Over a great dinner with some Akohans last night in SF, we talked about a few short-term, mid-term and long-term ‘quick fixes’ that could help them be more effective at playing missions and getting missions confirmed.  One little, but oh-so-useful, issue that came up (which has been echoed by many of you in the past) is “the carrying case”.  Akohans, you want a case to put your cards in.  This falls squarely on my shoulders — and the little bit of research that I’ve done has shown that there are many business card cases, but few ‘playing card’ sized ones that would be easy to carry in a bag.  Sooooo… I’m going to do something that I always feel embarrassed about doing and ask for help:

Have you ever seen a card-case that you think would be ideal for carrying Akoha cards?  This is something that’s ideally not too big (easy to carry in a purse, or pocket) and that will protect the cards from the regular wear and tear that happens when they’re totted around for an extended period of time amidst wallets and other magical items found in pockets and purses.

If you haven’t seen one first hand, what about on the Internet?  Is there a case that looks affordable, comfortable (no jagged edges or spikes!) and useful on a website somewhere in the world?  We’d be happy to give business to someone that can keep up with the demand — even better if they’re a burgeoning independent artist!

Want to help us crowd-source this even more?  You could ask on Yahoo! answer, Mahalo or any other Answers site that you’re affiliated with.

Thanks for reading this, thanks for helping.  Something small like this might help people bring cards around more often, which in turn will get people thinking more about kindness, which in turn will raise the amount of missions played.

Feel free to use comments, email me (sean at akoha dot com) or catch us on Twitter — whatever you’re most comfortable with.  I’ll synthesize the answers once we get enough.

I (Sean Power, community gardener for Akoha) will be in San Francisco this week to spend some time at Web 2.0 Expo and meet Akoha players and play some missions in the area.  I’ll be organizing a get together, but I’m still in the process of putting it together.  Expect to see an announcement coming up shortly, including some out-of-town blog posts this week.

Wherever you are, let’s get some Akoha missions played this week!  Keep up with the RSS feed, check out the Community feed and follow us on Twitter for inspiration, questions and guidance.

San Francisco, March 24, 2009 - Akoha Inc., which creates online and real-world social games designed to make the world a better place, is pleased about its selection as a finalist for GamesBeat2009’s Who’s Got Game? start-up competition.

Akoha was one of seven companies chosen from 50 video game and virtual world start-ups. GamesBeat determined the finalists based on “the degree of innovation, potential for business success, and freshness”.

“We’re obviously thrilled to be named as a What’s Got Game? finalist,” said Austin Hill, Akoha’s chief executive and co-founder. “We see it as yet another positive indication Akoha has started to gain significant traction as more people learn about how we’re creating a game focused on large scale social change.”

Hill will deliver a five-minute presentation today on the GamesBeat 2009 stage before a panel of judges that includes VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi, Jamil Moledina of EA Partners; Ed Fries, CEO of Figure Prints and former head of Microsoft Game Studios; Kevin Bachus, co-founder of Microsoft’s Xbox; James Cham, associate partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Goldberg, head of Crossover Technologies; and Jay Eum, managing director at TransLink Capital. The audience will also select a People’s Choice winner.

Inspired by elements of social entrepreneurship, massively multiplayer and reality-based games, Akoha users carry out missions that involve performing small acts of kindness for others. These activities are described on “mission cards”, and as players perform more missions, they advance in the game, recruit new players, and spread good deeds across the world.

Since the launch of Akoha’s private beta at the TechCrunch50 conference last September, there have been more than 3,000 mission plays in 37 countries. Akoha has established an initial target of 25,000 mission plays as part of a partnership with the charity group Room to Read that will see the construction of a library in Nepal.

While the growing number of mission plays is exciting, Hill said it is also encouraging to see how the game is inspiring people to change how they view the world. This was highlighted, he said, in a recent blog post in which an Akoha user said:

“When I started playing Akoha, it was mostly because it was fun to play missions and see my karma points collect. Almost six months later, I’ve begun to notice a change in the rest of my life…..What I really notice though, is that I say “Thank You” an awful lot more. Often times it’s just in my head, but more and more I’m willing to stop people (whom I don’t know) and say “Thank You”. These things make me smile and brighten my day, and hopefully by passing that on, I can make someone else’s day better.”

Some of Akoha’s recent accomplishments include a presentation at TED University in January. At TED, Akoha introduced its new Inspired Minds mission cards that were inspired by various TED speakers and talks. The new cards include nine new missions such as:

Share a TED Book – Inspired by the TED book club in which books that change the readers’ view of the world are sent to TED community members.

Photograph the Need for Change – Inspired by the TED Prize winner and photographer James Nachtwey, who has used photography to document wars, conflicts and critical social issues.

Calculate your Carbon Footprint – Inspired by Nobel Prize Winner and TED speaker Al Gore’s call for urgent change to help fight global warming.

Share a Documentary – Inspired by TED Prize winner Jehane Noujaim’s TED talk and the Pangea Day project in which documentary films where shown at live sites in Brazil, Egypt, India, Rwanda and the United States

Hill said the company’s success and growth over the past few months have set the stage for significant moves forward in 2009.

“We’re looking forward to an exciting year as Akoha attracts more players,” Hill said. “There’s growing interest and enthusiasm in helping to make the world a better place, and Akoha well-positioned to be part of it.”

About Akoha

Akoha combines online games, social networking and real-world activity to help make the world a better place. Akoha players carry out acts of kindness - known as “missions” - to collect points recruit new players and, as important, spread acts of kindness.

The Montreal-based company was founded in 2007 by long-time friends and entrepreneurs Austin Hill and Alex Eberts, who believe games and online communities could make a positive impact on people around the world.
Akoha is currently in beta but it has already attracted accolades from organizations such as the Canadian Innovation Exchange, Banff Venture Forum and the Crunchie Awards. To start playing Akoha, mission decks can be purchased at the Akoha Store -http://store.akoha.com/

Akoha Media Contact:
Mark Evans
mark@akoha.com
416-910-8895

San Francisco, March 23, 2009 - Akoha Inc. chief executive and co-founder Austin Hill will be giving a presentation today at the Serious Games Summit about how Akoha is developing online and off-line games that encourage people around the world to perform small acts of kindness.

Hill’s presentation is about how Akoha is embracing elements of social entrepreneurship, massively multiplayer and reality-based games to create real-world missions that benefit other people - everything from giving someone your favorite books or inviting a friend out for drinks to buying someone chocolate.

During his presentation, Hill will talk about the personal story that inspired Akoha’s creation, while getting into the details about how the company’s systems was developed, and the critical design problems that Akoha had to overcome to create its gameplay combination of real-world game-cards and back-end systems and social networking work.

“What I’m hoping to provide is insight into what inspired myself and co-founder Alex Eberts to create Akoha, which has become a labor of love for both of us,” Hill said. “As well, I want to provide perspective, information and, hopefully, valuable knowledge about some of the key considerations that go into developing a game that you hope resonates with people.”

The acts of kinds done by Akoha players are described on “mission cards”, and as players perform more missions, they advance in the game, recruit new players, and spread good deeds across the world.

Since the launch of Akoha’s private beta at the TechCrunch50 conference last September, there have been more than 3,000 mission plays in 37 countries. Akoha has established an initial target of 25,000 mission plays as part of a partnership with the charity group Room to Read that will see the construction of a library in Nepal.

At the recent TED conference, Akoha launched its new Inspired Minds mission cards that were inspired by various TED speakers and talks.

TED provided some of the initial inspiration for Akoha after Hill and Eberts attended the conference in which the theme was “Ideas Big Enough to Change the World”. As well, Hill and Eberts received encouragement during the Sundance Film Festival where some of their friends were discussing movies that could make a difference.

“Akoha emerged from discussions that Alex and I had about the power of communities and the changing nature of play,” Hill said. “They sparked ideas into a business that we’re confident will have a positive impact on people around the world.”

About Akoha
Akoha combines online games, social networking and real-world activity to help make the world a better place. Akoha players carry out acts of kindness - known as “missions” - to collect points recruit new players and, as important, spread acts of kindness. The Montreal-based company was founded in 2007 by long-time friends and entrepreneurs Austin Hill and Alex Eberts, who believe games and online communities could make make a positive impact on people around the world.

Akoha is currently in beta but it has already attracted accolades from organizations such as the Canadian Innovation Exchange, Banff Venture Forum and the Crunchie Awards.

To start playing Akoha, mission decks can be purchased at the Akoha Store - http://store.akoha.com/

Akoha will be making an appearance at SXSW this year!  If you’re an Akoha player or a potential one, let’s meet! I (Sean Power, aka as @akoha and @seanpower) will be there from the 12th to the 18th.  If enough of you comment on this post or reach out to me on Twitter indicating that you want to meet, I’ll even organize an AkohaCamp!

So do please reach out to me on Twitter or here and let me know if you’re there.  I would love to meet you, and have a card in my pocket with your name on it