About meetü
Whoa... What was I just playing?
Take a moment and breathe. If you're reading this, you just completed the meetü social networking game. Congratulations! Now that you're not running around trying to complete missions, we'll give you a chance to read more about the game.
Overview
meetü is a social networking game where players meet other players with common interests through the use of variable data printing and social computing.
Game Materials
Players start with a game card and a sheet of personal QR code stickers. Once one of the stickers is placed in the upper corner of their game card, identifying it as theirs, they are ready to play.
Missions
The player’s goal is to collect other QR code stickers by successfully completing missions. Like gold stars, the stickers denote successfully completing meetü missions. Game materials in hand, players may begin completing either of the two types of missions intended to get users socially involved in Imagine:RIT.
Person-to-Person Missions (P2P)
P2P missions foster social interaction and networking with new people. Players will have to seek out different types of people and certain specific individials. Once found, players exchange personal stickers to complete the mission. Swapping of stickers also allows players to link up one with another via social networking software after the event.
Person-to-Exhibit (P2E)
P2E missions direct players to specific exhibits allowing them to be actively engaged in both meetü and the event at the same time.
Scanning & Scoring
Finished game-cards are collected, scanned, and scored. The software reads the unique sticker codes and compares all the data to confirm that people connected and missions were completed.
Visualization on the Web
These connections are compiled and published to the web and players securely log in to view their connections (including link to their Facebook.com pages) and mission “achievements.”
In order to promote the “meetü experience,” a multi-channel marketing campaign was developed. All of the collateral created was based on the meetü logo’s signature two facing “e’s”. The campaign began with an animated website followed by a series of posters featuring famous pairings (ex. peanut butter + jelly), complete with stylized meetü letter e’s in each of the words.
Marketing
The kick-off for the poster campaign began by using all pair posters to create an 8’x 8 poster on the outside of RIT’s Wallace Library. Marketing continued in the days leading the event as posters continued to appear around campus and little reminders and teasers streamed out via twitter. The intention of the marketing of meetü was to create a “buzz” around campus.
Drupal
All of the information before, during, and after the game is stored online on the Meetü website (http://opl.rit.edu/meetu), which is based off of version 6 of the Drupal content management system. Missions, achievements (completed missions), the game materials, exhibit descriptions, and player profiles are all represented in the online system as Drupal nodes (small pieces of content). Drupal provides the foundation for managing content and players, while custom Drupal modules written by the OPL meetü team provide the mission validation and workflow functionality that make the game work.
The OPL intends to release a meetü Drupal install module in the near future so anyone can run their own version of the game.
Credits
- Professor Michael Riordan
- Professor Matthew Bernius
- Dan Casazza
- Mike Morisco
- Tony Stuck
- Guy Paddock
- Gordon Toth
- Abdul Matsah
- Katelyn Moser
- Chris Platt
- Justin Monsees
- Micah Stupak
