Castle Age or New Age?

CEO Viewpoint:

Hello Dear Readers!

This week was a whirlwind of activity with a quick trip to NYC for the Inman Conference and then off the plane and a few hours later the Brokers' Quarterly at the Marriott. We had 102 brokers and managing brokers register for the quarterly but dense fog and zero visibility decreased the attendance about 20%. Congratulations to Cynthia Ward of Keller-Williams and her entire committee for putting together a great informational meeting!

While at the conference, your MLS President Keith Taggart & I had a lively conversation following an informational/educational session about how we wished we could incorporate a game/online experience for members in learning about how much the MLS has to offer. A continued frustration is the low level of awareness about all the built in features in the MLS suite of services that are designed to save brokers and associates a significant amount of time and/or money.

I had a substantial layover in St. Louis so I logged on to my favorite new addiction: Castle Age!Castle age is an online interactive and very social game on Facebook. While I was never one ofthose Dungeons & Dragon's gameplayers, my brother Ed and my son Jared were (probably because Ed was our babysitter during his teen years- he passed his passion for gaming to my son). However, I was a HUGE King Arthur, middle ages fan. I will confess to give you insight into the weird brain of your CEO, I was completely obsessed with our great rulers in history. In 4th grade I read every single biography in the Sugar Camp School library and our wonderful librarian ordered from the neighboring school in an attempt to keep my passion satisfied. I was especially enthralled with the middle ages. When I discovered JRR Tolkien in high school, I was in heaven. It was a fascination that has never ended.

So there I was in St. Louis, battling epic fights with mystical creatures, and gaining more online friends by the minute (Castle Age allows you to identify online battles through a Castle Age News Feed, create a tiny URL to post, and then as a player you can join other battles or advertise yours for assistance. Assisting gains you points experience and virtual cash). OKAY I am in my glory in this environment. For those regular readers, I am one of those obsessive people who strive to attain self-imposed "Points" for performance and behavior. In this game I can earn as many points as I want and I am pleased with myself and my smart money management in the game.

Then this morning it all came together. We need to create a game with social media components that teach members all about the MLS. As members complete Quests (such as completing a virtual tour on property panorama or acheiving 10 showing assist entries) they gain levels, points and imaginary money, which perhaps they could use at the Rstore or for conferences or even maybe some fees certificates. Members could reach out to each other for assistance. The MLS tech staff could fulfill the Oracle or Heal portion of the game. The member's virtual bank is tapped for each time assistance is required.

So what do you think? Do we have any software developers out there? I know we have some former programmers- I have talked to them. I think I will put this out there as a project for the GENnext network. I am interested in your thoughts? Don't like to comment on the blog? Email me at dkennedy@okcmar.org of course you can post to this blog anonymously where everyone can see your ideas and opinions.