Think of it as a roleplaying game in which you are the dice, maybe. If you dive, jump, bounce, and roll right, you’ll escape the imaginary zombies coming for you. If not, you’re the dinner of the undead.
Wired magazine’s got a look at a full-body zombie-escape workout plan that uses your imagination to motivate you to new heights of aerobic action. It’s sort of like a parkour LARP in a safe, padded environment. The zombies exist only in the collective imagination-space of the athletes, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a story to speak of, except for the little micro-tales that form in each participant’s imagination surrounding this narrow escape or that daring feat.
Do these people know that they’re roleplaying? It doesn’t matter. They totally are.
The question, I suppose, is “Are they gaming?” Because while they’re playing, I’m not sure it’s a game, exactly.
That depends on how you define game and gaming. Are kids gaming when they play Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, or whatever it is kids play along those lines these days (assuming they play anything like that at all with video games so prevalent). I would probably say no, because in my mind a game has structure and rules, and has a definite end point, a purpose or goal. Just playing doesn’t have any of these.
Exactly, Jason. I think it’s play, in this case, even though it’s goal-directed in the sense that exercise usually is. But maybe I’m wrong, and the exercise goals make it a game: Can you get do 60 reps before the zombies eat you? Can you clear all the parkour hurdles before the time runs out? Those are gamey questions. So, I’m torn.