BizMech Ideas: The Last Ones
(This will be the last BizMech Ideas post and also my last post on Medium. I’ll explain why at the end.)
When I started writing down the BizMech Ideas, the goal was to clear them out of my to-do list. The intention was to free up any mental resources I’d been dedicating to the attic of ideas.
And after sharing five of them, it feels like I just reorganized my bedroom and now I have all this free space in my head.
But, with all that space, a flood of new ideas are rushing in and I’d like to spend more time working on them. So, here are the last two BizMech Ideas. These are the least developed so I’ll just stick to the Value Proposition / Business Model portion.
Timeline
By guiding the user through a series of questions, Timeline will help them construct a clear, more detailed view of their lives and trajectory in this world. This detailed view will allow generations to come to have a better understanding of the decisions and milestones of the generations that have passed.
The primary goal would be to act as a tool for interviewing our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. One of the main issues with just ‘asking them’, is that episodic memory in humans is notoriously problematic. By providing general milestones, like births and weddings, we can guide the conversation in a more effective manner.
The process would be:
- Start with general questions (when/where were you born? when/where were you married?)
- Then ask, between this event and that one, what did you do?
- Then, continue this process, splitting out the timeline until you have major events and minor events
The final output can then be shared with other family members who can clarify and correct events, providing information and photos as ‘proof’ or ‘counterproof’.
Gamify the GED
Using the requirements of the GED, build a game that uses game theory and instructional systems design to teach each topic using an MMPORG model. Once the gamer provides proof that they passed the GED, they are provided a trophy/badge and identified as a Sage.
If a Sage chooses to continue playing the game, they can play with other users but they cannot participate in raids or other clan-type actions.
The GED requirements for Basic Math, Geometry, Basic Algebra, Graphs and Functions will be used for magic skills. Harder questions for hard magic, easy ones for easy magic.
The requirements for Reading for Meaning, Identifying and Creating Arguments, Grammar and Language will relate to accepting and deciphering quests. To add to the sense of immersion. the different game-races will speak different languages. When these languages are translated into English, the grammar is problematic. The user is given puzzles that require them to identify arguments, meaning of sentences, and so on. As the user get’s more proficient, more quests are opened to them.
The requirements for Reading for Meaning in Social Studies, Analyzing Historical Events and Arguments in Social Studies, Using Numbers and Graphs in Social Studies will be incorporated into the world lore. A deeper understanding of the lore could unlock missions. As in, a legendary weapon can be found in X place but you have to travel to certain sites in order. To find those sites, you have to decipher and understand certain world related facts.
The requirements for Reading for Meaning in Science, Designing and Interpreting Science Experiments, Using Numbers and Graphics in Science could be incorporated into combat skills, armor and weapon skills. For example, ice creatures are weak against fire. But how? Is it the heat, the light, something else? Accept the quest and begin the experiment to find out, kill enough ice creatures with enough different methods, return to The Keep and report your findings. Then you are walked through correlation vs causation, drawing incomplete conclusions, etc. etc.
There are definitely opportunities to combine the actions for each requirement into interesting teaching methods.
The first thing I published on Medium was back in January 2019. Back then, I wasn’t even sure I could write an article a month. After 70 articles in 4.5 years, the math works out to 1.2 a month so I guess I was wrong.
Moving forward, I’ll be contributing to EYO Media’s Substack and the first BizMech post there will be up shortly.
Thank you to all the people who subscribed to me here. I hope you enjoyed what I wrote and I hope it inspired you to write.
Because if I can do it, anyone can.
UPDATE: …yeah, that whole substack thing didn’t work out so I guess I’m back.
