BANGALORE: While online games are often termed a waste of time, the concept of ‘serious gaming’ promises to utilise the large ‘knowledge’ base of online gamers in the future.
To change the face of marketing of the agricultural produce in the country, the Center for Study of Science Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Bangalore, has come up with a desi version of Facebook’s Farmville game called Mango Mandi. The game intends to translate virtual ‘smart work’ by gamers to the real world.
Unlike Farmville, Mango Mandi is a ‘serious game’ that would be used for studying agricultural wastage and understanding the market-supply chains.
Tonnes of fruits and vegetables go waste even before reaching the market because of a flawed supply chain every year. This multi-player game will see the players develop ‘smart ways’ to best market the produce with minimal loss.
Their moves and ideas will be recorded and analysed by a back-end team, says Jayanth, a project-research engineer.
Jayanth and his co-researcher Bharath, both from CSTEP, have been working on the project for over a year.
The name Mango Mandi was chosen since the multi-player simulation game project was started in the mango season, Bharath said.
“For the primary field research, we visited Jakkur, Electronic City and other mango markets, where we even met dealers and transporters to understand the existing practises,” he added.
In this Java-based game, the players can choose respective roles such as a farmer, dealer or a middle-man. He then has to play the chosen role over a period of time, which would be a 45-day cycle.
As part of the research, the Mango Mandi team also demonstrated the beta-version of the online game to real market dealers. The project is being developed in collaboration with the Technical University of Delft (TU-Delft) from Netherlands.
“The final version of the game will have features such as complex negotiations and market procedures, including unexpected events such as a transport strike or a sudden heavy downpour damaging crops and facilities such as micro loan or an easy loan,” Jayanth said.
“During this time, the back-end (department) will record the market and player behaviours, helping the researchers frame a proper market analysis,” Jayanth explains.
The Mango Mandi goes online in April.