《Shadow Government》是款现实性社交游戏，由Playmatics创始人Margaret Wallace和Nick Fortugno、Philippe Trawnika（游戏邦注：前身是投资公司Bridgeworks.ch）和Millennium Institute联合开发。TechCrunch将此游戏描述为大型项目，将使用经济和持续性数据以及来自Millennium Institute的政府模拟软件为玩家提供建设、运作或摧毁自有虚拟国度的机会。

Socialistic近期通过邮件采访Wallace，询问《Shadow Government》的内容、现代游戏如何模糊现实和幻想间的界限，以及公司从Mark Pincus的社交游戏公司Zynga的崛起中所获取的经验等。以下是游戏邦编译的相关访谈内容：

Playmatics

《Shadow Government》属于何种游戏？其运作原理是什么？适用于哪些平台？游戏是否需要大量玩家才能够有效运转？

《Shadow Government》计划设计成手机社交游戏，我们格外关注iPhone和Android两大平台。类似其他社交游戏，玩家可以在《Shadow Government》中独自玩乐，但是如果有好友或其他人共同参与，还会获得更深层次的游戏体验。

因为《Shadow Government》同The Millennium Institute展开合作，我们可以为玩家提供某些特别的内容，即基于将现实国家、系统和世界事件游戏化的全新社交游戏形式，据我所知其他开发商还未实现。The Millennium Institute已制作出现实世界政府模拟软件，其精确度令人吃惊。迄今为止，这个用于模拟和预测世界事件的工具只被政府和决策者用于测试某些决定会如何影响世界。现在，iPhone或Android设备用户将首次可以模拟运作一个真实的国家。

我对游戏的想法非常感兴趣，看《Shadow Government》玩家掌控世界事件的能力能否超过真实世界中的领导人。

一旦这款游戏制作完成后，你们是否有过开发其他游戏的想法？

我们用于《Shadow Government》中的模拟工具极具扩展性，单凭这款游戏无法将其发挥到极致。游戏可能带来势不可挡的潮流，《Shadow Government》很可能萌生更具现实性的新题材游戏。利用这种独特的方法，我觉得现实性社交游戏将铸造社交游戏新时代。

很显然，Zynga是社交游戏领域的巨擘。你们的做法与他们有何不同之处？你从他们的迅速崛起中有何收获？

没有人可以否认Zynga在游戏制作和运营上的睿智。他们已凭借自己的头脑构建起社交游戏帝国，根据用户反馈来调整游戏设计，着眼于最大化用户的参与度和品牌忠诚度。Zynga较早入驻Facebook平台的举动也使其受益。

手机社交领域之所以对我们有如此大的吸引力，是因为这个平台上仍然有很大的发展空间。如果说在技术和游戏生涯中学到什么的话，就是成为领先者而不是追随者。这并不意味着《Shadow Government》将永不出现在Facebook上，只是对于我来说手机社交领域不会那么拥挤，平台上依然存在让我们立足的空间。况且，因为智能手机的普及而且各年龄段在手机上玩游戏的人逐渐增加，让《Shadow Government》选择这片领域显得更有发展前景。

游戏是否原本就带有社交化层面？

这种说法由来已久，历史上的游戏确实都带有社交层面。事实上，所谓的“社交游戏”关注的是游戏自古以来便具有的特性。就以目前Facebook上的游戏为例，“社交化”的概念并不固定。社交玩法可以指代实时多人玩法，也可以表示与社交图表中好友间的异步互动。

有位朋友曾经告诉我，视频游戏的最终形态是用超强的能力和技术完美模拟线下的真实生活。你们的作品是否与上述情况很接近？社交游戏会将我们带到这种层面上来吗？

我们正在将游戏和刚刚理解的“现实性”融合起来。我深信《Shadow Government》之类的游戏会不断让这两种体验间的界限变得模糊。人性无疑会将“现实性”和逐渐媒体化的现实性表达方法合并起来。

你认为社交游戏领域里会发生的下个大事是什么？有没有你认为将要风靡的技术？

我想行业将会看到著名社交游戏和手机社交公司对整个社交媒介的影响，而这种方式我们甚至还从未想到过。以《Shadow Government》关注手机社交平台为例，很显然我们极度看好这个平台及其潜在的机遇。就个人而言，我对平板电脑市场也很感兴趣。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

The Socialistic Interview: Playmatics’ Margaret Wallace On Reality-Based Social Gaming

Shadow Government is a new “reality-based” social game being developed by Playmatics founders Margaret Wallace and Nick Fortugno in collaboration with Philippe Trawnika (formerly of the investment firm Bridgeworks.ch) in partnership with the Millennium Institute. According to a description in TechCrunch, the game is a massive project that will “use economic and sustainability data, and government-modeling software from the Millennium Institute to give players a chance to build and run, or destroy their own virtual countries.”

Socialistic recently caught up with Wallace over email to find out what Shadow Government is all about, how modern games are blurring the line between reality and fantasy, and what her company has learned from the dramatic rise of Mark Pincus’s social gaming giant Zynga.

What is Shadow Government, and how will it work? What platforms will it run on? Will it need a critical mass of players to work?

The Shadow Government game is initially planned as a social mobile title. We are looking closely at both iPhone and Android platforms. Like any social game, Shadow Government will playable as a standalone but the experience can be deepened through the participation and involvement of friends and others along the social graph.

Because of Shadow Government’s partnership with The Millennium Institute, we can offer players something that (as far as I know) no one else can: An entirely new form of social gaming based on the “gamification” of real countries, systems, and worldwide events. That’s because The Millennium Institute has created a real-world government modeling software that is astonishingly accurate. Until now, this tool for modeling and predicting world events has only been in the hands of governments and policy-makers to use and to test out how certain decisions impact the real world. Now, for the first time, anyone with an iPhone or Android can ‘play’ at what it’s like to simulate running a real country.

I am absolutely fascinated at the idea of seeing if players of the Shadow Government game can do a better job of managing world events and outcomes than actual leaders in the real world.

Do you have other games in the pipeline once this is built out?

Well, the modeling tool we are using for Shadow Government is so expansive – it’s not going to all be encapsulated in just this one game iteration. That would potentially be too over-whelming, so Shadow Government has the unique possibility to foster an entirely new genre of gaming that is more reality-based that just about anything out there as far as I’m concerned. So, with our unique approach, I see these reality-based social games as spurring a new level of social gaming.

Zynga is obviously the big fish in the social media games space. How is what you’re doing different from what they’ve done? Are there any lessons you’ve learned from their quick rise?

No one can deny how brilliantly Zynga iterates and executes on IP. They have built a social gaming empire based on intelligent and efficient iteration, a keen focus on metrics-driven game design and an eye toward effectively leveraging the social graph to maximize engagement and brand loyalty. Zynga also benefitted from being “early in” on the Facebook platform.

One of the reasons social mobile is so appealing to us is that there is still significant room to make an impact on this platform. If I have learned anything in my time in tech and gaming, it is to be a leader and not a follower. That doesn’t mean Shadow Government will never be on Facebook – it’s just that, to me, the social mobile space is less crowded. It gives us the room to potentially stand out. Also, in terms of ubiquity and the increasing numbers of people from all age-groups who play games on their smartphones, it’s a more interesting proposition for Shadow Government to deploy here out the gate.

Are games inherently social?

It’s a cliché but it’s true that games throughout history have traditionally been social. With the advent of so-called “social” games, we are returning to where games have always been. As we’ve seen with the current crop of games that are on Facebook, for example, what it means to be considered “social” is very fluid. Social play can mean real-time multiplayer, but it can also mean having an asynchronous interaction with your friends in the social graph.

A friend once told me that the ultimate video game would be “just like this, with guns” — meaning a perfect simulacra of offline reality with enhanced abilities and fantasy. How close are we to that kind of thing? Is social gaming getting us there?

We are at the convergence of gaming and what we have currently understood as “reality.” I truly believe games like Shadow Government will continue to blur the lines between these two experiences. As a former media scholar from back in my graduate school days, it’s an inevitable human trait to merge “reality” with increasingly mediated expressions of that reality.

What do you think will be the next big thing in social gaming? Are there any technologies that you think are about to pop?

I think we’re going to see leading social gaming and social mobile companies to leverage the social graph and what it means to be social in ways we’ve never even imagined. Given Shadow Government’s initial focus on social mobile, it’s probably pretty obvious that we are extremely excited about this platform and the potential here. Personally, I am also very inspired by the tablet marketplace, too. (Source: Socialistic)