PMOG – A Firefox extension MMO

Although the game is currently in beta testing it has almost 6500 people already playing, so it is fair to say PMOG, a Passively Multiplayer Online Game according to the creator is already a success. What’s PMOG you say? Well, it is unlike any other MMO you played before, as it focuses on your internet browsing patterns, and the browsing patterns of other to create the game world you play in. To start you have to download the Firefox extension which places a toolbar at the bottom of your browsers window, register for the beta on the same site, wait for approval, and then you can start playing.

At its most basic you get datapoints (the games currency) by just browsing sites, with some sites offering more than others. But there is more to the game than that. With that currency you gain you can then buy items at the games ‘Shoppe’ such as crates, mines, armour and other more usefull tools. You can then use these items on any site you wish, and wait for others also using the extension that are playing to come along and find them. For example if you left a crate on this page it could contain a gift for someone to stumble upon and pick up, or maybe you could leave a mine on another part of this site, and if a person clicks on the page it will knock some datapoints off that person, give them to you, and help you level up.

Of course, you could leave a mine on a more highly frequented site, such a Googles main page, but then you would not be able to visit it again until the mine had gone off or you would end up knocking datapoints from you own account. Furthermore, there are missions you can set or follow that will give you more datapoints should you finish them. If you find a mission on a site it will trigger a comment from the creator telling you to find your way to another page, and another after that, hopfully leading to a big datapoint payout in the end

It seems like a very clever idea, and something that could be highly successful if more people join up, and if the creator adds more to the game in the future. Why not give it a go? If for some reason you don’t have fun the game it can be uninstalled just like all other Firefox extensions with a few clicks.