on our doorstep. In the context of Peak Oil, so many world events finally made sense in a connected way. Before this realization, I saw history unfurling in a patchwork of random events. After it, there were almost no questions left. The big question became instead, what am I going to do about this? What would I do with this information? How would I change my life?

An immense amount of world-building has been done to support the game's scenario using all the tools of Web 2.0. How do you actually play the game? By creating your own content, anything from blogs to videos. You can also call in and leave a phone message, which will be posted on an audioblog.

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Labels: Technology

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World Without Oil Launches