PMOG Pwnage (and other Phat Loot)

One of the most novel things I have seen in quite a while is PMOG, the Passively Multiplayer Online Game. What is novel about it? Well for one, you read right...it's "passive."

First you sign up (no more invites, they just went public) and download their toolbar. Now I know what you're thinking...ANOTHER toolbar....but this one can be hidden with a button-click so it is relatively unobtrusive. There may be a little bit of a resource drag because the extension fetches data from the PMOG servers on every page-load, but on a normal machine (unlike my clunky machine) you shouldn't have much of a worry.

Ok, so now that that ugly bit of business is out of the way...PLAY! What's great about PMOG is that it allows you to basically make a game out of surfing the web. Users can leave mines, mine-disarmers, crates with goods in them, and portals (fancy word for links) on almost any site on the web for other users to find. Every new domain you visit gives you a few "datapoints" which are both important for leveling your profile and buying the aforementioned things.

Here is a sample situation...
You're browsing Digg or something and you click on a popular article. Suddenly, BAM, your screen flashes red and your browser resizes rapidly so it looks like your screen was just blown up. After all this a little note pops up to say whose mine you just tripped over and a link to their profile. From there you can send them a note...or plant a mine on THEIR profile page.

There are lots of fun things like Badges, which are awarded for certain usage patterns, and Associations, which are like character classes. The whole thing is sort of steampunk or Victorian or something, so sometimes the directions are a bit hard to understand, but overall it's definitely something to try out.

Oh and if you want me to invite you (I get referral points), leave a message on this post with your email (feel free to type it out so the robots don't get you).

[Also, try visiting this page once you get PMOG running...]

Resources:
Beta Badge fromPMOG at pmog.com

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